The attitude of an Officer

[natejack12]

I was just wondering if officers are trained to not show a whole lot of emotion/interest when people talk to them about their policing career or if its a personal preference? Things such as how long they have been an officer, time it took, academy, etc.

(I edited my previous post since it kind of came of disrespectful after re-reading it. I apologize for those who read the previous post)

Thanks for the replies.

[mdrdep]

How often do you feel comfortable telling your life story to a complete stranger?

[natejack12]

comfortable enough if people are willing to listen

[PhilipCal]

comfortable enough if people are willing to listen

Well then Nate, you're an exception to the rule. What I suspect, based on your post, is that you got a little butt hurt when the Officers you spoke with didn't automatically volunteer to share their experiences with you. Now you want to rant a little. Sorry, I really can't help you too much. You should know that cops are not a group especially given to discussing what they consider personal information. They are even less inclined to do this with a total stranger. In that case, the stranger was YOU. There is a myriad of reasons for this. It's also a little presumptious of you to opine what constitutes and doesn't constitute a "cool cop". Fact is, you don't know. You're also not too likely to find out given the method you chose.You may not choose to accept or believe what I've related to you. Should you make that choice, then you'll be the one seeking answers. I have the feeling that were you to ask the same question(s) of say, a group of truck drivers, you'd get similar responses.

[PhilipCal]

I could also start a similar thread entitled, "The Attitude of a total stranger".

[natejack12]

Yeah, I understand what you are saying now that I think about it. I guess if a total stranger came up to me and asked me things about my past I would be a little turned off as well. I guess I was just legitimately interested in hearing about it that his responses caught me off guard.

[natejack12]

Wow mdrdep I totally interpreted your post wrong. I thought you were referring to me telling my life story on here to you guys (strangers). It hit me like a brick when I realized you were referring to the officer talking to me about his life story (me being the stranger). I'm a quick one huh?!

[PhilipCal]

Yeah, I understand what you are saying now that I think about it. I guess if a total stranger came up to me and asked me things about my past I would be a little turned off as well. I guess I was just legitimately interesting in hearing about it that his responses caught me off guard.

Bingo. Glad you're beginning to understand the situation. Rather refreshing too, as soooo many posters don't even make the effort.

[pujolsfan146]

I can only speak from my experience not other officers. They try and teach us in the academy to be neutral. Calm and non emotional. I could have heard this a million times from the instructor but experience is the best teacher. I am at that point in my career, due to experience, where I am calm and show no emotions on calls.

Many civilians view that as apathetic or non caring. It ticks them off and I as well as other officers have actually received complaints from people because of this. I think people expect to tell us stories and have us hug them and cry and generally freak out on their behalves. Not going to happen.

I know a sergeant who is nicknamed Mr. Personality because of the way he carries himself. I used to think he hates everything and everybody. He is that way even in front of his officers. It took him a long time to get that way and based upon my experience he was probably one of the most caring cops around when he was first hired. In all reality he was probably burned over and over and with time he started building the brick wall.

Showing no emotion on a call is very much a self defense mechanism.

[Smackzone116]

It's not that a lot of us don't want to talk about the job, it's that were asked the same questions every day by anyone wanting to shoot the sh*t with us. Every time I go into a gas station, every time I'm waiting around at the hospital, every time I arrest someone who isn't absolutely ****ed off at me. Same questions all the time, and it's always from a complete stranger. I try to be nice, I've just answered / heard it 100 times before.

When you put on the uniform, all of a sudden people want to BS with you and be friendly. When it's off, no one cares about you. Funny how that works sometimes.

As a younger guy (25), I still get the "are you old enough to be a cop", "they let minors carry guns now" etc etc. Been doing this for 4 years, and everyone still thinks they're original.

[natejack12]

Thats a really good point Smackzone. I've never thought about it that way. So is there a way to approach an officer when you are truly interested in what they have to say without it coming off as the same old stuff? I am really interested in every officers story because I'm in the process of going through what they went through. I'm scheduled for a ride along this week, thats probably a good time to ask I would think, but maybe not. Thanks for the advice.

[careerchange#2]

Most people really don't know what they don't know. What I mean is, I've never had a person explain to me that they are interested in law enforcement and ask about the mundain stuff, like report writing, schedules, etc. Most go like this:

-"What's the worst thing you've ever seen?"
-"Ever killed anyone?"
-"Ever seen anyone killed?"
-"What's the worst call you've ever been on?"
-"What do you guys harass innocent people?"
-"Hey I've got a question about a ticket.."

That's the majority of the questions I get. Initially I humor people now I just make an effort to bore them, like talking about herding stray cows, chasing horses, washing my car, etc.

[HotSoup]

Thats a really good point Smackzone. I've never thought about it that way. So is there a way to approach an officer when you are truly interested in what they have to say without it coming off as the same old stuff? I am really interested in every officers story because I'm in the process of going through what they went through. I'm scheduled for a ride along this week, thats probably a good time to ask I would think, but maybe not. Thanks for the advice.

Ride alongs are probably the best time to speak with Officers and ask them questions...that's mostly what the interaction is for....going up to a total stranger on a traffic stop, the Circle K, or where ever else the Officer is isn't the proper time...I can only speak for myself but there will always be some suspicion on my part as to why you are asking me these questions and what their motivations is.

[Omega17632]

Smackzone nailed it...

think about it, every time you see a roofer, or plumber, or HVAC guy or bus driver or whatever, do you run up to them and ask them every detail about their job, especially when they're trying to relax for a few minutes while getting some food in them? No, noone does. But Law Enforcement is bombarded every day, every time we walk into a convenient store, gas station, coffee shop....where ever, it's never ending for us. And the stupid "Don't tase me bro" got tired before it even happened.

I'd say that 95% of us do enjoy talking with the public. But maybe we also just got done saying the exact same thing 30 minutes ago, and really just are a bit tired of it. I'm sure most of us do not mean any disrespect to the public. It just gets old.

[beachcop05]

For myself, I don't trust anyone anymore (thanks to this job), so because of that I don't like talking too much to anyone I don't know.

That, and I'm just sick of talking to people and of their stupid questions/comments...

[swat_op506]

"How many people have you shot???"

STFU!!!!