What is it like to be a cop?

Question

I mean we always see cops sitting around in there cars in allys at stop signs, in random parking lots.... what the hell does a cop do all day? And by cop I mean the guys on the beat driving the street patrol cars. Dont say just watch COPS....

Answer 1

This depends greatly on where you are located, the size of the department, and the size of the town to the extent that it happens.
The police are allways on the look out for things happening in front of them , thefts, fights, break ins, etc.
Police drive around all day to look for these and to prevent them before they could start to happen. ( the reason they constantly drive ).
Police enforce traffic laws to maintain safe streets and to look for illegal activity inside the vehicle ( drugs ) etc.

Think of this example ( a bad one ) : you are a cop watching 50 cars go by on a street. 2 of them are carrying 100 pounds of drugs in them that will reach the children. 5 people have warrants for various acts they have commited against inocent people, but can't be caught because they are allways on the run. 3 of them are drunk. 1 of the drunks will kill a child an hour from now. The rest of the 40 cars have nice people in them. How do you get to the bad ones in a group of 50 when you don't know any of them.

Another bad example: Every 50th person you drive by in town is getting ready to fight someone, break into someone's house, steal something, or just do something bad in general. Which one is it going to be? How do you find them? Who do you stop?

The police will allways be hated. Knowing the above situations, the police allways have to " search " to sort out the good from the bad.

This is a hard question to answer and I know I answered it badly.

Go to a local police department. See if you can do a civilian ride along. You will be able to go out with the police on patrol and see what they do. The bigger the town the better. If you get a small town, there is not a lot to do or see. A lot of departments do this, alot don't. Find one that has a rider program, it's great.

Answer 2

as i got older, i realized that some policeman are rude, and trigger happy, i guess it cause in this city, you can never tell what someone will do, policeman have to be careful who they encounter, there was a situation here a couple years ago, a young lady called the police and said her husband was trying to kill her, she called several times, 2 patrol cars picked up the call but never made it to her home, now in chicago, policeman can get free meals at the white castle restrauants here, thats where they were, in the drive thru, getting a free meal, while this guy blew this woman brains, her family sued the city of course and was awarded 42.3 million or so. WHERE'S THE FAITH?

Answer 3

basically what you said, wait to be called, i normally ride around.
I do random plate checks on cars, and I'll tell ya when you get a hit on a plate and its stolen or there is a warrant that could take half your day depending on the situation. I had a guy expired license, well it lead to other things as well, by the time the paperwork and processing where done, took me 4 hours, 1/4 of my shift gone like that.

Answer 4

Depends on the area you live in. I worked in a rural area. 40 - 50% of your time either waiting for something to happen or looking for something hinky. 10 - 20% of your time actually dealing with the problems. The other 40% doing the paperwork.

But, I loved the job. I miss it, but it just doesn't fit in with my current situation - being a mom.

Answer 5

Catch the bad guys. Help the ones in need. Be the hero to whomever needs it at the time. All that and then ruining peoples days by catching speeders and red light runners.

Answer 6

go on calls normally, writing reports