Officer Ed

And that is why so many businesses resist putting Knox boxes outside their facilities and offices.

We respond to ALL calls of trouble, including reports of fire. That is SOP, policy, or whatever you want to call it. We do not FIGHT fires. That is the job of our brother and sister firefighters. However, we do observe and report until the firefighters arrive. We then back off and do crowd control, traffic control, or whatever. I can't comment on what heppened with the two injured NYPD officers but, if I had to guess, it would be that they responded to the trouble call and were confronted with an already out-of-control fire. "First responder" means what it says. Police officers are first responders and MAY arrive at fires before the fire department. Sometimes that has disasterous consequences....but that's the nature of the job.

We are manufacturers and distributors of emergency vehicle equipment, including mini-light bars. We also sell used full-sized light bars locally. If the polycarbonate lens is merely discolored, I recommend any of the "wipe on" products designed for vehicle headlight lenses. If the light bar has lots of tiny scratches, then I suggest one of the kits obtainable at most auto parts stores, Harbor Freight, etc. that contain an arbor for a drill and ever-deceasing grit sizes of wet sandpaper. Most light bars can be made to look almost like new with a little work.

Boy, howdy! That's the Chicago "L" Blue Line. I've ridden it numerous times. Where it stops (or is SUPPOSED to stop) inside O'Hare is generally crowded with people. The first article I read on this said that only two people had sustained minor injuries. I guess 30 more suddenly realized that there's money to be made.

We police officers do not have the medical training to administer medications. We are only trained in advanced first aid. In a pinch, we can keep some people alive until the paramedics arrive. That's how we like it.

Here in Arizona, our fire dept. paramedics have had Narcan for decades. We're glad that they do. I've seen junkies snap right out of their highs when a dose has been administered. I've also seen junkies who ODed fight to avoid a shot of Narcan....preferring to die over losing their high. We've had to restrain/subdue a number of them. But that's OUR job. Narcan has saved a lot of lives and I see no reason why paramedics everywhere should not be able to administer it.

Here in Phoenix in the summer, if we shut off the refrigeration in the cars, it will be 160 dregrees inside when we come back. Some of our cars have a similar lock-out device, as above, but most of the cars are just modified so that the key can be removed with the engine running. Then we just lock the doors.

The liberals refuse to enforce our immigration laws....then claim that the immigration system is "broken." What's BROKEN is the welfare system. It invites fraud....and fraud is what it generates. They should go back to the commodities system where those who qualified could pick up food boxes once a month. The boxes did not contain rib steak, frozen mashed potatoes, or McDonald's coupons, they contained rice, flour, "government cheese", canned pork, bread, etc. It was designed to keep the needy from going hungry without any frills. It also helped the farmers who provided the commodities to the government. As a fairly affluent society, we have an OBLIGATION to help those who are unable to help themselves. But that obligation does not extend to those who use and abuse the system.

Not precisley correct as to "expressing an understanding" of the Establishment Clause. It's a phrase taken from a letter written by Thomas Jefferson 25 years after the Constitution was written . Jefferson was not even the author of the 1st Amendment. However, Jefferson and Franklin DID establish the first public school system. The schools were generally in churches and the Bible was REQUIRED reading...with the full acquiescence of Jefferson. The Bible was required reading, and teachers led prayers, in most public schools right up into the 20th century. I am not a Christian. In fact, I am not religious at all. I am a Constitutional scholar who has studied the prolific writings of the Founders. The Bill of Rights mean EXACTLY what they say. The left is on a bent to add to and subvert it. But the intent of the Establishment Clause was solely to prevent the U.S. from doing what England did...creating a single official state religion. Many of the Founders came to America to escape the Church of England headed by the King. They wanted to ensure that nothing like it would be "established" in the U.S. That's it. Therefore, the Clause says that "CONGRESS shall MAKE NO LAW" establishing a religion. That's it. All the rest of this "seperation of church and state" idiocy has been added by activist judges in collusion with radical atheists. The Clause says nothing whatsoever - and nothing whatsoever was intended - that would prevent religious observances in government events and on government property. Those preclusions occurred subsequent to the appointment of liberal activists judges, beginning in the 1950s, improperly legislating from the bench.

I'm not PC nor am I religious. But the words "separation of church and state" can be found nowhere in the Constitution. The First Amendment was intended to keep government out of religion, not religion out of government. Jefferson, Madison, Fanklin, et. al. would be horrified to see how today's radical atheists, along with legislating judges; have subverted the meaning of the First Amendment. They say that there are no atheists in foxholes. Emergency responders are constantly in "foxholes."

I like it. Out here in the wild west, it seems like all the departments are repainting the cars black and white as they were in the 50s. I'm not sure what the reason for this is. I assume it's to make the cars instantly identifiable as police vehicles. But when the sides say POLICE in big letters, and there's an overhead light bar, it's hard to mistake it for anything else, regardless of the color, http://www.dash-flash.com

My understanding is that over the past few years this group has had something like 40 of their rice rockets impounded and numerous arrests made. The instigator of the road rage incident was driving on a suspended license. As "10512" wrote, these punks rarely stop for police. They'll take off between cars, down sidewalks, through yards, etc. They know that department policy is not to pursue for traffic violations. Personally, if I had been the driver of the SUV, I might still have been beaten up, but the ricers would have had to climb over the bodies of 15 of their pals to get to me. That's all the ammunition I carry.

Cell phone ID wallet Diamondback .380 or compact Patriot .45 (depending upon where I'm going and how I'm dressed)

We had numerous calls from incompetent parents wanting an officer dispatched to "make my son behave." When I've arrived at such calls, I've actually had parents want me to handcuff their kids and throw them in the police car to "scare" them into obeying mom. I will talk to the kids about how when they reach 18 they can move out and live how they please, but until that time they're required to obey mom. I tell them that mom might be able to declare them incorrigible. But I want kids to KNOW that police officers are here to help them. I refuse to assist parents in making their kids fear the police.

*ROFL*!

We used to have a little old lady who would regularly call 9-1-1 to report that "someone" had turned off the power to her house. She was a repeat customer, so we knew that she liked to plug in space heaters heat lamps, hair dryers, and all the lights in the house. The breaker would trip, and she'd call in a prowler call. Due to her age and mental state, we'd just roll to her house, reset her breaker, and assure her that we'd keep an eye on the neighborhood and keep the prowler at bay. Of course, we also have our share of prank 9-1-1 calls, calls made by drunks and druggies, and kids playing with the phone. After their kids had called 9-1-1 and hung up on four different occasions, resulting in four "unknown trouble" dispatches, I had to threaten to arrest the parents if it happened again. Oddly, it stopped.

Absolutely! Most police agencies have begun to use the term "collision" rather than "accident" because few automobile collisions are "accidents." They are caused by the stupidity of one or more drivers, and the #1 cause is distracted driving. Modern cars make drivers comfortable and encourage distraction. Power steering allows people to drive with a wrist. six-speaker radios drown out horns and sirens. dark tinted windows, rolled up with AC blasting, limit visibility. Add to that yapping with passengers, yapping on cell phones, looking at GPS screens, putting on makeup or shaving, etc. etc. and it's a wonder that people aren't crashing into each other at every intersection.

When they passed the law prohibiting texting while driving, I though "how foolish. We won't be able to tell if someone is texting while driving." I was wrong. Since then, I've come up on a couple of cars driving under the speed limit and weaving. When I pulled alongside, I could see the drivers steering with their forearms while pecking away at their cell phones. There should be a charge of Felony Ignorance.

Here in the wild west, such vehicles are merely called "stealth cars" or "aggressive driver cars." The typical aggressive driver car is a Dodge Charger, but I've seen a few Challengers and Camaros, too. Almost no one spots these cars as undercover police cars. But, then, I drive a fully-marked Crown Vic with a full-size light bar on top, and people still commit violations right in front of me. I was once on the freeway, in a hurry to get back to my beat and not intending to make any traffic stops, when a woman went flying past me doing 22 mph over the posted limit. I pulled behind her and tapped the air horn, hoping just to slow her down. Nada. I bleeped the siren. Nada. After a couple of miles, I lit her up and made the traffic stop. When I approached the driver, I said "I just want to get a look at the kind of person who would fly past a fully-marked police car doing 'criminal speed'." She said "I didn't SEE you....I was talking! (to her passenger)." Amazing. No wonder there are so many collisions. The point is that few drivers are going to notice ANY stealth car.

I agree that this is absurd. But there are other factors to consider. For example, these firefighters know that they were not covered by the city's benefit package. I assume that their families knew, also. Something like 2/3 of the firefighters in the U.S. are volunteers. They also risk their lives, and they not only do not get benefits, they don't even get paid. When I began my career in law enforcement, I was a reserve deputy sheriff. That means I worked for free and I received no benefits. If I had been killed or permanently injured in the line of duty. my family would have received nothing from the county. This is the nature of what many of us are willing to accept in order to serve our communities as first responders. The Prescott Firefighter families have all received large checks from the 100 Club of Arizona. They will receive workman's comp benefits and Surviving Spouse benefits from Social Security. The federal government also has benefits including, as least for police officers so I assume it includes firefighters, college tuition for the children of those killed in the line of duty. This was not an arbitrary decision by City of Prescott bureaucrats. It's actually party of the city code. It's the law. So, the city officials cannot just ignore it. But I understand that there is a move underway to repeal the law and make it retroactive. We'll see.

In the Southwest, funeral processions are escorted by state-licensed companies that use red/blue lights and sirens, the same as law enforcement. The law dictates that drivers must yield to these company's vehicles the same as government emergency vehicles. I only recently heard that funeral escorts "back east" use purple lights when I received some requests for them at a company I own that sells low-cost, high-quality LED dash lights. We decided not to stock purple.

What's next - "pay to be a police officer for a day"? Get shot at in Murder City for fun and laughs? I love Michigan, but I avoid Detroit like the plague.

My name is Ed and I'm a 14 year police veteran, currently a detective, in the Phoenix, AZ area. I've been a k-9 officer, a DUI officer, and a gang interdiction officer. I've also been a volunteer firefighter for the Harquahala Valley (AZ) Fire Department. My e-mail is officered@usa.com While a firefighter and now as a detective, I discovered that outfitting my POV or my unmarked Crown Vic with emergency lights was extremely expensive. I decided to get financing and have LED emergency lights manufactured to my specifications that would meet or exceed the features of the "big name" LED lights...but at 1/3 the price so I could offer these lights to my brothers and sisters in emergency services. The Dash-Flash® series of emergency lights was born. I'm hoping to get permission to offer our lights in the B/S/T forum.