Stupid rookie tricks

[Mack811]

Got a call to meet complainant re a suspicious person. Meeting in a parking lot of a business. I pull in and go to activate my rear flashers on the arrow stick as this is a very busy area and it is SOP. Reach over , not looking and.....hit the manual siren button instead. WOOOOWOOOOWOOOOWOOO! :o All heads turn. I just wanted to drive away. My FTO looked like he was gonna stuff me in the trunk. It sucked. This was not my regular car, and of course nothing is in the same place. (That would make too much sense.)Come on now...tell on yourselves. What did you do when you were new? :)

[Don]

Did a "roll through" at a stop sign. When my FTO called it to my attention, hit the brakes, hard. Of course, stopping in the middle of the through street, blocking traffic! Took a long time to live that one down. :o

Locked my keys (only set) in the car with it running. :rolleyes:

More than that, I'm NOT GONNA SAY! :o :o

[Hightower]

Crashed a squad about a week after FTO. I won't go into details because I still get S*** about even though it happened almost two years ago.

[SGT Dave]

Hightower,

You might as well cough up details...cops NEVER forget.

In the office with a new reserve officer lastr week, my chief told him some off duty war stories from BEFORE I was a cop (and I've been a cop since 1987)

They'll never let you live it down!

[FLLawdog]

Had just arrested a DUI. Make that a loud mouthed DUI. We were heading to the magistrate's office and I rolled, correction, DROVE straight through an obviously red light. I was doing the whole Mr. Magoo thing, just concentrating on getting this a**hole tucked into bed and went right through it. As bad as he was beforehand, he was even worse after that! He did everything from try to use that as grounds for dismissal of his charges and his immediate release to the whole "you d***heads think you're above the law" s***.

How about getting into a pursuit while in FTO. In another FTO's take home car(a very special thing with my old agency). And bottoming it out and nearly going airborne at oh, around 90mph. I still got high marks, so it must not have been that bad.

Then there's the guy I arrested who later hung himself at lockup. At least it was a good arrest!

[Jakabuto]

A few years ago, I arrested a guy for DWI/DUI, put him in the front passenger seat, and locked the door before shutting it. Forgetting that it wasn't my regular unit (the regular one was being serviced), I was locked out because I didn't have a spare key on my ring, like usual, and the drunk was locked in. Now what? I felt too stupid to call another unit down to go to the precinct to get a spare, and now it was starting to rain. The drunk was now laughing and started to try to unlock the car for me. He was cuffed behind the back and seatbelted in, so how do you thnk he was trying to do this? He started to knock his head against the armrest to hit the "unlock" button and then started to kick his legs about trying to hit it with his foot. Eventually, it worked, and I was finally able to drive him someplace warm and dry... to jail. :p

[Mack811]

Ok, Stupid rookie trick of the day.....(damn I'm glad I can maintain my sense of humor.) Arrested a guy on warrants from sister city, traffic stuff. He's been searched, photographed and printed. Very calm and cooperative. Well he has to relieve himself so I say OK I'll take you ( I must have been HUA at the time) I start to walk him out to the restroom and then realize DOH! this guy is not entitled to use our facility. So I have him turn around about half way there and walk him back to the cell block to pee in a cell. (He had never been put in a cell.) Of course everyone in the squad room had looked up when we came out of the processing area and of course the deputy chief was there. He looks at me and says "What the hell was that, dead man walking?" Glad he was laughing when he said it. :o :eek: Stooopid.

[Hightower]

Okay, heres what happened when I crashed the squad.

Turn on violator for speed, catch up to violator. Can't read the plate 'cause its dirty, try to get a little closer but still can't read it. I back off and hit the overheads. At the same time, I was reaching for the microphone but had not yet remembered exactly where it was so I looked down to find it.

At the exact time that I looked down, the violator hit her brakes to "stop for me". The biggest problem was that she damn near locked up her brakes and she forgot to pull over to the road side before stopping. Thus as I look up with the microphone in my hand, I have just enough time to hit the brakes but not stop. I effectively made a traffic stop on her vehicle and of course mine, hers was driveable but mine wasn't. :D

To this day the Chief still gives me S**T because he thinks I was typing on the MDC. I wasn't, honestly I wasn't :D .

[SGT Dave]

I call it “SGT Dave’s Theory of Rookie Relativity.” Your aptness to make a screw up is greater when you are a rookie because you know the least about the job, but you’re trying the hardest, so you’re more apt to screw up. Also, there’s the Ancient Curse of the Rookie, but that’s another thread.

I am one of the few two time winners of the annual and most coveted “Barney Fife Award.” The first time was indeed my first year (I pulled ahead of all competition in short order; no small feat, since I didn’t start till May of that year.)

Actually, none of these were my fault… The circumstances conspired against me!

*Checking the construction site of a Food Lion being built, pulled all the way into the site, weaving in and around dozers, tractors, pallets of material, stacks of wood, etc. Checked okay, was backing out and starting to turn wheel to avoid a Ford tractor and BOOOOM! Although I’d seen the tractor itself in the rear view mirror, I did not see the BOX BLADE attached thereto. I actually backed the patrol car up onto it, and it STUCK, since the bumper overrode a metal projection. BTW, don’t fool yourself into believing when your partner says “Don’t worry-this is between you and me-no one will ever find out” that this statement in any way means or implies he wont tell anyone… :rolleyes: “Dear Chief, In reference to damage to Town property… “

*Had extremely heated disturbance/fight between neighbors. Myself, my partner, and a deputy arrived simultaneously, and parked “three abreast,” blocking the private road, which was steeply uphill. The deputy went to one house, and my partner and I went to another. We handled it, and walked out and my partner said “Dave! Where’d your car go?” I looked: Deputy car, OPEN SPOT, partner’s car! Before I had time to process this or say a word, here the deputy (about 604/300 red haired deputy known affectionately as “Big Kelly” came up the sidewalk laughing, “huh,huh,huh,huh.” The car had jumped out of gear, and rolled down the hill, and into a ditch. The deputy said it was even funnier, since some of the redneck…uh, citizens were in the road mouthing off at each other, and it almost hit them, as they did not see it until the last second-they had to jump out of the way, screaming, since they though someone was behind the wheel. I had the ignition key in my hand (you can’t remove it unless it’s in “park” and made sure everyone saw this. “Dear Chief, In reference to damage to Town property… “

They still tried to say I must have left it in gear being “excited” but I knew differently. Several months later, a sergeant pulled this same car out of the impound lot and got out to close and lock the gate and heard “BOOOOOM!” The car had jumped gear, rolled across the parking lot, and avoided several “near misses” on it’s way to T-BONE the Chief’s POV! I asked the sergeant if he was “excited” and just forgot to put it in park… That went over well! We got the recall notice about a month later, on this model sometimes “rolling away, even if in park.”

*Going to another heated domestic with the same deputy (Big Kelly) who also had a reserve with him, I turned into what I thought was the residence, and THUD! I had turned to soon into the driveway and dropped the front wheel off in a deep culvert, so deep, the right rear tire was a foot off the ground! I was “addled” and got out in shock. I looked back for Big Kelly for moral support, but his car appeared empty. I started over and he AND the reserve had both doubled over in the seat laughing so hard, the car looked empty! We handled the call at the residence with my car’s azz end sticking up in the air out at the street, and then got it out by putting the reserve behind the wheel, me and Kelly (almost 600 pounds) on the rear wheel, and my partner (a good sized boy that worked his off duty days in a sawmill) on the front pushing.

(The only thing better than the creative ways we can screw something up in LE is the EVEN MORE CREATIVE ways we can fix it) :D

*Parked POV in impound lot, transferred gear to patrol car, pulled out, got out to lock gate, remembered something I left in my POV, got back into car, backed blindly, KNOWING there was nothing to hit, since I’d JUST pulled out, and BOOOOOOM! The gate had swung partially shut between the time I got back in, put it in “reverse” and started backing. “Dear Chief, In reference to damage to Town property… “

*Pulled down a narrow street, and got a hot call across town. Instead of pulling in a driveway (would have been too conventional) I began backing out the street at high speed. The windows were down, and I was talking to my partner while backing. Suddenly, I heard “Whiiiiiip!” I had NARROWLY missed a utility pole with the side mirror-so close it nicked the paint on the side mirror. Without slowing down (again, that would have made too much sense) I simply looked over at my partner and said “Damn, that was clo…” BOOOOOOOM! I had backed completely across the intersecting street and struck one solidly with the rear bumper! The power and cable lines were swinging wildly, and whipping the air. Fortunately, no damage.

Do you guys see a pattern here with me backing the patrol car????????????

This is getting too long, and I’m not nearly finished. Maybe I need to do this in chapters or volumes. :D

[ 11-14-2001: Message edited by: SGT Dave ]

[SGT Dave]

Sorry about the "wink" icons-none were intentionally inserted.

[jpa]

Once I was working at a benefit, it was like a DARE-fest or something, reps and officers from a lot of local depts were present. We did our thing and got ready to leave. I loaded the stuff we brought into my car and started to back up and BOOM!. I backed into a broken metal desk on the curb across the street from the place we had the event at. Several people watched me do this, including the chief of another dept. Good thing there was no damage, but EVERYONE had to come around and see what happened. I just threw it into drive and took off post haste. One of the detectives still won't leave me alone about this.

[Zamboni]

Made traffic stop on a jacked up truck that (gasp) didn't have mud flaps (overzealous rookie). Forgot to put car in park. Went to retrieve license, registration, etc. Hear crunching noise. Look back and see my car trying to go under the jacked up truck.

Pulled into PD parking lot. Again forgot to put car in park (whats with that anyway). Lean over to pick up my bag. Feel big crash. The car rolled into another officers personal vehicle.

Not really anything I did wrong but I still get crap over it: I'm in my first week and first day of FTO and its halloween. I pick up a DUI, my first ever DUI and arrest. Its a girl who decided her costume would be lingerie. Very loose fitting lingerie. So loose fitting in fact her top kept falling off and she would yell for me to come put her top back on from the holding cell (she was cuffed and we had no female officers). Sadly this wasn't a good thing because the girl wasn't attractive and was very overweight. I still get crap from the guys saying she was delibarately shimmying herself to make her top fall off so I could come see her naked.

[ 11-14-2001: Message edited by: Zamboni ]

[Plaso]

I am pretty sure the statute of limitations is up on the things I did, but I still won't post them!

[MadMax]

I was securing an inmate for transport to the Dr's. and was having a bit of trouble with my hinged cuffs and the D ring on the belly band. When the inmate says "here, you do it like this. Dont you watch cops?" My Sgt. overheard and came over to see what was going on. I'll never forget the look he gave me.. :eek: :eek:
HEHEHEH..
DMC

[Mack811]

Zamboni...I reckon that is why I am getting drilled to set the parking brake EVERYTIME I stop the car to get out. I can see that happening...adrenaline make a fella stoopid :) I have a stupid rookie story for the day but even my sense of humor will not stand up to it...keeping this one under wraps and claiming plausible deniability. My FTO saw it but took pity on my dumb azz and did not put it on paper.(Said he did it once back in the day.)

[Summer Rain]

LMAO @ Zamboni:

My first night driving with my Sgt. (who is also my FTO) I did my first traffic stop for running a stop sign. Cool, I put the car in park (at least this is what I thought I did), began typing in the traffic stop info when I look up and I see the car I stopped moving away from me. "Oh crap!" is my first thought. I'm thinking this dude is trying leave, then all of a sudden my Sarge is yelling "You're in reverse" :eek: Oh geeze! Thank God I was able to get it in park before doing any damage!

More recently: I was bored one night and saw this car backing up into a parking spot, I noticed he had a few lights out so I decided to run the tag. Two seconds later:

Dispatch: "Unit 19 Paul 07 (me), are you secure"

Me: "Affirmative"

Dispatch: "Unit 19 Paul 07, that registration you just ran is stolen out of Philadelphia"

Me: "Stand by"

Sarge (on side channel): "Summer Rain, where are you!??" (keep in mind this is my first situation like this so he wants to make sure I'm okay)

Me: "I'm in parking lot #2 on 100 Block of 1st Street"

Sarge (pulling up to my location): "Is that him??!! BLOCK HIM IN, BLOCK HIM IN!!"

Me: "Dispatch, can you give me the make and year of the stolen vehicle"

---Long story short, I had transposed the last two digits and the car, to say the least WAS NOT STOLEN---

I was a tad embarrassed. Oh well, that happens! :rolleyes:

[Mack811]

I hate when that happens Summer :) The ole Mackster has come to the sad realization that at the ripe old age of 40 the eyes are not what they once were. (Going Monday to get checked.)My night vision has gone to hell in a hand basket and I did not know it until I started working nights. I'm having a hard time reading DL's at night(Nevada/Virginia seem to use a.05 font or something) and dark wet streets are screwing me up.Darn near missed a parking lot entrance running code to a bar fight last night. It sucks getting old(er). FTO told me to get glasses if I need them :( Midlife crisis and this at the same time. I need some more stress in my life.

[SGT Dave]

Summer's post reminded me of an officer who had a "situaaaaaation" here on a tag:

We all know you only run tags on official business ;) but an officer was working one night, and a buddy of his pulled up and started telling him about this gorgeous girl he'd seen and had gotten her tag number, and wanted him to run it.

He did, and some of you know the rest, or one similar-

"County to 403!"

"403, go ahead."

"10-4, that vehicle is entered as a stolen vehicle, ALSO ENTERED BY ******** COUNTY WANTED IN REFERENCE TO QUESTIONING FOR HOMICIDE."

"Uuuuuuuuhhhhhhh, 10-4, I've already lost sight of it...uh, it was heading toward the Interstate."

Needless to say, he didn't do this anymore.

[Urban Jedi]

Summers' story reminded me:

Check a car, comes back stolen. We are in a marked car, and follow until more units arrive. This took about 20 minutes, with a professional commentary by me.We eventually block the car in, using a text book procedure. Beautiful. My driver jumps out the car, opens the stolen car door, and thrusts the driver over the bonnet, ready for detention. Whilst this is happening, I am desperatelytrying to make sense of the confused radio traffic. I've got our control room calling me, and traffic on the main channel is also trying to call me, interspersed with laughter.

I then see the four cars who joined us to do the stop were armed response vehicles.These guys are all big hairy a**ed veterans, with all manner of weaponry hanging off their armour. I am a fresh faced rookie with shiny new uniform. All the officers are in fits of laughter. Yes, just like Summer, I git the registration wrong. Embarrassed aint the word. My driver had words with me as well. Woops.

[shooter1201]

Here's one a guy(NOT ME!) in my department did:

Try getting a printout BOLO from the FBI plced in your mailbox...THEN having dispatch run the plate info(just because)....THEN having to explain to the Chief WHY the FBI wants to talk to that officer....

[Joseph]

I was working as a police dispatcher one year after getting injured in a wreck and they had this recuit assigned up there and they were showing him how to run names. About 3am one morning he's looking through the FBI most wanted and ran Patty Hearst's name. Talk about some phones light up real quick. Needless to say they kicked him out the academy.

[PeteBroccolo]

Originally posted by SGT Dave:
<STRONG>Summer's post reminded me of an officer who had a "situaaaaaation" here on a tag:
We all know you only run tags on official business ;) but an officer was working one night, and a buddy of his pulled up and started telling him about this gorgeous girl he'd seen and had gotten her tag number, and wanted him to run it.
He did,
"10-4, that vehicle is entered as a stolen vehicle, ALSO ENTERED BY ******** COUNTY WANTED IN REFERENCE TO QUESTIONING FOR HOMICIDE."
"Uuuuuuuuhhhhhhh, 10-4, I've already lost sight of it...uh, it was heading toward the Interstate."
Needless to say, he didn't do this anymore.</STRONG>
Of course, being the up-tight square that I am, not only is it funny that it happened to somebody else, but the "guy" could have said, "Yeah, I got info on this plate, was last seen wherever, going whichway, and being driven by whomever".
I've run vehicle plates and credit cards CORRECTLY and had them come back as STOLEN, but find out that the rental agency did not keep proper records, or else the credit card company verifier transposed the final digits, which put my fat heiny in a bad spot. The bottom line, however, was that the people with the "stolen" rental car got free use of the vehicle and the card holder had 2 months of his account written off!

[SGT Dave]

Along the lines of the bored dispatcher thread…

An adjoining county had a bored dispatcher “playing” one morning, and ran a TX inquiry for Driver’s History on George Herbert Walker Bush (while he was pres.)

Like someone else said, watching the phones light up was not pleasant. I heard through the grapevine he had his DCI Certification suspended for a brief while.

[JKT]

Shortly before I started Dispatching, someone here decided to see what would happen if he ran "Patricia Hearst".. (This was in the late 70's early 80's)

Yup, the phones went wild, and someone got reamed. Seems like the FBI had NO sense of humor at all about that at the time.

Another one while I was Dispatching: Patrol Officer calls out with a vehicle giving tag and location. As a matter of routine, I ran EVERYTHING for Wanted/Stolen and registration, because when I didn't they wanted it and vice versa.

When the returns came back, the vehicle was reported stolen. I tried for several minutes to raise the Officer on the radio, and had already started back-up units his way when he went back in service!

When I informed him of the stolen indication, there was about 30 seconds of dead air, then he started asking for back-up (already on the way) and to confirm. He also had to catch up to the car, as he had already cut it loose.

Turned out that the driver had missed a payment to the individual he bought the car from and the seller had reported it stolen!

[Niteshift]

Trying to remember a good one I did.......

In the mean time, I always liked my rookie who walked into communications on his first night and asked me which one was Roger. :rolleyes:

[SGT Dave]

And along the lines of the ancient Curse of the Rookie…

One of our local diners knew us and the chance we’d always have to “up and leave” so they automatically put our drinks in HUGE (that part was for me-I drink A LOT of tea) “Go Cups.” One of our younger guys liked LOTS of lemon (we made the joke, “want any tea with your lemons?&#8221 ;) and the waitresses got to where they’d always halve a whole lemon and squeeze both in, and then drop the lemon halves in the cup, for him. We would then get a refill before leaving, and carry the cups with us the rest of the shift.

One day the camodes start backing up in the PD, and the plumber can’t clear the lines with his best “snake.” So the public works guys have to dig through the pavement, out across the parking lot about 100 feet, and finally get to an “elbow” in the pipe and find that it is completely blocked with the usually sludge and about 20-30 rotten, sewage covered LEMON HALVES!!!!!!!!!!

After Jason admitted to it (his routine was always to carry the cup into the PD at the end of his shift and flush the lemons since “they might stink up the trash cans” ) we picked on him about it for several months, and yes, he got the “Barney Fife Award” that year! We actually sat and figured up how much it cost the town (first day plumber 8 hours, next day 6 public works employees ALL DAY, including director who made about $20 an hour, gas for back hoe, equipment they had to rent, repaving, etc.,) and if memory serves correct, it was over $3,000!

[Zamboni]

Wasn't my rookie mistake but it was result of a shooting I got in. Naturally after I shot the bad guy the whole shift shows up. A rookie, two weeks out of FTO, gets assigned crowd control and is told to keep all civilians and bystanders behind the crime scene tape. Well this guy shows up, lifts up the crime scene tape, and heads on in. The rookie screams at him to stop, the guy ignored him, so the rookie then arm barred the guy to the wall to keep him out of the crime scene. Unfortanately for the rookie the guy was the prosecuting attorney who had been called to the scene to evaluate what if any charges should be filed. We work in a small dept so the prosecutor had assumed all the cops knew him. The rook still gets crap over how he went hands on with the D.A.

[Summer Rain]

That is too bad for the rook! @ Zamboni... dang!

At least you all knew from that point, that he could handle his bizness if need be !

[TexasGlockCop]

I made a traffic stop, my patrol car was parked on the shoulder (a bit of decline away from the street) and the front wheels were cut toward the left. I made my greeting, came back, wrote my citation, gave the driver the citation and then again went back to my car. I finished my paperwork, radioed dispatch that I was 10-8 and went to drive off. I then realized that my unit had been in drive the whole time and, luckily, since I was on parked on a decline and had my wheels cut, it stayed in place. I could have just imagined being out on traffic and having my patrol unit drive off without me.

Doooohhhh!!!!!

[Pa_copgirl]

Hey you really don't have to be a rookie to lock your only set of keys in the cruiser...hehe Been there done that one....

Originally posted by Don:
<STRONG>Did a "roll through" at a stop sign. When my FTO called it to my attention, hit the brakes, hard. Of course, stopping in the middle of the through street, blocking traffic! Took a long time to live that one down. :o

Locked my keys (only set) in the car with it running. :rolleyes:

More than that, I'm NOT GONNA SAY! :o :o</STRONG>

:o :o

[Mack811]

TxGlockCop to dispatch, foot pursuit....
What is your 10-20 TGC?
100 X street, southbound (heavy breathing)
Description of suspect?
Black and white Ford Crown Victoria, unoccupied......(muttered cursing and heavy breathing) :)
NOT laughing at you brother. That is one I have not done yet...it could happen. God forbid. :D

[TexasGlockCop]

Thanks, Mack. And you go right ahead and laugh. I got a good chuckle out of it later after the "Pheeeewww." And yeah, I can see dispatch now.

Dis:"Is the vehicle refusing to stop??"
TGC:"Yeah, I guess you could say that."
Dis:"All units in the area. Be advised! Surfside unit has a vehicle refusing to stop on 100 X street southbound. All units in the area respond."
TGC:"NOOO!! That won't be neccessary!!!" :eek:

[ice_fog]

Wass filling in for the dispatcher one night, i was starting to fall asleep, some one called in for somthing, I almost jumped out of the chair cus it startled me, in my haste to answer the call, i hit the station duress button. :( next thing i know every patrol was at the station trying to figure out what was going on. :rolleyes:

[SGT Dave]

Remembered another one today-

Although not technically a "rookie" this sergeant had "The Curse" follow him throughout his career.

A sergeant with a department I was in and the Captain made the morning "biscuit run."

They left the drivethrough, and the Captain (a militant smoker, sitting on the passenger side) reached over to throw a cigarette out the window. The sergeant didn't see this, and out of habit, hit both "window" buttons on his arm rest.

The passenger window caught the tips of the middle and ring fingers of the Captain, and according to the sergeant later, the sounds he made were akin to someone "speaking in tongues" in a Pentecostal church-loud and pointed but he could pick out any actual words (even the Captain-MONTHS LATER-admitted that it hurt so badly he couldn't talk!) After he WAS able to pick out "GOD***N" and "MOTHER*****R!" and "WINDOW!" he was able to look over and put it together. Then comes the FUNNY part.

The sergeant was so scared (career flashing before his eyes and all) he began hitting all the buttons, and LOWERED ALL THE WINDOWS BUT THE ONE HOLDING THE CAPTIAN!

He finally got it down, and took his cussing, and hid from the Captain for the rest of the two day shift. His biscuit is probably still in the refrigerator at the PD, 10 years later.

[hoodcatcher]

Bent over to pick something up in offce when OC went off, hozed Cheif, FTO, secretaries and a reporter.

[RyanP]

You OC'd the chief, fto, secretaries, and a reporter! That's the funniest one I've heard yet!

I've done a lot of the other ones already. One of my routine favorites is having a person's driver's license slide off my pinch pad and down between the gadgets in the center console. This little treat is particularly delightful at night so that you can use your flashlight to dig around looking for it, but daylight offers its own variation on the humor as passers-by can share in your comic-relief.

We have one guy at my department that has a "things that made me snap" file. Everytime he screws up, which is often, a cartoon is generated and prominently displayed in the department. He then copies this and adds it to his file so that, looking back after his eventual "episode", we'll be able to know exactly which things made him snap. A favorite is when he was re-fueling at the end of shift, got a hot call for an active domestic, and took off... unfortunately he was STILL re-fueling. Dear Exxon,...

I am still a rookie and I've come to the conclusion that almost everything I screw up has already been screwed up worse in the past. Its all about how creatively you fix it. Sometimes, like the officer that filled the cruiser up with diesel, its difficult.

[SGT Dave]

Anyone else here man enough or woman enough to admit to doing body work (CAR BODY WORK) at 0400???????

If I could have "appropriated" the exact piece of trim one morning from another agency, one of my "Dear Chief" letters would not be in the file. We fixed everything else.

Life is good when you have a reserve officer who owns a body shop, AND owes you a favor. ;)

What have I seen in half a career?

Bondo will fix bullet holes in a metal desk or wall locker pretty well.

A .357 Magnum makes a small enough hole in a floormat that you can hide it.

A plastic "free" handout ink pen (look in your dash-I GUARANTEE you there's one in there) will seal a .357 Magnum sized hole through the floor board, especially if you pack it with Hubba Bubba.

A broken blue light lens don't look near as bad if turned around backwards (and looks exponentially better if put on a whole 'nuther car.)

Not much can fix four flat spotted tires from a long 0300 "bootleg" practice session.

Camode water makes walkie talkies actually work better :confused:

Rebar sticking out of a landscaping timber 8" will release all the air in your tire in less than 1 second.

Super glue works well for repairing walkie talkies left on roof of car after changing tire that all air was released from.

I'll probably think of more later-I'm tired now!

[TexasGlockCop]

I love this thread. This is starting to sound like "Stupid Human Tricks" from the Late Show. Or maybe "CYA 101".

[Mack811]

TGC...I had the Letterman bit in mind when I titled it. Thought maybe I would find some relief in knowing I was not the only one that got HUA syndrome from time to time. :) The stories are great and educational too.

[Summer Rain]

Originally posted by RyanP:
<STRONG>One of my routine favorites is having a person's driver's license slide off my pinch pad and down between the gadgets in the center console. </STRONG>

Has anyone come up with a solution for this?? My traffic stops last ten times as long when this happens. Along with the license you recover from the cracks, you get all lot of other nasty crap on your fingers too!

[Dave T]

I understand about the license - had one slip down between the dash and the windshield - simply cound not get it out (probably still there). Then I could not bring myself to issue the citation.

dave

[SGT Dave]

Hmmmmmm...

Idea for another post, maybe in Ask A Cop

[patrolgrunt]

What? I am surprised that there aren't more OC mishaps.

Ok, here are mine:

Roll up to a crowd outside a bar. Two guys were exchanging heated words, so my partner (a sergeant about twenty senior to myself) tells 'em to go home before they end up in jail. Of course, one of the schmucks still tried to do his best imitation of Joe Louis on the other guy right in front of us. So I punch him in the chest with my left hand and as he stumbles away from the other guy, I blast him with OC (2,000,000 SHU, aerosol cone) from just over an arm's lenght. Bad decision - the guy went immediately down, but I caught a little OC and the sarge got some too! Sarge later told me to issue a loud verbal warning in advance the next time - not to the suspect but to him! On the other hand... didn't need any spice in my food that night.

Second time, another partner. We are clearing up a brawl outside of a bar with about 20+ ppl involved. We've already got one guy in the back of the patrol when I see some sonofayouknowwhat twist another guy to the ground. So I sprint over, pull OC from my duty belt and issue the following order "Police, clear off!" Nobody complies, of course, so I grab the guy by the head and pull him back. He tries to hit me, so I push him off and punch out the OC. Straight into the wind! I get a full facial blast (lucky me, I didn't inhale) and three other people get some too. I think but I am not quite sure that the actual target got hit by the spray. So I just push the guy into a snowbank and run like hell to the now empty bar to wash my eyes. I almost ended up sued by one of the "innocent" people who got accidentally exposed to OC and of course the SOB I sprayed escaped while I was blind!

I just can't wait to see what happens when I deploy the ASP for the first time...

[Don]

Originally posted by Summer Rain:
<STRONG>

Has anyone come up with a solution for this?? </STRONG>

Easy, use a paper clip on your cite book.

[Don]

I've told this one before here, but if you have been around the forum a long time, just bear with me here.

I was working with a rookie reserve deputy. We did a late night check of the local high school, where we found it pretty much completely unlocked. We had been talking about building searches, using quiet approaches, staying in shadows, using the ambient light to OUR advantage etc etc etc.

He walks up to the girls restroom door, and before entering it, knocks on the door! :rolleyes:

[Magicop]

Here's one that happened to my son, not to me. We're on the same department in a small, rural town, and we'd been getting a lot of complaints about kids on dirt bikes playing chicken with drivers on the back roads.

This was just a few days after being released by his FTO to work alone, and he was on a traffic stop on Main Street (what town doesn't have a road called Main Street?). As he was finishing up, he thought he heard a couple of dirt bikes off in the distance. He drove to where the sounds were coming from, expecting to find a couple of the local kids racing or doing other stupid stuff. Instead, he learned, in a most embarassing way, that from a distance, dirt bikes and a herd of cattle have a similar sound :D

[Magicop]

Time to tell one on me...and I wasn't even a rookie when this happened!

Having been ordered to crack down on teenagers driving recklessly in town (a huge number of complaints were received), I watched a Blazer tailgate a pickup truck, then the pickup chirped its tires at an intersection. I knew who the drivers were, having had the "pleasure" of interacting with them in the past. I had been a block away when this happened, and by the time I caught up to them (knowing who they were and where they lived, I saw no need to race after them with lights and siren blazing), they had parked and were standing between the vehicles.

I asked for their documents, which they handed me, and I wrote one guy for squealing tires and the other for following too close. They just stood there not saying anything while I wrote the tickets. My son (also a cop) was riding with me and he got me the license plate of the first vehicle, which I couldn't read because I was behind the second vehicle (this matters, as you'll soon see).

After writing the citations and giving them to the drivers, the driver of the second vehicle asked why I wrote him for following too close when he was actually being towed by the pickup truck!

Yup! They had taken the tow chain off by the time I pulled up, and they never said a word about being towed while I wrote the tickets. Talk about playing the game! And my son never saw the tow chain, which was lying on the ground, when he went to look at the pickup's license plate!

I immediately headed to the office to void the tickets. That was over three years ago, but of course, nobody lets me forget it. :o