Seven hours into shift I am ready to go home. While thinking of the details of my child’s birthday party tomorrow, the call comes over the radio, “All patrols, be advised a vehicle has driven past the gate at Shafter Flatts. Be on the lookout for a dark in color SUV.” A patrol calls in that they are in the area, and I am almost thirty minutes away. Besides, I am a Traffic Collision Investigator, and there is no accident. Suddenly, I hear the same patrol that called in the area call on the radio, “I made contact; this guy is driving off…. He’s all over the road….This guy is gonna cause an accident!” On the word “accident” I turn on my emergency light and drive as fast as I can down the highway, hoping I get there before anyone gets hurt. There are many roles involved within law enforcement. I am personally interested in three specific occupations mentioned in the given course material; Police Officer or road patrol, K9, and a motorcycle patrol. I will discuss the job description, advantages, and difficulties of each occupation in this paper.
Police Officers are commonly called road patrols, or street cops. They are the “boots on the ground” in the city, the go between for citizen and criminal. Depending on the individual officer’s personality and location, there are many advantages to being a street cop. A common task while on patrol is called community policing. This enables the officer to go out in the community and talk to people, make his or her presence known to any who may be thinking of violating the law, and react swiftly to any event that happens in his or her area of responsibility. For the officer that has good personal communication skills and thrives on being the reason his or her fellow citizens are safe, this is ideal. Advantages are seldom noticed for face value because they are not always apparent. If a motorist is stopped for running a stop sign and is cited a citation, that driver will most likely ensure they stop fully at stop signs in the future. One of those stop signs they could have driven through could have caused an accident that took lives. Unknown to the officer, lives were saved because of a simple traffic citation. Other advantages are more apparent. Helping an elderly woman cross a crowded street safely can yield immediate gratification in the form of a simple thank you. When dispatched to calls, an officer has the ability to save lives on the spot, or simple ease the minds of those involved right there on scene. While most officers do not do the job for the ability to look like the “good guy”, the opportunity to instantly feel like you make a difference is always welcome. However, not all aspects of this job are positive. The major disadvantage to being a street cop is danger. While responding to a domestic disturbance, a spouse can freak out and pull a gun. While arresting an abusive husband, the battered wife may realize her livelihood is being escorted to a police car in handcuffs and stab the arresting officer in the neck. The amount of what if’s when it comes to the dangers on an officer’s job are endless. The only thing between an officer and tragedy is training and awareness, and sometimes that is just not enough. The occupation of police officer is the basis for all law enforcement; next I will be discussing K9.
As a K9 handler, you are never alone. Your dog is attached to your hip, just like your pistol. Through vigorous training a handler and his or her dog will become unstoppable partners, both willing to protect each other with their lives. As a handler, you have multiple jobs that can vary depending on the type of dog you have. The classes of dogs include personnel search, narcotics, explosive, and bite. A personnel search K9 unit will be dispatched to cases involving identification and location of persons of interest. Cases vary from missing persons to escaped prisoners. Narc K9 units commonly search for illegal drugs. During casual walking patrols, narc K9 units can pick up on the scent of drugs anywhere at any time without a permit due to the “open air” law. Narc K9 units are dispatched to schools, businesses, and also used in airports. Explosive trained dogs are essentially the same as a narc K9 unit. However, the illegal drugs are replaced with explosives and common materials used in the home made production of explosives. Since the Oklahoma city bombing, and more recently the OIF and OEF offensives, demand for explosive trained K9 units have been in high demand by the Department of Defense and Homeland Security. It is also possible for civilian K9 handlers trained in explosive detection to be contracted for use in the field in Afghanistan and Iraq. Bite dogs are dogs trained to be released on a subject. When the dog bites the subject, he or she is taught to “hold” the bite and not release until a command is given by the handler. Any of the three previous categories of K9 can also be taught to be bite dogs as well as their primary search training. Bite dogs are useful in common situations found in day to day operations of working the road. The advantages of K9 are many. A dog has senses that far surpass that of their handler, and can reach places that humans cannot. Because of these facts, dogs are used to search areas such as tunnels, parting lots, forests and almost anywhere feasible to the mind. When dispatched to a fight in progress, the simple presence of one dog and their handler can quell a situation that could have led to bloodshed. Through sweeps of schools, parking lots, businesses etc. narc and explosive trained K9 units can prevent illegal acts from occurring before anyone is hurt, or also as part of ongoing investigations. Missing children can be found faster, due to the dog’s sense of smell and hearing, when lost in large areas such as forests and deserts. One of the biggest advantages for the K9 handler, however, is companionship. The bond between dog and handler is strong, and only grows stronger through trials and tribulations. Disadvantages to pursuing a profession as a K9 handler are sometimes subtle. There are few K9 units in a Precinct, and that lead to a heavy workload for handlers. This heavy work load causes extra strain, not only on the handler, but on the dog as well. This mental and physical strain causes added stress on the handler, sometimes causing problems in judgment and rash reactions to the actions taken by the dog. The prolonged added stress on the dog itself can cause mistakes during a search, added aggression towards the handler or towards civilians, and disobedience. Besides being overstretched, specific calls can damage the psyche of the handler or the dog. A handler who has children will have a hard time handling a situation where his or her dog discovers a child thought missing, dead in the woods. Likewise, a dog that has been severely injured on a case might be shy to act as needed in a similar situation. The final occupation I will discuss it that of a motorcycle officer.
A motorcycle officer is primarily uses as traffic enforcement officers and traffic accident responders. A motorcycle officer conducts the same duties as a regular street patrol, the small size and high mobility of their vehicle aide them in the duties of traffic enforcement and traffic accident response. One of the advantages of motorcycle officers is the high mobility of motorcycles. The motorcycle officer is able to travel through traffic caused by an accident faster than a patrol vehicle could in order to respond to traffic accidents and other dispatches. Motorcycles are also easier to conceal when conducting traffic enforcement. This enables the officer to catch a driver violating the law and safely initiate a traffic stop. One of the disadvantages of operating a motorcycle as a police officer is the same as operating a motorcycle as a civilian. The smaller size of the vehicle makes it harder for some motorists to see while driving. Another disadvantage is that a motorcycle patrol is alone the majority of shift. Not every call that is dispatched will have assistance, and the officer needs to be able to handle any situation that may arise without the assistance of another patrol.
While all three of these specific occupations within law enforcement interest me, I have not settled on which one I would like to pursue. Police Officers, or street cops, have the ability to get out into the community. K9 handlers have a trustworthy companion that can greatly aide in saving lives. Motorcycle patrols can get to a scene quickly and are enabled to help where other patrols cannot. While I may not know what my specific role will be, I know that I will be protecting my community as a law enforcement officer.