Political Activities

[Rlong1985]

How do extra political activities affect your career in law enforcement? Does it affect the hiring process and do you have disclose membership to legal organizations? The minutemen and several other conservative groups claim law enforcement in their ranks.

[retdetsgt]

We have no specific rules regarding being members of political organizations. We aren't allowed to participate in any political activity on duty, in uniform or as representing ourselves as members of the department.

We used to have a guy who was a member of the old John Birch Society. He was a really strange individual. The bad news is the department put him in Intelligence where he did his own little hunt for communists. When we were ordered to destroy all intelligence files relating to non criminal investigations, he stole them and took them home. After he died, a relative found them and turned them over to a local news station. It turned out to be a horrible embarrassment to the department.

I knew of a few people who were active in ultra conservative politics, but they kept a low key at work and did their best NOT to draw attention to themselves.

Oddly enough, no cop I ever knew that was involved in political movements of any kind were particularly good cops. They seemed to use the job as a way to get a paycheck and that was about it. All their interest was in politics, not law enforcement.

But you would have to be a member of a subversive organization for it to affect your hiring.

[L-1]

California's Government Code covers it quite well -

3302. (a) Except as otherwise provided by law, or whenever on duty or in uniform, no public safety officer shall be prohibited from engaging, or be coerced or required to engage, in political activity.