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Urban legends are a poor basis for making public policy. -
I also very much enjoyed most ride-alongs.
So long as the person had a serious interest, either as an applicant, or in doing some meaningful academic work, they were more than welcome to ride in my unit. I didn't particularly enjoy the high school student who was required to do one for his "student and the law" class. I had a good group of sergeants when I was deputy. They knew this and assigned the ride-alongs accordingly. We had a few deps who didn't care for ride-alongs and they generally didn't get any.
I also had my share of humorous experiences. In one, I had been approached by a Deputy D.A. who wanted my opinion about a case where another deputy had arrested a PCP suspect who had nearly "moon-walked" into his patrol car. She was concerned about the veracity of the report. She couldn't believe that a under-the-influence suspect would walk right in front of a patrol car, and that the deputy's pre-arrest diagnostics were so quickly performed. I invited her for a ride-along, and she accepted. We drove down the street where the questioned arrest had occurred. Not less than 100 feet from the location, an intoxicated suspect walked right in front of our unit and I had to skid to a stop. I approached the suspect, smelled PCP, quickly gave a nystagmus test and noted muscle rigidity as I cuffed him. The whole process took a few seconds. It was a perfect "carbon-copy" of the questioned arrest, both in event and location. I put the suspect in back seat, and when I got back into the driver's seat, the DDA would not make eye contact with me. She simply muttered "I'll never question this (stuff) again..."
Of course, no good deed goes unpunished. I listed the DDA as a witness to the offense. The D.A.'s office refused to prosecute citing a conflict of interest since one of their employees was a witness. The A.G.'s office declined to accept the case as being too minor.Last edited by RickD427; 03-20-2015, 10:58 AM.If you build a man a fire, you'll keep him warm for the evening. If you set a man on fire, you'll keep him warm for the rest of his life.Comment
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HA! You should have asked me back then.
So anyway I get the ride a long slip at line up, 1400 hrs. Instructions are to pick her up at her residence after line up. She probably wasn't expecting me until 1500 but line up only lasted ten minutes.
So I knock on her door. She answers wearing robe, and towel wrapped around her head. She invites me in then runs off to the bedroom to get dressed. So Im looking around her apartment and notice about 1000 pieces of lingerie neatly placed about.
She comes out dressed, and I ask what do you do for a living. She replies, Im a lingerie model and I do hair. So all night she's on me to go out with her after work. Im married though. So I tell her that we're having choir practice after work. Ill bring her but she's going to have to find a ride home.
She did and ended up dating a buddy of mine for eight months or so.Comment
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I don't believe your story. Everyone knows cops don't consider if they are married or not as a reason not to fornicate.Comment
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That's my motivation. If I mess around I'm not going to get served with divorce paperwork, she's going to act like everything is fine. She is the kind of woman who would make me a steak dinner, bang me, and then stab me in the neck in my sleep.
Her favorite saying, "I don't care where you get your appetite as long as you come home for dinner."Comment
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I'm going to get a ride along, in response to this thread. Should be interesting.
Do you think they would let a CCW holder ride along armed?
I don't even have my CCW yet. Just asking out of curiosity.Comment
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I don't foresee any agency allowing an armed ride-along. There's a lot of liability exposure since you're in their vehicles and following the directions of their personnel (you'll see that language in their waiver agreement).If you build a man a fire, you'll keep him warm for the evening. If you set a man on fire, you'll keep him warm for the rest of his life.Comment
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I've been a correctional officer for about 16 years and have gone out on tons of ride alongs with friends mostly in the community I work in. Been in some serious crap on them. Before I was hired I was riding with friends and we responded to a mutual aid call by another local agency for a riot with about 400 people from Richmond fighting in the street. We get there and are doing crowd control bs some dip **** teenager pulls a gun out and starts firing rounds off right in front of us, talk about a rush. Been to two 11-99 with shots fired (S) down, one took a round to the face and was DRT. Another was fighting a cop in the garage and tried to grab his gun, cop shot him in the gut. Pursuits were fun, was the first unit on scene to a running gun battle in Richmond. Found between 30-40 casings and one guy dead, hit in the heart, no blood, nothing, lights out. I can definitely be a fun and rewarding experience if you get to ride with someone that wants you there.Comment
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From a liability perspective, that makes a lot of sense. If I were a cop, I probably would not want my passenger armed unless we were best buds.
What are passengers generally instructed to do if things get dicey? Stay in the car and radio for help if necessary? A response above had me scratching my head, because it described the passenger footing it along side a cop after a suspect on the run.Comment
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Don't forget to also do a jail "walk" along with your local SO. Completely different experience.Comment
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It's a little situation-dependent. The textbook policy answer was that deps were expected to leave the ride-along at a safe location before knowingly rolling into a hazardous situation. There's a lot of practical problems with that one. We often don't know the situation is a hazardous one until we're already there. The other is a profound lack of "safe locations" on the way to the call.
I'd always give a really quick safety briefing before we left the station. Key points were : 1) To stay in the passenger seat until I had the chance to evaluate the call, or traffic stop, and then I'd give a hand wave to join me. 2) If anything bad happens, grab the radio microphone and speak plain English. Even if everyone speaks in code, they all understand English. 3) If anything really bad happens, the "skunk colored car" is a target, get away from it. I'd always ask my ride-alongs to know our location, and to have the phone number to the station.If you build a man a fire, you'll keep him warm for the evening. If you set a man on fire, you'll keep him warm for the rest of his life.Comment
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Ride along procedures vary by agency some let you shadow every move some have you stay in the car until everything is safe and clear. Some agency's will let the officer roll code by but not engage in a pursuit. All ride alongs I went on included a quick briefing of radio use and our unit number and always remember your location and how and when I should grab the shotgunComment
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