I just scored a pretty good souvenir off of the breakdown land today.

It is a state trooper campaign hat in not too terribly beat up shape.

Anyway, before you jump in on this I did the right thing. I had a city cop help me try and figure out what to do to get it back to the owner to make sure some poor bastard didn't catch hell for losing it.

He figured the best thing to do to keep the officer from being embarrassed was to just add it to my collection.

A few minutes later I called a guy I know that was a trooper and he said that likely the hat was blown off of the officer's head and they are under orders NOT to chase campaign hats on interstates. They will reissue him one and call it a 'combat loss'.Just add it to my hat collection...and DON'T wear it around town.

Question is what is your departmental policy on lost stuff like that.



Update

If my hat flew off on the interstate you'd see me chasing that thing until I caught it. I, for one, am not going to listen to the chewing I'll get for losing it.. plus I need the workout lol.

Anything issued, that is lost, will result in a command discipline and a loss of vacation.

Our policy is if its issued and wasnt lost/damaged while being an idiot, they just send you down to the quartermaster room to get a new one. If you were being a douche and lost/damaged dept equipment then you will catch a write up and possibly need to pay for it. That's usually reserved for the dept PBT, camera etc that is forgotten on a car roof etc.

If its your own purchased equipment (cool flashlight etc) its your own responsibility.

J-

Well half our guys are old timers and like their salty worn stetson better than new ones.  They're issued.  The bosses like us all to have nice, clean, unfaded ones so they kind of suggest and push new ones on us.   I tend to go hatless and even eschew the baseball hat these days with the fatigue uniform.

I have a toss on the back seat stetson for the odd time I should wear one, it's kind of beat but not quite a gabby hayes stetson.  I have another couple still in the boxes.  One has never been used, and the other I refer to my "funeral" stetson, which is worn with a dress blouse jacket and sam browne belt.   I think the extra was a retiree's extra turn in/unused  that was my size and was handed off to me because it was sitting on a shelf in a store room that someone wanted to clean out.

So I guess no, I would not catch flak for losing a stetson.   Lose a portable radio or some other sn'd gadget and yeah you'll catch flak.

ETA- in 18+ years i've come across 3 lost badges, 1 at a range in the parking lot, 1 on a snowmobile trail, one handed to me by a guy who found it at the state fair. A trooper's stetson left at the local diner (which I dropped off to the local barracks as I knew the guy), one portable that one of my fellow employees left on the roof of his car and it flew off in the middle of an intersection. One of those, hey that looks just like one of our portables while turning at a light.  it was F'd up but was still accounted for.   Oh and one glock 23 magazine loaded in a town hall mens room.

Update in OP.

We'd have to buy a new one.

Unless it changed recently, we lose our big hat in PA, we pay for a new one.

The 8 point I never had a problem with, it went on your head like a regular hat.  But when I was K9, that white crush cap was ready to fall off if you were standing still!  Fell off a few times on stops or whatever, so after that I'd leave it in the car unless I was getting the dog out.  I know they would have gotten me another, but a) the hassle of getting the admin folks to do anything, and b) the B.S. I'd put up with at roll call wasn't worth the chance!  Plus, then when the LT yelled about my hat, I could blame him for picking out the stupid thing.

Same here, if I lose something it comes out of my pocket to replace it.  Maybe I'm just tired from working an all nighter but you seem to paint with a pretty broad brush in your blog entry.  I am far from being the new guy you talk about so don't think that you touched a nerve.  That being said, speaking in absolutes, even more so about a career you are not a part of, is usually a way to be completely wrong.  Suggesting that a younger cop would have just taken the cover (and all the other things you just knew would happen) comes across not only as a baseless accusation but just plain dickish.

On a separate note you may want to check your local laws about possessing a current issue badge.  If there is a small badge on the front of the cover, like there is on mine, it is likely a controlled item and not available to the general public.

First thing is the emblem came straight off. It will be replaced when the cover goes in my display case and it will never leave the house. Thanks for the heads up.


Secondly, you might just give a little credit where it is due. My first mission was to make sure some poor guy with a wife and three kids didn't have to cough up $125-150 for a new one. I don't believe that's very dickish.

As for dealing with an older cop, it has been my experience as a citizen that it takes some time to make a good officer. As in most trades it takes a few years to get any good at it. While it is oft quoted that wisdom comes with age, it's a general statement. Yes, there are good rookies and junior officers out there but if you have to play the percentages you are better off dealing with a senior officer. Are there senior officers that are jerks? Damned tootin'. Still, the percentages are lower for the most part.


Oh, yeah. I very often mention that I am NOT in LE and probably would not do very well in it if I were. I will admit I don't have the temperament for the job.

Unless it's a controlled item, I would most likely be issued a replacement and be made fun of for a while.

its bad times in the neighbor hood if you lose items in my pd.