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.
Unless they have been adjudicated to be mentally ill, then probably. Laws vary from state to state, and many states ignore the Second Amendment anyway. So, check your local laws and don't take legal advice (which this is not) from a guy on the internet.
By phone is often the easiest for many people. Sometimes walking into the police station is easier.
Yes.
At one department, there were three patrol zones and only a single station. A sergeant plus three or four officers were on duty at any given time. (Not including any specialty units.)
At a larger agency, there were six patrol zones with multiple officers assigned to each zone. There were three "sector offices" plus the main station. There were up to 24 patrol officers on the road. Generally there were 2-3 sergeants on duty at any given time plus a lieutenant and possibly a captain depending on time of day/day of week. Those staffing numbers did not include specialty units that might have also been working. For example, three traffic units plus a sergeant, a gang unit plus sergeant, etc.
Private Detective
School Teacher
Radio program/music director
If you believe a crime has been committed, I would encourage you to contact the police.
I value them all. If you are asking me to arbitrarily rank them in order of importance, I cannot. What duty is the officer trying to perform? Every task is different and requires varying degrees of each of the above. Also time in grade does not equate to experience. Also, experiences vary widely. Are the experiences in roles as a trainer, investigator, narcotics officer, or what? A highly educated homicide investigator with ten years of violent crime investigations may get his butt kicked the first night he rotates back to patrol and goes to a bar disturbance, while the two-year officer with nothing more than a high school diploma saves him. There is no neat way of quantifying police officers.
People can only be legally arrested if their is probable cause to believe that he or she committed a specific crime.
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