I watched a cop respond to that with “Wouldn’t matter if you did, sodomy isn’t a crime anymore…” and from that day forward, the world was a better place🤣
The worst is when parents use us as a scare tactic, like “oh see if you misbehave these men will take you to jail”. Maybe we shouldn’t teach kids to fear us for silly stuff like not eating vegetables, I’m sure that won’t have repercussions years from now.
I had some lady tell her toddler that I would arrest the toddler if she didn’t stop crying in Walmart. I did my best to avoid playing along with it in favor of trying to calm the toddler down. I hate being used as a fallback for shitty parenting.
I wrote about this a while ago. When you think of firefighters, you think of the field trip to the fire station in kindergarten. You remember having fun and seeing them at the carnival and getting a red plastic fire helmet from them.
When you think of the police, you think of your parents scaring you by saying the police would come take you to jail if you were bad. You remember your parents getting a speeding ticket and complaining about it nonstop, and warning you about getting one once you got your license.
This is what I think tends to lead to the repercussions you mentioned.
I’m a nurse and it’s just as bad in my field “if you misbehave they’re gonna give you a shot!” Cool, now they think they’re bad whenever they get preventative medical care.
Agreed. That was the worst ever. I always corrected that in front of the parent to the tune of, “Actually, I won’t. I’m here to help if you’re ever scared, lost, or in trouble.” Then I’d give them a sticker badge and make a positive encounter out of it.
Pissed the parents off and *hopefully* made a positive impact.
As a kid I remember being told by my dad “you should wear your seatbelt, otherwise the police will come after you”. It’s so stupid. Instead of teaching children that there’s a safety reason to why you need to wear a seatbelt, and teaching them to think about safety, you teach them that the police are some people that are out to get you, which just instils fear or hate towards to police. Luckily I am much smarter than my dad and my mom was an actual good parent, so I learned to think the right way.
You wouldn’t believe how many kids are scared to talk to us when they are the victims or a witness and then nothing gets done because we have no information. It’s sad. Kids grow up thinking crime is fine as long as you don’t get caught.
It is sad. I am not a LEO, I am a scientist, and I have also experienced a growing trend of general mistrust towards authorities, very obvious during the corona pandemic. I can imagine that this anti-establishment trend scientists encounter also affects LE, just making this divide even larger. It is sad that so many people think that authorities are just out to get them, when, in my experience, all we do is try to improve quality of life for everyone. And to do this, LE needs to enforce the laws set by the government. This is not to harm or control the masses, but to make sure as many people as possible can live safe lives. Of course, some scientists, and presumably also cops, might have nefarious motives and do not act in good faith, but this is a problem with that individual, not science or LE as a whole. All of this just ads on top of the already popular narrative that cops (and scientists) are out to get you.
Just know that the US goverment, BIA and LE have a bitter and recent history with indigenous people. There's a reasons native americans hate gun control and are hostile toward non-natives, lot of blood debts there.
Hell, throughout the 1960s up until 1981 the US goverment allowed what were essentially forced sterilizations through the Family Planning Services and Population Research Act of 1970, which subsidized sterilizations for Medicaid and Indian Health Service patients, majoirty of which are Indigenous folk. Many of my aunts cannot bear children due to operations they didn't consent to. That shit is classified as ethnic cleansing and even now, this is still a big problem in Canada. Just in 2018 over 100 indigenous women recieved coercive and forceful sterilization procedures in Saskatchewan hospitals, there's a pending lawsuit over it.
I’m not LE but a dispatcher. It makes me so upset when parents call in demanding a deputy come and scare their kid(s), “make them go to school”,etc. we have had multiple people come into the office (all one county building with the jail attached) asking to put their kid in a holding cell “for a while”.
It’s really not a great idea to force that perception of being afraid of law enforcement on your child…
I say
“you know what nine years of doing this job and I’ve never heard that”
person “really”
me “no”
Then they typically awkwardly giggle to themselves and look embarrassed.
I give a smirk and a slight chuckle then go about my business.
No reason to be a dick - plenty of us out there give people ample reason to think so and I don’t want to contribute to that.
Chances are someone is making that joke as a friendly gesture, not as an adversarial one.
My MIL was in town a couple of weeks ago i couldn’t get one of the days off, so she finally saw me in uniform. She seriously pulled that stupid line and I said “fuck off mom”😂
Stare them in the eye with an unamused Dirty Harry expression, place my hand on my weapon, then call into my radio: "Send backup. Shots fired." *unholster*
I say something like this. Oh...so you already know what I'm here to talk to you about? Now, I wait for a response, which is usually something like, "What do you need to talk to me about?" Well, you've been listed as a person of interest in a child porn case I'm investigating, and I'd like to speak with you about it.
The trick is to look as serious as possible when doing it. I know it might sound harsh, but that's why it's necessary. I guarantee that guy will never say some stupid ass shit to a cop again. You have to make it sting a little. It's a way to control a person's behavior through negative reinforcement. The more we keep smiling and letting them get away with it, the more it will happen.
You see, when a person says that, it's also a display of dominance in a passive-aggressive way. The person is "joking," but it's a way to disrespect you in public and show everyone that he's not scared of you. The funny thing is that this behavior shows he is intimidated and insecure. Not to mention, I'm not there to scare anyone anyway. That's the last thing on my mind.
Side note: I may have gotten a few deputy complaints over the years. But hey, I'm 4 years away from retirement, and I'm just getting started with things I've always wanted to tell the public.
You have a really bad perspective on this. A civilian saying that to you is not a form of disrespect. I don't know how you would even construe it that way. It's a light hearted comment. It's like telling someone that the weather is nice.
When a civilian says good morning to you is your response also "How do you know what kind of god damn day it's going to be?"
Jesus, Gunny, take a chill pill.
Inside I’m dying when I hear it. But I’m always pleasant to them and ask them how their day is going. That may be the only positive interaction or interaction period they have with the police so I do my best to leave a good impression.
Then I go to my patrol car and scream as loud as I can
I just scowl at them, if I’m feeling particularly salty/spicy/woke up and chose violence I’ll retort with ‘wow, never heard that one before chief.’
Actually, after 20 years on the job I pretty much scowl at everyone regardless of the situation.
I watched a cop respond to that with “Wouldn’t matter if you did, sodomy isn’t a crime anymore…” and from that day forward, the world was a better place🤣
Dear Chief, No one was more surprised than I when a member of the public got butt-hurt by a joke he started.
Pun intended
You'd think with all that Sodomy he'd be able to take it.
Bwahaha
Love this
💀 yep, I’m getting an IA for this saying
That’s great!
I usually draw out my service gun
Thought I was the only one. Whew what a relief
A little fake smile “ha! Are you sure?” And keep on walking.
“That’s what they all say” with a forced smile
“I’m a stripper”
“I have a different gun to show you”
“This one fires blanks”
Take my angry upvotes, all of you.
The worst is when parents use us as a scare tactic, like “oh see if you misbehave these men will take you to jail”. Maybe we shouldn’t teach kids to fear us for silly stuff like not eating vegetables, I’m sure that won’t have repercussions years from now.
"We actually only take bad parents to jail!"
🤣👍👍👍
I had some lady tell her toddler that I would arrest the toddler if she didn’t stop crying in Walmart. I did my best to avoid playing along with it in favor of trying to calm the toddler down. I hate being used as a fallback for shitty parenting.
I hate when parents do that.
I wrote about this a while ago. When you think of firefighters, you think of the field trip to the fire station in kindergarten. You remember having fun and seeing them at the carnival and getting a red plastic fire helmet from them. When you think of the police, you think of your parents scaring you by saying the police would come take you to jail if you were bad. You remember your parents getting a speeding ticket and complaining about it nonstop, and warning you about getting one once you got your license. This is what I think tends to lead to the repercussions you mentioned.
I’m a nurse and it’s just as bad in my field “if you misbehave they’re gonna give you a shot!” Cool, now they think they’re bad whenever they get preventative medical care.
Agreed. That was the worst ever. I always corrected that in front of the parent to the tune of, “Actually, I won’t. I’m here to help if you’re ever scared, lost, or in trouble.” Then I’d give them a sticker badge and make a positive encounter out of it. Pissed the parents off and *hopefully* made a positive impact.
As a kid I remember being told by my dad “you should wear your seatbelt, otherwise the police will come after you”. It’s so stupid. Instead of teaching children that there’s a safety reason to why you need to wear a seatbelt, and teaching them to think about safety, you teach them that the police are some people that are out to get you, which just instils fear or hate towards to police. Luckily I am much smarter than my dad and my mom was an actual good parent, so I learned to think the right way.
You wouldn’t believe how many kids are scared to talk to us when they are the victims or a witness and then nothing gets done because we have no information. It’s sad. Kids grow up thinking crime is fine as long as you don’t get caught.
It is sad. I am not a LEO, I am a scientist, and I have also experienced a growing trend of general mistrust towards authorities, very obvious during the corona pandemic. I can imagine that this anti-establishment trend scientists encounter also affects LE, just making this divide even larger. It is sad that so many people think that authorities are just out to get them, when, in my experience, all we do is try to improve quality of life for everyone. And to do this, LE needs to enforce the laws set by the government. This is not to harm or control the masses, but to make sure as many people as possible can live safe lives. Of course, some scientists, and presumably also cops, might have nefarious motives and do not act in good faith, but this is a problem with that individual, not science or LE as a whole. All of this just ads on top of the already popular narrative that cops (and scientists) are out to get you.
What a crock of shit. Try telling that to us Indigenous folks. We know a few things, cause we've seen a few things.
I don’t live in America. I can only speak for the country I live in.
Just know that the US goverment, BIA and LE have a bitter and recent history with indigenous people. There's a reasons native americans hate gun control and are hostile toward non-natives, lot of blood debts there. Hell, throughout the 1960s up until 1981 the US goverment allowed what were essentially forced sterilizations through the Family Planning Services and Population Research Act of 1970, which subsidized sterilizations for Medicaid and Indian Health Service patients, majoirty of which are Indigenous folk. Many of my aunts cannot bear children due to operations they didn't consent to. That shit is classified as ethnic cleansing and even now, this is still a big problem in Canada. Just in 2018 over 100 indigenous women recieved coercive and forceful sterilization procedures in Saskatchewan hospitals, there's a pending lawsuit over it.
I’m not LE but a dispatcher. It makes me so upset when parents call in demanding a deputy come and scare their kid(s), “make them go to school”,etc. we have had multiple people come into the office (all one county building with the jail attached) asking to put their kid in a holding cell “for a while”. It’s really not a great idea to force that perception of being afraid of law enforcement on your child…
Point to the person standing near them and say that’s not what they said.
I’m using that one
Polite smile fake laugh.
I try to take it for what it is, a light hearted attempt at humor by a member of the public.
Yeah, it's more embarrassing to them imo. Still better than the ubiquitous "hey do you know xyz? He's a cop"
“That’s not what I heard” without breaking stride. Gets a laugh almost every time and doesn’t invite chit chat.
“Oh… someone dropped a bag of cash. Thought it was you; I was here to return it to you. Have a good day though”
I get that at least two or three times a week. It’s crazy. I usually just smile and keep going.
I say “you know what nine years of doing this job and I’ve never heard that” person “really” me “no” Then they typically awkwardly giggle to themselves and look embarrassed.
I love this
One sarcastic HaH
I give a smirk and a slight chuckle then go about my business. No reason to be a dick - plenty of us out there give people ample reason to think so and I don’t want to contribute to that. Chances are someone is making that joke as a friendly gesture, not as an adversarial one.
"That's why your name is not on the pending warrant".
Ok Robocop
My MIL was in town a couple of weeks ago i couldn’t get one of the days off, so she finally saw me in uniform. She seriously pulled that stupid line and I said “fuck off mom”😂
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
"Are you sure? There's 'Wanted' signs for your everywhere back at the office!" As I unholster
My response was " Dam it was so much fun. You missed out on a good time!"
"Doing it is legal in this space/state/country/planet/alien zone".
Seems like every dickhead in the world uses this expression. It wasn’t funny the first time. I just ignore them.
Genuinely just smile… they feel better making a cop smile and it’s no skin off my back.
“That’s hilarious buddy.”
I hit them with my best [Tommy Lee Jones impression from The Fugitive](https://youtu.be/ZQ11Ws3tqP0?si=zMBEjYDSK5ZQZh4r)
I don’t care!!!
Yes. This was my go-to back when i was working the jail when they wanted to tell me they didn't do anything.
Stare them in the eye with an unamused Dirty Harry expression, place my hand on my weapon, then call into my radio: "Send backup. Shots fired." *unholster*
You are fine, we're not enforcing "indecency with a farm animal" today.
"Well I gotta punish *somebody* and you're the closest, so..."
Develop PC
Stare blankly at the person
Ignore and keep walking.
“ What didn’t you do?”
I used to just say, 'we can all tell you don't do anything.'
“That’s what they all say”
"Not yet"
I like to yell, “Freeze!” Then I chase ‘em in circles before a wild tickling match… right there in the middle of Starbucks.
GET ON THE FUCKING GROUND!!!!!
Eh I’m 10-7
Grin, nod the head and walk away…..
All those little boys said you did.
Believe it or not, straight to jail.
Put my food down… let out a huge GUFFAW and get back to eating.
That's not what the warrant says, put your hands behind your back.
And your mom didn't swallow so are we done talking about things that didn't happen
I thank them for their service.
🫡 thank you for your service
Whoever smelt it dealt it.
I usually just say "I know" and walk by or otherwise move on to my business.
Lmao i just say “ha” and don’t acknowledge them further
I say something like this. Oh...so you already know what I'm here to talk to you about? Now, I wait for a response, which is usually something like, "What do you need to talk to me about?" Well, you've been listed as a person of interest in a child porn case I'm investigating, and I'd like to speak with you about it. The trick is to look as serious as possible when doing it. I know it might sound harsh, but that's why it's necessary. I guarantee that guy will never say some stupid ass shit to a cop again. You have to make it sting a little. It's a way to control a person's behavior through negative reinforcement. The more we keep smiling and letting them get away with it, the more it will happen. You see, when a person says that, it's also a display of dominance in a passive-aggressive way. The person is "joking," but it's a way to disrespect you in public and show everyone that he's not scared of you. The funny thing is that this behavior shows he is intimidated and insecure. Not to mention, I'm not there to scare anyone anyway. That's the last thing on my mind. Side note: I may have gotten a few deputy complaints over the years. But hey, I'm 4 years away from retirement, and I'm just getting started with things I've always wanted to tell the public.
You have a really bad perspective on this. A civilian saying that to you is not a form of disrespect. I don't know how you would even construe it that way. It's a light hearted comment. It's like telling someone that the weather is nice. When a civilian says good morning to you is your response also "How do you know what kind of god damn day it's going to be?" Jesus, Gunny, take a chill pill.
“No one is innocent”
Inside I’m dying when I hear it. But I’m always pleasant to them and ask them how their day is going. That may be the only positive interaction or interaction period they have with the police so I do my best to leave a good impression. Then I go to my patrol car and scream as loud as I can
Just say "not yet."
“You look a lot like the guy who did, though.”
Great less paperwork.. Hi -5
"It sure smells like you did."
I just scowl at them, if I’m feeling particularly salty/spicy/woke up and chose violence I’ll retort with ‘wow, never heard that one before chief.’ Actually, after 20 years on the job I pretty much scowl at everyone regardless of the situation.
“Taser, taser, taser!”
Immediately pepper spray and tase
‘Geez, first time I’ve heard that one!’
I just ignore it
“That is SO original!” And keep going
"OK, Boomer."
In a deadpan voice " Wow, you are so clever, I've never heard that one before "