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[JustRalph]

I don’t disagree with anything I’ve read.......

Let me say this. Police departments just like any organization take on a personality over time. They normally reflect the thinking of those in charge. Sometimes it takes new leadership a few years to turn a ship, but that’s why you see lots of “outside hires” in the upper ranks of police departments.

When I look back at these things we discuss on this board I have the benefit of serving on five different police departments in three different states. Small and large. Over 15 yrs. I find that it sometimes feels unfair to those officers. But they also have supervisors and leaders who should have the appropriate outlook.

I also worked three years as a hospital cop or in hospital security. I worked in my early 20’s in Southern California. When I look back at how little I really knew early in my career, I’m glad I was in a very good training environment. I trained with the largest Sheriff’s Dept in the country (SB) and the CHP, the Beverly Hills PD, Riverside PD and Sheriff’s office. After returning to Ohio to live (my mom had cancer and my wife wanted to move back) I was required to attend the police academy again. It was a whole different training environment with very different priorities and methods. But it broadened my knowledge.

I was in the Air Force the entire time I was a police officer in California. I was part of a program where military police were mingled in with civilian police departments near Air Force bases and other military installations. I graduated from the San Bernardino basic academy. I attended with permission of my commanding officer with an agreement that our military police officers would work a minimum of 16 hours a month at the direction of our local Sheriff’s station. We normally did much more. Most Weeks 3 days Air Force at least and then 3 days with the civilian cops. Rotating days off.

One day I might be working in a car with San Bernardino Deputies and the next day I was working as the gate entry guard at an Air Force base. The next night I might be helping work a search warrant off base at a military members home in the county, as an investigator temp attached to Air Force OSI, yet still maintaining my jurisdiction as a deputy. I was a very valuable tool to investigators having dual jurisdiction and all. I wore two badges most of the time. As a young guy it was an incredible experience.

The experience in a hospital was 2 yrs early in my career after returning to Ohio. Working the ER most of the time in my late 20’s was some of the best experience to prepare to return to a police car. The 2nd version of me in a police car was immensely more knowledgeable and smarter than the first one. The time in the hospital was invaluable in so many ways that helped me relate to people in crisis on the street. It also allowed me to recognize medical and mental issues that other officers had never seen before.

The point being, I can sit here at the keyboard years later and tell you that things were handled wrong, but the 2 officers in this instance had about 7 yrs total experience between them. All in the same area geographically. That’s a recipe for having limited knowledge and options. I might be a little unfair in my comments toward them. I suspect a lack of supervision near the scene might be a factor. But I can only look at it through my own eyes. So I try not to be too hard without complete facts and known circumstances.

I have a business customer who was a Baton Rouge Cop for five years. He quit about 2 yrs ago.......I may bring this up to him when I see him next week. Maybe not.......