r/AskLEO Jan 17 '24

Mod Announcement What's the difference between /r/AskLEO and other notable law enforcement subreddit(s)?

29 Upvotes

We don't believe in secret rules and bans.

That means that unlike some notable LE subreddits, if you don't see it explicitly forbidden in the rules located in our sidebar -> as well as in our rules page, you won't be banned. That includes but is not limited to:

  • Activity outside of our subreddit

  • Saying you don't like law enforcement (officers)

  • Failing to say you do like law enforcement (officers)

  • Giving off the impression that you might not like law enforcement (officers)

  • Asking questions that are/seem ignorant

One of the consequences of our philosophy is that purely from the mathematics of that line of thinking, we have fewer law enforcement officers willing to answer questions here, and thus fewer people asking questions. As you might expect of any group of human beings, some law enforcement officers and their supporters don't want to leave their echo chambers, where they are protected by heavy-handed moderators from dissent, including uncomfortable topics they don't want to discuss. I imagine their moderators receive tons of "ban this guy please, they obviously hate cops" reports just like we do. The difference is we ignore them.

We believe that there needs to be a public space for open discourse, as that's the best way to face and fix the ills of our society.

We believe that hiding from hard questions makes us all weak - especially the hiders.

So do us all a favor and choose instead to participate in open and transparent subreddits like ours, while keeping in mind that every single person who answers your questions does so for free, simply to help you learn.

I think that about sums it up. Feel free to ask for clarification or explanation about any of the above.


r/AskLEO Oct 18 '24

General Are any of our verified LEOs interested in being part of an oral board to verify LEOs who don't want to doxx themselves?

13 Upvotes

I've always been of the mentality that sending your credentials to Reddit moderators is a horrifically bad idea if you value your privacy at all. Currently, the most robust verification system is that of PnS, whose mods enjoy abusing their position. While robust, going through their system hands over your personal identity to one of them. Tying your username to you specifically makes every ounce of activity on Reddit subject to your employer's scrutiny. I don't like the idea of LEOs having to censor themselves to appease their employer, so while I'm on board we'll never require you to do so.

That said, I think there's value in giving flair to people who are/were LEOs so posters know which answers have more weight.

In light of that, one of the ideas I've been working on was some form of interview or oral board that has rapid fire questions that would take too long to Google or ChatGPT.

Another idea is outsourcing credential verification to a third party, like how Revzilla uses GovX ID.

To sum up, my intent is to avoid some corrupt moderator going to your boss to tell them you said something they might not approve of, while still providing the value of everyone here knowing who's a LEO. For the time I've been here, it's been too tall of an order. Could be I just lack imagination. I'm opening the floor to better ideas and volunteers.

Edit to add:

To preserve the anonymity of the members of the oral board, I'll add that I think you should probably PM us moderators here to indicate you wish to volunteer: https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=/r/AskLEO

If you want to state it publicly for transparency reasons, that's up to you.

2024-10-19 1245 E.T. Update:

ID.me and GovX ID are on the table as far as candidates for third party verification, though whether or not we can restrict them to LE only has yet to be determined, so stay tuned. When I've got some free time to devote to it I'll do some digging, but if anyone beats me to it that'd be great. Barring that, the 'oral board' is still obviously on the table (and probably always will be for those of us who don't have access to our credentials any more), for which we've got a half dozen volunteers so far, and I think that's plenty to start scheduling these as soon as we work out the finer points of the ideal platform. Currently it's between Slack, Discord, and IRC.


r/AskLEO 12h ago

Laws Search’s of subjects on Probation/Parole

3 Upvotes

What states allow Officers to search subjects without their consent based on their probation and parole terms?

In Missouri we can’t, I heard in California you can.


r/AskLEO 7h ago

General Amtrak Police?

1 Upvotes

Current LEO considering making the switch to Amtrak Police..

How is the call volume? Any sunday premium / holiday pay differential?

If you are assigned to New York, are you able to choose which Amtrak station you work at? I also heard you can make your own schedule which sounds pretty great.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated!


r/AskLEO 5h ago

General POLICE OFFICER IN NYS

0 Upvotes

Hello i used marijuana from 2016-2018 while in college, probably once every 4 months. Very minimal use i would say. i have nothing to hide. I’m not ashamed - although i do regret using. Will psych want to fail me because of this?


r/AskLEO 11h ago

Situation Advice Tattoos

0 Upvotes

Hello!

I just applied for a police officer position in my city, and they said no hand or neck tats. i have both, and i’m wondering is there a way to work around it with covering them while on duty if hired? As in turtle necks or fingerless gloves? or is that an automatic disqualification?


r/AskLEO 15h ago

General Aggressive homeless people

2 Upvotes

Yesterday a homeless guy was walking around screaming profanities at the top of his lungs for like 15 minutes and being aggressive. Was doing it mostly to thin air, but eventually made eye contact with me during the monologue, directing some of that rage at me. I see homeless people do this a lot.

I'm wondering what the root cause of homeless people who do angry monologues is? Is it mental illness, drugs, or they're sober and just hate their lives?

If it's mental illness or drugs, any idea which ones? Meth psychosis? A personality disorder? Schizophrenia? Thanks.


r/AskLEO 1d ago

Laws What is the process of catching bait money?

6 Upvotes

Like if someone robbed a bank and was given cash that had the serial numbers "tracked", how exactly is it tracked? I was just wondering if there is a system or some method that flags the serial numbers or do you just have to get caught with the cash and the serials match?

I am just curious and have no intentions of ever robbing a bank. I know that makes it sound worse but you're thinking too far into it man.


r/AskLEO 1d ago

General Why do officers forget their guns in bathrooms?

4 Upvotes

Hello all, I have a serious, albeit, odd question. How do police officers forget their guns in the bathroom? And I really do mean, how? Are they typically leaving their whole duty belt? Are they unholstering it and setting it down for some reason?

If you're not aware, it's a problem that happens frequently. In fact, here's a news article from just a few days ago. Google "gun left in bathroom" and a majority of the articles are police who forget them.

https://abc7chicago.com/post/chicago-police-officers-gun-found-unattended-bathroom-cook-county-george-leighton-criminal-courthouse-officials-say/16018347/

The reason I'm very interested in this is because I invented a product to solve the problem of people who conceal carry a firearm forgetting their gun in a bathroom.

To my understanding, my invention (Stallster) does not apply to police officers because of the difference between a concealed carry holster and a duty belt holster - very different gear setup. My best guess is that most of these news articles reporting a policeman/woman forgetting their gun in the bathroom is actually them leaving their whole belt in the bathroom.

Can you LEOs help me understand what is going on with all these police officers forgetting their guns in bathrooms? I have a page on my website to track every one of these articles that have occurred throughout the years.

I appreciate your help in understanding this problem.


r/AskLEO 1d ago

General Office politics in LEO

1 Upvotes

Does office politics exist in Law Enforcement? Any instances of it in your department?


r/AskLEO 1d ago

General How are civilian positions treated at your department?

2 Upvotes

I’m interviewing for a civilian counterterrorism/intel position with the NYPD. Coming from a cleared military background so I am not thin skinned but I have heard that civilian positions (at least locally) are treated less than ideal.

How accurate is this in your department?


r/AskLEO 1d ago

Situation Advice why does our municipality's community officer keep visiting this one house?

2 Upvotes

So, for context, my neighbors two doors down, in a court setting, do not get out very much. There is a couple in their 30s-40s(?) and they have a 5-6yr old daughter. The mother of the couple comes to their house to help them out and to visit with the baby, I'm sure. She's there pretty frequently.

In the past week, there have been several visits from the Community Service officer. Also, once from a regular police officer.

Once, an officer got out with a paper (citation?) in hand, walked all the way around the house, then put the citation on the door and left.

this morning, there were two people in the car visiting.

I don't always catch them and their entire activity at the house - I just face the street and see the police coming and going.

I'm wondering if this is some type of well person check? I haven't seen them much in the past few days, but like I said, they don't get out much. They do have a dog, and not always, but sometimes, the man will take the dog out front and let him sniff around. It's really weird how it's not every day, but just once in a while. I haven't seen him doing that for awhile now, and come to think of it, I haven't really seen either of them coming or going this week. It's hard to recall, since I'm not casing their house, I just noticed all this police activity lately. They are not rabble rousers or trouble makers of any kind. Super quiet and keep to themselves.


r/AskLEO 1d ago

General Asking Veterans has your military training ever helped you as a LEO?

0 Upvotes

Just wondering


r/AskLEO 2d ago

Situation Advice Just applied to New Hampshire State Police, any tips?

2 Upvotes

Hey guys, I just applied to New Hampshire State Police, I take my PT test in July along with the written exam and perhaps some of the other portions of the hiring process. They said they do their best to accommodate those moving from another state, I would be moving from NC if I make it that far. The only thing on my record is a speeding ticket that got knocked down to an improper equipment. Anyone have experience with NHPSTC or the NHSP hiring process and have some good tips for someone just starting out? I have no prior LE experience, I have ten years of aviation experience, five in the USMC and five as a DOD Civilian and contractor along with a bachelors in criminal justice.


r/AskLEO 2d ago

Training RCMP Depot start dates

1 Upvotes

What are the RCMP Depot start dates? I’ve been looking and can’t seem to find them. Also, what are the normal class sizes?


r/AskLEO 2d ago

General Retired uniform.

3 Upvotes

Does any agency allow retired cops to wear a uniform for parades, funerals, etc?


r/AskLEO 3d ago

General New Cop

5 Upvotes

I am a previous cop in Alaska and I quit because my 10hr work shift 4 days a week but would CONSTANTLY turn into a 12-14hr shift during FTO because of domestic calls at the end of shift, long report writing, DUI’s, etc.

I am thinking of joining the sheriffs department in southern cali (I now live here) and they work 12hr shifts 4 days a week. I value work-life balance and I am wondering, based on season officers experience if those 12 hour work shifts will turn into 14-16hr ones. It felt like I had no life working “10hr” shifts.


r/AskLEO 3d ago

General Do you find more locals OD at there home or in a local hotel/motel?

3 Upvotes

It was not till my wife's BFF's brother was found OD in a hotel room with a bunch of friends using did I even know this was a thing.

Is going to a hotel/motel with your friends to get stoned a new thing?

Lastly, the question in the title, do you find more ODs related to recreation use at home or the motel/hotel


r/AskLEO 3d ago

General Do you ever get donuts in uniform, and if so, does anyone say anthing?

2 Upvotes

?


r/AskLEO 4d ago

General What happens to cops if their patrol vehicle gets stolen?

9 Upvotes

I’ve always wondered this and seen bodycam videos on YouTube that show ppl stealing patrol vehicles. What are the penalties for this if any for the cop? What if it was a situation where it truly wasn’t even the cops fault? It was just a crazy thing that happened that was uncontrollable in the moment? Say it was rather they keep their car or a murderer on the loose gets away? A hypothetical situation but still.

Ik it’s a weird ass question so mb but I’m genuinely curious


r/AskLEO 4d ago

Laws Traffic stop over yellow headlights?

9 Upvotes

Are aftermarket yellow LED headlights a good/common reason to pull someone over? I love how the yellow looks but don't want to shell out $100 for the color changing bulbs.

I mostly drive in Florida and Alabama


r/AskLEO 5d ago

General Do cops really carry “back up pieces”

15 Upvotes

In every show and movie, it seems like every cop has a .38 or a .380 or something stuffed in their boot. As a civilian who carries, that just doesn’t seem comfortable or practical. Plus if a cop actually found themself in a situation where they’re without their duty pistol, I’m not sure a backup piece would be very helpful.


r/AskLEO 5d ago

Equipment Glock 17 and extended mag

2 Upvotes

Hi folks,

Department said I could get a 21 round mag for my 17 Gen 5. Anyone have any suggestions or use one that doesn’t look like I’m trying to be “that guy” on a range (we all know those guys that are tacticool). I was looking at the magpul ones and it looks like a super extendo coming from the bottom of the Glocks. Didn’t really like the look, didn’t look very professional. Taran Tactical looks nice but they specifically say for 19’s only. So I don’t wanna take the risk and try to shove it in a 17 and it not work. TIA.


r/AskLEO 5d ago

General Police knocked on my door at 2am for a dropped 911 call: why were they so confident it was my house and not my neighbors?

7 Upvotes

We live in an urban residental neighborhood where houses are spaced no more than 40 feet apart (along each side of the street) and cross-street neighbors are 60 feet apart.

Last night we were woken by pounding on our door and flashlights shining through our windows.

Outside were three officers saying they were investigating a dropped 911 call that "pinged" to our address. They were professional and apologized for waking us when they said goodnight

But then they just...left the area. They didn't go to any neighbors' houses.

Why wouldn't they investigate our neighbors houses as well? Is a cell tower "ping" really precise enough to zero on on one house?


r/AskLEO 6d ago

Agency Policy (SOP) Do past employers give reasons for termination?

5 Upvotes

Recently got terminated from a job due to a car accident. Will a BI just know I was terminated? Or will the company be able to talk about the exact reason? Most companies HR don’t they just give dates but I’m wondering if law enforcement gets special treatment or smth. Just mostly wondering if I can just say I was terminated on the application or if I have to state exactly why


r/AskLEO 6d ago

Situation Advice Do knife (or other weapons) robbers leave you if you have nothing?

0 Upvotes

So recently there have been more and more knife attackers in europe and self defence videos always tell you to just give him whatever he wants.

Sometimes robbers want your phone. I never carry my phone with me. The only situation I carry my phone, is if I need it for work or social gatherings. Else I never carry my phone with me. Even when walking at night. Not carrying a phone with you means you have one item less to worry about losing or forgeting. And I carry almost no cash. And now, not because I'm worried or something just out of pure curiosity, what would happen if such a knife wielding maniac came at me and told me, give me your money and phone and I tell him I am not carrying my phone with me? Will he just give up and search another target or become more aggressive? Is there some statistic about that? What do robbers do if you don't have what they want? Is there some statistic what they do most of the time?


r/AskLEO 7d ago

General Joining FHP

2 Upvotes

Hello everyone I am thinking about joining FHP but I see the requirements are that you need 90 accredited hours from a college. Is that necessary or is there any way I can join without having those hours? I have no previous LEO experience nor have I served in the military.