Dunno, it was kinda like a summer and winter home. I didn't enjoy putting country people or suburb people in jail. Your last demographic, though... they're a great way on solo patrol to see where you are at tactically....  

They don't put hardly anyone in jail here pre-sentence. Not fair to poor people. You know, those poor people who would be going to their jobs and enjoying their families companionship if they weren't locked up. Felony bench  warrant? No problem! ROR!

That was very well said.  I used to be a parole officer working very rural areas where police backup would be 30 minutes away if things went well.  At my agency parole officers did searches, arrests, prisoner transports, and j committments on police officer holds to the state mental hospital.  

Know when to carefully back away and come back another day.  Catching someone with a bag of dope is not worth being shot over.  If things look strange, they probably are, even if you can't immediately define why they look weird.  Later on, you will be able to describe the situation in your report after your brain and the world slows down...and you will still be in one piece.  In 25 years, I was never once criticized by anyone who answered my request for backup, as other officers want to see YOU  go home safe too.  I was never told anything like "you were being a pussy, you could have handled that in your own".   The flip side of that is really simple, that you do the same thing for them when requested.  

The part about being anxious about dangerous calls simply means that you are smart enough to realize how dangerous things could be.   I never like being assigned to partner up with someone who said they never got scared.  That meant they were either too stupid to recognize danger, or that they thought they were invulnerable,..like John Wayne.  Either one of those could get me hurt.

Learn to talk to people. My brother worked a large county like that and at times knew he was fucked if things went south, his mouth kept it from happening. I work in a city and I'm thankful for near instant back up.

Exactly.

We always took care of the old school parole guys. They were taking the scumbags off the streets so we wouldn't have to deal with them for a while

There is some real gold in this thread.  I taught at both police, and parole/probation academies in my state.  Much of what has been posted here could easily be turned into a fabulous class for new officers..I sure wish I would have had such a class.

If there are any current instructors reading this thread, it might be worth considering such a course.  There could easily be hundreds of years of collective wisdom in this thread.

That's the way it is for most (maybe all) of the deputies who work in my area, as well. Throughout any, average, run-of-the-mill, 24-hour period, there might be one or two deputies who are working at any one time. Ditto for the city police up town. Also, like you mentioned, the State Patrol will usually be 20 to 40 minutes away if an emergency pops up, so back up is available but it might take a little while for it to get here.

The good thing about my rural area is that (1) it's generally quiet here most of the time and (2) the locals are usually pretty good people who will help (and, at times, have helped) local officers in a time of need. Our biggest issue here seems to be various automobile accidents as opposed to anything violent. We have our violent crime here but that tends to be the exception rather than the rule here.

It pays to have good community relations in a small community because many times your best (and nearest) allies will be the typical "john and jane does" who live in the place where you are working.