What are some slang terms used among police officers?
The most derogatory terms for the bad guys and citizens who are just pains in the rectum:A.H. = Adam Henry (A-dam H-enry) If you don’t get it…..sometimes you will hear it as “Jack Hole”…..now what starts with an “A” that ends with HOLE ?RICHARD CRANIUM= What starts with a “D” and is a nickname for Richard ? What is the non-medical layman’s term for the Cranium ? Do these clues HEAD you in the right direction ?
What do you think of NYPD Blue and The Shield?
I watched the first 10 minutes of the first episode of The Shield, and never went there again. Anyone who engaged in the tactics they did would be in prison, and they all wore their badges on the wrong side of their shirts.NYPD Blue was a great show, albeit not a very realistic one. Like many cop shows, they show the detectives handling only one case at a time, usually solving it within 24 hours, and another case didn’t come in until after they had handled the first one. Anyone they needed to talk to was located immediately, or would come in to the office within moments of someone asking them (or just on their own). It was entertaining, but hardly illustrative of how police work was done.The show did create a great cop anti-hero, Sipowicz. I heard a story some years back, about some NYPD cops who were working a presidential security detail during the 50th anniversary of the United Nations. Then-President Clinton was in town, and a bunch of cops were assigned for perimeter and traffic control around the venue where he was speaking. When it came time for Clinton to leave, the Secret Service passed the word that any of the cops that wanted to get a photo of themselves with the president could come forward, as Clinton had expressed his willingness to do this. There were few takers. NYPD Blue was shooting exteriors down the street (most of the show was shot in Los Angeles, but they would go to NYC a couple of time each year to shoot exterior establishment shots on NYC streets), and all the cops that could be spared were down the street, trying to get their photo taken with Dennis Franz/Andy Sipowicz.
Why do law enforcement officers try to intimidate the public if they are supposed to protect and serve them?
“Why do law enforcement officers try to intimidate the public if they are supposed to protect and serve them?”Your question is based on a flawed belief that police “are supposed to protect and serve” any particular individual. Police officers are supposed to enforce the law, which oftentimes puts the officer in direct conflict with those members of the public you believe are supposed to be “protected or served.” When Joe Scofflaw violates a law, the police officer is the one who is supposed to address that situation. The officer isn’t “protecting or serving” Joe Scofflaw — s/he is enforcing a specific law.“To Protect and To Serve” is a motto, originally from LAPD and made very popular by the TV show Adam-12.It’s a catchphrase and it is neither universal nor binding. My department didn’t use it. None of the departments in the area where I worked used it.While it is noble to “serve” the public, and most police officers actually enjoy working with people to help solve problems and resolve crime, police officers have no specific obligation to specifically help you. There have been many, many court decisions upholding the concept that police serve the general public, not individual members of society.The specific facts of some of these cases are truly appalling, such as a woman calling 911 to report that her estranged husband was on his way to her home to kill her and the police said, “Call us when he gets there.” When he got there, he killed her before she could call again. There were police officers involved in a stake-out, basically using a woman as bait, and watched as she was beaten. Two NYPD officers watched as a person attacked and stabbed a passenger on a subway train but didn’t get involved until the victim had subdued the attacker. In each of these cases, “common sense” would say that police should have gotten involved, but the courts ruled that police were not liable for doing a shitty job.
What are the odds of missing a target at close range with a pistol, like in movies? It happens so often, but is it realistic?
I was a range master at a public range for a couple of years. Periodically we would see police from the local community coming in to practice for their annual pistol qualification. The police from the wealthy, local, low crime communities did poorly at hitting a large target at fifteen yards (45 feet). They usually shot very short barrel pistols. These would be people who had undergone formal training in shooting a pistol, but who probably only shot once a year, and who were now practicing under nearly ideal conditions - excellent lighting, eye and hearing protection, flat concrete floor, plenty of time, no threats.The police from Oakland, a community with some areas of very high crime, shot the black centers out of target after target at 15 yards and 25 yards. They came frequently to practice, and obviously we saw the most motivated policemen. The Federal Marshals who came to our range occasionally were awesome with both pistol and rifle at 15 yards, 25 yards, 50 yards, 100 yards (rifle only).As others have mentioned, being in harms way, with your adrenaline pumping, has a huge negative effect on your shooting. I have no trouble understanding the news reports of police firing hundreds of shots to hit a suspect once or twice.