Ask a cop

Thanks for writing, Lulu!  The short answer to the first part of your question is, I don't know.  The short answer to the second part of your question (about getting cuffed) is, it depends.  An officer has discretion whether or not to issue a citation in most situations.  When I was a patrol officer I generally pulled over 3 or 4 cars for every driver I actually cited.  Courtesy went a long way, sure, but so did the circumstances.  For instance, pulling over a car for failure to signal, or an improper lane change, and finding a harried mom with 3 kids in the car having a rough morning.  No ticket for her.  In the specific incident you mentioned, it might have been close to shift change, or a busy shift, and the officer just didn't want to get tied up on a lengthy arrest.  It might have been sympathy--there are a lot of otherwise law-abiding people driving around with suspended licenses because they forgot to get their emissions test.

HOODREPORT asks, via Twitter:

why are cop's are more aggresive with minorities in low income neighborhood's?

Well, HOODREPORT, I'd answer that we're not.  That being said, if we've learned one thing in the last couple weeks thanks to the professor and the sergeant, it is that different people can have wildly different perceptions of the same incident or situation.  I will say that, if those low-income neighborhoods are also high-crime areas, you're going to see a more aggressive style of policing than you would in a low-crime area. 

Katie Buitrago of The Beachwood Reporter wrote a very kind review of this blog (thanks Katie).  She also has questions that she wants answered:

"The Wire" is always lauded by my college student cohort as being so "realistic." I enjoy the show, but these people have probably only seen the inside of a police station on a school field trip. So, whaddya think? Realistic? Do they really have to open special operation offices in basements? Do some stations really still use typewriters? Are cops who've crossed the leadership always assigned to the one detail they don't want? And is it really that political?

Another multi-part question...whew.  First, let me say that I've never actually seen an episode of "The Wire".  However, I do have a strong case of "male answer syndrome" which allows me to answer questions on subjects about which I don't actually know anything.

"The Wire" is done by the same creative team who gave us "Homicide: Life on the Street", and that was, in my opinion, one of the 3 or 4 greatest police shows ever put on TV. 

There are still specialty units assigned to strange locations.  Some CPD specialty units (that dealt with organized crime and intelligence) used to operate out of a decrepit old district house by Maxwell Street.  The NORTAF (North Regional Major Crime Task Force) evidence team operates out of an old military hangar with a leaky roof at NIPSTA (formerly the Glenview Naval Air Station).

Ah, typewriters.  We used IBM Selectric typewriters for several years after we were supposed to be doing the majority of our work on computers.  Why? We still had forms that needed to be done on forms that did not yet exist in digital form.  We also had some dinosaurs who refused to learn how to use a computer (in the words of one since-retired veteran "you may as well put me in a jet airplane and expect me to fly the f*cking thing").  The IBM repairman got sick of coming back to service our aging typewriters, and at one point suggested that the next time one of them broke we "tie a rope around it and use it as an anchor."  NYPD recently budgeted nearly $1 million to purchase and repair hundreds of typewriters.

Is it still political, and do officers who cross the leadership get assigned to details they don't want?  Your mileage may vary depending on the department.  Take a look around Second City Cop and see what you think.

Well, that's it for today.  If you have any questions that you want to ask a cop, send them to me here.