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You might be a small town cop if...

2K views 19 replies 17 participants last post by  x_out86 
#1 ·
From PoliceOne.com
You Might Be a Small Town Cop If:

1.) You ever got a call from the Mayor asking why you stopped his cousin because he heard it on the scanner.

2.) You got on the radio and asked another cop if you know where Bobby Ray is and Bobby Ray shows up at the station five minutes later because he heard you were looking for him.

3.) Your backup had to be called at home, then had to go down to the station to get a patrol car, then drive 20 miles to your location (and if you’re the only one available and the bar fight call comes in, well, you handle it.)

4.) You can get a middle-aged bully to shut down by asking, “What would your momma think if she knew how you’re acting?”

5.) Instead of giving an address, the dispatcher gives the location as “next to the old Smith house that burned down 10 years ago.”

6.) You ever had to use your own car because both squad cars were in the shop, or drove a police car in such bad shape you’d have pulled it over if anybody else was driving something that bad

7.) Instead of calling dispatch, the citizen calls your house and asks your kid to get you to come over.

8.) You ever had to do all your reports with a ballpoint pen and carbon paper.

9.) You’ve had to give the phone number of the diner where you took your break because you didn’t have a portable radio.

10.) You knew — or know — the names of every deputy and trooper in the county.

Add your own “you might be a small town cop if...”
 
#10 ·
If you've ever found a cow wandering loose in town.

And just by looking at it, you knew who it belonged to.
While I get your point, loose cows (or horses) are not only a small town phenonomenon

 
#17 ·
Indeed, I remember the old paper punch teletype. I checked out a car late at night and asked dispatch to run the plate. 45 minutes later I'm in the station and the teletype chatters and spits out the info on that plate. Plus the RMV was down more than it was up, so you never had a clue who you had stopped!
 
#6 ·
I had to work on one of my off days because the scheduled officer had to fill in for the guy who normally drives the garbage truck. The officer was one of only two people employed by the city with a CDL.

I got a call from the mayor. He asked me to check his mail to see if his paycheck made it in, and he asked if I would mind depositing it for him.

I knew more than one guy who put gas in their car with money from their own pocket. Another friend had to transfer the battery from his personal vehicle to his patrol each day.
 
#8 ·
When the chief got a new car and didn't want to wait for the shop so mounted the fire extinguisher in the trunk himself .
He ends up with a hole in the gas tank in the process.

Same chief parked on a side street when some local kids gathered around his car to BS.
Later when he got out of his car, he found that the lenses were missing from his roof lights. The kids had stolen them while distracting him with their BS.

These both actually happened in the town I grew up in.
 
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#9 ·
When two college kids wreck their car late at night, you offer to let them sleep in the dispatcher' office and swap hunting stories with them all night instead...then have the trusty make them a big breakfast
 
#13 ·
Ok (on ride along) MN winter. sub zero. Lady with kids in van @ midnight blows radiator hose. So we duct tape it, drive it to NAPA (garage in back) Officer gets new hose, fluid, we use tools there and replace radiator hose, new coolent (now after 1am) so she can drive another 100 miles to her home. (of course she does not have $$$. I wonder if she ever did send a check for parts)
Another time largest business in town (actually just out of city limits) had a head corp guy come and get drunk. Low speed chase for half hr. 10 to 15mph down main drag, alleys, side streets.... Finally he got Officer from another town out of bed, dressed, in squad to come over and box in.
Mayor calling 7am yelling "How could you arrest him? He is important........ (I heard about phone call later)
When this Officer got another job. He BURNED his uniform...
 
#15 ·
My little home town in Nebraska (3000 people) gave up their police department because it was simply too expensive to run. Who needs a chief, a lieutenant, a sergeant, and only two officers? Talk about top heavy! Now they contract with the Sheriff's Department to run the whole area. Response times are faster, officers far more professional, and no small town politics involved. Many of the small communities around Phoenix do the same thing with the Maricopa County Sheriff's department.
 
#18 ·
My home town was so small we had to take turns being the village idiot. A couple of years ago, I ran into two feral hogs in the driveway of the police station. No damage because I was doing very slow waiting for the electric gate to open. I thought the fence was there to protect the cars. I guess it is really to keep the hogs, deer and livestock out.
 
#19 ·
. . . . when folks in town refer to you as "the nice officer who gives treats to dogs."
 
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#20 ·
-When people call the dispatcher and ask for you by first name, and there is no doubt who they are looking for.

-When somebody asks your location and you identify it by who's farm you're nearest.

-When you go to a crash scene and 3 FF's beat you there...because they all show up in their POV, but nobody thought to bring the actual rig yet.

-When you're working thanksgiving or Christmas day and people call the dispatcher to tell them the address where officers are welcome to stop and eat.

-When you're the only car available for a bar fight so you drive the last mile at 20mph with your siren on, as to give the masses the chance to leave before you get there. (Works like a charm...)

-When you know most of (if not all) the deputies in surrounding counties that work your shift, because many times they are your closest backup anyways.

I could go on and on. All of these are first hand experience.
 
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