to those who work in a city

[Killswitch]

just wanted to hear from guys who work in a city. u see i work in a small town and deal with a majority of bs calls. its rare that i draw my gun use force get some drugs off the street or even get in a foot chase . most of my time is answering first aid calls and taking reports for stupid criminal mischief that will never be solved. i just want to know what the work (reports call volume arrests) is like in the city so i have something to look forward in my future

[Smurfette_76]

Don't be too down on yourself. Use the time you have to sharpen your people skills. I started out at a small small small department where I was one of two Officers working the road. My current PD has 100 sworn and we stay fairly busy. Yes, I still answer those BS calls and believe me you, I learned a LOT of people skills with my first job. It's the same thing now as it was then...a bunch of BS that you'd think most people could/should solve themselves, with some fast action, high adreline calls thrown in the middle.

Are you applying to other departments?

[EMVAMPYRE]

"98% boring, 2% sheer terror" is the way it is whether you are in the city or in the country. Being in the city just means 10 times the BS, the calls are just closer together.

It doesn't take long to get tired of the "ghetto gunslinger" thing. Be careful for what you wish for, you just might get it...

[Killswitch]

i havent applied yet cause i still like you said want to shapren my skills begore i decide where i would like to go

[NorwichGrad05]

"98% boring, 2% sheer terror" is the way it is whether you are in the city or in the country. Being in the city just means 10 times the BS, the calls are just closer together.

It doesn't take long to get tired of the "ghetto gunslinger" thing. Be careful for what you wish for, you just might get it...


He is so right!! The "hood hero" wears off very fast and you will just grow tiresome of dealing with B.S. baby mamma calls or similar...you may do about 5 gun run calls a night..all B.S. the only way you know they're real is if you got numerous calls on the same job..you don't need time to refine your skills..because the city is a whole different beast..if you want to be a city cop, just jump into it..hopefully some guys will school ya along the way..

[stealth600]

I work for a fairly small department compared to some of the agencies surrounding us. I would say our type of work volume can vary at any given time; from a lot of serious calls and minimum b.s. to a lot of b.s. calls and minimum major calls.

I would agree with EMVAMPYRE when he said be careful of what you wish for as you may get it. I suggest that you never lose focus on what your job entails as a person can be just as quick to pull a gun on you in a city of 1,000 as they will in a city of 1,000,000. If you are looking to "up-grade" to a place with more activity, look into a department on the outskirts of a major city. Then you may still have your b.s. calls but you will also have more interaction with the elements from the inner city as they also got out to look for their crime.

I've worked with several people who left big departments in big cities because they were tired of being a "ghetto gunslinger". I've been told, it was to the point that they would take the time to finish their lunch before responding to an armed robbery as they were so common.

[So Fla Cop]

just wanted to hear from guys who work in a city. u see i work in a small town and deal with a majority of bs calls. its rare that i draw my gun use force get some drugs off the street or even get in a foot chase . most of my time is answering first aid calls and taking reports for stupid criminal mischief that will never be solved. i just want to know what the work (reports call volume arrests) is like in the city so i have something to look forward in my future


Stay where you are.... Be thankful for what you have.....do you now how many guys want to bail from the BS? At least where you are you are respected and wanted. I will admit, it is fun at first, but, go to any big city and the potential for you to enrich a scumbag lawyer, Fat Al or Jesse type, or other undeserving POS (at your expense) goes up greatly. Just look at NYC. The pandering PC is taking photo ops with Fat Al. Need I say more?Stay safe.

[So Fla Cop]

I've been told, it was to the point that they would take the time to finish their lunch before responding to an armed robbery as they were so common.

and rightfully so...... the cops are the perp, and the perps are the victms....prosecutors won't prosecute (except cops) and victims won't cooperate.

We had two homicides (shootings) in the last week...not one 911 call....not one witness.

[Frank Booth]

There are plenty of cities where you can take a gun a night off the streets and easily make more than one felony arrest per night if you want to work that hard. You may not be able to do it while working a uniform car going from run to run, but in the big city it shouldn't take you too long to get into a "booster" car if you're fairly squared away. Working plain clothes in a plain car, picking and choosing what runs to respond to and having a lot more time to spend on proactive stuff than the guy taking reports for most of the shift.

Make no mistake about it, working the big city ghetto is a LOT different than working a middle class suburb. If you want to do a lot of big city ghetto policework, you've got to work in the big city ghetto.

You may do some of the same TYPE of stuff they do in the ghetto as a small town middle class suburban cop, but chances are, you'll do a lot LESS of it.

I know very few guys who were able to handle 25 years in that kind of environment, and most of the ones who did, didn't live very long after retirement. That kind of lifestyle and stress takes its toll whether it's with your family life, health, criminal history, etc....

[Killswitch]

thanks for the advice so until the time comes where i decide to make that jump what can i do to shine in my dept. keep in mind that i don't have people dealing ont he street and most people i work with think that writing a bunch of tickets makes you a great cop

[Frank Booth]

You won't NEED to shine to get hired by a city that chews up cops and spits them out 25 years later!! I'd just try to stay out of trouble, don't get too many use of forces from trying too hard and don't get sued too much. If you're going to do it, I'd do it while you're young in case you want leave after you've had your fill and still have time to retire from somewhere else before you're 60.

As long as you don't screw up, you'll be marketable. No need to be supercop. You're better off learning a second language or computer programming.