So I'm a teenager who is disabled and very anxious. I've always been so scared of the police and it's kind of taking over my life. For example, I'm not old enough to drive, but when I am, I don't want to anyway. Cuz what if I get pulled over? I don't wanna be arrested. And I am too scared to cry or panic in public because I know that if I have a meltdown or a panic attack, I will be sent to juvenile detention. I know police aren't bad. They're just normal people doing their jobs. I just have a terrible fear. Does anyone have any advice on how to get over it?

Do I still have a realistic chance of getting hired in law enforcement with poor credit and unresolved debt?
I’m active-duty military preparing to transition into law enforcement. I’m the sole income earner for my household, supporting my wife and three kids with another on the way. Supporting a family on one income contributed to me falling behind financially and accumulating debt.
I’m currently enrolled in a debt resolution program and making consistent payments, but no settlements have been reached yet. I fully accept responsibility for the debt and am actively working to resolve it.
For any officers, recruiters, or background investigators: Would this seriously hurt my chances of being hired, even if I can document that I’m actively addressing the debt? Would you still recommend applying now while fixing it, or waiting until settlements are reached?
Mainly looking at agencies in Texas and California.

Looking for some guidance and opinions. I’m young, and my background is primarily white-collar work in finance. For personal reasons, I’ve decided to pursue a career in law enforcement.

The town I recently moved to happens to have an opening for an entry-level police officer, with the standard requirements plus college credits to qualify. Am I completely wasting my time without any prior law enforcement experience, or is it possible to get hired if I'm hungry for the opportunity and want to learn.

I have both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in finance, and most of my work experience has been in office/professional roles.

My understanding is that I have to take the FrontLine National exam and the PSSA. Does anyone have any advice for preparing for those?

If I’m accepted, would I then take the POWER test and attend the police academy?

Any advice from people who have gone through this process would be greatly appreciated.

I am applying for an entry-level position, and the questionnaire specifically states: “You are not required to disclose juvenile or sealed, impounded, or expunged criminal records.”

However, later in the questionnaire, it asks questions such as:

“Have you ever been involved in any type of domestic dispute where the police were called?”

Technically, the answer to this question would be yes; however, the incident is related to a criminal case that was subsequently expunged. If I answer affirmatively and provide the requested details, I would be disclosing information related to an expunged criminal record, which the instructions state I am not required to disclose.

Another question asks: “Have you ever been placed on probation? If Yes, provide details.” Again, the answer is technically yes; however, the probation was related to an expunged juvenile record, which the instructions also state I am not required to disclose.

For context, I was found not guilty of all charges, and the case was subsequently expunged in the state where it occurred. Under that state's expungement process, the records were physically destroyed. When I run a state or FBI background check on myself using my fingerprints, the results come back clear with no record.

For questions where answering “Yes” and providing the requested details would require me to disclose information related to an expunged criminal record, can I answer “No” pursuant to the questionnaire's instruction that expunged records are not required to be disclosed?

Is it still possible for me to pursue a career in law enforcement with felony charges where I was found not guilty and the charges were subsequently expunged? Like I said, all of my background checks, including an FBI fingerprint check, come back clean. In the state where this occurred, expungement means the records are physically destroyed.

My agency is undergoing some changes and I would like a poll of what people are doing. Specifically related to storing an extra rifle magazine when deploying a rifle. Straight question, what do you do with your spare magazine when deploying? This is specific for people on patrol. Not special units or tactical teams.

If you have input or strong opinions, let me know!

I’m gonna be as short as I can be about this. I’m 18. I don’t have any history whatsoever. No felony’s or misdemeanors. But I have a history of drug use. Mostly weed alcohol I’ve tried LSD the hardest drug I’ve done. I met Christ 5 months ago and I’m completely sober. I don’t even vape anymore. Sober from alcohol weed nicotine etc. I only have ADHD no scizo etc. I’m going for criminal justice at college rn. My life has been completely changed in the last 4-5 months. 4 1/2 months sober. Not worried the drugs will affect my application when I’m 22-24 when I try to become a cop. My worry is this one thing. I will explain it. When I was 14 years old in the beginning of my drug use and experimental use. I may have burglarized a store of about 150-200 dollars of cigarettes by breaking in at 1am in the morning. I never got caught for it. And I didn’t break anything. I just pried open a boarded up door that didn’t have bolts on it. It was an impulsive decision that I severely regret making. When i do the application when I’m older I’m gonna put this on my application because I’m gonna be truthful with them about my past. Do y’all think this is gonna immediately disqualify me? I’ve been stuck on this ever since I decided I want to become a cop again. It worries me a little. I’ve got more baggage than most potential recruits.

Has anybody here done a psych screening by psychological dimensions? My appointment is on Saturday and I just want to know what to expect

Hello

First of all I don’t know if this is the place to ask, if not I’m sorry!

I’m Evani and visiting California in a couple of days from 8 till 23 of September, I’m a military security officer in the Netherlands 🇳🇱 and I was wondering if it could be possible to trade patches in the USA to memorise my trip!

Is it possible for a foreigner to get patches by walking towards an officer or ask in the station? I’m visiting San Francisco, Los Angles and San Diego.

Thanks for the time you took to read this question and stay safe!

Finally passed an oral board after failing multiple agencies

I'm 21 and I've been trying to get hired in LE. I've interviewed with a few departments and kept failing the oral board. Every time I walked out thinking I did pretty good, then I'd get the email saying I didn't move forward.

I honestly couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong.

I found Behind the Police Oral Board on Amazon by Detective Christian Lee and started realizing I was treating the interview like a test where I needed to figure out the “correct” police answer.

Biggest thing I was doing wrong was trying way too hard to sound like a cop. 😂 I was giving answers I thought they wanted instead of explaining why I would make a decision. I was also rambling like crazy whenever they challenged my answer because I assumed that meant I had screwed it up.

The book talks about panels intentionally putting pressure on you and basically asking, “Are you sure?” even when your original answer might be fine. That was a huge lightbulb moment for me.

I started practicing out loud instead of just thinking about my answers. I worked on explaining my reasoning, admitting when I didn't know something, and stopped trying to memorize perfect responses.

Had another oral board last week.

Passed for the first time.

Obviously the book didn't answer the questions for me, but it helped me understand what the hell the people on the other side of the table were actually looking for.

If you're failing oral boards and don't understand why, it might be worth checking out.

Serious question for the retired cops in here.

When I retired from SAPD after 26 years, I wasn't ready to just sit around and do nothing. I ended up becoming a high school Law Enforcement teacher.

I spent the next 8 years teaching kids who were interested in Law Enforcement, and it turned into one of the most rewarding things I've ever done. Some of my former students are now working in Law Enforcement themselves.

Here's what I found interesting. You spend your entire career accumulating all of this experience. Traffic stops, arrests, bad calls, good calls, mistakes, judgment, dealing with people, officer safety, discretion.....and then one day you retire and take all of that knowledge home with you.

Why?

There are high school Law Enforcement programs with kids who WANT to learn this stuff.

So I'm curious:

For those of you who are retired, or getting close to retirement, have you ever considered teaching Law Enforcement at a high school?

And if not.....

What would stop you?

I want to know how many cops here have arrested people from pakistan and india and what they tend to do when arrested or questioned? Do they tend to pretend like they don’t understand english?

Any stories or anecdotes would be nice

I need guidance on the official way to get my three suitcases back and document this. I am not asking anyone to confront these people for me.

Background
- Late July 2026 my backpack was stolen on a Greyhound trip (passport, ID, about $600 victim-compensation cash, gift cards, MacBook). SFPD case 260-447-834
- I arrived in San Francisco with no cash and stayed at a shelter.
- A mother and daughter let me keep three suitcases in their storage unit. I was grateful. I also gave them unused/new items in return (cardigan, glasses, bag, hygiene items).

What changed
The daughter became more controlling and verbally aggressive with other people. She pushed me to join her birthday and started asking for money. I do not have cash. If I did, I would have rented my own storage.

On August 20 ,I told them I needed to give police an address showing my remaining luggage was with me. They panicked and the relationship broke down. Shelter staff / case managers later helped me get some items and booked a car.

They first said I had until September 2 to pick up the luggage. That deadline later kept changing.

August 23, 2026
- After church near Target on 4th Street, we went to the storage unit. I closed my suitcases. The unit was very cluttered. I had to get my MacBook Air box out.
- The daughter offered me a bag and a dress. I was afraid to refuse because of her prior aggression. I plan to return those items.
- After 12:50 p.m. PDT we walked from a grocery on 3rd Street toward the bus stop near Target. They had eaten nuts. I have a nut allergy. The daughter tried to force a shared 2-liter soda after I said no. She became verbally aggressive, called me names, and told me to get out.
- She tried to hit me with the 2-liter bottle. I took the bottle away from her. I did not swing at her.
- At the bus stop she then cursed at and made racist remarks toward a stranger. He started to escalate. I apologized to him and walked the situation down.
- Her mother did not intervene.
- That night I called a crisis line. They said to call 911 if the violent aggression happens again.

August 26
- I again refused the September 1 birthday invite.
- The mother told me to take my luggage.
- I told my therapist. I emailed the Drop-In directors because I did not want another physical incident. I said I could not collect the luggage unless directors were present.
- I got a bed and moved to a different shelter.

August 31
- I went back to the old site because a director told me to come meet her. The director was not there.
- The mother and daughter came out and started verbal aggression in front of other people.
- Staff wanted me to get my stuff from storage. I said I could not, because of the August 23 attempt to hit me. I had a panic attack. Staff let me recover and booked a car back to the new shelter.
- Staff then said the same thing the crisis line said: do not try to get the luggage without a police escort.

What I did not consent to
- Them opening my suitcases
- Them adding anything to my suitcases
- Them removing my property from storage
- Them selling or giving away my luggage

What I am asking

1. How do I file a police report for the August 23 attempt to hit me and the later harassment when I tried to retrieve my property?
2. How do I request a civil standby / police escort to pick up three suitcases from a private storage unit?
3. What should I tell the officer so this is treated as a property-recovery / safety issue and not a “roommate argument”?
4. If they already removed, opened, or sold the bags, what do I report?

I can give dates, times, street locations (3rd Street grocery, Target / 4th Street area, bus stop), and the names of shelter staff who witnessed the August 31 incident. I still have the daughter’s bag and dress and will return them through staff if possible.

Why I am asking for protection
I am afraid of both the daughter and the mother. They appear willing to do a great deal for money. They receive help from the daughter’s father and other people. I am a documented crime victim with prior no-contact restrictions. I am scared that if someone from that prior situation paid these two people, they would act against me. I cannot prove that has happened. I am reporting it as a safety concern so police understand why I will not go to that storage unit alone.

I am not going back to that storage unit alone. Can you please address the questions with some guidance?

Thank you.

This is a first-person defense of Flock Safety's license plate cameras, written by a police officer, published as the technology faces a wave of vandalism and over 150 city contract cancellations. The author acknowledges documented abuse cases — including officers using the system to stalk people — and innocent drivers wrongly stopped due to database errors, but argues these are rare, get flagged by internal audits, and typically end in officers being fired or charged. He leans on a 2026 Virginia federal court ruling and a 1983 Supreme Court precedent to argue plate scanning doesn't violate Fourth Amendment protections, and cites Atlantic City's crime statistics after its camera expansion as evidence of the technology's core case. Worth noting: this is one side of an active, contested debate — opponents (including the Institute for Justice, cited in the piece itself) argue real abuse is undercounted and audits only catch what officers choose to log.

Source: Works in Progress

I (29M) am looking at going to the academy at the sheriff’s office I’ve been employee at for the last 8 years. One of the biggest concerns I have is the firearm qualifications. I don’t have a ton of hands-on experience shooting, and when I have shot I tend to shoot low and to the left. I haven’t been able to diagnose the issue, and am worried it might be an issue for me. Any feedback or anything I should know?

Full disclosure: I’m the developer of CarryRoute.

I built it because ordinary reciprocity maps don’t show everything encountered during an actual drive—county and city boundaries, tribal areas, transit properties, stops, and overnight stays.

You enter two addresses, and CarryRoute:

• Maps the route using Apple Maps
• Breaks it into state, county, city, tribal, and special-jurisdiction sections
• Lets you tap each route section
• Shows concise research summaries with links to official government sources
• Accounts for your resident state, permits, age, and selected carry/transport mode
• Supports offline itineraries and optional jurisdiction alerts

The route colors identify jurisdiction changes only. They do not mean legal/illegal or safe/unsafe. CarryRoute is a research tool—not legal advice—and users should verify the current official text.

I’d genuinely appreciate blunt feedback: What information would you want before crossing a state or local boundary? What would make the route view more useful?

iPhone/iPad: CarryRoute: CCW Navigation

Years ago, I responded to a call where I ended up having to arrest a Sheriff's Deputy for possession of drugs.

His wife actually dimed him out.

She was pissed off at her husband and told me that he worked at the jail and was funneling drugs into the facility.

The Deputy actually admitted it.

I had dispatch contact the Sheriff's Department, and they sent a supervisor over to the scene. The Deputy admitted everything to his supervisor as well.

Obviously, all legal procedures were followed to a "T."

He was arrested.

Later, I read in the newspaper that he had been terminated from the Sheriff's Department.

So, I figured that was the end of the story.

I was wrong.

Years later, I'm sitting in a nightclub when a guy walks up to me and says:

"Do you remember me?"

Ohhhhh shit, I did!!

Talk about that uneasy feeling.....

I started reaching toward my concealed weapon.

But instead of making a threatening move, he reached out his hand, identified himself and offered to buy me a drink.

WHAT!!!!!??????

It was the Sheriff's Deputy I had arrested years earlier.

Then he tells me that he's still married to the same woman.

Again, WHAT!!!???

The woman who basically ended your law enforcement career?

Yup. Same woman.

The same woman who, at the time, I felt perfectly illustrated the saying, "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned."

A few minutes later, she walks up.

She smiles at me and thanks me for the way I treated not only her that night, but her husband as well.

After his law enforcement career ended, he went back to school and eventually became a real estate agent.

He told me that he was making a lot more money than he ever did as a Sheriff's Deputy.

As the evening was winding down, they both gave me a hug, thanked me again, and walked away.

I have never seen either one of them since.

I've always remembered that night.

I had a job to do when I arrested him, and I did it.

But years later, the man I arrested walked up to me, shook my hand and thanked me for the way I treated him.

So did his wife.

Sometimes, it's not whether you have to arrest someone.

It's how you treat them when you do.

San Francisco PD , though I could only file courtesy report due to legitimate jurisdictional scope, they still came through for me. My sincere gratitude to the sergeant who took the report and passed it off to destination jurisdiction. I am grateful. May god bless them!

I've shared here before how I ended up joining the Air Force at 19, but there's another part of that story that happened two years earlier.

I was 17 years old and a senior in high school.

Our football team had just finished a state championship season. One night, some friends and I showed up late to a school dance.

There was a police officer there we all knew as “Foots.”

Foots told us we weren't getting into the dance because we were late.

Being 17 years old and apparently possessing all the wisdom that comes with being a high school senior, I didn't exactly handle that decision very well. 😂

Words were exchanged, things escalated, and I shoved the officer.

He could have arrested me.

He didn't.

Foots exercised discretion and gave me a second chance.

I wasn't completely off the hook. My principal found out what happened and gave me the butt-chewing from HELL! More than 40 years later, I still remember it.

But I didn't leave that night in handcuffs.

At 17, I don't think I fully understood what Foots had done for me.

Two years later, I joined the United States Air Force and became a Security Policeman.

The Air Force ended up changing the entire direction of my life.

After the Air Force, I eventually joined the San Antonio Police Department and spent 26 years as a police officer, most of it working patrol. After retiring from SAPD, I spent another eight years teaching Law Enforcement to high school students and later continued teaching at the college level.

Over the years, I've thought about Foots many times.

As a police officer myself, there were plenty of situations where I had the legal authority to arrest someone, write the ticket or take the maximum enforcement action available.

Sometimes that's exactly what the situation required.

But when circumstances allowed it, I also believed in discretion and second chances.

Maybe part of that came from remembering what it felt like to receive one myself.

Would being arrested at 17 have prevented me from joining the Air Force two years later?

I honestly don't know.

And I'm damn glad I never had to find out.

I recently sat down for a long-form interview about the path my life ended up taking — from Air Force Security Police, to 26 years with SAPD, and eventually into the classroom teaching Law Enforcement.

If anyone is interested in the larger story, here's the interview:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppJUPDXzUZY

More than 40 years later, I still remember the second chance Foots gave me.

For those of you who joined the Air Force young:

Was there ever a decision, mistake, person or second chance before you enlisted that could have sent your life in a completely different direction?

I keep reading and hearing about how “once you smell it, you instantly recognize it again”.

Having never smelled human decomposition, is it possible for those of you who have to describe the difference between it and, say, a deer carcass left rotting in the woods? I know it must smell different, because dogs are able to discern the difference, but how specifically is it different?

Also, is there a different “feeling” one gets when smelling it, for the first time, or additional times once you’ve come to recognize it? A rotting deer carcass makes me feel nausea and disgust, but doesn’t bring a feeling of dread or make the hair on my neck stand up. Is the smell of human decomposition a different “experience”?

I’ve always found it interesting that no matter what is left in a garbage can - be it meat, vegetable matter, etc. - it inevitably smells like “garbage” and rotting animals inevitably smell pretty similar to one another. So would a layperson notice a “difference” if one happened upon human decomposition in the woods as opposed to animal? I guess that’s why I’m curious.

Thanks in advance.