LAPD Going to Rubber Flashights?

[148]

mocop, you and i could work the same beat.

here is the problem, no offense to oscar. but mocop is 100% right. the problm is that our supervision are the people making the rules. they are passing judgement. they may have never, or its been 5,6,10 years since they were in a vehile chase, had a resistor. and they are going to pass judgment on us. some guy sitting in internal affairs wanting to know why, you did what you did. when he himself has not had his life at risk in umpteen years..
its like training staff, w/ our department we have a huge acd. and it has been the same people in there as trainers for like 15 years.. granted they were good trainers. but things have changed on the street in the last 15 years, hell the last 5. get out, do the job for a while and remember what it used to be like when you have chased someone for 5 blocks, your alone in an alley not sure of the street you on, trying to get help to you and still keeping control of the mope so he doesnt get your gun. your scared, and you would do anything to make it out of there, if that means using a flashlight when you could of just sprayed them or used an asp so be it.

[oscarmitre]

No offence taken. I used to say exactly the same things. And when you're a supervisor or a boss the troops will still be saying it. And they won't know what you're getting from your bosses or the top cop is getting from the politicians. It's the way of the world in the job. I don't think it will ever change either.

[MOCOP]

Tony and Oscar:
I have worked for a large dept. where the boss man was one of those guy's I'm talking about.Politician. Yeah he'd worked as a cop very breifly most of his service was administrative and God did it show.
Now I work with a small dept. and the boss actually performs police work wears a uniform fights to have his officers trained and properly equipped and :eek: supprts them if their actions are within the law and dept. policy.
As far as understanding it when we're supervisors I am one and I would like to think my people know I'm most concerned that they see wifey at the end of tour BG'S be damned.

[Seand442]

That is the difference between small and large depts. A small town chief won't take away a tool he knows the officers need whereas a big city chief more than likely will cave in to the political and media pressure. I agree with damn near everything that has been said about this. If this whole incident had taken place in Mayberry, would anyone care if an officer used a flashlight? Chiefs and directors are people who the mayor or governor or whoever think will make them look good. That is about it. Politics, gotta love it.

[MOCOP]

Exactly there is a huge difference. My point is maybe Police Administrators ought to understand Police business instead of padding their popularity poll points.

[oscarmitre]

Fair points. I suppose I'm lucky in the sense that here there is only one police force for the whole State (our state population is only about 1.75m and we're bigger then Texas but smaller than Alaska so there is a lot of empty space here). Our Commissioner of Police is a career cop. The last Commissioner that wasn't a career cop retired in 1972. None of our Commissioners are bucking for Mayor (or in our context a position in State politics) so there is no need for currying political favour. I am aware that sometimes in the States the Chief can be a political appointment and can be looking to get him or herself into a political sinecure so it's necessary to keep City Hall happy. We're lucky in that it isn't usually the case here. So that's the context I am coming from.

I have no truck with a senior police officer who will not support his or her cops. But I also have no truck with a senior police officer or supervisor who wants to be one of the troops. Somewhere in there is the right balance.

[MOCOP]

IMO When you sew on the stripes you quit being one of "the guy's". However you then have the added responsibility of supporting and defending your troops IF THEIR ACTIONS ARE LEGAL AND WITHIN DEPT. POLICY.
By which I mean if train your officer's to use Flashlight's (or torches in your case Oscar :D ) as impact weapons. Then don't hang them out when they do it. Same with O.C., Taser etc.
Too Many Police Bosses are knee jerking morons who respond to the wails and moans of special intrests groups who have varying degrees of political clout. They hinder the Dept. for which they have been hired, appointed or elected to administer.They take away tool's,will not fight for pay or benefit increases, reduce the number of cop's on the street and effect adversely the morale of those who remain in their quest to curry political favor with those special intrest groups.