Good Q.

Well the MPD make more and have quite a bit of OT available. I'll be taking a pretty big cut in pay for the first couple years and I'll rely on some OT.

I'll chip in my brief experience with a ride along.

This is in Durham, NC, a few years ago, when I was in high school. Fairly crime heavy area, but also one of the nicest areas on the east coast (home of Duke university.) Anyways, I wasn't even legally old enough to do the ride along, but I knew the cop and he let me roll anyways.

Couple of minor things, including some poor old woman who stole medicine at the grocery for her sick sister or something, sad stuff.

Anyways, we get a call for a traffic stop, there was some car that rolled up on the curb, we were a couple of blocks away. We are first on scene, and the officer tells me that I can come up to the car with him to observe how he handles things. There's some guy in the drivers seat.

All of a sudden I hear "he's got a gun!" The officer says "Get back behind the car"; I hide behind my door and duck to behind the police car. The officer pulls out his gun and is probably 5 feet from the drivers side door, yelling all kinds of ****, standard protocol. He radios in, and at this point we're surrounded by about 5 cars. More officers surround the car, and there's some woman screaming in the car, laying lengthwise in the vehicle, her head on the dudes lap. The standoff was resolved rather quickly and non-violently.

Turned out she was a hooker this guy had kidnapped and he was holding her gunpoint while she performed her services for him. During the drive he somehow got distracted and banked up on the curb.

He's lucky he didn't get his dick bit off IMO.

I thought you were like 40. Isn't that kind of old to be starting out as a cop?

Geez, just pay the $50, ya cheapskate.

Actually you're close. Today is my 38th birthday. I'm still waiting for some of you to throw me that surprise party.

Anyway, ya, I'm older than the average wannabee. But I've read about and been told there are def many others that are my age or older.

A little follow up.

On January 8th I took the initial written and physical ability test. I passed with flying colors.

I went on another ride along last night and it had a little more action than the others. We went on a call in the Foote homes project. I've never seen anything like it before. Going through there it was like a movie. Just people hanging out everywhere. I honestly can't imagine a young man or woman trying to make it in this world having to live in a place like that. What I mean is it just seems too hard to live a good life with all the gang bangers etc that are around messing with others.

We went on a call where a concerned family member couldn't get in touch with their son. I'm somewhat boggled by how it all appeared to play out.

This guy supposedly leaves his parents house (the son is in his 50's) and tells them he's going to go kill himself. Well THREE days later they call the FD telling them they went to his house and he wouldn't answer the door. So the FD break in and find him naked and dead. I kind of actually wanted to go on that scene because I heard some people just can't hand'e seeing stuff like that. Anyway it really didn't bother me seeing him. The guy left a note saying he was sorry for being a bad son etc.

Then we made another scene in the hood where maybe 100+ high scholers were getting rowdy in a parking lot. A couple of them stayed rowdy and started fighting eachother after we got there and they went to juvenile hall.

Made the scene of a guy who was screaming at his radio. He chilled out and we left.

Not a bunch more went on

Keep us updated, I was wondering how this story was going.

I still think you should look at DeSoto County. It seems about once a week, the local paper will run a story about some thug robbing a convenience store...and in the next few days, another story where they arrest the guy (and he turns out to be a thug from Memphis, LDO). Horn Lake must have the greatest police force ever assembled, nobody gets away with anything down here.

And it has to be much more satisfying to put away an armed robber who will get about 10-to-20 years in Mississippi, as opposed to about 2-to-5 in Memphis.

Can anyone go in and sign up for a ride along? Im pretty interested in doing this.I've actually considered being a police officer, because it seems like a fun/exciting job, but the pay is terrible, and I like to partake in the recreational use of Marijuana from time to time.

Also I know a lot of Military MPs and they say they let people off all the time, especially near the end of their shift because they dont feel like doing the hour+ worth of paperwork that goes with an arrest.

Do you have to take an oral board there? If so, can you give some details? I begin my testing the beginning of April here in Vegas and should pass the testing fairly easy. It's the background check that worries me (financial history and a bunch of traffic tickets).

Pretty much, yeah. You just have to sign a waiver beforehand.



I can personally say that I was less proactive when it came to pursuing possible DUIs towards the end of my shift. That **** takes a long time

also, Alqueda your avatar is among the best on 2p2

"I can personally say that I was less proactive when it came to pursuing possible DUIs towards the end of my shift. That **** takes a long time"

Most I've encountered say the same. But they said they don't like to do it ever because it takes 3 hours or so to do it all and that takes their ability away to answer calls in their ward.

One thing I forgot....One dude we had a talkin to was begging for money from people so he could get into the mission (this particular one was $7). I felt sorry for him and was considering giving him the money myself but 2 things stopped me. One was it was too late to get into the mission anyway and the other was I didn't want to look like I was a big softy. I figured these officers run across stuff like this on a daily basis and couldn't afford to help everyone out. This guy seemed decent enough but most do don't they?

To the person who asked about the ride along program. If I was you I'd tell them you're going to be applying to become an officer.

It had me surfing for Feodor videos when I saw it.

"black tops, black tops. got them black tops. two will get you three."

An update on becoming a police officer.

The very short version is I was disqualified because they said I lied on my application.

It turns out I had a traffic violation in September of 1986. I told them I didn't remember it. When I got off the phone I called my mom to ask her if she remembered it. She said no.

I went downtown and they couldn't find anything on it. I went to juvenile court and they had NO record of me at all.

I thought it was possible they had me confused with my brother. So he came to juvenile court with me. When they opened his file there was a ticket for me in his file.

So yes I did have a ticket for $34 that was dismissed after paying the fine. I was furious that I could be disqualified for a $34 ticket that I forgot about.

I went to city hall and spoke with a city councilman. He said he totally believed I didn't intentially omit it. He also said he thought it was bs so to speak. He did say he was in his 70's and didn't know how he could forget getting a ticket for driving without a license. I told him I agreed but I still don't remember it.

He said he would try and help but the person who could do something about it was the city Chief of Staff. So I went up to his floor and asked to see him. I was blown away when the lady said he'd see me.

He agreed it was crap and would look into it.

That seems pretty ridiculous for MEM to be that picky on their recruits - I live there and don't think they are overflowing with incoming applicants - I see they just put up a billboard advertising working for "Memphis's finest".

I guess it's a real problem to get a "bad" officer into the program, but forgetting a $34 ticket when you were 16(?) seems over the line. I don;t think forgetting something that happened 24 years ago is so amazing. Would they have known if you hadn't lived in MEM at the time?

Side question: I met a guy who works for MEM poilce and he said they just got some kind of new expandable baton thing they used to fight these criminals instead of the old billy club. Apparently you hit a release and it expands to like 4 feet so you can attack them from a distance. Did you see these in use? He said when they hear the sound of this thing being emplyed, they don;t even try fighting and just take off running.

When Memphis first started advertising was when the economy was hitting the crapper. They ended up having 6k applicants in a short period of time. Right now they aren't even taking applications even though they have the signs up that you saw. Having said that they're having a hard time filling the academies because most are thoroughly unqualified.

I've had many people say why they thought I was disqualified and it has nothing to do with a $34 ticket. I refuse to go there as I don't want to add to the problem. I will fight this forever because it's just plain not right.

As of now they won't even give me a copy of a blank application. I would like to reread the wording on it. I feel pretty confident it says something like "if you knowingly fail to disclose anything you will be disqualified".

As far as those batons go I havn't seen any MPO's carrying them. I have seen others carry them (or at least what I think you're talking about). They seem very strong for how flimsy they look. IIRC I saw one used to break a vehicles window and I was surprised how the window shattered with what appeared to be very little force.

As a side not I know a person who's in an academy that started on January 18th. She said by the end of the 2nd day 6 people (they had 90 start which was the max) quit. She said all they did for those first 2 days was paperwork!

Why do you think they DQed you if not for the ticket?

I honestly don't know. I won't say what others have said. I can only speculate but there has been more than one big problem amongst the city coucil.

For the longest time MPD has had a difficult time with people wanting to be a MPO. One of the requirements was that you had to live in the city. Sounds right. Many people complained and city coucil agreed to relax those requirements. They changed it to where you had to live within the county. (which I do). Well they were still having the same problem.

Some people got city councils ear suggesting that you should be able to live where you want. There was a huge debate and a few people on city council said they should relax the requirements about misdemeaners and even some felonies.

As of now the rules say you must live within the city limits or pay like a $1400 fee to be a MPO and live outside the city. I think their reasoning is that if you lived in the city you would pay this $1400 (as an average) in city taxes if you owned a home.

Are you 40 years old?

One other thing has changed since I applied. When I applied the MPD had their own HR department. On the MPD website it said it takes an average time of 3-6 months from the timem you apply to the time you would enter the academy.

The mayor and I guess city council decided the city of Memphis HR department shold handle this. Well now they are averaging 14-20 months. City council is not rethinking this and it might go back to MPD. The Director of the MPD (as of now) has no real input on how and who is hired. Now city council is saying if they're going to hold the director accountable for his people then he should be in charge of who is hired.

39

There is no age requirement.

I've wanted to be in LE for a while but became complacent in my job. I was getting frustrated with it and decided to apply. I've since been laid off from that job and am currently unemployed.

That sucks NicksDad. I hope it all works out for you. I was pursuing a career with the NYPD a few years ago, and gave up when I got my current job. I already have a twinge of regret for not following my dream job. I hope yo don't give up. Maybe move somewhere else where you can become a LEO.

Thanks

I've already applied to become a Shelby County Sheriffs Deputy. It is much more difficult to get on. They only open up applications for a week about once or twice a year. They opened them up last October. more than 2200 people applied for 25 slots. As of last week there were less than 200 still in it. I am one of those people.

I just don't want to put all my eggs in one basket. I'm going to fight for this for a while. I honestly think if I have to go the normal route of the appeals process it'll get overturned. The problem with that is I'll miss the February academy and only hope I'll make the June one.

If I'm lucky enough to become a Sheriffs Deputy their academy will be in May.

damn, memphis must be tough with everyone trying to hug you and shiyat