In this episode Steve answers listener’s questions and also shares a funny/disgusting story from a crime.
Questions you want answered in an upcoming episode? Shoot an email to thingspolicesee@gmail.com
this is things police see first anaccounts with your host Steve gold heyguys welcome to the podcast in thisepisode I am flying soloonce again thankfully I had a few morequestions written into the show that Iwill answer and through answering themI’ll definitely delve into some of myexperiences as a police officerthank you everyone who’s been who’s beenreading the show and subscribing verycool of you I really appreciate itthat’s the biggest thing you can do issubscribe hit subscribe on iTunes to tryto give the podcast a little bit of aboost that is appreciated Thank You sirsand ma’amwithout further ado me answeringquestions that were written to me usingmy brain to answer questions firstquestion from Sean Anderson he wrote Ilove the show keep up the good work Ididn’t have to read that part but Iwanted to I’ve been doing security inCanada for the last 12 years and I’mcurious on how police officers feelabout security and loss preventionofficers I’m sure some officers havestories about times that security hasactually been useful or have they gottenthe way I would tell you Sean thatsecurity can be hugely useful I actuallydo a security gig about once a week at afancy-pants store in Beverly Hills andyou know the best thing you can do assecurity is is be a really good witnessknow the laws of your state and knowwhat’s expected of you from your storeknow your stores policies because Iguarantee you the security policies youhave kind of dovetail into how youshould interact with the police sobasically when the police show up it’skind of a beautiful thing because you’reoff the hook there your liability isgone there if it’s a threat scenariothey’re taking over the best thing youcan do is have really good informationfor them because you know the propertyyou know all the buildings you know thelayout you can you can really be a hugehelp that way kind of giving them aheads up on how the place is laid out soI would say don’t get your don’toverstep don’t know your limits in thisbecause I do have a story about aa guy that I went to police academy withand he was a part-time bouncer outsideBoston somewhere and at this at thisnightclub they actually wore handcuffsand they had you know like um friskinggloves and they were kind of a prettyhardcore security force and inMassachusetts that’s all very it’s it’svery dicey it’s very grey on what onwhat security can really do you’re kindof you’re on your own you’re kind of disacting on your own you’re acting as anagent of the owner you know so mm excusemeso basically what happened was they hadthis irate person they were out ofcontrol and this guy who was in theAcademy with mehe ended up pinning this person downwith another person and handcuffing themuntil a police got there well as itturned out all the charges were droppedand because there was really no criminalcharges against a person that person wasprobably advised by their lawyer to goahead and sue my Academy classmatebecause he put handcuffs on them sobasically he was charged with kidnappingand assault the handcuffs so it was abig deal when he went to get a job to bea police officer that’s something he hadto talk about every time cuz that’s Imean kidnapping on your on your on yourbop that looks really bad so that’s athat’s a good example on why you shouldyou should really know your limitationswhen you’re doing security and that’show I feel like I’m doing security ifthe cops show up I’m more than happy tobe a good witness and let them take overfrom there next question is from Alexand he asks is there an age limit tobecome a police officer I’m in my early30s and thinking about a career changebut I’m worried I’m too old to start atthe bottom and be taken seriously isthis common what do you recommend peopleapply by oh about like age so I’llanswer this thirty is not too old at allthirty actually is a great age to becomea police officer when I was in reserve aplea saket reserve Police Academy in2000 they they were actually the stateof Massachusetts was actually playingaroundidea could they change the minimum ageto be a police officer to like 27because they felt like 27 was an agewhere people were really entering theirmature years but as it turns out youcan’t do that because if you make peoplethat wait that long to start theircareers you’re gonna lose a lot of goodcandidates to just other industry theyjust they just won’t be around to becomepolice officers so they got rid of thatso in Massachusetts you have to be 21 tobe a police officer in California so 21in Massachusetts with a GED or a highschool diploma in California you need tobe 18 and have a GED or high schooldiploma so California is actually alittle more lenient on the aged side nowagencies can make their own criterialike in Massachusetts the agency I workfor you had to have a four-year degreeto get hired so in math they let themplay around in California it’s a poststate so they kind of they kind of haveto stick to those rules so 18 GED andyou can be a cop in California 30 yearsold is a great age you’re a little bitmore maturethey’ll the only downside to it isthey’ll probably they’ll probably try toforce you into being like a squad leaderor some kind of leader in the classbecause you’re gonna be like obviouslyolder than most of the people whichisn’t a terrible thing but it you knowit’s a little added pressure I would saymy biggest piece of advice to you wouldbe if you’re going to apply I would beif your humble and physically fit you’llbe fine like they might bust your chopsa lot in the beginning because of yourage they might maybe they won’t but theycould which is no big deal it’s just agame you just keep your eyes forward yessir no sir yes ma’am no ma’amit’s it’s not that it’s not that big adeal and be physically fit becauseyou’re gonna have tests to pass you’regonna have to learn how to March you’regonna have to learn all this stuff allthese patrol procedures are gonna be inyour mind the last thing you need is anextra thing to worry about and if you gointo a police academy and you’re not intip-top shape that will definitely bethe thing that is freaking you out so Iwould say just makedon’t worry about strength all that muchI would I would concentrate on cardiolike running ability is huge inflexibility just make sure you can runand you’re flexible so you don’t getinjured that would be my biggest pieceof advice to you if you’re going in andjust to reiterate 30s a great edge it’snot too late they would be more thanhappy to have yousecond question my favorite policemovies our training day and end of watchhave you seen either of these are theyaccurate and realistic I got thisquestion a few weeks ago and I totallyintended to watch end of watch but Ijust didn’t I didn’t have time so I’venot seen that movieI heard it’s it’s a pretty fun movie towatch pretty cooltraining day I’ve seen and I think it’sa fantastic movie but as far as beingrealistic they did not really it’s it’snot really that realistic I mean Alonsoor Alonso the main character Denzel hischaracter Denzel is amazing he’s he’sgreat him it can make almost any moviehe’s a great actor he makes this moviehe plays Alonso and I think Alonso islike a lieutenant or captain in thismovie and he’s training this new be likenarco cop that doesn’t make sense likethat right there doesn’t make sense likea lieutenant is kind of like managementlike he wouldn’t be breaking in the newguy would be like a sergeant or a seniordetective would be breaking this kid inso that’s kind of weird that the way hischaracter is in the movie like he’s sohe never seems to report anywhere likehe never he doesn’t keep in touch withhis troops like he he’s a lieutenanthe’s got a bunch of people under him hedoesn’t seem to really and I’m haven’tseen this in years but this is what Iremember he doesn’t seem to really checkin that much and you would really haveto maintain all these contacts allsimultaneously to pull off the kind ofthing that he pulled off he’d reallyhave to have your your finger on thepulse of what the department’s up towhat’s your what’s your crews up to whatall the judges and all the other peopleyou have aligned to in this grand schemeso thatthat seems pretty unrealistic that wholething the other thing like when heforces Jake to smoke crack in the carlike he points a gun on his head andthat is like way over the top that wouldbe it that would be like if youcarefully planned this huge schemed toget all this money that would be it atall it would all hinge on that becauseif that kid at the next available momentjust booked it and you know ran theheadquarters and saidLonzo pointing the gun at my head mademe made me get wet he made me smokecrack or whatever it was PCP becausemost guy I think most cops would do thatthey would be like freaked out theywould just go report it I think mostgood cops especially the kind of copthat this character ethan hawke playsjake he seems like a real real Boy Scoutso that part was um a little bit thatalong with the fact that he’s alieutenant in that there’s thiselaborate scheme that he somehow putstogether it just doesn’t feel superrealistic it’s really fun it’s reallywhere they were they shot it was reallycool I can tell you that because I askedhim guys at work if they recognized thescenes and I was actually going down theelevator to work four or five months agoand there was an officer that I see oncea while down in our floor and he hasthis big huge hint big silver Smith &Wesson handgun and I always meant tocomment comment on it so we’re in theelevator guy go man that is a cannon yougot there that’s a big gun he goes yeahyeah this is a lonzo’s gun from trainingday so that part’s accurate LAPD willallow their officers to carry those bigsilver guns that Lonzo had so I don’tknow if they researched that or not butthey did kind of nail that and alsowhere it was shot is they shot in theghetto they shot in watts in SouthCentral and Compton and all theseterrible housing projects I guessinitially they were they were told nolike the when they would went for thepermit they said no and then they gotthe community behind them I guess andthey were able to get the permit butwhere they were shooting was the actualactual ghetto for sure and I do havesome fun facts about training day if youcare to hear them originally theoriginally were going to cast samuell.jackson and matt damon for the rolesof Lonzo and jake eminem turned down thepart of jake because he was working oneight mile and I guess Oh during theduring Ethan Hawke’s tryout he becameincredibly agitated and angry at DenzelWashington for really called improv meso much and he was gonna go back in andcomplain and then he got the call thathe got the part so those are kind ofinteresting things I like googled to seewhat the neighborhoods were and thosefacts came up so I thought I’d to sharewith you so yeah great movienot realistic at all and to watch I haveno idea moving right along next questionif someone has priors can they everbecome a police officer or misdemeanorsokay DUI or low-level drug possessiondoes that mean you’re barred for life orfrom being a police officer that’s allreal iffy it’s all agency to agencythere there’s a there’s a standardizedguide for California of the post manualyou can you can google it and see whatthe guidelines are I’m pretty sure it’savailable to the public it’s just it’skind of common sense like if you havelike like domestics or violent feloniesor anything like that you can prettymuch guarantee you’re not gonna youmight have a lifetime ban on your handsbut you have something minor it’s amisdemeanor and there’s some it’s calledtime distance if you have a long enoughit’s been a long enough time and it wasa small enough infraction then you’reprobably okay you know you can always goto go to one of these PDS whereveryou’re gonna apply and kind of ask himabout it you know them should a lot ofplaces like LA has they assign mentorsand you can kind of chat with them andpick their brains but yeah you’re notcompletely ruled out I mean I know Iknow a cop back inMassachusetts who’s a captain the statepolice and he had assault battery in apolice officer on his record but youknow they got the reports they read itit was long enough before academy thatit was all it was acceptable it waswithin their parameters to to let himtake the job so I wouldn’t be totallydepressed and throw it all away but youmay be told you may go for like a like aI don’t call it intake interview orreview of your application they mighttell you you know what you’re better offif you give it a year or two and comeback so just be prepared for that if youhave something kind of dice in your pastand then the last question from Alex ishow do you feel about Robocop I love himI love Robocop that movie was probablyone of the first movies I ever saw likeextremely gratuitous violence at way tooyoung age like when they blast his handoff and yeah totally brutal I definitelysaw too young but I loved Robocopthought he was a man I I always wantedto know like why did his family didn’tseem like his family to Samand in themlike why did they have to leave like Idon’t I don’t believe they were told hewas dead but they just move away and helike goes to house and there’s all theseterrible like memories of them that makehim sad that’s like a sad robot I don’tknow I never liked that part but Robocopit was awesome I mean he’s definitelysuperior to what was at the at 2:09 orthere was some other one that is likesupposed to replace Robocop and he endsup just blasting was just opening abunch of people’s chests in a boardroomso he’s definitely better than thatmeans you can have a robot cop he’s theone to end the podcast I’m gonna sharewith you a story from when I was on thejob and went to like one of my firstsuicide calls and it has kind of a funnyfunny twist in it so I went to this callI got dispatched when the officers onthe ship got dispatched to it I went aguy in his garage had closed the doorand just gassed himself he was in a jeepwith no top and it was it like an old Ithink was like an old cj7top is downhe um he left it running and yeah noPiper yeah I was just just running noapparatus something like that he wasjust his head was tilted back and hisface was pointed towards the ceiling andit turns out this guy was he was sickand he wanted I think he was he wasvisiting family and they were alldriving off Cape this was hersummerhouse so they were all driving offCape to leave and then he peeled off anddrove back so they didn’t kind ofrealize what he was doing until hourslater so that’s when we went to check itoutso sad it was a sad like most suicidesad circumstances but at what happens isyou stand around for long enough arounda dead body and it just becomes a normalpart of your landscape there’s just thisdead body here and other people show upfor the medical examiner of the StatePolice and so in a town as small as minein Massachusetts we didn’t investigatedead bodies by ourselves like we had tohave the state in on it like we didn’tinvestigate homicides either like an AHAin Massachusetts there’s I think there’sonly three cities that investigate theirown homicides Boston Springfield andWorcester I think are the are the threeeverybody else can do like you can belike a parallel investigation with thestate but the state has to be involvedin it if your departments not largeenough so for this particular call thisstate has to come out call him statiesstate trooper body guy homicidedetective through waiting and waitingfor him and we’re just kicking aroundthe garage and his body’s here we’rejust keeping neighbors from comingaround the corner and walking in latewhat’s going on is everybody okay likethat type of thing we’re just sittingthere holding the perimeter and the guycomes in and he’s he’s taking picturesand he’s checking the check-in forpunctures he leans them forward looksaround and where I’m sitting theretalking about for he kind of moves thebody a little bit and I watch this thishouse fly or dung fly or whatever flycome right out of the guy’s mouthand go right into the detectives mouthand he freaks out he’s like did you seethat did you see that did that come outof that guy’s mouth was that in thatguy’s throat I was like yeah that wasthat was in that guy’s throat he wasrightfully so out of his minddisgusted but um it was a little levitythat we all we all needed at that atthat call at that detectives expense sothat’s it that’s the funny part of it Iknow it doesn’t seem like a big deal butum at the time it was it was reallyfunny and I felt real bad the guy waslike gargling water and chug and waterspitting it out like not so it wasentertaining at least all right guysthat’s the podcast for this week thankyou so much for checking it out thankyou for all the continued support Ireally appreciate the questions they’reawesome they really helped me out on aweek like this where I’m having troublegetting an interview so if you want towrite a quiet you have any questions atall things police c at gmail.com thingsplease C at gmail.com you can write inthere and I will certainly answer everyquestion that I get on the podcast so dothat if you if you like if you have someI’d appreciate it and I will catch upwith you guys next week
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