Do Cops Really Like Donuts?

The job of a police officer is an ever changing experience. No two calls for service are exactly the same. A "routine" call can turn into a COW -(Can of worms). An officer has to be prepared for any contingency.

The one thing a police officer can count on is a constant flow of questions about the job. Children bring up the most questions, but adults are just as curious (they are often just too self conscious to ask).

The following is a list of some of the most common questions fielded by officers. I will try to answer these questions using my twenty four years of experience as a police officer for the St. Paul Police Department.

Disclaimer

The following answers should not be taken as absolute. Some I know are facts, while others are my opinions. I put them here for fun (yours and mine!).

As far as I can tell, almost everyone likes donuts! You always hear stories about seeing cops at the donut shop and it is a typical stereotype about police officers. I think the stories about cops and donuts comes from the fact that police officers work odd hours when most restaurants and stores are closed. In past years, the donut shops were all that were open at night. When an officer wanted to stop for a break, coffee and donuts were convenient. Since we are available for calls at all times, we may have to run off in a moment's notice. If you have several squads working an area and only one place is open, you are bound to see several officers there throughout the night. The donut shops are almost all gone now. Donuts have been replace with the bagel and there are not many all night donut shops open anymore. I wonder what the next stereotype will be? I've never heard the question "Do cops really like bagels?"

In the State of Minnesota, candidates are required to have 2 years of college in law enforcement and attend a skills course in order to be eligible to be licensed as a police officer. They then have to be hired and trained by a police department to get the actual license.

Most police officers now wear bullet proof vests. A more appropropriate term is "bullet resistant", because no vest is completely bullet proof. Vests are made from a synthetic fiber called Kevlar.  A strand of Kevlar is as strong as a strand of steel. The Kevlar is tightly woven into a fabric which is layered to about a half inch. When a bullet strikes the vest, it doesn't bounce off, but it is caught like an object thrown into a net. The layers of Kevlar slow the bullet down and catch it. The impact still hurts, but as long as the bullet doesn't penetrate, there is less likelyhood that the wearer will be seriously injured.

Vests are very warm and uncomfortable on hot days. They do cut down the wind chill in the winter. Most vests weigh from 3-5 pounds, depending on the amount of bullet resistance and the size of the wearer.

Officers shoot their guns all the time. We have to train with them regularly to make sure we know how to handle them and are able to hit what we shoot at. By practicing regularly, we will be able to react without having to think about what to do. In a stressful, life-threatening situation, we don't have time to think or make mistakes.

The vast majority of police officers have never fired their weapon outside of training. The use of a firearm is considered "deadly force" and it is not taken lightly. Those few officers who have used "deadly force" are not likely to want to talk about it to a stranger. 

Police officers are given a long list of responsibilities and duties. One of the duties happens to be traffic enforcement. Personally, I find it to be the hardest part of the job. Most of the offenders are "Joe Citizens" and nice people, but they are breaking the law!!! Statistics show that increased traffic enforcement reduces accidents and deaths, so we have to do it.

Many law enforcement officers have gone to the "GLOCK". It comes in a 9mm and a 10mm. In St. Paul, we started with a 9mm, but went with the 10mm for better knock down power from a heavier projectile. The Glock carries 18 rounds of ammunition in the 9mm and 16 in the 10mm. We have found that more "bad guys" are carrying semi-auto or automatic weapons and the old six shooter just wasn't firepower enough for police officers.

The squad car goes fast enough! You can't outrun Motorola! (squad radios)

When we get alarm calls, we don't want to scare the bad guys away! They can hear a siren for miles at night.

Yep! (Someone who asks a question like that deserves this kind of answer!)

In St. Paul, an officer has to be on the job for three years and then they can take a civil service exam for sergeant. Then it's up to the Chief which sergeants he wants to be detectives and which become supervisors. Usually the sergeants get rotated to several assignments during their career.

Curfew laws are for the protection of the juveniles. It just isn't safe out late at night. It also gives police a tool to get some juvenile delinquents off the street! In St. Paul, children 15 and under, who are not with a responsible adult, have to be in the house at 10pm. Children 16 and 17 have to be in at midnight.

We don't have quotas, we can write as many tickets as we want!!! Actually, there is a law in place which prevents police departments or cities in Minnesota from having quotas on the number of tickets an officer writes.

If an officer is called to use deadly force, the situation is a highly stressful one. Someone's life is at stake. There are very few people in this world who would be calm and skilled enough to be able to draw their weapon, take careful aim and hit exactly what they want, when it is likely that someone is about to shoot, stab or cause serious bodily injury to them or someone else. Even if you were able to partially disable an attacker, it is still possible for the attacker to kill someone, especially if they are armed. We are trained to aim at the middle of the chest, because then we are most likely to hit something and able to stop the attacker from continuing their attack.

Most of the regular squad "patrol" cars do not have radar, especially in larger cities (it is too expensive). We are taught to clock speeders by staying a fixed distance from the car and checking our own calibrated speedometers. A radar detector won't work!

There are also many other violations which are reasons to stop someone. During the late hours, equipment violations are a common reason to stop a suspicious looking vehicle and see if the occupants are up to no good.

All officers receive some hand to hand training. I find that many of them take outside classes to increase their skills. In St. Paul we are given three hours a week, on duty, to do physical training. Many officers spend the three hours and much of their own time in the gym. We have found that it makes for a better and healthier officer.

The word cop is an acronym for "Constable On Patrol". It originated in England with the English "Bobbies". I've been told that Metropolitan Police (London) were called Bobbies after Sir Robert Peel. Sir Robert was the British Home Secretary in the early 1800's.

I have heard from other officers that the word "PIG" is an acronym for "Pride, Integrity & Guts". Sounds good to me!

Before I tell them I usually say "You can't get there from here!" It's cheap, but it's fun!

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 Last Update - 02/14/08