10 Secrets Cops Know That Most People Don't

[LabRat]

Hey everyone,

This is not a contact or blooper about the police, but it is police related. The article is just over a year old.
I did a quick search, but did not find this in my scan of the Forum posts.....I just thought it was an interesting and humorous read.
Credit given to the author at the end of the quote:

10 secrets cops know that most people don't:
Sep 3, 2014

It’s become abundantly clear that the press and the public have very little real understanding of police work. And something we’ve learned over the years is that during times of stress and tension, a good chuckle is extremely effective medicine.

So, here are some things most people don’t know but cops do. Add your observations in the comments area below.

1. Most cops understand why tickets are necessary, but don’t particularly like writing them. Well, unless they happen to stop “the guy who pays their wages” and then writing a ticket isn’t so bad.

2. The vast majority cops have never shot anyone, but most cops can recite a detailed list of people who are/were deserving of being shot because they posed a deadly threat. This means that most cops have successfully defused a potentially deadly confrontation using only words and less-lethal weapons.

3. Most cops wonder if they have something better to do until the person asks in that whiny voice, “Don’t you have anything better to do?” It is then — and only then — the cop knows the answer to that question is, “No. This is good as it gets.”

4. Most cops know the driver they just stopped had more that “two beers” and can estimate with reasonable accuracy how many beers a driver did, in fact, have.

5. Most cops like donuts, but so does everybody. They are deliberately made to taste really, really good so people will want to eat them. Please pass me another donut.

6. Most cops wonder why so many members of the community choose to pick up a mobile phone and record them while the officers are rolling in the dirt with an assailant rather than offering to help the officer.

7. Most cops don’t know the color of the people they stop before the traffic stop takes place. This is especially true when those people are driving cars with tinted windows at night.

8. Most cops know that if you fix that muffler / tail light / other mechanical issue for which they’ve stopped you, the cops will stop stopping you.

9. Most cops know it is impossible stop a squad car fast enough when the drunk in the back seat says, “Stop! I think I’ve got to puke.”

10. Most cops know that the national media do not pursue the truth, they pursue a story. Their story and the truth are too often a little like fraternal twins. They are related, but cops can’t explain why they don’t look anything alike.

******About the author
Doug Wyllie is Editor in Chief of PoliceOne, responsible for setting the editorial direction of the website and managing the planned editorial features by our roster of expert writers.

[randy634]

Yes indeed. Sounds like my career summed up.

[Jusme]

Yep brings back a lot of memories.

[Abraham]

Good Post!

[The Wall]

11. Most cops should know that most people have total respect for what they do and stand for. Like me for instance.

[Jusme]

11. Most cops should know that most people have total respect for what they do and stand for. Like me for instance.

They do know and appreciate the fact that there is support from the majority of the general public. That's what keeps them going, also the fact that 99% of the general public is law abiding, and that rolling through a stop sign is not a situation to use deadly force.

I'll add one more fact, threatening to sue the officer will just create a longer line behind everyone else who has threatened to sue.

[TomsTXCHL]

Thanks LabRat for posting that; I enjoyed it, especially the note about the donuts (I like Krispy Kreme).

I'm sure being a LEO is a lot better job than many out there, but there's no question it has gotten a lot harder in recent years hasn't it.

Although I'd never want to get crosswise with a police officer who is having a really bad day, I do have every respect for them.

[Nortex]

You just posted that because I'm black!

[Jusme]

One more secret cops know is that the guy sitting in a three piece suit, being portrayed by their defense attorney as a choir boy, is the same one that they arrested covered in vomit and urine beating his wife and children while high on meth, pot, and cocaine, screaming about how he was Satan's disciple.

[Mick22]

Haha. That list was great!

[Shadow41]

I have a few friends that are cops, including one that's a state trooper that I went to school with and a sheriff deputy I've been good friends with since we were kids racing together. I'm sometimes amazed at what they have to deal with from the public and the negative press they get from the national media.

[The Annoyed Man]

Cops have the best stories to tell. I always enjoyed it when one showed up in my ER, because there was bound to be a funny story in it......not necessarily for the reason he was there, but something that happened or that he had seen since the last time I saw him.

[jbirds1210]

MOST Cops know that the huge majority of people are good and want to be left alone. I've run into very few who choose not to respect those wishes.

[oldshooter]

My wife reports an alarming tendency on my part to start telling her to, "Do it now!" whenever we are having coffee and donuts. I think it's the donuts that cause it.

[NTexCopRetired]

A cop never gives you a ticket. You have to earn it.