I do the same things you do

[LaPlaca]

For whatever reason Ive begun noticing how many times a week I hear this line spew forth from someones pie hole.

usually I hear this from Joe Rent-a-cop who believes because he wears a badge, his job is no different than mine. Theres numerous threads on this forum that state the same thing. Ive recently heard this from a local jail employee which got me thinking...

Why is it everyone thinks they either know how to do our job, do our job, or have done our job but yet, have never been a Police Officer/Deputy etc. a single day in their lives.

It may be that Im friggin baked (tired, smoked) at the moment but this is starting to annoy me.

Ive never heard a fellow Officer/Deputy/Trooper tell someone, "My job is just like yours" or words to that effect but we seem to be told this quite often.

Im not a jailer, Ive never walked into the jail and said, "My jobs just like yours, we do the same things out there that you do in here." Cuz I dont.

To all of you who are NOT a Police Officer/Deputy/Etc., trust me, you do NOT do the same things we do nor are you held to the same standard. the mere fact you may work for for a law enforcing agency doesnt mean you walk in my shoes. I dont walk around telling dispatchers, jailers, records clerks, etc. that I know how to do their jobs, cuz I dont.

Ive never worked in a prison, couldnt pay me enough to do it, and I respect those guys enough to NEVER claim I know what their day is like in there, nor am I ignint enough to believe that I do the same things 'out here' that they do 'in there'.

I used to work for Alaska Airlines back in the day. Not once did I ever approach a pilot and say, "I do the same thing you do."

If you want to do this job and can pass muster, then apply and actually DO the job. Until then dont tell me you have a clue what it is I do for a living. As Ive said on like 3 different calls this week, "This aint TV".....Deuces!

[Kigen]

Because they want to be a cop. Or they don't understand what police do....

I've worked in Security before. And I do want to be a police officer. But never thought that I do the same things as a police officer when I was working Security. The jobs aren't even remotely similar.

[Michigan]

Anyone who has seen COPS knows how to do our job.... duh!

[DACP]

Because our job is so easy even a caveman could do it.

[PhilipCal]

I've said it many times in the past, but just for the record. I don't believe there is a profession which has as many "experts" as the Law Enforcement profession. It's totally immaterial that the so called, self appointed expert is totally clueless, read ignorant, as to what we do.
Every time an Officer kills a perp in the line of duty, the Officer should have tased him, or shot only to wound. The second guessers , the Monday Morning quarterbacks are plentiful, and crawl out of the woodwork at the slightest provocation. The Constitution gives these clowns the right to freely express their often appalling ignorance, but makes no requirement that they have even the vaguest notion of what they're talking about.

[Jim1648]

I Do The Same Things You Do

.....Why is it everyone thinks they either know how to do our job, do our job, or have done our job but yet, have never been a Police Officer/Deputy etc. a single day in their lives.....

I think the reason that everybody thinks they know how to do police work is:

-It is very public. If you do much driving or are outside in many areas, sooner or later you will see a squad car.

-It can be interesting work.

-There are lots of movies, television shows, and books that involve law enforcement.

All due respect to the accounts in the world, but it is not particularly visible to the public and there aren't that many movies, television shows, or books about accounts. (We do have a show on Fox called COPS, but we don't have a show on TV called CPAs!)

As far as the security correlation goes, I retired at the end of 2010 with a shade under 29 years full time experience. I also had some sworn part time experience prior to that, but who's counting. Anyway, I retired on a Thursday, had a nice three day weekend (New Years Eve, New Years Day, etc.) and started a job as a corporate security officer the following Monday. While it is very convenient for me, since I am a mere 4 miles from the complex, I am finding that my law enforcement experience has zero relationship to corporate security. The extent of my knowledge involving alarms is simply responding to them when dispatched to them. My knowledge of access control was using an electronic card to get into the sheriff's office. Just exactly like was already pointed out, they are two completely different jobs.

One thing I have learned in two months in the corporate environment is that the word emergency has a very different meaning. When I had an emergency call as a cop it could be a traffic accident with injuries or a violent domestic with weapons, but apparently in the corporate world running late for a meeting is an emergency! (Who knew?)

[AK_Alex]

"But I pay for your salary!!!!!"

I drive tons of airline pilots around at work. Noone one seems to be going around telling them how to properly land a 747.

I'm not an officer, but these things annoy me too.

[crass cop]

well said.....

[Rudy8116]

I've noticed it too. We have the only job in the world that everyone else knows how to do better than us. Perfect Example. We were tailgating before the NT game last year, and there were only 3 of us in the tent at the time. Myself and another were chatting about the BP officer who allegedly shot into mexico in self defense against rock throwers. The third person in the tent, injects himself into the conversation and begins countering us saying that rock throwing is not justify deadly force. He was very rude and adamant about it, and even said he hoped that I shot at someone who was throwing rocks just to see what happened. Annoyed and a little upset at the rudeness of his comments, I asked him what he considers justification for deadly force. He stuck his nose up in the air and said, "I'm not going to discuss it with you." He was even more peeved when he ran to the DPD officer in our group and was told that he was wrong. What led to everyone knowing this job better than us?

[redbird07]

i've said it many times in the past, but just for the record. I don't believe there is a profession which has as many "experts" as the law enforcement profession. It's totally immaterial that the so called, self appointed expert is totally clueless, read ignorant, as to what we do.
Every time an officer kills a perp in the line of duty, the officer should have tased him, or shot only to wound. The second guessers , the monday morning quarterbacks are plentiful, and crawl out of the woodwork at the slightest provocation. The constitution gives these clowns the right to freely express their often appalling ignorance, but makes no requirement that they have even the vaguest notion of what they're talking about.

amen

[David Hineline]

I would not say I know how to do your job any more than I know how to drive NASCAR but even though I know how to spot who is the looser that should not be in NASCAR

[S&WGUY!]

I would not say I know how to do your job any more than I know how to drive NASCAR but even though I know how to spot who is the looser that should not be in NASCAR

If you don't know how to do my job, how exactly are you qualified to know who shouldn't be in LE? A knowledge of how the job should be done is required to declare someone incapable of doing said job. Unless of course you just want to be like every commenter on any police video on youtube.

[USMARINE]

Not to break topic but I really hate when some other officers around here currently employed at large departments look down on folks like me who are sworn at a small department. We only have one officer on at a time per-shift and are expected to generate citations, answer calls for service and serve the public just as much as the officers at large departments. We're all on the same team right?

[Rudy8116]

Not to break topic but I really hate when some other officers around here currently employed at large departments look down on folks like me who are sworn at a small department. We only have one officer on at a time per-shift and are expected to generate citations, answer calls for service and serve the public just as much as the officers at large departments. We're all on the same team right?

THANK YOU!

Not to mention our backup is 5+ minutes out too.

[USMARINE]

THANK YOU!

Not to mention our backup is 5+ minutes out too.

Five would be fast for backup out here. It usually takes ten unless the SP is working the sector out by us.