Trooper visit late last night

[Walt Longmire]

I saw flashlights across the road at the neighbors. At first I figured he was looking for his dog, but then it seemed more was going on. A bit later I get a knock on my door. I look out to see an Alaska State Trooper on the porch. I go to the door and crack it open to see what he wants. I assume it wasn't about me considering they were initially looking at his place. Normally I would open an upstairs window to have a conversation like that without the door opened. Anyway, he starts asking questions about the neighbor. I tell him what I can without being too specific. He won't tell me why they are looking for him. 5 Trooper cars in the area. Well I find out this morning he was picked up for DV child abuse. I might have shared more if I knew that was what it was about.

[Fog]

I always found that I got more if I gave more, but you have to be careful with wording so you don't get sued later.

Also an art to seeming like you are giving more without saying much at all.

 

[DAKA]

[Maser]

Cops are the worst people for dealing with domestic violence due to them sucking at de-escalating a situation and only making things worse.  In a case like that, you want to have a family member help cool things down.  In general it's best to just not talk to cops PERIOD!  Any competent criminal defense attorney will tell you that.  

[kerbie18]

Child abuse can be a pretty sensitive topic. The trooper is probably worried about protecting the privacy of the juvenile victim. I'm not surprised that the trooper would be reluctant to reveal details of the case. 

[Walt Longmire]

During warmer weather, anytime I am out in front of my place, the boys want to come over and chat. They are good kids. The younger boy seems very intelligent with the comments he makes, and questions he asks. These are grade school kids. I hear the dad yell at them at the top of his voice and cuss them ruthlessly. I have never witnessed physical abuse. I would have called it in. The yelling really bothers me and I have yelled back for 'dad' to hear. "That's enough."

[kerbie18]

8 hours ago, Maser said:

Cops are the worst people for dealing with domestic violence due to them sucking at de-escalating a situation and only making things worse.  In a case like that, you want to have a family member help cool things down.  In general it's best to just not talk to cops PERIOD!  Any competent criminal defense attorney will tell you that.  

As an older senior cop, I gotta say, I'm extremely good at de-escalating a domestic situation. I've done it a thousand times. Sometimes introducing a family member into the situation is exactly what makes everything worse, but it entirely depends on the situation. No two situations are alike. 

Also, when it comes to talking to cops, use your best judgement. There are many times when talking to the police helps to resolve the situation peacefully. You can also have a limited conversation, where you only say the basic facts. There are other times where even me, as a cop myself, would choose not to speak to the police. Again, no two situations are alike. Use your best judgement. 

[Swampfox762]

4 hours ago, Walt Longmire said:

During warmer weather, anytime I am out in front of my place, the boys want to come over and chat. They are good kids. The younger boy seems very intelligent with the comments he makes, and questions he asks. These are grade school kids. I hear the dad yell at them at the top of his voice and cuss them ruthlessly. I have never witnessed physical abuse. I would have called it in. The yelling really bothers me and I have yelled back for 'dad' to hear. "That's enough."

Good for You Man!!!  

[Walt Longmire]

Looked at Vinelink and he has been released on his own recognizance. I was hoping he'd be in a while.

[Fog]

1 hour ago, kerbie18 said:

As an older senior cop, I gotta say, I'm extremely good at de-escalating a domestic situation. I've done it a thousand times. Sometimes introducing a family member into the situation is exactly what makes everything worse, but it entirely depends on the situation. No two situations are alike. 

Also, when it comes to talking to cops, use your best judgement. There are many times when talking to the police helps to resolve the situation peacefully. You can also have a limited conversation, where you only say the basic facts. There are other times where even me, as a cop myself, would choose not to speak to the police. Again, no two situations are alike. Use your best judgement. 

Amen, brother!

People have no idea how good cops are at de-escalation. Hours of training and years of on-the-job experience talking people out of all kinds of violence myself here.

A few years working patrol and most of time I knew someone was going to fight before they knew it. In many cases a strong aggressive approach would convince them not to start anything. To an outsider it might have looked like I was being too harsh, but I knew it was the best chance for everyone to avoid violence. Time and again we could replay the footage and point out exact body language we observed, but many times the cameras didn't see what we saw, but that doesn't mean it wasn't there.

 

[holyjohnson]

11 hours ago, Maser said:

Cops are the worst people for dealing with domestic violence due to them sucking at de-escalating a situation and only making things worse. 

who can you call at night that is a better option?

Law Enforcement is Trained to De-Escalate as the first option, its Literally one of the First things Taught and most updated aspect of Law Enforcement Training.

unfortunately we don`t hear about the Thousands of Successful De-Escalations Law Enforcement pulls off daily we just hear about the ones too far gone to talk down.

i mean Law Enforcement seems to have been pretty Professional in this case.

it may not be a Perfect Option, but it is the best Trained, Funded and Supported option we have.

 

 

[railfancwb]

At one time my employer had annual fund raisers which brought fair amounts of cash into an ad hoc area. So we hired off duty uniformed officers to provide security.

Chatting with them, it seemed that their least favorite call out by far was domestic violence. 

[kerbie18]

1 hour ago, holyjohnson said:

who can you call at night that is a better option?

Law Enforcement is Trained to De-Escalate as the first option, its Literally one of the First things Taught and most updated aspect of Law Enforcement Training.

unfortunately we don`t hear about the Thousands of Successful De-Escalations Law Enforcement pulls off daily we just hear about the ones too far gone to talk down.

i mean Law Enforcement seems to have been pretty Professional in this case.

it may not be a Perfect Option, but it is the best Trained, Funded and Supported option we have.

 

 

I'll never get any credit for the countless times I talked someone down. That isn't news worthy and it doesn't go with the narrative that I suck at my job, which I don't 

[Cecil56]

Not to bust balls here...and I AM a police supporter! God Bless them and I could never perform the job.

There are great cops out there, and just the opposite. (like all professions)

It just seems crazy, but I am ready for bed and not going to Google it tonight.

Read cops take maybe 800 hours training for the job  V/S 1600 hours for a beautician. Makes no sense to me. Mess up a haircut...the hair grows back or you can recolor the hair. Hard to take a bullet back for a mistake.

Again, not busting cops, and in my small local area, we have some good ones for the most part.  I just don't understand the qualifications.  Makes no sense.

 

 

 

[Swampfox762]

11 minutes ago, kerbie18 said:

I'll never get any credit for the countless times I talked someone down. That isn't news worthy and it doesn't go with the narrative that I suck at my job, which I don't 

The only person that needs to know is you man.  People like me...understand.

[kerbie18]

12 minutes ago, Cecil56 said:

Not to bust balls here...and I AM a police supporter! God Bless them and I could never perform the job.

There are great cops out there, and just the opposite. (like all professions)

It just seems crazy, but I am ready for bed and not going to Google it tonight.

Read cops take maybe 800 hours training for the job  V/S 1600 hours for a beautician. Makes no sense to me. Mess up a haircut...the hair grows back or you can recolor the hair. Hard to take a bullet back for a mistake.

Again, not busting cops, and in my small local area, we have some good ones for the most part.  I just don't understand the qualifications.  Makes no sense.

 

 

 

The training of a cop doesn't come in hours, it comes in years, on the actual street. It's the reason why we force new cops to spend time on the street after they finish the academy

[Swampfox762]

16 minutes ago, Cecil56 said:

Not to bust balls here...and I AM a police supporter! God Bless them and I could never perform the job.

There are great cops out there, and just the opposite. (like all professions)

It just seems crazy, but I am ready for bed and not going to Google it tonight.

Read cops take maybe 800 hours training for the job  V/S 1600 hours for a beautician. Makes no sense to me. Mess up a haircut...the hair grows back or you can recolor the hair. Hard to take a bullet back for a mistake.

Again, not busting cops, and in my small local area, we have some good ones for the most part.  I just don't understand the qualifications.  Makes no sense.

 

 

 

I think it's good thing ya went to bed.

[Cecil56]

32 minutes ago, Swampfox762 said:

I think it's good thing ya went to bed.

Agree and no offence meant to cops whatsoever. Was just bringing up the training differential. I'm a cop supporter and no offence intended. Apologize if you took it that way.

[railfancwb]

I’ve had Sherrif cars in my driveway several times over the years. Usually it is to tell me one of my bovine critters had been wandering along the road, and oh by the way we herded it down the driveway in front of the car.

Have always been most grateful for those visits. 

[janice6]

5 hours ago, Fog said:

Amen, brother!

People have no idea how good cops are at de-escalation. Hours of training and years of on-the-job experience talking people out of all kinds of violence myself here.

A few years working patrol and most of time I knew someone was going to fight before they knew it. In many cases a strong aggressive approach would convince them not to start anything. To an outsider it might have looked like I was being too harsh, but I knew it was the best chance for everyone to avoid violence. Time and again we could replay the footage and point out exact body language we observed, but many times the cameras didn't see what we saw, but that doesn't mean it wasn't there.

 

The key to de-escalate is to take control.  Cops are good at this.

[Fog]

1 hour ago, janice6 said:

The key to de-escalate is to take control.  Cops are good at this.

Yeah, but, the moment you think you're in control is when it all goes to ****.

 

[Maser]

9 hours ago, kerbie18 said:

As an older senior cop, I gotta say, I'm extremely good at de-escalating a domestic situation. I've done it a thousand times. Sometimes introducing a family member into the situation is exactly what makes everything worse, but it entirely depends on the situation. No two situations are alike. 

 

 

Well, I will give you that that the older cops who are not retired yet are a lot more calm and collect, but the younger cops of my generation?  They seem to always show up looking for a fight.  Hell, most of the domestic disturbance calls are most likely from nosy neighbors who think a husband and wife having a shouting match inside their own home is cause to get the police involved.  All in all I just don't believe cops are a good choice for de-escalating a domestic scene.  Besides, no matter what really happened, it's always the man that ends up getting taken to jail when cops show up.   

[Walt Longmire]

21 minutes ago, Maser said:

 

Well, I will give you that that the older cops who are not retired yet are a lot more calm and collect, but the younger cops of my generation?  They seem to always show up looking for a fight.  Hell, most of the domestic disturbance calls are most likely from nosy neighbors who think a husband and wife having a shouting match inside their own home is cause to get the police involved.  All in all I just don't believe cops are a good choice for de-escalating a domestic scene.  Besides, no matter what really happened, it's always the man that ends up getting taken to jail when cops show up.   

Many years ago my wife and I were having an argument. Her sister was staying at our house and was on the phone with her boyfriend. She tells the boyfriend we are 'fighting'. It was just an argument. Boyfriend who is miles away calls the cops and tells them I'm beating up the wife. Hours later, after we had kissed, made up, and gone to bed, the Troopers show up knocking on our door. I answer it. Cop says he heard there was a fight of some sort between us. I told him it was just an argument. He asked if there had been any violence. I said, "Do I look like I've been beat up?" He laughed, but then he said, "what about the wife?" He wanted to come in. I refused, but he did want to see her. I had her come to the door. He then wanted to talk to her outside beyond my hearing. Fine. They're out talking and then I hear someone come in. I thought, man that was quick. I turn around and here is another Trooper standing in my living room. Uninvited. I ran him out. I was at the Trooper dispatch the next day having a heated talk with his supervisor. The Trooper thought he could go anywhere he wanted without a warrant. He found out he was wrong and his supervisor agreed with me. He was lucky I didn't kick his ass. This was back in my logging days and I would have cleaned his clock. He is lucky I didn't. He should have respected my instructions to not come in the house. I wasn't the one who escalated that situation.

[Cecil56]

22 hours ago, kerbie18 said:

The training of a cop doesn't come in hours, it comes in years, on the actual street. It's the reason why we force new cops to spend time on the street after they finish the academy

You made your point and I agree. Never thought of it in that perspective. I am an idiot and apologize.

I'm training a young lady to take my position at work, so I can retire soon. I'm training her as well, "in the real world"

Just never thought of that, when I posted the cop v/s haircutter hours of training.

Once again, please accept my apology. And I do still support our police force and the tough job's they encounter!

 

[Fog]

7 minutes ago, Cecil56 said:

You made your point and I agree. Never thought of it in that perspective. I am an idiot and apologize.

I'm training a young lady to take my position at work, so I can retire soon. I'm training her as well, "in the real world"

Just never thought of that, when I posted the cop v/s haircutter hours of training.

Once again, please accept my apology. And I do still support our police force and the tough job's they encounter!

 

After academy there is the field training where a Field Training Officer is with you every step of the way. It varies but that is months long at least. Next is the probationary period where you can be fired if your penmanship is lacking.

Before any of that there is the background check, which is way more invasive than most realize, a single bounced check ten years prior will raise a red flag. Today every social media post is scanned, they talk to classmates from years prior, talk to relatives and friends, anybody they can find that says they know anything about you.

Plus the mental fitness evaluations, which are hours of paper tests, followed by the interview board, followed by a sit down with the psychologist. This process alone takes months. Many applicants go through this process more than once before they pass, as in multiple interview boards, physiologist might want another follow up meeting or want you to take another set of paper tests. 

All of that is potentially hundreds of hours on the part of the applicant, all at his or her own expense, with no guarantee of passing.

Wash out at any point with a larger agency and you can salvage some of it with a smaller department, maybe get through there and put in a few good years and try for the bigger agencies again.

If you wash out of the small department you become an armed security guard.