Lets say you're moving into a brand new station (5 million worth), your chief decides that he's going to assign lockers, and combination locks. Naturally he will have the combination. I may be 100% wrong, but I feel there IS an expectation of privacy in one's locker. Any case law regarding this??????I'm wondering if I should check with my FOP rep. Does your dept do this??????

Doesn't really mater. He can just order you to open it. Failure would be cause to dismiss.

We just got a new station and have the same deal.  Our lockers have a combo above the handle and a hole for a padlock on the inside of the handle.  I have never even used the combo.  


BTW: What do you have in your locker, ossifer?  

Same here, and dept policy states that Lt or higher can order you to open it at any time.
Oh well...nothing in there I'm gonna catch heat over.

yeah dude,  leave the nudie photos of your wife at home

like a gentleman

OK, I'll just bring the nude photos of YOUR wife. No, there isn't anything in my locker that shouldn't be there, it's just one of those little things that's done to annoy you....

Leave a pair of shit stained underwear hanging in your locker and wait for the supervisor to say something .  If he/she has said nothing but you suddenly notice that he looks at you funny, you know he/she has been in your locker .

We use our own locks, but it is understood if the chief needs to enter your lock and your not on duty, he will just cut the lock.  Most of us keep extra guns and ammo in the lockers.

ScubaTexas

We had lockers, then the supply room ran out of storage space.  My old locker is now full of forms and I keep stuff in the car.

They proposed a similar situation at our station when we got a new boss.  Only the two top bosses would have the combo or a copy of the key.  They would have been locked up in their office.   We were told it's Gov property that is made available for us to use.  I told them that they could look at my sweatty gym clothes and socks anytime they wanted to, whatever got them off.  They proposed that it wouldn't be opened without several witnesses to protect our personel property in the locker.  But in the end, they just dropped the whole idea and left us alone.

Well, you have to remember that the locker IS city/county/state property and it's provided as a courtesy (that's what they'll tell you, anyway).  Just like computers...don't keep anything in there that you wouldn't want anyone to see.    Just remember...evidence gets logged into the EVIDENCE ROOM!  I don't know why I would say this because we ALL know of NO situations where evidence gets postponed until the next day, right?  Sort of like "Why are there bullet holes in your police station walls?" Duh!

PD Lockers
- When I was a member of the PD, items were stolen from lockers so that some of the officers were frequently bitching about it!
- I chose to leave absolutely nothing of value in my locker, and when they were scrounging for lockers, I turned in my key and never even bothered looking in my locker to remove what was in it.
- A Friend who was forcibly retired on a medical (he was rear-ended when he stopped the cruiser to allow a lady to cross the street) where the radar unit (suction-cupped to windshield) and flashlight went airborne, struck him in the head causing brain damage and a lot of other related injuries, reported to me that while he was still out on disability the chief confiscated his firearm, radio and numerous other items from the locker and only told him after the fact.

Yup, it is gov property and they can do what they want to it and what's in it, so take due notice and govern yourself accordingly!

Our lockers are a joke; junior high school kids can store more in their lockers than we can. And the shower only gives cold water.

Everyone knows not to touch my locker, because I break fingers j/k.
I'll know if someone has been in my locker.  I don't leave any of my costly personal items(off duty guns, house keys, cash, etc...) in my locker after I get off duty.

Quoted: Our lockers are a joke; junior high school kids can store more in their lockers than we can. And the shower only gives cold water.

Well my locker IS in the shower..................2 steps from the urinal.

The locker is police dept. property, they can go into it anytime they wish.

Thanks for the replies guys. I have to admit though, the new lockers are nice. They're 23 inches wide, 23 inches deep, and the standard height. I went to KMart and bought a nice storage unit with a million drawers for my little items that sits on the top shelf. On the botttom I bought a 4 drawer plastic roll around storage unit. We also have an extra locker to hold coats and duty bags. The new station is incredable, a 5 bay computerized range, a fantastic weight room, and the latest and greatest evidence room. Hey Oly, I come up to lake geneva in the summers to visit relatives. Maybe we can get together with some other guys and spit some lead at McMillers sometime....

Time to check your union contract about unwitnessed opening of your locker.  While it is department issue and subject to their inspection at any time, you are the occupant and should be present when the locker is opened by supervisory personnel.  If your contract doesn't cover that issue, maybe it should.