Just got off the phone with my captain.  Two weeks ago, one of our Sgts. stroked out in his office., which is oddly fitting cause the guy was a complete asshole and the worst cop I have ever had the displeasure to work with.

City is gonna put him out on disability for 6 months, at which time he'll be eligible for his 30 and pension out.  On Monday, I will assume my duties as an "acting sgt."  My official promotion and swearing in will be the day after the stroker turns in his time.

Until my arm is completely healed and I'm cleared for full-duty, it looks like I am going to get jammed into either Records or Community Relations.  As if those two divisions aren't arleady full of useless wonders.

I thought I was going to die on the list.  The number one guy?  Has 5 years total exp, 3.5 of which have been spent as a school resource officer.  But he has an MBA, which I'm sure he's putting to good use as the new jr sgt on days.

In between him and me were 6 other dudes, one of whom has 19 on the job and is just looking to bump up his pension.  Can't blame him.

The GOOD news is that the Capt gave me my pic of assignments.  Of course, I picked Nights in our busiest district.

No more driving unattended squads off into the hinterlands...or removing the battery from a supe's car.

No more of having the Motorola guys reprogram certain officers' base radios with only county freqs.

No more gag 911 calls from pay phones on slow nights.  "hello...is this the police?  Thanks...just checking."

No more flippant radio traffic or idle banter on our old talk-around channel.

No more pepperballs left under the hood.

I'm currently taking bets on how long it will take before I discover a small, agitated mamal with potent urine in the trunk of my supe car.

Pray for me.


Sheep

Congrats! (and "aw shit")

Communtiy relations sounds like it could be interesting, at least for a while, but what do I know.

Congrats?  I wish you a speedy recovery, regular desk work gets boring fast.  

<golf clap>

Nicely done and congrats.  Sucker.............

Quoted: Communtiy relations sounds like it could be interesting, at least for a while, but what do I know.

Community Relations is often the first step in the complaint process.  If a guy comes in on nights and beefs a guy to one of the PM supes, he's usually met with a:

"Get the hell out of my station before I arrest you."

Because nearly 99.5% of all our complaints are baseless bullshit.  But, they know that if they come in on Days and beef to some bump on a log in CR, said bump will usually hand carry their 55 page written narrative right into IAD, in which report is a complete description of how the officer was surrounded by a ring of flames, had a severed baby's head in his left hand and a pointy tail growing out his ass.

It'll be hell to keep my "acting" stripes if I get sent to CR.  On the other hand, records might not be so bad, what with the cute interns and all.  


Sheep

Quoted: [...] Because nearly 99.5% of all our complaints are baseless bullshit.  But, they know that if they come in on Days and beef to some bump on a log in CR, said bump will usually hand carry their 55 page written narrative right into IAD, in which report is a complete description of how the officer was surrounded by a ring of flames, had a severed baby's head in his left hand and a pointy tail growing out his ass. Sheep

Ah, now I think I understand correctly. IAD would be internal affairs department, right? What a great euphemism calling it community relations then. You're in danger of becoming a tool of the system!

As for the bullshit complaints, this is very true. I understand that law enforcement works differently in the U.S., but the general public is the same dumb anonymous mass everywhere. I'm a supervisor, so I have to deal with this regularly, and only a tiny fraction of all complaints are legitimate ones. Sometimes it can be quite entertaining, but for the most part it's an annoying waste of time and energy.

Anyway, good luck!

Congratulations and good luck.

Congrats!!!

You may want to look at CR as an opportunity.  Your next promotion may have more to do with how you are received by the community than how you're received by your subordinants.  Never underestimate politics in the promotion past Sgt.

Regards,
Gary

Congrats man!!

Quoted: You may want to look at CR as an opportunity.  Your next promotion may have more to do with how you are received by the community than how you're received by your subordinants.  Never underestimate politics in the promotion past Sgt. Regards, Gary

I agree, as long this  opportunity is not exploited at the cost of fellow officers. Depending on the circumstances, maybe you get to give the paper-shufflers a "street-level insight"? The fact that you will be there for a limited time only counts in your favor. If you do well there according to your personal standards you will gain in reputation at the level where it counts.

 give em hell!

Quoted: Quoted: You may want to look at CR as an opportunity.  Your next promotion may have more to do with how you are received by the community than how you're received by your subordinants.  Never underestimate politics in the promotion past Sgt. Regards, Gary I agree, as long this  opportunity is not exploited at the cost of fellow officers. Depending on the circumstances, maybe you get to give the paper-shufflers a "street-level insight"? The fact that you will be there for a limited time only counts in your favor. If you do well there according to your personal standards you will gain in reputation at the level where it counts.

Well, given my current reputation, I'm actually suprised that they elected to promote me instead of letting the list expire.  Command staff and I have serious differences of opinion on a WIDE range of issues from how our SOPs are written to training etc etc etc.

As a Senior Patrol Officer, I was more of a first line supe that 75% of our sgts, who rarely leave the station, so I've already run headlong into admins who wanted to hang guys out to dry on bullshit issues.

It's no secret that I don't play politics well and honestly, I'd be perfectly happy to ride out the rest of my time as nightshift boss.  The other part of me says I should try and climb politcal ladder and get to a place where I can kep more crap off of the guys that actually work the street and do the best I can to get them the tools they need.

I suppose the good thing is that alot of our Sr Command Staff is getting to the point where they are about ready to pull the pin, so in a couple of years, it'll be a bit of a fresh start.

As to how I am viewed within the community...who knows.  I still have OGs that came to respect me from my days running around in the gang unit who will call me within 24hrs of a shooting to let me know the skinny and homeless dudes who I buy 99 cent burgers for in exchange for intel...and to keep them from taking a crap infront of the Circle K during my shift.  

As for Community Relations in general, it's full of people who call into service over the air at 8am...from their driveway, announce that they will be out of service on a follow-up and then roll into the station at 10:30.  Then there's lunch from 11:30 to 1:30.  And out of service again at 3:30pm for more follow-ups and calling 10-42 promptly at 5:30pm...from their driveway.  Mind you, I'm not denigrating everyone in Community Relations types of gigs, just specifically those in my dept.   I had a gig there the last time I broke my hand and was on light duty for 2 months and it nearly killed me.


Sheep

Quoted: Ah, now I think I understand correctly. IAD would be internal affairs department, right? What a great euphemism calling it community relations then. You're in danger of becoming a tool of the system! As for the bullshit complaints, this is very true. I understand that law enforcement works differently in the U.S., but the general public is the same dumb anonymous mass everywhere. I'm a supervisor, so I have to deal with this regularly, and only a tiny fraction of all complaints are legitimate ones. Sometimes it can be quite entertaining, but for the most part it's an annoying waste of time and energy. Anyway, good luck!

Herr_Luger....Just noticed your location.  D'oh!  Should have explained myself better then.

Yes, IAD is interal affairs.  Community Relations is a different division, but the two here at my department are closely linked.  Community Relations has the following units in it: D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Reisitance and Education) G.R.E.A.T. (Gang Resistance Education And Training) School Resource Officer Program, Resident Officer Program (for the coppers who live for in ratholes in shitty neighborhoods), Community Outreach (organizes picnics, blockparties, the interpreter program, interns etc etc) and the Community Policing partnership - which is basically where a bunch of 'special people' from the 'community' get to come to the PD and bitch about what jack-booted thugs we are every Wedensday night and come-up with monthly memos that contain such wisdom as 'Members of the community feel threatened  when an officer puts his hand on his gun during a traffic stop."

No shit, sherlock.  If my hand is on my gun, you'd better damn well feel threatened, 'cause I sure as hell do.


Sheep

Quoted: Herr_Luger....Just noticed your location.  D'oh!  Should have explained myself better then. [...]  Community Relations has the following units in it: D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Reisitance and Education) G.R.E.A.T. (Gang Resistance Education And Training) School Resource Officer Program, Resident Officer Program (for the coppers who live for in ratholes in shitty neighborhoods), Community Outreach (organizes picnics, blockparties, the interpreter program, interns etc etc) and the Community Policing partnership [...] Sheep

Thank you. So there is more to CR than the bullshit department, and even some of the things I initially associated with the name. Those are spots which should be held by people who know what taking care of business is like.  Where I work, we have people with a twisted perception of reality  due to living behind a desk for too long, which given closer consideration isn't necessarily a bad thing, because it keeps the good officers where they belong.

However, that is precisely why from an organizational point of view it would make perfect sense to fill a vacant spot in that line of work with someone who is temporarily prohibited from working the streets due to health reasons. We have a figure of speech for this situation you are in: "New brooms sweep well."  Unless you get reduced to a puppet quoting offical policy from the books, it seems like a good opportunity to positively promote police work to the general public.

ETA:

Mind you, I'm not denigrating everyone in Community Relations types of gigs, just specifically those in my dept. I had a gig there the last time I broke my hand and was on light duty for 2 months and it nearly killed me.

Ahh, stupid me! So you've been down that road already, nevermind then.
Hey, cute interns are also good!

Congrats
From one Sgt to another ...... poor bastard ....... LOL
Gone are the days of carefree, no headaches, less responsibility, etc.

However the challenge is worth it.  
The headaches will diminsh (eventually).

Be very careful Sheep.  There are those with long memories who will do what they can to "get you".  Watch your six. And good luck.

Meh...what's the worst they can do?  Demote me?

Oh no....then I get to go back to the shift of my choice.  About the only real pissy thing they could do is boot me off of swat...which I am sure has crossed their minds once or twice already.

We'll see how it goes.  Thanks for all the advice and well-wishes.

Be safe brothers.


Sheep

Quoted: Be very careful Sheep.  There are those with long memories who will do what they can to "get you".  Watch your six. And good luck.

+1

Good luck, Sarge

"Sarge, we were just:"

"making sure the liquor license at TGI McKnockers is current"

"all 7 of us getting ready to clear this indecent exposure call and go take those pending cold 459 reports"

"messing around.  I have no clue how my push bumper got stuck under 23adam's trunk"

"trying to call you.  I have no idea why someone booted the FD's ladder truck"

etc, etc, etc... you get the point.

Congrats,

NorCal

Quoted: "Sarge, we were just:" "making sure the liquor license at TGI McKnockers is current" "all 7 of us getting ready to clear this indecent exposure call and go take those pending cold 459 reports" "messing around.  I have no clue how my push bumper got stuck under 23adam's trunk" "trying to call you.  I have no idea why someone booted the FD's ladder truck" etc, etc, etc... you get the point. Congrats, NorCal

Here's one of my "But Sarge's...." from my days as a young lad:

"I dunno what happened Sarge, I was just doing a lot check at the BMW dealership and then, outta nowhere, there was a 540i right behind my squad.  Think that'll buff out?"


Sheep

congrats!