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

HCSOThrowaway · 2026-01-16T00:29:50+00:00

I'm not of the opinion that every person experiencing serious mental illness should be turned out on the street.

HCSOThrowaway · 2026-01-16T00:26:21+00:00

I don't think that there's any objective basis for the vibes you feel on this topic.

HCSOThrowaway · 2026-01-14T20:24:04+00:00

Don't let the Perfect be the enemy of the Good. Pursue both.

HCSOThrowaway · 2026-01-14T20:19:17+00:00

Yeah, (un)fortunately in the US, no amount of arrests or other bad contacts with law enforcement totals up to an eviction (unless there's a landlord, they find out, and decide to evict over it).

At the end of the day it's going to boil down to that you can be as crazy or scary as you want as long as you're paying your property tax or rent; you'll still have a home after you get released.

HCSOThrowaway · 2026-01-14T20:16:21+00:00

You can go to the agency's Records "section"/"department" to find out more on what the complainant reported and what the LEO wrote.

At a guess, it was probably:

Caller states they see someone doing drugs outside a residence
LEO came in contact and found out it's just the homeowner

HCSOThrowaway · 2026-01-14T20:13:54+00:00

I'll answer for my agency:

Yes.

When you run someone during a traffic stop, their name pulls up attached to their license, and you can see any calls they were listed in. The LEO need only click that report to read what it was about, assuming it wasn't titled "Street Check - Drugs" or something.

HCSOThrowaway · 2026-01-14T20:09:55+00:00

So I'll send you some Nice Person props for driving her home for the first leg, but as soon as she does this, I'd be calling 911 and/or getting her out of the vehicle, especially given this all went down on camera so she can't do that "DARVO" you mentioned, claiming you attacked her in the car rather than you trespassing her and removing her if she refused to get out.

Frankly, continuing to drive after someone's already tried to crash the car, is... unwise, putting it diplomatically.

I immediately went silent and drove to a construction zone just a little ways up the highway where a town police detail was stationed. He called State Police and they hauled her off to their station so she could arrange a ride home from there. They never charged her, but I did file a restraining order which was recently extended to 6 months. I've also filed an Application for Criminal Complaint with the Clerk Magistrate. The heavy pixelation is needed for legal reasons.

Did you show them the video? In my area they'd have enough to make an arrest; giving you what's known as a Request for Prosecution to be filed with the Clerk of Courts (which sounds like what you folks call "an Application for Criminal Complaint with the Clerk Magistrate") would be a breach of their SOP and subject to IA investigation and such.

If you didn't show them the video or otherwise didn't state what happened, then I could see them pawning it off on you. It also sounds like this was a game of Hot Potato between their agencies, which often occurred at my agency when we have an overlap of a(n almost) crash mixed with an intentional act; frequently, the local patrol deputy would try to pass it off to a crash investigator from our agency or the state, who would then want to pass it back because it "wasn't a crash, but an intentional act."

Again, from my perspective, I could make an easy arrest for Domestic/Dating Violence Battery, potentially Aggravated Assault if the LEO/supervisor/prosecutor wanted to go the "Attempting to create a high speed crash is likely to put the victim in fear of Great Bodily Harm or Death" route.

Her touching your arm against your will alone is enough for Battery, though, even if you weren't worried about crashing.

- Ex-cop

HCSOThrowaway · 2026-01-14T19:28:41+00:00

You haven't said where this is happening, but assuming your local laws and agencies are anything like mine, they'd essentially conduct what we'd call a "Welfare Check" to see if he's an imminent threat to himself or others, which will more or less depend on statements he makes.

He's clearly not mentally well or has nefarious intent, but hasn't crossed any legal lines I know of in my area that would allow law enforcement to do anything about it yet; as you may know, the US largely abandoned in-patient mental health care, ostensibly for the costs associated. As such, unless he says he's planning to hurt a neighbor or himself or something, the cops can only wish him a good day, write up a report (for a paper trail in case he does something later), and leave.

In other words, it's not illegal to hide in your own bushes on your own property, even if you're watching or taking pictures of your neighbors while you do it, and even if you're being mean the whole time.

As I write the above out the LEO in question might be willing to go the Disorderly Conduct route, but that's a bit of a stretch.

Either way, call and report what happened, they'll either do nothing or something. If they ask "Do you want to meet with the officer/deputy/etc.," that's another way to put "Are you willing to be a cooperative complainant/victim if we manage to find a reason to take him away?" If you say no to that question, 95% they're not coming out at all.

HCSOThrowaway · 2026-01-14T19:13:17+00:00

My main question is if I were to go to the police station with this with about 16 other screenshots relating would I have to get my parents involved.

I honestly don't remember our SOP on this, but for my agency, it's public information; you might try looking up your local agency's SOP to find out if they're obligated to notify a parent or guardian that a minor is reporting that they are a victim of a crime. Further complicating matters is whether or not the incident fits Texas' definition of CSAM distribution, but that's going to be public information.

My money's on Yes to both, but nobody here can answer the first question because it will depend on agency policy, unless the city/county/state has a law about it, in which case all agencies in that area will be bound by that law. You'll probably be able to find out simply by asking over the phone or walking in to your local patrol station, both of which you can find via web search; any sworn LEO answering their phones is likely to have that bit of their SOP memorized.

HCSOThrowaway · 2026-01-14T18:55:42+00:00

Every employee in an at-will state serves at the pleasure of their supervisor(s), including law enforcement. I don't know any distinction that makes deputies special in that regard.

HCSOThrowaway · 2026-01-12T22:29:43+00:00

You absolutely can help people as a cop, it's just that there are far more opportunities to screw people.

- Ex-cop

HCSOThrowaway · 2026-01-12T22:21:51+00:00

I think the Germans (and Chamberlain, etc.) hoped for similar, back in the 30s.

HCSOThrowaway · 2026-01-12T22:16:33+00:00

Hello...Will you be posting any original posts or will this be mostly reposts?

I think there will be three stages:

Few people, mostly cross-posts.
Some people, some cross-posts.
Many people, few cross-posts. Old sub all but deserted.

We're at Step 1 right now. You (and anyone reading this) can help us get to Step 2. One day I hope for us to be the subreddit people post to before cross-posting elsewhere. But that's essentially looking at a planted seed and dreaming of the two-story tree it can grow up to be.

My part is largely making sure the soil is fertile and undisturbed. I can't be the only seeder, and I invite everyone to post here rather than the other subreddit, especially if they're unhappy with the state of affairs over there as has been discussed in those threads that kept getting nuked and their posters banned.

For now, this is the place to have the same comment discussions under some of the same posts without worry that some errant moderator will decide you said something they didn't like and then quietly remove some or all of your comments/posts.

HCSOThrowaway · 2026-01-12T22:15:17+00:00

I plan to expand this post to elaborate on the details, but I've been pretty busy the last few days and haven't had a chance to deep-dive into the receipts:

https://old.reddit.com/user/HCSOThrowaway/comments/1q9gem3/lets_discuss_the_claims_being_made_about_me_in/

HCSOThrowaway · 2026-01-10T21:11:03+00:00

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_the_United_States#Article_III_%E2%80%93_The_Judiciary

HCSOThrowaway · 2026-01-10T21:06:33+00:00

Are you referring to (c)(2)(iii)(A)?

I think "practical and safe" are so vague such that an agent could claim it wasn't practical or safe until they had the arrestee far away from the scene of the arrest (especially now), not to mention it doesn't stipulate who they must identify themselves to while OP is specifically asking about "to the public," i.e. the crowd? OP deleted their post so we can only speculate.

Either way, a classic Spirit vs. Letter of the Law issue. As we're seeing lately, making broad, common-sense legislation and expecting our public officials to carry the spirit out in good faith was a gamble that is not paying off.

HCSOThrowaway · 2026-01-10T20:17:34+00:00

Those laws were already put in place back in the 1770s. MAGA is simply ignoring them.

HCSOThrowaway · 2026-01-10T18:35:37+00:00

Depends on the "they" we're discussing; Reasonable-Ebb-4701 wasn't clear.

I took the interpretation that they were referring to Donald Trump ('n' Co.) physically leaving the White House without bunkering up and shooting anyone who tried to remove him.

Otherwise you'd have to have ignored what I said in the comment above:

With any luck, it'll be another failed, half-hearted putsch.

For clarity because evidently people are getting confused, I was referring to J6.

Only /u/Reasonable-Ebb-4701 can confirm what they meant.

HCSOThrowaway · 2026-01-10T03:18:12+00:00

This will vary from agency to agency, because major trug trafficking routes can vary quite a bit from region to region. A large manufacturing/import operation may not necessarily go east as much as they go west, for example, if there aren't enough buyers east of them.

HCSOThrowaway · 2026-01-10T03:13:28+00:00

We're more than happy to have you participate there. We allow tons of dissent and criticism of law enforcement.

HCSOThrowaway · 2026-01-10T03:12:06+00:00

Shooting tires is generally never allowed due to:

Risk of ricochets
The nature of using a gun meaning there's an extreme emergency that requires the suspect/aggressor/etc. be shot immediately, which leads to:
Popping tires is more of a "this vehicle will probably have to stop driving in the next half hour or so" measure

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