BlueSheepdog
10 Years Experience
Around the Way, FL
Male, 40
Cheating death and fighting communism: that is how a fellow officer once described our job. It was meant to be funny, but as time went on it seemed all too true.
I spent more than ten years in law enforcement, all of it on the street in uniform patrol. I've been a patrol officer, instructor, sergeant and lieutenant.
Do not report crimes here. Nothing here should be considered legal advice. All opinions are my own.
I'm not sure why you would think that. Getting good grades is very important if you want to be a police officer.
I went to a well known university to be an aerospace engineer (you know, a rocket scientist.) I determined engineering wasn't much of a challenge and discovered law enforcement was a far more challenging career.
Fortunately, I am not the only guy to make good grades to go into law enforcement. In the states I have worked (Georgia and Florida), most of the officers I have met/worked with are much brighter than the general public. You have to be intelligent and quick thinking to do the job. Idiots should not apply.
Do morons get into law enforcement? Sometimes. But, most of them are weeded out during training. The few that are left tend to get promoted rapidly.
I'm a bit perplexed by anyone who thinks that no one smart goes into public safety (or the military.) I guess it is watching too many movies.
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I've not had the chance to observe the dispatch center of a very large agency (such as a NYPD, LAPD, Chicago, etc.) What I've seen in medium sized departments (100-200 officers), you would have a dispatcher on each channel. A single channel might be dedicated to a specific area or precinct, while another might be dedicated to records checks.
So if a department had three precincts, there might be four channels (a dispatcher for each of the three precincts plus one for running warrant checks, license checks, etc.) Then there would be at least one supervisor who would make sure everything is running smooth. There would be call takers (people answering the phones) who might be cross-trained to dispatch.
Typically, there will be extra people available to bring up an extra channel if a special event happened. For example, lets say you had a vehicle accident with a death. The traffic homicide unit plus the officers working that scene might go to an extra channel to work and keep their radio traffic off of the precinct channels.
I hope that helps.
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That depends on your jurisdiction. You should contact the local prosecutors office and ask them.
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Accidents happen and a lot of people mistakenly set off their alarms. However, the officers don't know which alarms are accidents or real until they investigate them. If during the course of that investigation, someone surprises them - well, things might get tense for a few minutes. Calling the PD once you realize a mistake has been made is the best course of action. They can tell you if they want you to go outside, stay inside or whatever.
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Contact your local police department and ask them.
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No idea.
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If children are in danger, please call the emergency line.
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