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I'm an Explorer, and am also in the process of applying with the Washington State Patrol, and therefore, have been on many rides with multiple agencies. On one of my first ride alongs, I was told by the officer I was riding with that cops usually hate it when you just sit there silently, that they like being asked questions.
Question 1: Is this normally the case? Or was that more or less specific to the department I was riding with?
Question 2: Granted, there are bad Explorers out there, but in general, do officers enjoy ride alongs with Explorers more, or less, than your average citizen.
And I did have a third question which is semi-unrelated... Our post is still fairly new (probably 6 years old now), and due to the post not having the best people initially, most of the officers did not really enjoy having us there. Now, I think with a lot of work, they appreciate us more than in the past. So the question is, do officers usually like Explorers?
Edit: Also, when on a ride along I usually ask very specific questions regarding law, or procedure, or what particularly the officer is looking for when they do a specific thing (not questions like "have you ever shot someone!?!")... is this appreciated at all, or would you rather we just observe and talk about sports and weather.
Question 1: Is this normally the case? Or was that more or less specific to the department I was riding with?
Question 2: Granted, there are bad Explorers out there, but in general, do officers enjoy ride alongs with Explorers more, or less, than your average citizen.
And I did have a third question which is semi-unrelated... Our post is still fairly new (probably 6 years old now), and due to the post not having the best people initially, most of the officers did not really enjoy having us there. Now, I think with a lot of work, they appreciate us more than in the past. So the question is, do officers usually like Explorers?
Edit: Also, when on a ride along I usually ask very specific questions regarding law, or procedure, or what particularly the officer is looking for when they do a specific thing (not questions like "have you ever shot someone!?!")... is this appreciated at all, or would you rather we just observe and talk about sports and weather.
