LEO Exodus

[Entryteam]

Every interaction with the public can potentially go very very bad. So, by your logic cops should never really interact with the public. It's potentially suicide as you say. Instead of quitting they should have never gone into this line of work at all. NOBODY here is asking cops to commit suicide, we are asking them to do their duty. I hope you never become a cop, not because I dislike you, but because when the chips are down and someone's' life is in jeopardy of death, you'll think society is telling you to commit suicide, your duty will fall by the wayside.

So, in 98, when I started... I'd have agreed with everything you just wrote. However, in 2018, at the end of my career... I had already decided that if you weren't a child, in my personal family/closeknit group, or wearing this blue uniform with me (and not ALL of those)... then you weren't worth the risk of my kids growing up without a father. No, my friend, Univibe's post is 100% spot on. And I did 2 decades on patrol, 10 years on a very busy swat team, and was decorated for valor in the line of duty by two different agencies. I think I can have an informed opinion on this. The job just isn't what it used to be, and probably won't ever be again.

[Entryteam]

My department is losing on average 22 people a month. We are total down around 600 officers. So far this year we have graduated 30 out of the academy.

Theres several reasons for this. The last few years have definitely caused a lot of guys to leave and also stopped a lot of people from applying. When i was hired in the mid 2000s there were 300 people taking the test. Now they get 30-40 people on test day. We also had a hiring freeze from 2009 to 2017ish. That really screwed us over. But we were doing pretty well hiring until the riots.

I gotta agree with BoringGuy45.... I'm not seeing leftists coming through. If anything the younger guys seem to have more conservative/libertarian views than the guys who were the old guys when I showed up. It used to be that you'd have to get some experience under your belt before you started mistrusting the government and realizing most of the fed boys are not good at being cops. Seems like the new guys already know this.

Yeah, 20 years ago, we'd give a test for our PD 2 times per year and 150-200 people would show up to take it. Last year, 15. 8 passed.

Let them rot. They're getting what they've wanted.

[SteyrAUG]

So, in 98, when I started... I'd have agreed with everything you just wrote. However, in 2018, at the end of my career... I had already decided that if you weren't a child, in my personal family/closeknit group, or wearing this blue uniform with me (and not ALL of those)... then you weren't worth the risk of my kids growing up without a father. No, my friend, Univibe's post is 100% spot on. And I did 2 decades on patrol, 10 years on a very busy swat team, and was decorated for valor in the line of duty by two different agencies. I think I can have an informed opinion on this. The job just isn't what it used to be, and probably won't ever be again.

So if cops aren't gonna risk it except for theirs and their own, then we don't really need cops. We don't especially need a specialized team like SWAT which is centered around high risk responses and hostage rescue. Just give us back all of our property taxes so we can spend it on guns and ammo since we seem to be "on our own" if anything BIG happens.

With all due respect for what you've done it the past, if you are no longer willing, we don't need you. This also might be the most disappointing thing I've read on this forum. I guess you are entitled to your opinion, but I'd never thought I'd hear it from somebody who actually did the job.

Would like to ask you this, what happens when the FD and EMTs follow suit? Your house is on fire and your kid is upstairs? Well we ain't going in, we could get hurt. We only rescue kids from houses that aren't completely on fire.

Your wife was attacked and is bleeding out? We don't want to get blood on us, how do we know she's not an IV drug user. We can't risk it. Once she stops bleeding we'll transport.

There was a incident on I-95 about 15 years ago where bad guys in Car A had been pulled over and as the cops ran their information, Car A decided to just fire on the cops. This was daylight, couple hours before 5pm rush traffic so everybody was driving by. Cops ended up behind their vehicle trying to angle for a shot that wouldn't expose them.

Two DIFFERENT cars, including a crazy f'er I knew personally saw what was going on ahead and pulled in behind the cops and helped them put fire on the bad guys. Not saying the cops had no chance without them, but those cops didn't get hit once and the bad guys didn't do so well. The guys who helped them weren't getting paid to do it and had zero obligation of any kind to help.

[joedirt199]

We have one applicant in the academy right now and probably a dozen retiring or waiting on other job offers. Hell even our secretaries leave at an alarming rate. 200 comissioned officers and probably 50 more support staff and jailers. Not a small dept, but not huge either.

[prepare]

LE administrations no longer want or support meat eaters. And those are the type that run to the sound of gunfire. When the go getters are not supported and instead threatened for doing their job then they wont be putting it on the line. Its that simple. They will either ride out their time or leave.

What the LE admin does want is social workers that have bought in to the diversity, equity, and inclusion BS and those are the type that will stand behind cover while innocents are being slaughtered.

[Entryteam]

So if cops aren't gonna risk it except for theirs and their own, then we don't really need cops. We don't especially need a specialized team like SWAT which is centered around high risk responses and hostage rescue. Just give us back all of our property taxes so we can spend it on guns and ammo since we seem to be "on our own" if anything BIG happens.

With all due respect for what you've done it the past, if you are no longer willing, we don't need you. This also might be the most disappointing thing I've read on this forum. I guess you are entitled to your opinion, but I'd never thought I'd hear it from somebody who actually did the job.

Would like to ask you this, what happens when the FD and EMTs follow suit? Your house is on fire and your kid is upstairs? Well we ain't going in, we could get hurt. We only rescue kids from houses that aren't completely on fire.

Your wife was attacked and is bleeding out? We don't want to get blood on us, how do we know she's not an IV drug user. We can't risk it. Once she stops bleeding we'll transport.

There was a incident on I-95 about 15 years ago where bad guys in Car A had been pulled over and as the cops ran their information, Car A decided to just fire on the cops. This was daylight, couple hours before 5pm rush traffic so everybody was driving by. Cops ended up behind their vehicle trying to angle for a shot that wouldn't expose them.

Two DIFFERENT cars, including a crazy f'er I knew personally saw what was going on ahead and pulled in behind the cops and helped them put fire on the bad guys. Not saying the cops had no chance without them, but those cops didn't get hit once and the bad guys didn't do so well. The guys who helped them weren't getting paid to do it and had zero obligation of any kind to help.

I think you missed the point of my post, man. It's more describing MY journey and what it did to me, man. There was a time when I'd have done that job for FREE. I used to get MAD as hell when they'd tell me to bring the car back at the end of shift. Truly. But the things you see that you cannot unsee... the way you are treated for "doing your duty"... being literally, vitriolically, hated by everyone.... it takes a toll. Late at night, when the demons come.... the more time that passes, the worse it all gets. By the time my 20th year was here... I was ready to walk away and never even think about it again. And honestly.....If Suicide was a woman in a bar... While I've obviously never taken her home... I've damn sure flirted with her. So walk away is what I did, and I never looked back. (And the transformation in my life after distancing myself from that hate-filled profession has been utterly astonishing, but that's a story for a different thread.)

The point is: by the time I got to be that piece of garbage you obviously see me as... I DID leave that accursed profession. So, on that, we agree.

So, sure, it's easy for you to throw it in my face "what if others thought that way about your family" or the FD or whatever...and I'm telling you.... "They probably do". And the whole "then we really dont need cops"... well, brother, that's kinda the point: When SECONDS count... even the awesome cops... are MINUTES away. You are, in essence, on your own. Plan accordingly. But don't condescend to me about my experiences. I don't need it, and don't really care what you think. Altruism IS the first fatality of police work. Mine died years ago.

And if that was the most disappointing thing you've ever read on this forum... you should get out more.

[Just Prince]

I am eight years from retirement and work at the range full time. its easy for me to stay.

[SteyrAUG]

I think you missed the point of my post, man. It's more describing MY journey and what it did to me, man. There was a time when I'd have done that job for FREE. I used to get MAD as hell when they'd tell me to bring the car back at the end of shift. Truly. But the things you see that you cannot unsee... the way you are treated for "doing your duty"... being literally, vitriolically, hated by everyone.... it takes a toll. Late at night, when the demons come.... the more time that passes, the worse it all gets. By the time my 20th year was here... I was ready to walk away and never even think about it again. And honestly.....If Suicide was a woman in a bar... While I've obviously never taken her home... I've damn sure flirted with her. So walk away is what I did, and I never looked back. (And the transformation in my life after distancing myself from that hate-filled profession has been utterly astonishing, but that's a story for a different thread.)

The point is: by the time I got to be that piece of garbage you obviously see me as... I DID leave that accursed profession. So, on that, we agree.

So, sure, it's easy for you to throw it in my face "what if others thought that way about your family" or the FD or whatever...and I'm telling you.... "They probably do". And the whole "then we really dont need cops"... well, brother, that's kinda the point: When SECONDS count... even the awesome cops... are MINUTES away. You are, in essence, on your own. Plan accordingly. But don't condescend to me about my experiences. I don't need it, and don't really care what you think. Altruism IS the first fatality of police work. Mine died years ago.

And if that was the most disappointing thing you've ever read on this forum... you should get out more.

If I overlooked the fact that you left when your heart was no longer in it, I apologize. I missed that one. Not trying to pile on your or anything and I was NOT trying to be condescending.

There are cops, and then there are the guys who do the stuff that YOU did. Not crapping on cops, but most of them never did the stuff YOU did. It was disappointing for me to read that someone with your experience no longer felt the duty because I thought you were still working, if I had realized you were no longer a LEO I wouldn't have said anything.

[TomMcC]

So, in 98, when I started... I'd have agreed with everything you just wrote. However, in 2018, at the end of my career... I had already decided that if you weren't a child, in my personal family/closeknit group, or wearing this blue uniform with me (and not ALL of those)... then you weren't worth the risk of my kids growing up without a father. No, my friend, Univibe's post is 100% spot on. And I did 2 decades on patrol, 10 years on a very busy swat team, and was decorated for valor in the line of duty by two different agencies. I think I can have an informed opinion on this. The job just isn't what it used to be, and probably won't ever be again.

I'm sorry you have had many trials and tribulations, I hate to see any man have to endure the pain of a fallen world, nevertheless I stand by what I said. Nobody here is asking any LEO to commit suicide, if cops are not willing to go in, then let the willing go in. Some cops were willing and did go in at great personal risk for people that weren't their children or family members, I commend them for their bravery and care.

[ThirdWatcher]

I was willing to lay it on the line until the day I retired in 2017 but I spent the last few months feeling like I had a bullseye on my back. I was hyper-vigilant, when I was young I never thought I’d live to retirement yet maybe I would if I didn’t make any serious mistakes...

The first young man I talked out of a career in LE did a couple hitches in the Navy before settling out of state, marrying, and having a good life. His father (not LEO) is a good friend of mine and I’d hate for him to lose his son.

My theory is talking young people out of a career in LE is a good thing. My father tried to talk me out of it and he might as well have been talking to the wall as I didn’t hear a thing he said. No one was gonna talk me out of it. I’m not sure it was worth it but I tried to do the right thing every day...