The P.O.P. Factor

My photo
"Just the facts, ma'am." More often than not, politically correct bullshit won't be found here. Pardon me while I exercise my 1st amendment right! I welcome all to my little world of bitches, moans, gripes and complaints, and sometimes, the downright freakin' odd. Take a seat and join me. I love a good story.

Monday, February 27, 2012

The Amount of Stupidity

Have you ever wondered what kind of bullshit cops put up with every day?
The amount of stupidity some people possess is astounding. Sometimes cops are parents, counselors, babysitters, dog catchers, dumpster divers, etc. But first, they have to get past the dispatcher. You really have to feel for them. Their job is not easy. Dispatchers have to filter through a lot of the shit and determine what they can do about it and how.

If people call 911, which morons do with some regularity, it's a recorded line and they have to act upon it accordingly. Delicacy and diplomacy are in order. Who wants their attitude or conversation released to the news media for all the world to hear? It's bad enough that cops are also under the same scrutiny every single moment.

You can often tell by the wording or the tone of the dispatcher, how they just don't like putting out some of these calls for service. With the advent of technology, some calls for service can be handled over the phone. Certain messages can be sent by text "unofficially" thereby saving manpower, unnecessary fuel costs and recorded gaffes. People come to expect that there is always a police officer at the station house. Again, with manpower and equipment budget cuts, that's not always feasible. Every available cop needs to be on the street. Supervisors are now handling calls. It also depends on how big your city, town or county is.

Quite often, there is a civilian person or dispatcher behind security doors and a bullet proof window handling walk in issues. Once again, they tip toe through the bullshit. The average citizen will walk in expecting to speak with a police officer on demand and are often uncooperative when it comes to giving the person behind the window any information. People should remember that these folks have to determine if it warrants calling a police officer in off the street, if it can be handled by phone (always recorded) or if the civilian behind the glass can actually answer the question for them. The economy sucks so concessions have to be made.

I often don't get the pleasure (sarcasm) of observing the day-to-day duties of our communications personnel.
In fact, I sometimes can't leave that room fast enough.

With this story, I'll just throw in any kind of stupid I can remember from the last week.

*An obviously elderly woman calls 911 telling the dispatcher to send an officer over immediately. When pressed for info, she explains that she accidentally dropped her keys inside of her local government issued trash bin while wheeling it to the curb and she's too short to reach it. When told that we cannot do that, she throws the old, "I know the Mayor" crap out there. We still won't go.

*An actual 911 call from an obviously drunk woman complaining that her husband wants sex, she doesn't and he won't leave her alone. They're both polluted and it's really difficult to keep a straight face and....you just have a seriously strong desire to slap some sense in to them.

*A man calls 911 late at night complaining of a dog roaming the neighborhood. Sorry, it doesn't warrant a call out for animal control. He gets pissy and wants the number. Dispatchers give it to him knowing full well he'll only get a recording and have to leave a message.

*911 call because there's a suspicious car driving through a neighborhood at 5 in the morning throwing things at people's houses. It's the news paper carrier. Yea, they still do that.

*There's always those regular calls that when you hear the name or address, you just roll your eyes and ask, "Now what." Like the one woman who just cannot seem to keep her kid in line so wastes precious police manpower calling the cops every time her little brat mouths off. (Which seems to be every day and at least twice a day) Then there's your standard, every day, nut cases who like to call 911 and hang up, forcing dispatchers to send a cop over there immediately. They deny using the phone, blame the kids or the dog, or tell us the aliens are secretly tapping their phone lines and that's why the phone rings all by itself.

*A man walks in to the station, claims he lives in Wisconsin wants to get a copy of a 911 tape for his divorce and child custody hearing. He is informed that 911 recordings can only be obtained during normal business hours and that there is paperwork involved. He becomes irate, demanding it be released now. And then....he gets even more irate and refuses to believe that 911 doesn't have some central repository for EVERY 911 call made in the country. He accuses the civilian person of lying when told he must contact the police dept. in Wisconsin for the specific tape recording. This warrants a supervisor being called in because he refuses to stop acting like a loud and stupid moron in the lobby. It must be something in the cheese.

*Directing traffic around an accident scene and trying desperately to keep traffic moving, hoping you won't get run over or that no other accidents will occur because of rubber necking. There's always those idiots that want to hold up the line of traffic to stop and ask for directions or ask what happened. Seriously?

*A woman calls 911 because she can't find a babysitter and she needs to go get a pack of smokes. Could we send an officer to sit with her kids for 10 minutes? Really?

*I've listened to more than my share of conversations and recordings of people who dial 911 and the first thing out of their mouth is, "this isn't an emergency, but..."  Then there was the lady who called 911 who asked what the non-emergency number was only to turn around and immediately call back on the non-emergency line. Yes, some departments can afford caller ID.


*A woman calls demanding immediate response to an apartment complex because someone parked in HER handicapped spot and he doesn't have a handicap sticker or plate. Then she wants to know how long it will take. She calls a supervisor because after the officer responded and told her he couldn't write a ticket, but got the owner to move it, she was totally belligerent and wanted the supervisor to know he wasn't doing his job.
The idea of not being able to write parking tickets on private property just didn't seem to sink in.

*A woman calls 911 (twice) while she's driving and is asking for directions to a location some 100+ miles away. She didn't even know where she was and when it was finally narrowed down, she was told to stay on a specific highway, but it was recommended she stop and buy a map. The dispatcher politely advised her that most people plan their road trips out ahead of time and that 911 wasn't meant to guide people to their destination. The stupid woman later made a complaint about what the dispatcher said to her. I personally listened to the tape and didn't believe that a reprimand was in order for the dispatcher. Friggin bureaucrats! 


Too much stupid all in one week sometimes makes me want to bang my head against the wall and drink too much.
Retirement or a career change is looking very enticing.

Thursday, February 23, 2012

The Magic of 911

I know, I've had a recent dry spell and just haven't had the inspiration to put pen to paper - or fingers to keyboard, as it were.

Lately, I have been in a reading mood more than I have been in a writing mood. Today I was perusing my favorite cop blogs and came across an entry from "Officer Smith; Thoughts from behind the Badge." 

"Officer Smith" explained in great detail the reality of the 911 system.

In plain English, it's not some magic number you can call and expect an instantaneous response. The police have no duty to protect you 24/7 and it is unreasonable to expect that the police will be there immediately after you call 911, most especially when you call from a cell phone. Cell phone signals bounce off towers and the call doesn't always route you to the appropriate jurisdiction. Entering map coordinates is a time consuming endeavor when it would have been much quicker to tell the call taker the address of  your emergency, along with several landmarks, mile markers, or the name of the subdivision. GPS coordinates do NOT pinpoint your EXACT location. It only helps first responders get close.

Additionally, screaming at the call takers slows the process down. They need information and they need it fast. Once the call taker gets the type of emergency, location, and a couple of other basic questions, another dispatcher is reading that info and starting the necessary response.
If you think that it takes only minutes for a response time, you are living in a fantasy world, my friends.
There are many mitigating factors that effect the response time. Don't even ask, "how long will it be?" How is the dispatcher supposed to know that?

One final note; if you've read my blog with regularity, you know that I am a firm believer in our 2nd amendment right to keep and bear arms. The criminal element preys on the weakest and easiest targets. Don't make yourself an easy target. Learn your state's gun laws and the laws of self defense. Arm yourself with a gun, pepper spray, taser, even a baseball bat and then learn how to use it.

Read Officer Smith's thoughts on this subject;

http://officersmith.blogspot.com/2012/02/help-police.html

Thursday, February 16, 2012

My absence


No worries. Will be back soon.
Sometimes life's stuff gets in the way.

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Sheriff Slaps a Perp


SEE MY LAST ENTRY:

MY OTHER FAVORITE SHERIFF

One of South Carolina's most respected law enforcement officers, J. Al Cannon, Esq., of Charleston County, SC called an emergency press conference today to announce he slapped a driver who lead Deputies on a 20 plus mile chase in speeds averaging 100 mph.

Sheriff Cannon initiated the chase because one Timothy McManus was driving so recklessly as to have almost caused an accident with him.

According to radio transmissions, McManus was driving over sidewalks and medians, very nearly causing several other accidents, all in an effort to flee from police.
During the pursuit, the asshole avoided stop sticks on 2 occasions and he was also fired upon by police at 2 different locations. He was finally cornered at a dead end street when he put the truck in to a ditch because the tires were no longer useful.

Officers at the crash scene had him at gunpoint ordering him to surrender. He reached back in to the truck (this does not bode well with police) as if to grab something from under the seat. The K-9 was released and latched on to his arm. Within seconds, the dog was called back and officers pounced upon him to restrain him. He did not go quietly. In fact, he continued to resist and the necessary physical methods were employed to get him to comply with orders.

During his press conference, Sheriff Cannon freely admits that he slapped McManus with an open hand and said, "What the (unknown expletive) is wrong with you? You could have killed a lot of people." He admitted that he slapped the moron while he was handcuffed and in the back of the patrol car.
(He's lucky that's all he got.)

In his news conference he stated, "In retrospect, it was clearly the wrong thing to do and I certainly wouldn't have expected it from my own folks."

Not one single officer was injured in the pursuit and McManus was treated and stitched up for a dog bite. He's lucky he's still walking. Oh yea, maybe 2 cruisers got a little dented, but they were driveable.

McManus was charged with numerous offenses ranging from Driving Under Suspension to Resisting Arrest. His bond was set at over $100,000.

At his bond hearing, his wife/girlfriend or whatever, stated he wasn't a bad person and that he has 3 kids and needs to drive to work. Magistrate Linda Lombard said he didn't need to be doing what he was doing. He doesn't even have a driver's license and has a lengthy history of traffic offenses. The wife also accused the police of letting the K-9 "chomp on his arm." (Like she was there and saw it all.)
County corrections officers report that McManus is already a "disciplinary problem." Oh yea, "he's really not a bad person" with all those kind of actions.

You have to admire the Sheriff for first providing a truthful statement to state investigators, then calling a press conference to publicly announce his slight indiscretion.
This scumbag probably needed more than just a slap and I'm betting he slaps his girlfriend and kids around.

I have not lost one iota of respect for this man. I learned a long time ago, that if you screw up on the job, either take responsibility for it to your immediate supervisor, or get a lawyer and keep your mouth shut.

Sheriff Al Cannon is also an attorney.

http://www.abcnews4.com/story/16653926/sheriff-admits-to-slapping-high-speed-chase-suspect