How are the LEOs in your area?

[jimmycthemd]

As you probably can see from my profile, I live in Roswell, Georgia. Now, most folks I know complain about the LEOs wherever they live. This post is just the opposite. It's prompted by a card my wife got in the mail today after an accident (she was rear-ended while stopped at a stop sign) about a week ago. It was from the office of the Roswell Chief of Police expressing regret that she'd been involved in an accident and wishing her a speedy recovery. Now, I'm pretty sure that it's a form letter but is indicative of the overall professionalism with which we have been treated. Here's a (hopefully) brief chronological account:

1) For the first several years there was an officer directing traffic at one of the busier intersections on my way to work. I started out nodding at him as I made a left-hand turn which progressed to a wave as I passed (both the nod and the wave were returned). One evening I stopped at a local grocery store and, upon getting out of my car, I found a police car blocking me in. My first thought was that I'd done something wrong. That officer got out and thanked me for being so friendly and courteous to him while doing a difficult job. I, in turn thanked him for serving our community in a professional manor.

2) For a few years I worked an 8-5 shift and, being a morning person, always had time to kill in the morning so I'd stop at a fast food joint for a cup of coffee on the way to work. There was often 3-5 officers stopping in for breakfast and I had a chance to talk to several of them as I drank my coffee. From day one, they always had a smile and kind words to say. Recently, I ran into one at another restaurant and my recently obtaining a CCW came up. He asked me if I carried regularly and I said no, I was preparing for some training before I started. He smiled, shook my hand and thanked me for taking the right seriously.

3) As I've stated, we've lived in the same house for over 19 years. In that time yes, I've been given a couple of traffic citations. Both times, the officers have been friendly, courteous and extremely professional.


I just thought I'd pass along how I feel about the local LEOs. Let's hear both ways general and specific examples as to how you've been treated.

[Mjollnir]

I've been very pleased with all the interactions I've had with LEO's(city, county and state level) in my current AO both on and off the job(work in a ER so we see them constantly). I have yet to meet one here who is not pro-gun and pro-ccw. All have been very professional in my experience and I have nothing but praise for them.

On the flip side.... when i was living in the rural mountains of east/central WA that was not the case at all. My neighbor called one night and told me someone was lurking around their house, they had attempted to steal their generator that they were using for power at the time(while it was running), she had fired a shot into the ground outside the door to try and scare them off but she could still hear them outside. I asked why she didn't call the police and she said she had over a half a hour ago and then again prior to calling me and the police acted as though it was the first they heard about it. I called the police and let them know what was going on and was told(in a rather annoyed tone) that they are aware of the situation. I asked for an eta and was told "when they get there"! I grabbed my gear and rifle and went over there myself and found three half drunk indians going through one of their out buildings. After ensuring there was just the three of them, I confronted them. Once they had removed all the stolen property from their persons, I educated them on realities of living in remote mountains and suggest they never return any where close to this property again. The LEO's never showed up that night. When the husband got home from work he called and asked why they hadn't and was given some half hearted excuse, about there being some confusion with LE boundry lines between what was county responsibility and reservation LEO responsibility. We later found out that these three clowns were related to some of the tribal deputies and often ran amuck amongst non-indian owned businesses and private properties in the area.

Unrelated to that incident, while living in the same area the county often employed summer reserve deputies due to the increased tourist traffic around the casinos, marinas and such. I got pulled over one evening on my way home from work for going 4MPH over the speed limit. I still had two CHL's from other states but hadn't gotten around to getting one for WA yet since we had just recently moved there. Before the deputy was out of his car I had unloaded my Sig 220 and set it on the dash, had my driver side window down and had both hands out the window with driver liscense and CHL's in one hand and vehicle registration in the other. He walks up and asks if I knew how fast I was going and without a pause he noticed my Sig and followed up with why did I have a gun on my dash. I ended up getting a thirty minute lecture about while we live in the west it was no longer the wild west and such things were unnecessary in today's society, blah,blah,blah before sending me on my way he told me had the guns(had a rifle in a case in the bed of the truck) been loaded he would have taken me to jail. Next morning I went to the Sherriff's office and spoke to a supervisor about the incident. He was extremely professional, polite and courteous. He assured me that open carry of a loaded firearm was 100% legal(and moral in his mind) whether you were in a vehicle or not and that the actions of the reserve deputy were way out of line. He assured me that the deputy in question and all of the other reserve deputies would be educated as to what the carry laws actually were and such incidents would not happen again. My 4MPH speeding ticket also got thrown out of court also as soon as the judge seen the deputy's name on it.

You have good and bad apples in every bunch.

[xdpatriot]

Arrogant smart mouths. Especially troopers

[rice paddy daddy]

Every cop I have personally encountered has been OK with me. That may be because I treat them the way I want to be treated. Or it could be because I've never got anything worse than a traffic ticket.

[556x45]

working a gun store with a shooting range I know many officer by sight... and for the most part they are good people...having said that you do run into a few that are real butt heads...most enjoy the job and try to do it to the best of their ability.. my hat is off to them. thjeir job is many times thankless.

[jimmycthemd]

working a gun store with a shooting range I know many officer by sight... and for the most part they are good people...having said that you do run into a few that are real butt heads...most enjoy the job and try to do it to the best of their ability.. my hat is off to them. thjeir job is many times thankless.

I agree. Most of the time they're dealing with folks under circumstances that are difficult at best. The vast majority of them do their best to not be a part of the difficulty. As with people there's the 80-20 rule. 10% excellent, 80% good and 10% buttheads. Unfortunately all too often it's the 10% buttheads that not only get the press but also stick in most peoples' minds.

[Matt In Oklahoma]

LEOs are people. Therefore the percentages are the same as the anyone else. There are just as many good ones, stupid ones, power tripping ones, jerks and heros etc. Many people try and relate LEOs to the issue they had when they came into contact with them. If the contact was in a negative light then often they are thought of negatively. It has little to do with the actual person, professionalism or individualism.
I've been on both sides.
The majority of the public never comes into contact with LEOs as this is a wide term well beyond street officers. For every street officer there are a hundred of other types of LEOs.

[Jeep]

Most of the one's with the city police are nice and friendly, but they are a couple that I would not turn my back on. All the deputy's in the county sheriff's department, are good guys.

[1Admin]

I couldn't imagine dealing with some of the $hit they have to deal with on a day to day basis. Think: seeing the collapse of Amerika in super slow motion.

We have some good ones around here, quite a few came by the gym.

[Gus14]

The local guys and the County guys are top notch. Professional, polite, helpful, and they take care of business how it should be.

The State troopers though.............

yeah, it is more of a case of if you cant say something nice, dont say anything at all.

[WiseOwl]

They have always been cool with me and I have always been cool with them. I try to respect all people and treat them equal. But I know I cant treat a butthead LEO how I would a butthead person, but thats common sense
...except for when I was a teen at house parties. The Henry County Police and the McDonough City could NEVER catch me, even when I was slowed down with a keg over my head or a backpack full of boones farm!

I think I ran with a girl over my shoulder once.... lol

[jimmycthemd]

The Henry County Police and the McDonough City could NEVER catch me, even when I was slowed down with a keg over my head or a backpack full of boones farm!

I think I ran with a girl over my shoulder once.... lol

Going for Matt Junior? LOL

[MustangGal]

One of them is a pain in the bum. He leaves his boots in the floor, his dirty clothes in the bathroom, and he thinks that a loaf of bread magically re-ties itself.... On the other hand, he is a hard working dude and a great husband and father.




Naw, I kinda like him. We celebrate 24 years this month. :D

[jimmycthemd]

One of them is a pain in the bum. He leaves his boots in the floor, his dirty clothes in the bathroom, and he thinks that a loaf of bread magically re-ties itself.... On the other hand, he is a hard working dude and a great husband and father.




Naw, I kinda like him. We celebrate 24 years this month. :D

29 Years for me in November...congrats!!! Isn't a hubby's job to be a pain in the butt??

[Grinnan Barrett]

My best friend is a retired undercover narcotics officer. Of the dozen really good friends I have around me ten of them are either active duty police or retired. In the community in which I live there are two main towns and I know and am friends with the police chief in both of them. The Sheriff is a friend of mine. I know all the judges in the county as friends. The police where we live live in the town. When we were out eating a few nights back we sat next to a couple of officers from our local police dept. When they were leaving one of them I have known for some time came over and said to me it was nice to have me at his back since he knew I would cover him just in case. We both laughed. He has shot with us before at our range.

I find most LEOs to be really good people. So for those who hate Police I am sorry but they are my friends. GB