How do you get over emontions?

[tm1618]

I am not a police officer yet, but I am in the process of applying, but I was wondering, how do you go about handling your emotions when you are first beginning. What I mean is when you are arresting someone or giving someone a ticket, how do you get over the "I feel bad for them" notion. Granted I have not had any experience dealing with criminals so I may feel differently about them when I am an LEO. Thanks for any comments

[jeffIL]

Its not personal. Thats my job. Sometimes when I write someone a ticket I feel bad for them, but they knew the rules, choose to break them, and I caught them. Thats what we do.

[AKA=Cruz]

It’s like a child if you let them getaway with something, the behavior can get worse. It’s all about consequences of the action; not punishment that’s the courts job.

[missPOinOHIO]

Once you get one, or two, or two thousand that treat you like crap.. you'll get ****ed off and realize that you're doing your job.. and they're doing a wonderful job of keeping you in business. You need to develop a thick skin. People will say things to you that you never believed people would say to another person.

Oh, and get used to it. It's YOUR fault they're driving under suspension, have warrants, beat their wives/husbands.. etc. Not to mention everyone knows the law and you are ALWAYS wrong and violating their rights. Ha.

[HailStorm]

Related question, how do you manage to not be a smart *** when the violator is?
How do you keep your cool, and not become no better than them?

[RedRaider911]

Related question, how do you manage to not be a smart *** when the violator is?
How do you keep your cool, and not become no better than them?

who said that you aren't allowed to be a smartass? Seriously, some times you have to pop back with a smart comment not to lose your cool. Plus if they are drunk it can be pretty funny.

[1042 Trooper]

Cops lead the nation in ulcers, headaches, tension, suicide, domestic violence, excessive drinking, and on and on and on

Now you know why.

As a cop, you can either become of of those, or, stand tall and remain something good and something of standing in your community. Think of that pillar people are always saying you are, "A Pillar of the Community." Be that pillar, holding up what is good and wholesome, regadless of winter blizzards, rain, hail, wind, earthquakes, or floods. Hold tight to what you stand for and the knowledge that being strong when your emotions want to overtake you, is EXACTLY why you were screened and hired.

As a cop, you have what it takes to remain stalwart in the face of bad things.

[AKA=Cruz]

Related question, how do you manage to not be a smart *** when the violator is?
How do you keep your cool, and not become no better than them?

I agree with RedRaider911, I will pop back and get **** some times. Its call POP (****ing Off the Police). Working for a county, I will give an attitude check in a heart beat due to that a backup is 3-10 minutes away . This will give them a warning that I'm not a Playstation and there to play any games.
Do I stay mad, never have I gone home with my peace of mind and a smile to curl up in my nice bed.

[Traffic_82]

If the circumstances are right, you can get away with being a smartass.

I felt sorry for people for about a month. That's when I started to see the cycles repeat themselves, and I quit caring :D.

You'll hit a point to where you don't take anything personal at work.

[BSO6531]

Related question, how do you manage to not be a smart *** when the violator is?
How do you keep your cool, and not become no better than them?


A guaranteed way to keep from a valid complaint but watch them lose their top, is the more angry they get, the nicer you get....it works every time, you kill them with kindness, and it drives them over the edge....

[MOGSOT]

Feelings, cops don't have feelings. People think we're robots, and that they can say or do what ever they want to us. We either ignore the comments or make them eat the comments. I try not to get ****ed off but sometimes my inner deamons take over.

As far as feeling sorry for the people I write I just treat everyone the same way until they dictate otherwise. I write every hazardous violator with the exception of P.C.(professional courtesy) I learned quickly that whatever problems they have in their life aren't my problem. No breaks!

[BPD_126]

Job Security!!

[dogma vs karma]

i say you just weep on scene.
honestly, if you have to ask about it, i don't think this job is for you.

[t150vsuptpr]

I am not a police officer yet, but I am in the process of applying, but I was wondering, how do you go about handling your emotions when you are first beginning. What I mean is when you are arresting someone or giving someone a ticket, how do you get over the "I feel bad for them" notion. Granted I have not had any experience dealing with criminals so I may feel differently about them when I am an LEO. Thanks for any comments

Criminals?

Most of the people you will deal with in your career are just every day "folk" of all walks of life.

The way I looked at it was simple.

"I paid all my tickets, I lived with no driver's license that time it was suspended, I found a new insurance company when It was cancelled that other time, I learned valuable lessons from these things ... and they can too".

I didn't do serious stuff. I don't feel sorry for those whom do when they get caught. You won't either soon enough.



"Adversity breeds carachter." me

[LE4Life]

I took this job to help others and to protect others as well as my self from danger. Danger comes in many different forms, from the guy who is cruising at 10 over to the lady with a suspended license for insurance. Just think, your brothers, sisters, mom's, dad's, relatives, co-workers, friends and YOU drive these roads every day. I for one dont want to be in contact with either of the above people as well as think that my family and friends might do the same. My job allows me to repremand people for actions that are not becoming of proper individuals, individuals that no doubt will eventually ruin someone you care abouts future due to their stupid actions if not caught.

[W2204]

You get over writing people tickets real quick after you work a few hundred traffic accidents that could have been avoided if only the driver would have pulled their head out!!

[tm1618]

I just went on my third ride-along and this time it was on the graveyard shift....much much different than the other shifts. The officer I rode with arrested two people, pulled a few over, we dealt with drunk people, and we responded to a suicide where a guy had hung himself (a little difficult to deal, but I felt no emotions, I just didn't want to go eat right away). I guess it was goods that I saw it so I know that I can deal with at least that. I just wasn't ready to get over there and start touching the body. So that was my weekend!

[Phlip]

To the first question: Empathy without sympathy. You can draw that line.

To the second question about losing the cool:

I worked for years in customer service and technical service before getting into this line of work. I remember being 18 and working at Best Buy, and the 2,000 people that would be lined up at 5am on the day after Thanksgiving to get that computer special you've been advertising for a week. And you're standing there with 4 other people who like you all know damn well you only have 2 of them to sell, and that you WILL have 1,998 EXTREMELY upset individuals.

My point is, anyone who has ever worked successfully in customer service, where the "Customer is always right" and your one purpose in life is to make them happy, no matter how mad they are, makes this job cake.

You can scream at me all day long, and I'm happy. You know why? Because unlike customer service, I don't have to change a thing, I don't have to do a thing, and I can just sit there and smile on the inside having that knowledge.

It's like customer service, but I don't have to bow before them when they start yelling.

[dogcop]

If you think writing tickets might be "emotional", wait until you get a child splattered by a car...or a rape....or the hundreds of more serious things than a traffic ticket. From day one and now going on 9 years, giving a traffic ticket has never bothered me. Also, to be VERY honest, no case has ever really bothered me. I've had dead bloated bodies, I've been on murders, I've seen children sexually abused and also mangled from accidents....but, two things, it is MY JOB to handle these cases, also, I do no one any good if I get myself wrapped up emotionally in a situation. The more difficult cases don't bother me, to be perfectly BLUNT, this is why... I am safe, I have no more holes in my body, my co-workers are safe and sound, and nothing bad happened to a friend or family member. From there the people you are helping are really just strangers to you. It is not to say that I can't empasize with their situation and treat them with the utmost of professionalism, compassion and care, it just means there is no reason for it to be "brought home" with me.