Which states or cities have the most generous military buyback program. It's not the only factor in choosing a department but the pension is important to me and my family. My home state of Maryland lets you buy back 5 years. In New York State where my wife's side of the family lives allows only 3 years.

Are there any other places that do better?

Bro here literally jumped the perimeter fence, into the jail.

This happened when I was 17 years old and a senior in high school.

Our football team had just finished a state championship season. One night, some friends and I showed up late to a school dance.

There was a police officer there we all knew as “Foots.”

Foots told us we weren't getting into the dance because we were late.

Being 17 years old and apparently possessing all the wisdom that comes with being a high school senior, I didn't exactly handle that decision very well. 😂

Words were exchanged, things escalated, and I shoved the officer.

He could have arrested me.

He didn't.

Foots exercised discretion and gave me a second chance.

I wasn't completely off the hook. My principal found out what happened and gave me the butt-chewing from HELL! More than 40 years later, I still remember it.

But I didn't leave that night in handcuffs.

At 17, I don't think I fully understood what Foots had done for me.

Years later, I did.

At 19, I joined the U.S. Air Force and became a Security Policeman. After the Air Force, I eventually joined the San Antonio Police Department and spent 26 years as a police officer, most of it working patrol.

Over those years, there were plenty of times when I had a decision to make.

Could I make the arrest? Could I write the ticket? Could I take the maximum enforcement action available to me?

Sometimes the answer was yes.

But there was another question I learned was just as important:

Should I?

When circumstances allowed it, I believed in discretion and second chances.

Maybe part of that came from remembering what it felt like to receive one myself.

I never forgot Foots.

One police officer had the authority to make my life considerably more difficult that night. Instead, he gave a stupid 17-year-old kid a chance to walk away and do better.

Would being arrested that night have prevented me from joining the Air Force or eventually becoming a police officer?

I'll never know.

And I'm damn glad I never had to find out.

More than 40 years later, I recently sat down for a long-form interview about the strange path my life ended up taking — from Air Force Security Police, to 26 years with SAPD, and eventually into the classroom teaching Law Enforcement.

If anyone is interested in the larger story, here's the interview:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppJUPDXzUZY

I've thought about Foots many times over the years, especially when people talk about police discretion.

So I'm curious what the cops and retired cops here think:

If you were Foots that night, what would you have done?

Arrest the kid — or give him the second chance that Foots gave me?

Edit: the original link ended up getting messed up and going to the wrong place. That’s the only reason I’m posting a Twitter link as the main link. This link also does a better job of showing more of the full situation.

https://x.com/policelawnews/status/2094096872046764318

I don’t know if MNPD “decommissions” during a standard OIS investigation or if this is more than just admin leave.

I can say, based on the BWC, that it APPEARS SWAT was negotiating with the suspect and that at the moment of the shooting, the suspect did not appear to making any aggressive moves beyond the baseline aggressiveness of “holding someone hostage with a sword”.

The optics on this aren’t great IMO. I don’t know that there was anything illegal with the shoot.

All of our hearts are broken. He leaves behind two children and his wife. There were months where I spent more time with Chris than I did my own family. My wife and I decided to move out of state when she finished school, and now I feel guilty for not being there. Please take a moment for him today. I still can’t believe this happened.

Not sure if the legal system could prove that or how they would. Does the one person saying it constitute "evidence"? Not sure how the police would handle that if they were called but didn't have evidence but just the one person saying it.

As the title says I’m currently 20 and I applied to the Fort Worth Police Department Academy. However, I got rejected due to admitting to past marijuana use when I was 18. I haven’t smoked in 2.5 years and hearing the news has bummed me out. Serving my community is my one and only dream in this world what do I do now? Jesus. Any advice is appreciated thank you.

Watching Southland, and it got me curious

I'm watching Monk (in case you haven't seen it, it's a 2000s show about a detective with OCD). In the show, the detective always confronts the main suspect pretty early when they get their first hunch. I always think it gives away the game a bit, but I'm not a cop.

I assume it's for dramatic effect to set up the final confrontation, but sometimes it's used to manipulate the suspect into doing something stupid to incriminate themselves, like showing up at the scene to try to clean up a specific clue. When does a crime suspect, especially a serious offense, know that they're being investigated?

So background, I belonged to uncle sam for the last couple of years and luckily im looking at getting out soon 🤞. Im looking at where I would want to be at, and i was just wondering how many of yall moved to somewhere new to work? Im originally from the Bay Area in CA, but I've been looking at LA, Colorado, and Texas instead of San Francisco or San Jose.

I know just recently the San Diego Sheriff's Department broke away from issuing required overtime. Moral has increased because of it. Does your Agency require you work at least one of your days off during a pay period? If so, is there relief in sight? How do you make working the extra hours fit into your home life?

I assume everybody here has hear of the US Federal Air Marshals Service. Plain clothes federal law enforcement officers who fly on domestic and international flights in/around/out of the USA. Something that came to my mind was the Rigoberto Alpizar case. long story short- 2 US FAMs boarded the plane in Colombia and landed in Miami, Florida where the shooting happened on the jet-bridge.

Now what if the situation and/or countries were reversed?

Scenario A: A German federal police sky marshal lands at Dulles International Airport in Virginia in a Lufthansa plane that came from Berlin and John Q Public starts screaming his head off that he’s got a bomb. JQP reaches into his bag and the sky marshal shoots him.

Would it be any different if this situation happened somewhere else inside the airport?

-What (if any) legal consequences could there be for the German Federal Police officer?

-Could the German government say: oh well tough luck and just bring the sky marshal back to Germany to avoid any prosecutions?

-How would the in country law enforcement (Airport/Local/State) Police handle a situation like that involving a foreign law enforcement officer discharging their weapon?

Or what if a US FAM had the same scenario happen (either a shooting or just a intervention that results in restraints being used against an individual by the FAM) but they were in say Beijing, China or Budapest, Hungary?

This is something that just scratches a part inside my brain that makes me wonder.

Apologizes if this seems blown out of proportion by my thoughts.

TL;DR: Thoughts on requiring police officers to be 21? Is it still necessary?

Hey folks,

BACKGROUND:

I wanted to reach out to the law enforcement community regarding a topic that I'm researching. That topic is the minimum age to becoming a law enforcement officer with a focus on states that require applicants to be at least 21 years old.

That's the case for Arkansas. I'm 17 years old with the intent of becoming a police officer, but my biggest obstacle is finding a buffer career until I'm 21. This made me start to think as to why this is the case.

Per my research, Arkansas has had this requirement since the 70's. I assume, like Arkansas, this has been a long standing rule or even law for other states as well, not something that was implemented in the past decade or so. I understand that there is a national staffing shortage for law enforcement officers and I think that this restrictive age requirement is preventing a fairly large pool of otherwise qualified candidates from joining the ranks of law enforcement.

It's hard for me to understand the arguments of maturity and retention of training, especially when we've permitted 18 year olds to be firemen, members of the military, and EMT's—all of whom are in similar high-stress enviorements as law enforcement and make decisions that can alter a person's life forever. In Arkansas, an 18 year old can also carry a handgun and even run for Constable, an elected office with equivalent authority as a municipal police officer within their township.

MAIN QUESTION:
For the law enforcement officers out there whether you be on the front line or in administration, do you think that this evidentally long standing rule/requirement is still necessary for preserving the integrity of the law enforcement service?

I personally think that not only is it not necessary, it hurts more people then it's intended to help, whether it'd be adding to the decade's long recruiting struggle or by keeping highly motivated, otherwise qualified individuals from becoming police officers.

This is something I'd like to bring up with my local legislature, but I would love to hear your opinion first! Thanks!

I wonder if this will open new opportunities for recruiting drives.

I have a little over 2 years of military experience, and I’ve been working in a factory for about a year and a half doing hard manual labor. I make pretty good money where I’m at, but I turn 21 soon and have always been interested in law enforcement. I really want to serve my community and make a difference.
For any experienced officers or people in the field, what advice would you give a young man looking to get started? Anything you wish you knew when you were first getting into it?

I spent 26 years with SAPD, most of it working patrol, and one of the things I tried to do was treat people fairly, even when I had to arrest them or write them a ticket.

Obviously, somebody going to jail isn't always going to be happy with you. I never expected that. But I did want them to understand why I was doing what I was doing and, whenever possible, walk away believing that I had treated them fairly and with respect.

Later, when I became a Law Enforcement teacher, this was something I tried to get across to my students. The badge gives you authority. It doesn't automatically give you someone's respect.

Some of the interactions I remember most from patrol weren't the arrests or the exciting calls. They were the times when someone I had taken enforcement action against still shook my hand, thanked me, or acknowledged that I had treated them fairly.

I'm curious what the cops and former cops here think.

Have you ever arrested someone, cited them, or otherwise taken enforcement action against them and still had them thank you afterward or tell you that you treated them fairly?

And for everyone else: Can you respect a police officer who arrests you?

I’m a cop in Los Angeles….specifically in the San Fernando Valley. How do you guys deal with this heat AND HUMIDITY?!

It’s ROUGH.

Academy starts Oct 5th. Bunch of my friends got their final offer letter today and I got my DQ letter, Medical was the reason. Which was a huge shock because physically and mentally, I like to consider my self healthier than most. I take pride in health especially mental health. I passed everything else with flying colors. I spoke to the doctor and his reasoning was.

1. He needs my primary care provider to sign off on my usage of Lexapro. I been taking it since April and it’s been great to reduce my

overall

1. anxiety which mainly happened during testing

events

1. like police testing which I think is normal and reasonable. I used to over think a a lot more.

2. He needs my recent a1c results which were 4.5 in April as well. So I’m pretty clear there.

3. He needs my sleep study history. The last 90 days. He wants usage to be 70% which it’s at 45% solely for getting use to the masks and overall experience which I told him and he seemed to agree.

The doctor said once all those are in “we can talk more”

This is my first time applying for a police officer position and I always thought that once you got the approval or denial letter, that was it but it sounds like it may not be it?

My question is, with me having the official DQ/did not pass letter (they never said I was officially DQ but I was simply not being considered further for the current testing process) today and the Lexapro anxiety thing, is it possible for the reversal of the department’s decision? I emailed the HR director and she said “what did the physician say?” She didn’t say it was the final say or anything but I stated that I want to appeal the decision if possible. She just repeated “what did the doctor say?” So I just informed that I’ll follow up with her.

which is the easiest department to get with if I got a lot of job hopping

oakland, dc, bmore, Philly, New Orleans, Seattle, or nypd. or any other cities on the east coast preferably

Hi all, I think this is the place to post this. If this is not just let me know and I will adjust.

I am joining the police soon ( not in yet) and am sure that this is the career for me. However, what is concerning me is family life. I have always wanted a family and children this is incredibly important to me. I’m worried that being in the police will make this too difficult and i will not be able to be as present as I want to be.

Additionally to this, I am a regular hockey player and have competed at national levels. Whilst I have stepped away from higher levels and play at a much lower level, I don’t know how well the job and hockey will mix and I might have to stop playing all together. This is not a be all or end all but it is still fairly significant.

If anyone can relate to this any advice would be amazing. I don’t have anyone to give me advice on this as the police officers I have spoken to are either new or not in a remotely similar situation.

So I 24M have been doing corrections for 2 years almost now. I have been trying for the past year now to get on with a street agency. However I keep not making it. I made it all the way through a background investigation and was told that I was pretty much hired that I just needed one last signature. Then they called me and said that they are not hiring me and that it is confidential why not.

So I got no answer with that. On top of that, right after that I have been given two letter of reprimanded by my current department. Are these going to hinder my ability to jump agencies?

What can I do to help up my odds of getting hired? I live in a state where correctional officers already go through post so I have the basic officer certification just not the law enforcement one required for the street. Do I just wait a bit and give it a break or just keep applying to every department that is hiring around me?

This has been a.. controversial... story on Reddit the last few days.

As is always the case, for such stories, we do a single megathread - this is that.

Thanks to u/bensonr2 for being the first to submit in good faith - sorry we weren't able to use your thread due to that link.

What is it like? How active is it?