We've received a lot of media attention lately and its been pretty negative. If you have any questions I'll try to give you answers. IAmA cop in los angeles. AMAA

My mom's a cop so I know a lot about this already. One thing I noticed is that she ALWAYS sides with the police. When I talked to her about the Chavis Carter shooting, she was impressed by how determined he was to shoot himself. When I talked to her about how all 9 wounded bystanders in the empire state shootings were shot by police, she said it was their fault for living in New York.

My question is are all cops loyal to the point of insanity or will some actually admit that mistakes were made?

Many are loyal to the point of insanity just like people and politics. Thankfully there are enough of us out there who are willing to admit mistakes and learn from them.

But to be fair we're never wrong. You should know that by now.

Have you ever covered up for a fellow officer's... shall we say misbehaviour?

Personally I'd tell the jerks "if you wanted to commit crimes, you shouldn't have volunteered to hang around cops all day".

I've never covered and don't see myself ever doing so. I think if officers make it clear they won't put up with it it applies peer pressure against misbehavior

Ever drive around listening to N.W.A. just because you can?

we'll play it over the PA and then flip off gangsters. 10+hrs every day with the same partner in a car? You'll do stupid shit.

How would you arrest someone who was covered in a foul substance, like shit?

Tell a rookie to cuff him up.

Would you wait till rookie reinforcements arrived, even if they were more than 15 minutes away?

In that case i'd look to whoever called the police, hand them a dollar, and tell them. "here's your money back" and run.

I'm a defense attorney, one of the most common problems I run into is the he-said-she-said of some arrests. Video and audio recordings would negate that (to some degree), but some officers I know are reluctant to be "on" all the time. Do you think the pros of police recordings outweigh whatever cons there are? For that matter, what is the downside?

It's one of the most common problems you and I both face. Hands down the pros outweigh the cons. Hopefully in my career we'll see it happen, but I think we need way more video and audio.

The downside? I would posit that it would be criminals watching and listening to video and audio of police contacts (if it were publicly available) to figure out our tactics and how we operate. It could make our job more difficult.

As a black male, I was raised to be as distant from cops as possible (even as far as to not report (read snitch) things to the cops). Do you see this a lot in your work?

What percentage of cops would you say are "bad cops"

How do you calm yourself when dealing with criminals to not end up like the ones on the news?

I see it all the time and it sucks. Then when something happens, let's say a murder, the community will throw its hands in the air and say we don't care and we aren't doing anything to find the murderer. The fact is that we need the community to help fight crime. We can't do it alone and we can't take an us versus them mentality.

Percentage of bad cops? Depends on your definition of bad. If you're talking about crooked I'd say less than 1%. lazy? that percentage is MUCH higher.

As for calming myself that's easy. I tell myself, "Do you want to end up on the news like those guys?" Fuck no.

I have a question. When things are getting pretty heated with someone, but they haven't broken the law - do you find it difficult to disengage and think to yourself "okay, I'm getting upset here, but they haven't done anything wrong, and I need to just relax"?

It always seems like if anyone dares to question police authority, then the police respond with violence and arrests - which is often clearly an abuse of power.

Edit: And thank you for doing this AMA.

Rarely do I find it difficult to disengage, but that doesn't mean my partner has never pulled me back. We deal with assholes every day and it definitely gets to you. One of the nice things about working with a partner is that for whatever reason I may not get along with an individual so what we often do is switch roles. I'll disengage and watch my partner's back while he attempts to talk to the individual.

A lot of times they're trying to get a reaction out of you and you're just fueling the fire if you get upset. One of the best tactics to use is to not react at all and just stare at them if they're jumping up and down yelling. For whatever reason this pisses them off and provides me with satisfaction.

On the other hand, people may believe they haven't done anything and are exercising their rights by standing their ground and that is where we can have a head on collision between individuals and police action.

The average person doesn't see the levels of violence that police officers see in their daily lives. For example let's say I pull you over and you're speeding home. You've had a shit day dealing with a shit boss and to top it off your asshole babysitter let your ex-husband in and he's now watching the kids in violation of a restraining order you have on him. You've never broken the law but you are on a righteous path to deal with an emergency. For kicks we'll say you're female and your boyfriend is in the car and equally upset.

I'm patrolling and have one of those rare moments where I'm not racing from one radio call to the next and now have to do my other job which is traffic enforcement. I see you speed by and decide to conduct a traffic stop. I catch up to you, run your plate, and throw my lights on and hit the siren.

You look in the mirror and think, "are you fucking kidding me?" You jerk the wheel to the right and hit the brakes.

My partner and I are talking and we see two heads in the car, see the car violently pull over, and immediately the driver jumps out of the car. My first reaction? "Oh shit!" I'm out of my car and my hands on my gun. I'm yelling at you to get your hands up and to turn around and face away from me while you're yelling at me about something. This is when your boyfriend decides to jump out and yell, "This is bullshit!" If my partners gun isn't out by now I'm surprised.

A crowd is forming and cellphones are out. My partners requested backup over the air and as five cop cars show up and a helicopter you are dumbfounded at the waste of your taxpayer money while we throw you in handcuffs and then decide to talk to you to figure out what the hell is going on.

You're an unarmed female who isn't a gang member out to hurt anyone. In fact you have an emergency that needs to be dealt with and in fact, why aren't the police helping instead of wasting your time?? These are some of the things that could be going through your mind.

What I see is danger. As soon as you jump out of the car my initial fear is of an ambush. I'm out of my car and I'm sure my gun is out of it's holster. I now have to take control of the situation and began yelling orders to you, but you're yelling and gesturing with your hands. You're trying to talk to me but I see you as using distraction techniques as the passenger exits the vehicle. Now I'm thinking he's about to shoot and my adrenaline is pumping.

This situation could easily escalate to where the individuals are on the ground and cuffed and it's largely over miscommunication and a lot of misunderstandings.

As officers we have to take control of the situation and if you don't comply the situation escalates. There are a lot of other things we have to account for and in this example I can tell you for a fact that ambushes like this have occurred in the past where officers have been shot. In this example it isn't an ambush but we are reacting to specific facts that we have at the time.

Bottom line is this: the only thing we can do is verbalize. If an individual fails to comply with our request then we are forced to react to their actions. Having failed to gain compliance through verbalization we must now react and use force to overcome resistance or affect an arrest.

Thank you for your thoughtful comment. I have to say, I don't see the perspective all the time of how dangerous your job is - and I now see a bit more of that. Tell me this, are you able to see the side of the everyday person? We are scared of what we see of the police from the TV and the Internet. In school, we have always been taught that the police are your friend. Then, we find out that is sometimes - or even often - not the case. I hope that you are able to empathize.

I try to empathize as much as possible. One of the best things we can do as officers, I think, is to talk to people. Most of the time people interact with the police is when they are getting a ticket or stopped for committing a crime (or are suspected anway). I try to talk to people and ask them how they're doing, how the neighborhood is, and if they have any questions or concerns. Kids especially I try to wave to or talk to because even if I don't remember them because I come in contact with so many people, I know that for kids these contacts are a very big deal to them and can have an impact on their lives.

What is your funniest "It happened to me" story?

Had a call on halloween. Partner and I end up having to go through a crowd of people in a bar and we're holding our hands over our guns because we don't want someone to mistake us for having on costumes and grabbing our guns when two girls walk up behind me and one of them says, "nice costumes!" and grabs my ass.

I turned quickly and her friend goes wide-eyed and says, "Oh shit, they're real!" grabs her friend's arm and runs into the crowd. My partner nearly was crying he was laughing so hard. He called me a rookie for letting her escape.

was she hot?

yes

I have seen all the Police Academy movies. Does that make me qualified enough?

Your good in my book. I'd say you can waive your academy time and hit the streets right now. I'd pay money to see that.

What's your opinion on cannabis legalization?

legalize it. Tax it. Seriously if it were legalized you'd screw over gangsters so bad. Not to mention if a criminal is using weed he'll be too damned lazy to go outside and rob you.

How do you feel about having to enforce the current cannabis laws on the books?

I dont

Good answer. A bit disturbing, but what I would expect. Thanks for the candor.

Can you speak to this a bit more? With any law you don't personally agree with do you just detach yourself from the work and go through the motions? Are you a bigger stickler because you feel it is your duty?

We have discretion with misdemeanors and infractions. For weed I don't see the need to cite for it. There are other laws people want us to enforce such as the law against leaf blower usage in the city I LA.

Am I going to cite a laborer doing a job he was asked to do? I'm also supposed to cite whoever hired him. I won't do it and if you wanna complain about me just giving a warning then that's on you. We have bigger fish to fry.

I do detach myself on occasion though

...leaf blowers are illegal in LA? Can I ask why?

City council was bored and made things needlessly illegal

What do you think of more citizens having concealed carry? How do you react when you pull over somebody and the computer (I assume) tells you they have a concealed carry permit? Or how do you react when somebody hands you their permit? Do you automatically assume they're a good guy or a bad guy or do you just judge the immediate situation?

Secondly, how many times does it turn out that it is in fact "not my weed" and they truly don't know how it got in there?

Third, by what other name/method are quotas known as?

Thanks for the work you do out there!

I think more should carry concealed. I've never stopped a non law enforcement CCW holder but I'd lean towards assuming they know what they're doing and are one of the good guys.

"not my _____ " fill in the blank with whatever contraband and I'm sure I've heard it before. I wouldn't know if they "truly" didn't know how it got there because people lie all the time. If it's just weed I couldn't care less.

edit* Forgot to answer your last question. We don't have quotas but supervisors like to see us productive. They'll look at stats like number of calls handled, number of reports taken, number of field interviews conducted, number of citations written, number of misdemeanor arrests, number of felony arrests, how many warrant checks conducted... the list goes on.

Supervisors also like to point at the correlation between writing tickets and the decrease in traffic collisions resulting in injury or death. There is also an interesting theory that has gained traction that whenever a police car has it's red and blue emergency lights activated in a given area, there is a significant reduction in crime within a two block radius (or something like that) for the next hour or so. In high crime areas they like to have a police car assigned to drive through slowly with its emergency lights activated every hour and it has an impact on crime. If that's the case then the more citations we write, the more often police cars will be all over the area writing tickets and having their lights on and subsequently, deterring crime.

I've been told by many people that it's damn near impossible to get a Concealed permit here in LA unless you work in security or have some kind of law enforcement background. Is that true? Moving from a state where a carry permit is very easy to get, and I had one there, I'm more than a bit put off living in this city and not having it on me at all times as I'm used to.

This is true and unfortunate

Wow, this is a great IAmA.

Have you ever watched COPS? Do any of the arrests or interventions that you've done so far relate in any way to the ones in the show? (ie, do things go exactly as they do on the TV show)

I watch it for entertainment. Often I'll learn from how they conduct their investigations but usually I cringe at the tactics other departments use or have used in the past

What was your most satisfying arrest?

I arrested a murderer. Arresting rapists is pretty damn satisfying but that one muderer... he was fucking evil.

Any background on this story for those of us who don't know?

He probably can't say, id imagine it would violate some privacy policies unless it was major news.

nail. head.

Just wanted to thank you from the bottom of my heart for doing this thankless job that must be incredibly taxing on your physically and mentally.

Society without laws and those who enforce them just doesn't work and I want to thank you for making society possible with the incredibly difficult work you do. I will always respect you for what you do. You are fucking incredible.

Thanks

Is it rue that a majority of cops never once fire their weapons at a suspect? If you do shoot and kill someone what happens after? I mention it because years ago a friend of my cousins became a cop with the LAPD. After about 6 months, he and his partner get called in on a robbery. The guy is in there, pulls a gun on them, and sure enough my cousin's friend shoots and kills the guy. He was given paid leave and had to meet with a psychologist for about a month. He later became a CO.

Correct. The vast majority of officers will never fire the weapons at a suspect. Any shooting that involves an officer where there are hits results in an incredibly lengthy and thorough investigation. You are immediately pulled from field duty and until you are cleared by the psychologist and your commanding officer you don't go back into the field. Even if you don't shoot but you're witness to an officer involved shooting you'll be sent to talk to the psychologist.

How do you feel about people downloading movies, games, music ect online illegally? do you think the law should be enforced, or do you think it should more or less be left alone.

If they made it easier for people to legally download or stream I think you'd see a decrease in illegal downloads. Prosecuting downloaders seems like a waste of time.

Several years ago, I had an off-duty out of uniform cop brandish his badge and his gun dropping f-bombs as he indicated he was a cop and took a parking space from me in the Del Amo shopping mall near and around Christmas. The others in the car (not a cop car) appeared to be brother officers. If I had taken the spot, based on the reputation of the police, I am certain he would have either responded with violence and/or charged me with something as well. This was also before the advent of iPhones with video cameras and private dashboard cams etc.

How accurate was my assumption? And, am I correct in believing this kind of behavior is still pretty common in the force? (eg intimidating civilians when off-duty)

That's crazy. You realize we have priority parking right? Just kidding. He sounds like an asshole and if that ever happens again get a license plate number and file a complaint.

This is certainly uncommon behavior and should be reported.

Ooh, piggy-backing on his question. Say I were to file a complaint. What are the odds of someone actually doing something about the complaint? Use wolframite's example for and example.

Every complaint is processed and investigated. Generally it is a sergeant who investigates the claim and depending on their findings or the allegations more resources will be utilized. We have hundreds of officers including under cover officers whose only job is to investigate officers

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I'm just talking about the recent videos and controversy involving excessive use of force by officers, SWAT officers possibly selling firearms in violation of policies or laws... stuff like that that just recently has hit the news. We have gotten positive attention too. I think the removal of Occupy LA from city hall went better than in other cities.

What's the most pleasant encounter you've ever had with a lawbreaker?

That's a tough one. I've honestly met a lot of criminals that crack me up. Most are apologetic and I end up talking to them about how they grew up and what they want to do in life.

There was this one lady I pulled over for some minor traffic violation. She was incredibly beautiful and extremely nice the entire time. I gave her a citation and she signed it and thanked my partner and I for what we do and apologized for the violation. For a second I wondered if I'd just given her a bag full of cash. My partner shook his head and told me he couldn't believe I gave her a ticket. I told him to shut up.

Oh, so that was you.

Lol

I've gotten a few speeding tickets in my time, and for whatever reason, when the officer hands me the ticket and tells me to drive safe I always say thank you. I think its just a reflex.

I do it too. They aren't out there just serving tickets; they're out there dealing with criminals as well. In general, their job is to protect people. Sometimes they have to protect other people from my driving habits, just like they protect me from the driving habits of other people.

I'm sad the AMA is over. I always want to ask a police officer what they think of people who just hate any kind of authority, especially police authority. The kind of people who always think that the police are 100% of the time oppressing people.

those people suck.

Ok can I get a ruling on the "Los Angeles Left Turn"? When you don't have a left turn arrow, you have no choice but to wait for the oncoming traffic's red light to initiate. The car BEHIND that one scooting in seems to be tolerated, and if everyone's playing team ball, sometimes a THIRD car. What's your actual policy?

The law is that as long as your front tires have crossed the limit line (the solid white line) before the light has turned red, you are not in violation of running a red light.

As long as you can clear the intersection and not block it or the crosswalk, you are not in violation of gridlock.

So keep doing what you're doing. If you are in the middle of the intersection when the light was green and had to wait until the light was red, but you can clear the intersection, you're good to go.

Additional random traffic question:

In a case like this where you have two right turn lanes, can lane #2 make a right on red? Or is it just #3?

2 can turn too

What if you cross the line when the light is green but are still stuck in the intersection after the light turns red?

You're good, as long as you can clear the intersection. If the light turns red and you turn but can't help but block traffic, you're in violation of gridlock and a pain everyones ass. Gridlock is almost a $300 ticket i think.

Why do cops use such formal language when talking about their jobs, even in relatively informal contexts (like when they're trying to chat someone up or at the dinner table)? Is it a carry-over from the precision needed for police reports? E.g., you say that you "advised my supervisor of his actions".

It's almost a different language and writing reports there are certain words we use that are necessary for court. This often bleeds into our off duty life I suppose

I have a couple:

• Is there anything you've done that you ended up regretting, and might want to get off your chest? If not, I understand.

• Has there ever been a call that you thought was going to awful but turned out extremely well? And vice verse?

• Favorite doughnut (or breakfast pastry, whatever have you)? Have you ever been up to Voodoo doughnuts in Oregon?

Regret? Nothing juicy really comes up to mind. I guess I'm kinda square in that regard.

For calls I had one of a vehicle versus pedestrian. While enroute they stated it was vehicle versus child and my stomach dropped. But when we got there it was an idiot on a fixie bike who ran into a car and scrapped his leg. Why don't you get some damn brakes? Not that I was happy to see a fixie rider hurt, but I was glad a kid wasn't run over.

As for pastries I'm a fan of sugar or maple glazed. Never tried Voodoo doughnuts before.

I was in California recently and noticed tons of people driving around without license plates. Two questions about this... Do you pull people over for that? And how do you handle calling that in if you pulled them over for something else?

stop people for it all the time. Call in a description of the vehicle when we do the stop and I'll check the VIN to make sure it isn't stolen.

CA doesn't have "temp tags". They put a copy of the sales slip in a plastic envelope on the front left corner of the windshield (when facing the car) instead.

As I'm currently wayyyy out of state in a car I bought 4 weeks ago but haven't gotten the tags for yet, I'm adequately paranoid.

Edit: got my left and right mixed up

what car are you driving again?

Is it possible to go through an entire shift where nothing happens? Like no calls, no tickets, no nothing. I'm sure it's unlikely but does it ever happen?

I guess it's possible. It's never happened to me and I'd hate for that to happen. I'd be so bored.

I did a ride-along last summer with a friend stationed at the 77th Street Precinct. Apparently it was the slowest day in about 10 years. All the other cops wanted me to come by more often.

one of the busiest divisions in the city is 77th.

What do you think is the main reason officers use "Excessive Force" and how can it be stopped? Is it an officer training issue or problem with the hiring and background process?

I think one of the main reasons officers use "excessive force" is that emotions get the better of them and they are taking the actions of the suspect as a personal attack. How can that be stopped? More cameras will definitely help as officers will hopefully remember they are accountable for their actions (and will be held accountable). Ultimately it's up to us to police ourselves. We have to work harder to rein in our partners when we see them crossing that line.

I wouldn't say its a hiring and background process. I think the system we have in place is effective. Any use of force is documented and investigated by a supervisor whether or not the suspect complains. A report is generated that is then reviewed and monday morning quarterbacked to determine if the officer could have done better. This can result in anything from no action to a recommendation of termination.

Additionally the department tracks how many uses of force you have compared to the number of arrests you make. If you are above the average you are immediately flagged and a supervisor must conduct an investigation. It's a lot of paperwork and officers hate paperwork.

More training + more cameras should be effective in reducing excessive force.

On the subject of accountability, how does it make you feel like when you see a fellow officer (whether they be with your force or elsewhere) essentially get a slap on the wrist (administrative leave, taken off patrol, etc) for something they should have been punished more severely for? How does it affect the punished (or not punished, depending on how you look at it) officer's reputation among fellow officers on the force?

If they're willing to change and improve then I'm all for constructive accountability. Taking days off or being put on desk duty is seen by many as a slap on the wrist but to officers it is a big deal. This greatly reduces your chances of promotion or getting into a specialized unit where you get to do a lot of fun stuff.

Do you get to choose your own weapons, or does the department tell you what you can carry. What is the trigger weight? What are your thoughts on New York cops having to have a 12 lb trigger pull on their pistols? Have you ever gotten your vehicle stuck? Have you ever gotten lost en route to a call?

I was issued a glock 22 which is a 40 caliber glock. It comes with a factory trigger pull weight of 5.5 lbs. officers can elect to go to various schools so they can carry other guns such as the smith and Wesson 112lbs DA pull and 3lbs SA pull) or a 1911 (3lbs) pull. I think the 12 lbs pull is stupid for all the reasons any shooter will tell you. I've never gotten my vehicle stuck but gettin lost while enroute to a call has happened to me several times.

What's the worst mistake you've made while on duty?

Pinks hot dogs. Never again.

Were they bad? Did they ruin your stomach? All I ever hear is about how great pinks is, how long their lines always are...

I threw up so hard it came out of my nose.

This isn't really related to the attention the media has been giving you, but what is the scariest thing you've ever encountered?

Chasing after guys with guns. The fear of being shot, seeing your partner shot, or an innocent bystander getting shot is racing through your mind. You're tracking the suspect, broadcasting your location and what you need from responding officers. You're also thinking about what if he turns and shoots and if you'll shoot straight, will you hit him, will he go down, will you fail your partner or the community?

There are a million things to do and another million to think about. You have to act immediately and you'll be judged for those actions after a lot of second guessing.

Okay so police related question; I work security, took police foundations, and I am working on my undergraduate of psychology, but this was all in Canada. What I would like to know is does the LAPD recognise foreign credentials, and like the military if you have a university degree do you start at an "officer" level rank?

I would check joinlapd.com to see what they say because I'm not sure about the transfer of credits for an international university. I assume it'll transfer.

Having an undergraduate degree you would be ranked higher in pay scale than you peers. At the lowest level we have Police Officer I, II, and III. Each of those have I think 7 pay steps so as a new recruit you would be a police officer I at step 5 maybe while your classmate with only a HS diploma will be a police officer I at step 3.

You also can promote faster with an undergraduate degree versus just the HS diploma.

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it's too restrictive. Every store owner can legally possess a firearm to defend themselves inside their store (assuming not a convicted felon) and I wish more did so. If we had more concealed permits AND store owners were armed we would have fewer criminals roaming the streets.

I'd support a less restrictive permit process that allows citizens to arm themselves. Absolutely.

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Fuck the bullet button. It's retarded. As much as I love California and LA, I won't be surprised if I end up retiring in Vegas or somewhere else.

What were you doing on April 26 1992?

picking my nose and pulling pig tails maybe

I have a friend in another state who's a cop. I asked him "if you ever randomly pop by my house and see me smoking a joint, will you have to arrest me?" He answered, "I don't have to do anything."

Do other cops share this opinion (not specifically about marijuana, but any law)? Are there any violations that you don't cite people for?

Also, thank you very much for doing what you do. I hate it whenever people describe cops as "pigs".

Most cops have this view. We don't have to arrest you. We are supposed to arrest if a felony is committed but we can use our discretion for infractions or misdemeanors. That's of course unless someone insists on a private persons arrest. Weed I couldn't care less about and I give warnings for the vast majority of infractions or crimes I see.

I like hunting for big game, the good felony arrests. the little stuff, I don't sweat it so much.

On this note, if you have to arrest someone how long does it take to do the full process? From the point you arrest them, taking them to the station etc.

3+ hours. The amount of paperwork is retarded.

How do you feel about the Rodney king thing? Where you a cop then? And if you were, can you describe what it was like to deal with the protesters?

I wasn't. From what I've heard he's an idiot and was one at the time of the incident. I've also heard that once the jury saw the unedited version of the tape they determined the officers were acquitted, although a wikipedia check shows the later federal trial resulted in two officers being found guilty and imprisoned.

It was an excuse used by criminals, especially gang members, to act out and riot.

Do you know or suspect any crooked cops?

I haven't seen a cop act crooked in front of me.. but I think I've made it clear I'm not the guy who will put up with that crap. Nor will 99% of officers.

Most officers who are crooked act alone and are absolutely despised by the rest of us when the truth comes out. They tarnish our reputation and make our job more difficult.

How do you feel about the videos showing multiple cops abusing their powers?

everyone should see it and they should be prosecuted for what they did. Officers should watch it and know that it isn't acceptable behavior and we need to watch out for that behavior in our fellow officers.

Obama or Romney?

Obama. Don't tell anyone I said that.

How did the stereotype of cops liking donuts come about?

Maybe because doughnut/coffee shops are open early or close late and are often the only place to go to for a cup of coffee to stay awake.

Does your temper ever get in the way of you're work.

yes. thank god for partners.

Do you have a sad story that gets you every time?

child abuse calls. Kids being taken into the custody of DCFS and the rage I wish I could unleash on the abusers. Every time I wish the suspect would give me a reason to fight them they give up. Pathetic.

Hi, LA resident here myself around 90057. Just wondering, there are so many Double yellows in front of business establishments(Like where I work that is involved with a lot of cars going in and out) how often are you guys to actually pull someone over for crossing double yellow? we had cops come by after a robbery a while back and they crossed the double yellow themselves because its such a hassle (about 2 blocks before you could get a turnaround) to go the other way. I really respect you guys anyways and hopefully you stay safe, LA isn't friendly haha.

you can cross it if you're turning into a driveway. If you're making U-turns that's usually what we'll stop you for. That whole area is crowded and there is heavy traffic. One of the reasons they have the double yellow is probably because turning would impede the flow of traffic so they want you to turn at the marked intersections.

How would you deal with family breaking the law? Would you let things slide that you would otherwise have to charge people with? Would you ever charge a family member?

How would you react to these examples: your child comes home with hard drugs, a family member mercilessly beats another family member, you're in the car and your mother is driving and she runs over a group of pedestrians and she is clearly at fault?

Generally speaking I would absolutely cut family breaks I may not cut for other people. But then again I'd be merciless if I caught my family commit anything serious. I became a cop because I believe in right and wrong. I wouldn't put up with it.

Do you or any of your co-workers smoke marijuana? Also, I'm highly interested in becoming a police officer. I smoke marijuana on the reg but i Have no problem with quitting. The only thing i'm worried about is the polygraph test. I've done many many hooligan type things in my life. (im 23). My brother in law failed his. They said he was "deceptive." I think they asked him if he ever mooned someone and he said no. Do they care about your past? what drugs you've done? or what misdemeanors you've committed? Or do they just care whether you're lying or not?

Nobody I know of on the job uses weed. We are randomly piss tested and that's a stupid way of losing your job. You'd have to quit for severa years prior to joining but regular drug use would probably disqualify you.

The background investigation is supposed to be very thorough and they'll investigate any criminal activity in your past. Certainly lying is the biggest thing they're looking for but the more criminal acts you've committed in the past the less likely you'll be to get hired.

How common is racism within the LA police force? Is it as bad as what they make it out to be on TV? What is your attitude going into a mostly black or hispanic neighborhood?

I'm sure it's there. It isn't as bad as it's made out to be. TV is gonna exaggerate because that's what sells. I've worked mostly black and hispanic neighborhoods and I've worked mostly white neighborhoods and my attitude doesn't really change. Always looking for bad guys. There's more crime in non-white neighborhoods. At least in my experience.

I live in North Las Vegas and I like to think that LA and NLV are fairly similar cities. I've talked with a few gangbangers and criminals from growing up here and they all seem to say that when they're running from the police the best thing you can do on foot is hop into peoples backyards.

Does this tactic actually work well? How do officers react and respond to someone running away on foot and hopping over peoples backyard walls? Another related question: how many people are actually able to escape from the police?

Sometimes they get away but we are pretty good with cornering suspects who run. Then we bring in helicopters and k9 units and those k9s are crazy good at finding suspects.

Do you do ride-a-longs? Does your department have a civilian police academy, just to give people a taste of what you have to do?

Our department does have a ride along program. You can go to your nearest station and fill out an applications. I'm pretty sure there is a civilian police academy as well so you can get a feel for what officers do.

From another answer you made I gather Cannabis one of the many wastes of police manpower.

What others wastes of resources do you think could be easily solved so that more important things could get done?

What area is not being given enough resources? What insignificant areas are being given too much?

I am in Aus, but I imagine there are similarities between the wasted resources, also very interesting AMA!

As with any large organization there are serious wastes in manpower. The jails for instance. In the city's infinite wisdom they won't hire jailers to staff the jail and instead send relatively new police officers to the jails who are paid much more and doing a job they didn't sign up for. Not only are you wasting money with this bullshit, but these young officers, by the time they hit the streets, will have to relearn a lot of stuff and you aren't getting your moneys worth out of them for awhile.

There are also a lot of administrative jobs that do not require a police officer to do them, and yet they are staffed with officers because the city doesn't want to hire more civilians. It's stupidity.

how often do women try to offer sexual favors to get out of things?

Not often, but it's sad to see it when it happens.

If you see NYPD drive around in your LAPD hood would you throw LA gang signs to mess with them? Have you ever pulled over an off duty unmarked cop to mess with him? How do you feel about people that throw around "My so and so is in the force you can't give me a ticket!"? What are some cop pranks you guys pull on one another.

I wouldn't throw up a gang sign. Maybe a finger, just to keep up relations. The "I know so and so" bit is annoying. I'll have them call up whoever it is and if they actually do (which is rare) I'll ask where the officer works, then I'll ask why this person is throwing out their name, then I'll ask for the officers information and who their supervisor is. Not that I'm gonna call about them since they didn't really do anything. But if it really is an officer they'll hesitate to tell anyone to throw their name out there.

Pranks... putting trash in each others cars, moving the cars, saying a unit is at a location like disneyland or at the strip club if they leave their doors unlocked so we can use their computer...

How do you feel about LA being the second most populous city in the U.S. yet has the 3rd most police officers? Does it affect day to day activities being under staffed compared to cities like NY and Chicago?

We could definitely use more officers. People don't realize just how few of us there are. There are large sections of the city where at any given moment there is one police car available for any calls in that area. Out of the hundreds of thousands of people in a part of the city, you may have less than 10 officers there to respond to any crime.

This is also why we tend not to sweat the small stuff and focus on felonies and violent crimes in general. We've also been more heavy-handed in general because there aren't a lot of us out there.

Do you take your cop car home with you? is it always the same car that you drive around?

I don't but depending on your job description there are a lot of officers with take home police cars. Most officers work patrol and do not have an assigned car. We check out all of our equipment and have to carry it all to the car that we have to search for in the parking lot. Hopefully the last guy didn't leave a mess and its in working order.

what do you think when people say cops have it out against blacks and other minorities?

Show me the facts that you are using to back your claims. If they can't I'll make my own claim that people who bad mouth cops are all child molesters. If we're not using facts than my statement is just as valid.

People can think what they want, it doesn't affect how I do my job.

do you watch southland? how realistic is that?

We laugh because each episode is a shift that is action-packed. It's never that exciting, but they use actual events in Southland and its fun to watch and we'll point out how we were at the call they're describing or how a buddy of ours was involved in that and how it actually went down.