(8 hours ago)olfart Wrote: There are advantages to starting with a small agency that you wouldn't get in a large city. Small agencies need the officers to do a little bit (or a lot) of everything, so you'll learn patrol, criminal investigation, crime scene evidence collection, arrest procedures and case preparation for trial. You'll likely learn to do your own probable cause affidavits for warrants, and you may have a few kicked back by a magistrate because you left out a key word here or there. In big agencies, there are office dweebs who handle the paperwork while patrol acts as a taxi service to bring folks into the jail and dump them. On the down side, you may be the only officer on the street at times with the nearest backup 15 - 20 minutes away. You'll learn some creative techniques to keep your hide intact while awaiting help.
My last position was with a small sheriff's office. We had 8 deputies when I started here, not enough for 24 hour coverage. That meant whoever lived close to the call got called out in the middle of the night. One riot, one ranger. Twenty minutes minimum for backup to arrive. On the rare occasion when someone was drunk enough to want to fight, I pointed to my handheld radio with a little red button on top. I told the guy "If I have to push that little red button, it will rain police for an hour, and they won't be happy getting dragged out of bed." He decided to go peacefully. Good thing, because that little red button didn't do anything, and the handheld radio was worthless that far from the repeater.
Welps, 5 weeks in and I'm working on the 4th felony warrant my TO and I have picked up since I started - this is the 2nd for child abandonment in 3 weeks. We also had an assault family violence w/ strangulation + unauthorized use of a motor vehicle (he stole her car after choking her out) and a felony theft charge, but the theft warrant was declined because the victim (a retail store) could not / would not provide itemized receipts for everything taken. Win some, lose some.
I've also had two EDO's already ("5150" / MHMR / 72 hour holds)
I've already been told that I will most likely wind up alone at night - but the next town over is only 5 miles away and we back one another up constantly. Can still be one riot one ranger type stuff but we've also got county units - sheriffs and constables - plus if it gets real crazy and they're available and willing to play, DPS. I'm not too afraid of being truly alone out there.
We have one detective, but we're encouraged to handle investigations as much as we can ourselves.
We also joined in the last 8 miles of a pursuit last weekend. The initiating agency is 60 miles away, and only one other agency joined in with them before we got involved. Then everyone ahead of us joined in, including a DPS helicopter. That was fun. Sleepy little towns aren't always sleepy.
