Briefings

[Mitzi]

One thing that has always interested me is the different ways I see the police departments conduct their briefings before cops go on in their cruisers. Some are very laid back, just information giving. Others are very controlled to the point of having the men and women stand at attention and even almost march out. (Yes, I am an expert...I wastch "Cops"! lol)
What are your briefings like? Notice I said BRIEFINGS.....Just for those that may not read it right! lol

[This message has been edited by Mitzi (edited 07-02-2001).]

[FLLawdog]

"Hey, guys, when it slows down, 56(meet) me at the office" to "Shhhhhhhhh...Chipper's up at bat".

I saw that Philly you're talking about. Not since my MP days have I gone through that. Even in the academy it wasn't that regimented.

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FLLawdog
"Never try to teach a pig to sing...it wastes your time and it annoys the pig."

[Mitzi]

Well, they did it in New York also. The only one I really liked was when the person briefing checked guns. Some of them were dirty and he told them so! HE believe in the inportance of a clean gun.

[FLLawdog]

We go through inspection once a month. Even though it's thorough, we don't go through the drill and ceromonies stuff. They go through our cars, check out uniform and of course our gear including weapon. I never had a problem with that one...it was always spotless at anytime during the year. So was my car.

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FLLawdog
"Never try to teach a pig to sing...it wastes your time and it annoys the pig."

[Ksfuzz]

Briefing....whats that?

[RoadWarrior]

Man, we're really slack. We just kind of show up, grab our assigned car and go. We're supposed to go by dispatch and let the dispatcher know we're 10-41(beginning tour) but she comes in at the same time as 2nd shift patrol, and rarely catches anyone coming in late. I've been as much as 10 minutes late before, and nobody even noticed.

My Sgt. is really cool, and never says anything to anyone for tardiness unless the Captain says something to him about it.

As far as passing on info from previous shifts,,, our shifts overlap (10hr shifts) and we pass along any pertinent info from officer to officer, or sometimes on the radio. We have regular Dept. meetings approx. every 6 months or so, but we never have any kind of equipment inspection. (Exception) The Captain is a real stickler for uniform, and notices every violation, (usually unapproved footwear) and most of the time he'll just tell us to fix whatever the problem is.



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The Road Warrior
F.O.P. Lodge 78

"Earth is Full, Go Home!"

[tcsd1236]

5-10 minutes in the briefing room going over the briefing book and getting zone assignments; then out the door.

[Don]

I always did a formal briefing before I went on shift. And since there wasn't anyone else there, I talked to myself a LOT!

In my entire career I went through TWO formal inspections (after the academy.) The last one, we had a new sheriff, who thought he was going to impress everyone.

He held a formal inspection on the courthouse steps, the entire uniformed division of the department was there except for a "skeleton crew" jail staff. He pulled in all the resident deputies, paid overtime (which the county could NOT afford) to guys who were on other shifts, or on days off and had this big assed inspection. He had the local (so-called)news media there taking pictures.

He then went down the line of troops, looking at guns, uniforms etc etc bs bs bs, with a lieutenant trailing along behind him with a clipboard and note pad.

I had just come in from the desert and had been out at some type of situation or another. In fact I was actually a few minutes late to the inspection. When they got to me, his majesty took my weapon, looked at my uniform and my boots. He told the lieutenant to gig me because my boots were dusty.

Unfortunately, the lieutenant and I made eye contact. We both just broke up laughing. The sheriff got extremely red in the face, handed my weapon back to me and went on down the line. I never heard another word about it, and we never had another inspection!

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I used to have an open mind - but my brains kept falling out.

6P1 (retired)

[This message has been edited by Don (edited 07-03-2001).]

[goodside]

and you retired shortly thereafter right Don?
I don't know how it is there, but here the sheriff is one under God and indivisible. The sheriff is the head LE figure in the county, and in the case of my county the police dept. is three times bigger than the sheriff's office. Deputies work at the "pleasure" of the sheriff and may be fired for any reason without civil service protection. If the sheriff here doesn't like your mustache, the way you wear a uniform, etc... he could technically fire you.

[This message has been edited by goodside (edited 07-03-2001).]

[Don]

Originally posted by goodside:
and you retired shortly thereafter right Don?

Nah, more like "longly thereafter!" This was right at the beginning of his term of office. He completed that term and then we got a decent sheriff in. A couple of years later I retired.

You see, California has what is called a Peace Officer's Bill of Rights. Besides that I was in an RD post that was damn hard to fill. Not very many folks would have put up with the living/working conditions that I did!

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I used to have an open mind - but my brains kept falling out.

6P1 (retired)

[Sparky]

Of course it hasn't occurred to anyone that these guys only got through the whole "formal briefing" because the camera crew is there.

I've seen the camera crews come to town and believe me, everyone stands up straight and goes through the "extra" motions. You know that the brass will be seeing alot of the footage before editing and no one wants to be the guy who made the dept. look bad.

They usually ride along for several weeks both to get good footage and so the officers relax and quit trying to show off.

Maybe one of the reasons that guy found so many dirty weapons was because he hadn' done an inspection in forever. I mean, if the guys know they're gonna have inspections, then they're gonna clean their gun.

True, some places do more formal inspections and procedures every shift, but most times it's pretty informal. I mean, you all work togther all the time.

When I see those formal, crispy inspections on Cops, I tend to think that they're trying to look good for the camera.

don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with it, but still...

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-Sparky

[cajuncop]

Our "roll call" (briefings) last about 15 minutes. During that time, it's a relaxed environment where we sit around. The Lt. and Sgt's give out the assignments. Also given is pertinent info: missing, stolen, wanted persons, etc., and hot spots in the city.

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Make it a point. You and your partner WILL survive and go home and the end of your shift.

Let the lawyers fight it out later . . .

[vbrenner]

Fairly informal roll call. The sergeant gives us the latest stolen cars, missing persons, and reads us the watch commander's log entries for the previous shifts. Every Saturday, we have a training video for 15 or 20 minutes. Inspections happen the first work day after a range day. Sometimes the sheriff or chief deputy sits on roll call, and there are frequently "visitors" from other divisions. We are only allowed to cuss in roll call on Saturdays, when there is no chance of offending civilian ears.

[uspublisher]

Originally posted by Ksfuzz:
Briefing....whats that?

That must be where the Sgt. comes in and says, "What the h*ll are all you lazy bums doing sitting around MY conference room. Don't you have work to do?"

[k9medic]

When I was on the road, we started our shift from the house. We only have briefings if we are doing a special operation. Other than that, now I might see a supervisor (Sgt. or better) once a month. I know how to do my job (k9), my supervisor doesn't and I don't work the road.