Do police officers get enough family time?
Prior to FLSA applying to public safety personnel (mid 80s) - we did not qualify for, nor receive any overtime pay. As a result, most (especially detectives) worked a fair amount of hours, especially if you wanted to ‘get ahead’.In uniform division, the day watch officers tended to get stuck the most due to traffic but rarely averaged more than 1hr a day (on shift). While a detective, I rarely worked less than 2hrs over most every day. In Major Felony (robbery-homicide) we worked as long as it took, especially during the first 48 of a ‘who done it’ homicide. That was the expectation when you accepted the assignment and those that did not meet the expectation were rotated out (rarely happened).Court time is where we really were bent over. In uniform division, I primarily worked nights (8pm to 4am), arriving home around 5:30 am most days. All of our State and Superior court subpoenas were marked either with ‘Appearance Required’ or ‘On-Call’ - the vast majority though, were ‘Appearance Required’, meaning we had to be checked in at the courthouse by calendar call (9am). The courthouse was approx 45 minutes from my home, so most days when I had court I would come home and shower, have breakfast with the family, put on the uniform and head back out, catnapping as I sat in the courthouse until they deemed to release me (typically at lunch break). Head back home, doze on the couch until 3 and head back in for my shift. Needless to say, not the most conducive lifestyle for family or good health. Court days sucked, but fortunately they tended to hit but once a week. But hey, they did pay us $20 for each court appearance! (flat rate) - WooHoo!Once FLSA came to pass, things started to change as soon as the county realized their OT costs were a lot larger than they anticipated. One of the first changes was ALL subpoenas became ‘On-Call’. The prosecutors miraculously realized that they did not need a courtroom full of comatose cops waiting to never testify. While Major Felony continued to put in serious OT, the majority saw the amount of OT slowly decrease as the department discouraged it and held command staff to account for amounts over budget.Bottom line, cops don’t have a monopoly on work/life balance. There are many people in a range of professions that struggle with this issue each and every day. I wrote about this in another query on regrets:
Do you think doctors, nurses, teachers, firefighters & police officers should make as much as celebrities do?
Certain actors/actresses and people in sports command astronmonically high salaries for the work that they do. Please don't get me wrong...while I think they ARE immensely talented, should they be making gazillions of dollars for entertaining us with their skills, while people whose skills save and/or shape our lives such as doctors, nurses, teachers, firefighters and police officers can't compare to these overblown salaries even if they worked 24/7 every day for an entire year? To me it just doesn't make sense...
How come police officers get paid more then people in the army do(as in the beginning salary)?
Where did you get your numbers from? Also, besides considering the added benefits of military enlistment (GI Bill, health care, housing, VA help). Consider this, the military (enlisted) will take almost anyone that can pass the physical. Police simply will not. The Police physical (in my area) is the same requirements as the entrance exam for the Navy SEALS, minus the swim test. And in addition there are mental evaluations, intelligence tests, drug tests, background investigations into your credit and personal life... Which is not to say I'm putting down military or saying that being military is easy. There are a lot of amazing cops that are ex-military. They are simply two completely different fields. Being a cop is probably a lot more like being an Officer in the military. They both require similar skill sets and usually require a bachelors degree or higher. If you compare the starting police salary to the starting military officer salary I think you'd be surprised.
Does police officers pay child support?
AND ALSO HAVE THERE WAGES GARNISHED? ARE MOST MOST COPS ALSO EMBRASSED TO BE A DEAD BEAT FATHER? AND APPEAR IN COURT IN FRONT OF THERE CO WORKERS?? I AM FURIOUS! ITS NOT FAIR AT ALL...I AM A RN AND HE DID ME WRONG. WHAT THE MOST HE HAS TO PAY? I MAKE A LITTLE MORE THAN HIM
Why do people become police officers?
Well kid, First I'd recommend you stay in school; your grammar and spelling are atrocious. That being said, there are a variety of reasons people become police officers. Family pride, service to the community, ego but most take the job because of a consistent pay check and decent benefits. It wasn't always like that. For many years, police officers were very underpaid. And today, depending on your locale, some still are underpaid. I don't know why your opinions of the police are so negative. Do you get in trouble often? If not, I'd be hard pressed to believe you have formulated your opinion based on anything other than personal experience. Today's police officers are better trained, better educated and better paid that those of our past. I can't complain. I make 100K and my schedule is hardly tough to take. I work Monday through Friday, 7:00am to 3:00pm. Not bad for a cuff n gun toting monkey huh?
Do you think that if Police force was paid as much as people working in the MNC's, they would work more diligently and the crime rate might fall a little?
First of all, police work is a calling. It is not something you should take up if you are looking to make money. It is also not the sort of job that can be bettered through financial incentives like a sales job or most other jobs. Giving more money will not ensure ideals, integrity, courage, sense of justice and most importantly impartiality which are the pillars of honest police work. Our country has such a lax police system because the officers are heavily biased. Biased to the rich, biased to the influential, biased to the powerful, biased to the male gender, biased to upper class and much more. The job craves for impartiality and unbiased, non chauvinist thought process to carry it out in a free and fair manner. A cop who thinks women should stay indoors after 6pm will never conduct a fair investigation of a woman got raped on her way back from a night party. Giving him more salary wouldn't change a damn thing. Now am not suggesting that the entire force is like that. There sure are good men, solid and brave who gruel with the scum of society to maintain law and order. If they can do it on their salary, why can't the others? But often we find that even these efforts are lines drawn in water as there is always a politician or an influential just waiting to take a piss on it. Paying this cop a higher salary will not remove the ugly taste in his mouth when he watches the scum walk out from his cell because he had people of power backing him up. Higher pay can do nothing to stop political interference in carrying out honest police work.Please don't take me wrong. I am not against higher pay for our men in uniform. God knows they need it. All am trying to say is that a higher pay will in no way provide incentive for cops to do their jobs more diligently. Like I said in the beginning, police work is a calling. Most don't have it. Some do. The latter fulfil their calling and money for them makes no difference. The latter just got into the wrong job mostly because they had no other option. To them its just another job. More money will always be welcome. But it in no way will change their diligence to work. I can write that in blood.So my answer is no. Paying the police salaries that are at par with MNCs will not ensure more diligent work or a fall in crime rate.
What do former-military personnel think of the US police force?
That’s a very good question. Because after returning from Nam I realized that their jobs run very parallel to a Military Branch of service. The men & women of any Police Dept. who are responsible for interacting with the criminals are dealing with the same, or very similar to, as the interactions as any Military Force has with the enemy. They put their lives “in harms way” every day they start their work day “To Protect & Serve” their community. Which is exactly the same scenario that every Military member does in their work day. Especially with the weaponry that criminals now have access to In committing their crimes. Many times they’re outgunned by the superior weaponry of criminals. To be honest, I believe every Police Officer should have the right to choose which hand weapon, from a list of acceptable weaponry that each Police Dept. deems is needed for the type of criminal activity they deal with, to protect themselves from criminals who are hell bent on killing them. Just like the enemy of any military branch of service.For a very long time now, I’ve seen the disparity of a Police Officers pay level versus other occupations pay levels. And there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that all Police Officers pay level is VERY FAR FROM BEING ANYWHERE NEAR AS HIGH AS THEY DESERVE. Their service to each Community should tell THAT every Citizen. After all, when any citizen’s life is in danger, WHO THEY CALL FOR HELP SHOULD BE THE BEST PAID PROFESSIONALS WHO ARE PAID TO PROTECT THEM & THEIR FAMILY & THEIR NEIGHBORHOOD TOO. THEIR “POLICE DEPARTMENT”.Has anyone EVER called a SPORTS FIGURE FOR HELP ?? Then why are SPORTS FIGURES PAID SO ENORMOUSLY MORE THEN POLICE OFFICERS ARE ?It’s not at all JUST or MORALLY RIGHT or EVEN CLOSE TO BEING FAIR that Police Officers are paid SUCH MEAGER SALARIES WHEN THEY PUT THEMSELVES IN HARMS WAY FOR THE GOOD OF THE MANY. What will it take before Americans begin to apply LOGIC & MORALITY TO IMPORTANT EVERYDAY OCCURRENCES THAT DRASTICALLY EFFECT THE LIVES OF THEM & EVERY FAMILY MEMBER ? How far does America have to “morally fall” before LOGIC TAKES PRECEDENCE AGAIN ? Or is America going to follow the same path of self-destruction that the “Used to Be” GREAT ROMAN EMPIRE DID ?? From the moral decline that I’ve witnessed in just my 68 years as a Proud American, I VERY MUCH DOUBT THAT AMERICA WILL DO WHAT IT TAKES TO AVERT OUR OWN DISASTROUS & DESERVING END.
Where can one get a police officer who will not accept bribery and will report crime and be taken seriously?
Despite what is depicted in movies and T.V. shows, 99.9% of law enforcement officers in the United States are hard working, honest men and women. They truly have a desire to help people and keep society safe.Also despite what you may hear/see on the internet or in the media, the only place most police will fire their guns is on the firing range during training and qualifications. They are not a bunch of baby killing racists. I just threw that bit of knowledge in for free.
Do you think the military is overpaid?
Cops working in SOME departments are definitely overpaid. I read an article a few years ago in the Boston Globe about how 63% of all the cops in the Boston PD made over $100,000 in one year. From the newest rookie cop on the beat to the Chief of Police. It goes to show you that sometimes a union isn't that great for everyone else... http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/186...