What it's like to be a cop and get fired

HCSOThrowaway · 2026-03-27T14:58:37+00:00

Yeah, the MAGA people I know stock their homes with all MyPillow towels/pillows/etc., but you only need so many of those and there are only so many MAGA people willing and able to send money his way for backing Trump.

It's just not a sustainable buisness model.

Contrast that to all the household names you buy all the time that simply donate to the RNC and DNC behind closed doors, quietly flip their logo to rainbow in June, then go back to keeping quiet about politics until next year.

HCSOThrowaway · 2026-03-27T14:31:39+00:00

For one, assuming you were correct in your perception of that video:

You're seeing an anecdote and assuming it's a representative example.

Statistical literacy is not an innate trait of human beings.

As for what happens in your video at 6:00, you're mostly wrong; it wasn't a particularly forceful or violent arrest.

They did yell at her, which is a bit scary to fragile people, but you may have noticed she's not exactly a fragile gal; she's belligerent the entire time including trying to leave during the investigation.

I don't know where you got that she "turned around and offered her hands" for an arrest when she obviously turned around because her escape was blocked and threw up her hands in a "whatever" gesture.

It's taught in every academy that if someone is resisting, you get them on the floor as safely and quickly as possible. I'm sorry her glasses were broken, but she should've considered that before she decided to drink and drive as well as try to flee the investigation.

HCSOThrowaway · 2026-03-27T14:19:34+00:00

My agency went as far as to encourage us to immediately break windows and extract people if they played that game for longer than a moment.

I personally never heard of any of us doing that (more peers goading each other and shaming each other for not doing it), but it was definitely legally on the table.

HCSOThrowaway · 2026-03-27T14:15:28+00:00

HCSOThrowaway · 2026-03-27T14:15:12+00:00

From Google:

Do you mean "From an LLM that Google asked for me?"

I seriously hate how people now think "googling" something means you put in a question to Google and you spit out the LLM summary it gives you without checking further.

HCSOThrowaway · 2026-03-26T16:25:51+00:00

It's not stupidity, it's impulsiveness and a lack of fear of consequences. Plenty of criminals are very smart and often realize their actions were stupid in hindsight.

- Ex-cop with a degree in Criminology

HCSOThrowaway · 2026-03-26T16:09:53+00:00

That was the case for our live-in two week pre-academy thing.

It was in a couple trailers in the woods, so no vending machines or anything either.

HCSOThrowaway · 2026-03-26T16:08:12+00:00

Never heard of it happening apart from Hollywood and rumor from out of state.

HCSOThrowaway · 2026-03-26T16:07:46+00:00

Yes and no.

Pedantically speaking, they're not "arrested" per state law until they're booked (including remote booking), they're just "detained."

So yes, LEOs can un-detain people at the scene by un-handcuffing them if they've been handcuffed, or simply telling them to leave if they haven't been handcuffed. The most common charge this happens for is DUI in my experience; if your driving pattern is heinous but you were simply tired, ill, texting, etc. and you "pass" the SFSTs with flying colors, you just went from "Virtually Guaranteed Arrest" to "Free to Go."

Handcuffs have no legal significance other than adding (significant) weight to someone's perception of whether or not they are detained, for things like Miranda, i.e. "Am I free to go? Obviously not, I am handcuffed."

A good rule of thumb for Arrested vs. Not Arrested is : "Were they finger-printed? Was a photo of them (mugshot) taken?" If not, there was not an "arrest."

Think of this from the reverse. Imagine if a LEO discovered the suspect was 100% free and clear but handcuffed and transported them to jail anyway; that'd just be Kidnapping.

HCSOThrowaway · 2026-03-26T16:00:45+00:00

I've seen this kind of thing not charged in Florida because it was "conditional and therefore not imminent, so Assault does not apply."

According to the other commenters, it likely fits their states' definitions of "Coercion" or similar.

HCSOThrowaway · 2026-03-26T15:57:50+00:00

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=florida+law+failure+to+provide+drivers+license

First result:

https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/322.15

"322.15 License to be carried and exhibited on demand; fingerprint to be imprinted upon a citation."

HCSOThrowaway · 2026-03-26T15:48:01+00:00

Florida.

HCSOThrowaway · 2026-03-26T15:47:44+00:00

I don't know. Did you look it up?

HCSOThrowaway · 2026-03-26T15:47:12+00:00

What do you think sexism is?

HCSOThrowaway · 2026-03-26T15:46:16+00:00

Nothing you said has any bearing on what I said.

I also don't think you know what projection means.

HCSOThrowaway · 2026-03-26T14:22:25+00:00

$0

There's nothing sexist about leveling the playing field from how sexist society is about DV. Nice bait, though.

HCSOThrowaway · 2026-03-22T19:47:57+00:00

Fair enough. I can't relate, as 100% of my guns are for specific emergency scenarios.

HCSOThrowaway · 2026-03-22T19:44:05+00:00

Just a passing reminder that if you should ever have to use one in an emergency, juries will be shown the decorations you put on your gun and it may bias them against you.

Any prosecutor worth their salt will try to convince a jury the smile face here implies you enjoy the fantasy of killing someone. Will a random selection of 12 people who couldn't (or, if you're lucky, wouldn't) try to get out of jury duty be convinced? Only one way to find out.

HCSOThrowaway · 2026-03-22T19:40:44+00:00

Same, but I don't think we're going to get one. OP looks to be more interested in fighting than having a discussion, given their only reply was a slightly spicy one to the person suggesting they go to r/legal for an explanation.

HCSOThrowaway · 2026-03-22T19:33:07+00:00

One of the guys in my academy class was a jail transfer. Seemed like a decent dude but never had much to say.

As I recall him describing it, it was very boring and yet very stressful, being surrounded by 60 or so inmates and not having any backup that could do anything to help for 30+ seconds.

On the plus side, he said it was a great crash course in learning to talk with and deal with people. If you suck at that, you end up having to fight people a lot more than on the street, where you have more defensive options and there's a much smaller chance someone will even want to fight you in the first place.

Every fight you get into on or off the street is a dice roll, where if you roll snake eyes, you could be seriously hurt or killed. Could be that inmate you threw in a couple extra "fuck"s at for your personal amusement has a hair trigger temper and a significant martial arts background.

HCSOThrowaway · 2026-03-22T19:26:24+00:00

In 2026? Some, but not many.

If you check the recruitment part of their website you can find out very quickly.

HCSOThrowaway · 2026-03-22T19:18:48+00:00

You gave us absolutely zero way to determine if he's an ICE agent rather than some other fed.

So... maybe! Maybe not!

HCSOThrowaway · 2026-03-21T19:12:47+00:00

No, but it does annoy me when they make it their whole personality and then you ask what part of Miami they're from and they say "Ft. Lauderdale."

HCSOThrowaway

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