Ask A Cop *The Video Series*

Semp, could you please assist in the resolving of a technical debate of terminology used here between Bigfoot1212 and myself:
CCW vs CPL

Great series Semper and what's the best way to avoid a ticket in the states if you are visiting from aboard and have been stopped?

And can you have a word with Johnny Anonymous about suits? Yours is so sharp

reply to post by semperfortis




Any reason why i can't view the videos?

Sounds pretty interesting but seems to be a problem viewing the videos.

reply to post by blupblup


They work fine for me..

I've not had anyone else have any problem..

You have to view them here, in thread however as I have them set to Private in MATS

Semper

reply to post by semperfortis
No questions here (at this time) just wanted to give kudos for the series. It's been excellent to follow, thanks for your time and energy putting it together. Happy Holidays to you.

Number 6

Thanks to all !!!



Stay tuned for more

Semper

reply to post by semperfortis




Seems to be working now.

Watched the first one anyway.

Cheers.

Dear Semper,
I do so appreciate the time you have taken here to answer
these guestions.
I also have one of my own.

Knowing that huge amounts of drugs are entering this country ,
and make their way to every town in America.
Watching the disinigration of not only our black youth,
through gang influences and the money they make on the street level,
but society in general.
Why hasn't the entire police department in every town made
it their business to stop this onslaught?
Why busting a kid on a corner is fine
yet the people that hand it to him are never found or prosecuted?

My main worry is, if they can get the mere size of drugs
into this country without any problems,
how in the world do we really think a suitcase bomb
isn't already here, to destroy us all?

Hello again, Semper!!!!! Again, just a couple of quick ones for you.

1. When travelling interstate, in a civilian sense (holidays etc), do you have ANY jurisdiction as an Officer in regards to Arresting rights, etc. Example - you have travelled to another state for a holiday, and you see a person committing a crime. Now even though you are from another State, do you have the duty/right to arrest said Civilian, even though you are from another state/area????

2. If it IS within your Duty to arrest a Civilian whilst in another State/Area, can said Civilian (if Charged and the matter is taken to Court) use the Defence of "Said Officer was out of his/her Jurisdiction, so the Arrest cannot/will not stand in this Court"????

3. Knowing from friends that are Serving Officers here in Australia, is it the same in the US in the sense that even though you are off duty, in a Legal/Technical sense, you are Technically NEVER Off Duty???? And are you required to carry your Badge/ID and Handcuffs when you are Off Duty??? Because I know from said friends that even when off Duty, they are bound by Law to carry their Badge/ID/Handcuffs.

Because I can tell you know, it must be hard for you to carry said items when wearing that Mountain Biking Gear..............

Hey, I'm back with another, more serious question. I've missed a few pages since my absence though, so if somebody's asked before, please ignore the question.

I'm not really familiar with the American system of gun licenses, but I know there's CCW-permits, and there's, at least in some states, license for open carry. My question is in regard to this.


What is your feelings in regard to open carry? Does it help or hinder the police's work, and are you for or against it? Which is, in your opinion, the more suitable one for a nation allowing people to carry guns, to permit, if either is more preferable than the other?

Thanks in advance.

[edit on 2-1-2010 by David_Reale]

Number 7



Lots more to come including Semper's Corney Cop Jokes!!!

Stay Tuned

Semper

Hi semperfortis,

Love your video series. While I may not agree with everything you say I must say you seem to be one of the better cops out there. Something we in this country are losing. It seems these days young police officers are military wannabes that like to throw their weight around. So my question to you.

Why do police these days treat every person that they interact with as if they're a baby murdering, drug peddling gangster? I am a law abiding citizen and in almost every interaction with police these days they always seem on edge or angry even. It also seems to put them off even more if you start exercising your Constitutional rights. Why is this sort of stance necessary towards the public? What happened to reading the situation and judging someones character? Is that a skill that has been lost in the modern police force?

Also, WHY do police now always reach for the taser even if it's some tiny grandmother or woman? Why cannot they just restrain them being they are twice and sometimes even three times their size?

Thank you for doing these videos and showing me there truly is good police officers still out there. You are one of my favorite members on ATS!

p.s. Looking forward to more corny cop jokes. That last one was actually pretty funny.



[edit on 5-1-2010 by av8r007]

Originally posted by bigman666
why do cops take graffiti so personally, and not see it as the largest art movement ever

Gangs communicate with graffiti, sometimes called a "placa"... "rub outs" (usually a red stripe through the moniker) are especially informative because it foreshadows who plans on shooting at who, or who has a "beef". As the Sublime song lyrics indicate, for street urchins the news "is not in the papers it's on the walls". 15 minutes of driving around and reading the walls was like catching up on current events.

Some officers like to see placas erased asap so it isn't read / seen by the locals, but thats an exercise in futility.. it only takes one gangster to see it and the message, usually a disrespectful "F-U", is already delivered... damage done.

So called "taggers" started out as wanna be artists, but have morphed into "tag bangers" or "crews" for protection.. they drew the ire of the gangs by excessively tagging in the gangsters "Barrio" (hood) marking up useful canvas.. which is disrespectful... so the gangsters would beat them down. Most taggers would rather be caught by the cops than the local thugs.

Murals or elaborate works of art, usually with religious themes, are entirely different...and usually legitimate works done with the property owners permission. Marking one of those is highly disrespectful to the locals and only the crazier kids looking to be "known" (or on a death wish) dare.

True graffiti artists are one thing, tag bangers crews and gangster placas are another.

Originally posted by av8r007
Hi semperfortis,

((snip))
I am a law abiding citizen and in almost every interaction with police these days they always seem on edge or angry even.

((snip))

You know who and what you are, to the average street cop you're just some common street dude with a story.

It's not unusual to contact dozens of people every shift, day after day, year after year.. Depending on the area, 90% are mal-attitudinal drunk, "down" or spun mumble mouth liars & deniers.. professional BSAs (bulls# artists) "running game" "in the struggle" looking for a "good hustle" while trying to avoid the po-lice... of course they represent as average law abiding Joes minding their own bid'ness.

A buddy of mine was a vet tech who, at first, had a hard time putting sick animals to sleep.. it tore him up. After awhile he could do it without a second thought, police work is much the same.. "boots" (trainees / probationers / rookies etc) start out naive believing and trusting almost everyone.. they're still under the influence of PC academy virtues that DNA (do no apply).

After being lied to and played for a fool a few dozen times the boots learn to trust no man.. not me, not you, nobody. It's nothing personal... but the cops who pull you over probably think you suck until they're shown otherwise... I'm considered a retired 'brother' and I still suck to the local PD. Which is ok, because I know their dept sucks and they couldn't shine by boots on their best day.. so we're even..lol

It's not right, it just is what it is. If an officer is excessively rude, AFTER you're done with him/her.. call the watch commander & complain. Nothing will correct a bad attitude faster than having a chunk of ass gnawed off by the HMFIC (head mofo in charge).. or worse, being assigned to a traffic car..lol

How many posts do you need before he will answer U2U's?

Semper,
Thank you for answering my guestion.
I found your answer so informative and more than
I truely expected.
I have also told you corny joke to some friends, who laughed also!

Looking forward to more.........

Oh, and how do I talk a cop out of a ticket when
I get caught speeding

You Friend,
Ex

Hi Semp,

Firstly - thank you for taking the time and effort to answer my question on Faith/God/Spirituality.
Figured as much...



Reason I asked is this:

I have a brother-inlaw who is a Police Officer.
He's one of the most honest guys you could meet...and even if he ever tries to tell a fib or exaggerate a story his face just gives it away. Easy to play Poker against...hahaha...anyway...

He had just started his shift, he and another Officer were stopped at a burger place getting some food when a call came over his radio about a person walking across a high overbridge in the city he works in.
Comms was asking if there was anyone in the area who could attend and check it out, as this overbridge was unfortunately a common place for people to leap from and commit suicide.

He radioed back that they were, and would go check it out.
Brother inlaw told this other Officer with him about the call, so they got back in their Patrol Car and raced off to check out this overbridge.

On their way theres a call over the radio - a Missing Persons - a young girl had run away from home, was quite distraught and her parents were worried about her safety. Comms puts out the description etc and asks all Officers to keep an eye out.

They get to the bridge, and sure enough theres someone on the bridge, climbing along the railing and trying to scale the safety barrier - persumably to take a dive off this bridge.
They roar up, bail out and drag this person back over to safety.

Turns out it was this missing girl.
She had had some pretty bad stuff happen to her, had run away from home with the intention of ending it all by leaping off the bridge.

Bro radios back to Comms to confirm they have the person from the bridge safe, and that its the missing girl.

Comms radios back with "What person on the bridge? Can you repeat?"
"The call about a person walking along [X] overbridge that we were attending. We've got them, its the missing girl"

Comms: "Theres been no call regarding a possible jumper on [X] overbridge?"
Bro: "What do you mean? You called for any Officer close to check it out - I responded to confirm we were and we would"
Comms: "Negative. No such query or request made"

...they get back to the station, hand the girl over to the watch-tower staff to deal with and head straight to Comms.

Comms continued to deny any such call was made. Only the Missing Persons.
The bros partner says "Yes you did Comms. [X] told me he got the call over his radio. I got it written down here in my job-log. See. He received the call, we headed over there and only got the Missing Persons enroute."

They pulled and reviewed the recorded audio at Comms - indeed no such radio call from Comms had been made about a possible jumper, only the Missing Persons.
Yet my bro swears black and blue he got that jumper call over his radio prior - his partner confirms and swears black and blue that the bro had told him, just as he said.


The bro is a bit of a cynic, bit of a skeptic...
...but he reckons that something/someone intervened to save that girl...somehow *radioed* to him about that jumper/girl and her location etc...otherwise she would have killed herself given she was mere seconds from making it over the safety barrier when they arrived.



I know you said it'd take you whole video to share some of your own experiences...but...if you have a short one you would feel like sharing, I'd love to hear it.


Cheers,
E

I have an off topic question but it's related. When talking about the military special forces we hear about the MC, the Green Berets, Seals, Rangers, etc. Can you spell out what these forces are?

Something I remembered the other day.

Do you (or the police in general) have an idea of how much of today's US economy is dependant on organised crime?

Putting it in another way, do you think that organised crime is responsible for a large enough share of the economics to shake the economy if, for some reason, organised crime would stop tomorrow?

Thanks.

I will get to everyone's questions soon..

I am in the middle of a very important trial and it is taking all of my time currently..

In answer to the U2U question... I have not received any U2U's from you so it is difficult at best to answer them.

Semper