it wasnt against policy in ours. our sheriff wanted as many eyes and ears out there as possible.
Off Duty Arrests
- Thread starter 00streetfighter
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it wasnt against policy in ours. our sheriff wanted as many eyes and ears out there as possible.
Best off duty I had was a drunk driver. Followed him for 5 miles in my POV with my wife in the car. He finally stopped and started to get out of his car. Heard sirens coming as I was on the phone with my dispatch and local PD dispatch (patched through my peeps). He got back in and tried to leave as I shoved a badge and gun up in his window. Came to court and told the judge I was chasing him. Judge asked "well he couldn't be chasing unless you were running from him. Were you running from him?" This was a 5th offense DUI and 3rd within 10 years (Felony in VA).
i dont see anything wrong with it. once they performance off-duty arrest, they should get paid for that time they acted as a LEO. like walmart does, they tell their employees that if they are walking out and already clocked out and a customer askes for help, they're suppose to go ahead and help the person. then make a note of it so they will get paid.
Seems absurd.
I was picking up an afternoon shift one day to cover another supervisors vacation day and we had back to back to back armed robberies of people walking home.
After the Chief gets wind of whats going on he calls me at the end of my shift and says he will be out in plain clothes walking around basically trying to get robbed. Armed with a cell phone, badge and concealed handgun he tried to get himself robbed. I commended him for coming out but also told him I wasn't leaving patrol until he finished his undercover activity.
We never caught the suspect, even after he became known after committing 3 other armed robberies within a month, one of them being his friend...he got himself killed in a neighboring city over a debt. :shrug:
He came out, basically off duty, none of us had a problem with it. In my opinion a Chief of Police is never off duty. But is the chief going vigilante style on the guys or does the road patrol know he's out conducting follow ups on drug complaints off duty. Seems kinda unsafe if he's not notifying road/dispatch.
I was picking up an afternoon shift one day to cover another supervisors vacation day and we had back to back to back armed robberies of people walking home.
After the Chief gets wind of whats going on he calls me at the end of my shift and says he will be out in plain clothes walking around basically trying to get robbed. Armed with a cell phone, badge and concealed handgun he tried to get himself robbed. I commended him for coming out but also told him I wasn't leaving patrol until he finished his undercover activity.
We never caught the suspect, even after he became known after committing 3 other armed robberies within a month, one of them being his friend...he got himself killed in a neighboring city over a debt. :shrug:
He came out, basically off duty, none of us had a problem with it. In my opinion a Chief of Police is never off duty. But is the chief going vigilante style on the guys or does the road patrol know he's out conducting follow ups on drug complaints off duty. Seems kinda unsafe if he's not notifying road/dispatch.
Interesting off duty arrest stories. Love it when the criminals are caught.
Uh, is that legal...?
Well I am still here to tell about it, so I guess so. Not to mention he was committing a felony at the time.
I assume off duty LEOs are not civilians in Va? A normal citizen would get their ass handed to them for holding someone as gunpoint because they suspected they were intoxicated.
You're never "off duty" just times when you aren't paid to do what you do.
As far as the above Off-duty vs. On-duty question, I don't know of anywhere that swares you in and has the words "When on Duty only". Once you are a cop, you are cop 24/7/365. It's not something you can't turn off and on, it's pretty much just on. If you see something and do nothing you are screwed because.... "you're are a cop, you have to do something". And then if you see something and do something.... "your off duty, your just trying to be supercop". In our department, we try to act as just reporters/observers unless it's a felony.... then we can/should step in if its safe/possible.
The one thing that does REALLY piss me off though about being off duty is when my friends, especially my family, drop the dime on me in public and tell me to do something about something going on. I know full well when I need to step in and should step in, and don't need people putting me in danger of an a$$ whopping becuase they feel empowered with my presence.
For example, a rather large really drunk guy at a bar screaming at his girl. Nothing physical, just making a huge scene and acting like an idiot. I see the bouncer already on the phone and watching them attentivly, most likely calling the on-duty local cops to come get him out of the bar. So a friend of a friend deciedes that it's her place to walk up to this Drunken Goliath and say, "leave her alone... he's a cop and if you don't your going to jail." Thanks alot!!! I'm in a bar, that is not in my city, I have been drinking(a little), I have no gun or other tools, and now you just identified me as an authority figure which Goliath probably has a huge problem with.... THANKS ALOT!! I was very thankful when he walked out. Needless to say, I was royally pi$$ed and out of that bar in no time, and the friend of a friend was finding her own way home.
Some people just don't get that no everyone likes the police. And that their are bad people in their community that are MORE than willing to exploit an advantage of an officer being off duty to make a play on them. This is the same reason that I tell people I "work for the city" doing "night time sanitary work" when I don't know them.
AS for the article, I think it's rediculous. Just another example of Unions going from protectors of the workers to trying to stick it to the employer. If they changed the management to patrol operations, I can see that being a job threatening issue. But the Cheif making an arrest once in a great while,.... get real. It's like Green Bay PD LT's and up not being allowed to issue parking tickets because that is "a patrol funcition". So now instead of an LT just writing a ticket, they have to call a B/W to issue one....... It's JUST STUPID!!
The one thing that does REALLY piss me off though about being off duty is when my friends, especially my family, drop the dime on me in public and tell me to do something about something going on. I know full well when I need to step in and should step in, and don't need people putting me in danger of an a$$ whopping becuase they feel empowered with my presence.
For example, a rather large really drunk guy at a bar screaming at his girl. Nothing physical, just making a huge scene and acting like an idiot. I see the bouncer already on the phone and watching them attentivly, most likely calling the on-duty local cops to come get him out of the bar. So a friend of a friend deciedes that it's her place to walk up to this Drunken Goliath and say, "leave her alone... he's a cop and if you don't your going to jail." Thanks alot!!! I'm in a bar, that is not in my city, I have been drinking(a little), I have no gun or other tools, and now you just identified me as an authority figure which Goliath probably has a huge problem with.... THANKS ALOT!! I was very thankful when he walked out. Needless to say, I was royally pi$$ed and out of that bar in no time, and the friend of a friend was finding her own way home.
Some people just don't get that no everyone likes the police. And that their are bad people in their community that are MORE than willing to exploit an advantage of an officer being off duty to make a play on them. This is the same reason that I tell people I "work for the city" doing "night time sanitary work" when I don't know them.
AS for the article, I think it's rediculous. Just another example of Unions going from protectors of the workers to trying to stick it to the employer. If they changed the management to patrol operations, I can see that being a job threatening issue. But the Cheif making an arrest once in a great while,.... get real. It's like Green Bay PD LT's and up not being allowed to issue parking tickets because that is "a patrol funcition". So now instead of an LT just writing a ticket, they have to call a B/W to issue one....... It's JUST STUPID!!
Very well said sir. :beer:
lawficcer, your post reminds me of my greatest ass whipping i ever got.
i was off duty, but uniformed hired security for denny's. it was saturday night, 230 am. all the clubs bars closed and people flock to dennys. one table had 3 couples, mullets and marlboros. extremely intoxicated...and being kinda loud. even the other drunk tables were annoyed. policy was not to intervene unless asked my the manager.
they were giving the waitress a very hard time.
i was standing at the register and i was listening to the waitress getting frustrated. she points to me and says to them, "you see that cop over there, he said he is going to kick all your asses if you dont shut up"....i just closed my eyes and hoped i could dissapear. the guys werent as pissed...but the girls were agging them on to do something. first of all...the waitress completely made that up..i never spoke to her. after about 30 seconds. tables chairs, elbows and kneecaps were flying everywhere. it was a full on fight. as i would try to control one guy, i would get flialed by 3 drunk women....the girls were completely inciting the men to act. someone from dennys had called 911...took them about 4 minutes to get there. worst ass whippen i ever got. waitress was fired over it. the entire table was arrested. not one single person came to help. i fought them off best i could
but I agree...friends and family love to play that card and dont hesitate for a second.
i was off duty, but uniformed hired security for denny's. it was saturday night, 230 am. all the clubs bars closed and people flock to dennys. one table had 3 couples, mullets and marlboros. extremely intoxicated...and being kinda loud. even the other drunk tables were annoyed. policy was not to intervene unless asked my the manager.
they were giving the waitress a very hard time.
i was standing at the register and i was listening to the waitress getting frustrated. she points to me and says to them, "you see that cop over there, he said he is going to kick all your asses if you dont shut up"....i just closed my eyes and hoped i could dissapear. the guys werent as pissed...but the girls were agging them on to do something. first of all...the waitress completely made that up..i never spoke to her. after about 30 seconds. tables chairs, elbows and kneecaps were flying everywhere. it was a full on fight. as i would try to control one guy, i would get flialed by 3 drunk women....the girls were completely inciting the men to act. someone from dennys had called 911...took them about 4 minutes to get there. worst ass whippen i ever got. waitress was fired over it. the entire table was arrested. not one single person came to help. i fought them off best i could
but I agree...friends and family love to play that card and dont hesitate for a second.
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It seems to me that the policemans union should be glad men like this exist who go above and beyond their 9-5 duties, it gives police a better rep imo. I can see their point of view but still this is something that should be commended not condemned.
Perhaps you missed in my post where I stated my badge was displayed also. DUH! And why would a normal citizen get their ass handed to them? VA is an open carry state, and being that the DUI was a felony, a citizen would have every right to execute a citizens arrest.
COs have it bad in the off-duty department as well, I think. Unless you're a part of a crew that has to have POST certification (special tactics, investigators, etc.), or working in a state where COs are required to be POST-certified, when you're an off-duty CO, you're just a civilian. Usually a legally-carrying civilian, but a civilian nonetheless.
I've had/heard of more than a few stories of tense meetings between former inmates and COs. And trust me when I say this: they ALWAYS recognize their former COs. I know of one CO who found that the guy from Swanson's delivering to his house was a former inmate from his unit. Even worse are inmate family-members that recognize you from visitation. They can either try to get abusive with you, or try to solicit you for favors for their inmate.
I've also known of non-POST COs that tried to flash their badges to either scare someone off, or just to try and be "badass." I heard of one that tried it with what he didn't know was an off-duty PO and got arrested for impersonating a PO.
Going back to the part I quoted, it's worse when this happens to a CO, because as I mentioned, most COs are just civilians outside of the prison they work in.
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