Re: 911:: Ride a longs-ok or not ok

July 11, 2000

Hello, this is only the second time I have posted, but I thought I might

have something to say to this question. Our department requires that anyone

riding along must be doing so for a reason. Everything has to be approved

by command and you do not get to pick with whom you ride along. The reasons

someone may be allowed to ride along include, but are not limited to,

trainees (communications, community service & patrol), police academy

hopefuls, school projects, community relations, and occasionally the news

gets to have a peek. Other than that, pleasure ride alongs are out of the

question. Our policy has been more liberal in the past, but I like it the

way it is now.

POPE

----Original Message Follows----

I would like to know what if any, agencies have policies on ride a longs

with

people you 'know'. By that, I mean girl friend riding with boyfriend,

officer having an affair with female and doing ride a longs with him, things

like that.

Im just curious...............thanks group

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July 11, 2000

OK, the use of the phrases " for a reason " and " pleasure ridealongs " touched

a nerve here! I work for a medium-sized agency--approx 450 officers, 300

civilians. Judging by what I have seen on this list, we are neither the

most nor least restrictive. Our regualtions on ridealongs are as follows:

Civilian employees, i.e. dispatch, may ride at any time, with any officer of

his or her choosing, with the approval of the patrol supervisor. This has

never been a problem to obtain, the vast majority of the supervisors feel

that the more we understand the officers job and vice versa, the better off

we will all be. To the best of my knowledge, no one has ever gotten in

trouble for " improper conduct " under these conditions.

Non-employed civilians must fill out an application before riding along. A

background check is run, anyone with felony or serious misdemeanor

convictions is generally excluded. They also must sign a liability waiver.

An officer's spouse may ride in the same sector, but may not ride with the

spouse. The policy manual states that civilians are encouraged to ride

along to promote understanding of the job. It also can be a useful

recruiting tool. Other than dispatchers, rides are limited to one per

quarter. Media rides must have the prior approval of the PIO (Public

Information Office) also. Ridealong assignments are generally assigned to

an officer by the patrol supervisor, unless a particular officer has been

requested, and even then it is the supervisor's decision.

Where people have gotten into trouble has been unauthorized ridealongs. We

had one officer fired because he was found to have had several unauthorized

ridealongs, including a female he was having an affair with. Interestingly

enough, what they actaully got him on was the fact that he had an MDT and

the female was seeing confidential info, in fact he ran someone for her.

As a trainer, I encourage my trainees to ride along any time they get an

opportunity. We in dispatch are occasionally allowed to ride along on work

time on a rotating basis. Several of us also ride on our own time. I have

told my trainees that I have learned SO much riding on my own time, plus

have gained lots of respect from the officers for doing so.

Re: 911:: Ride a longs-ok or not ok

>

>Hello, this is only the second time I have posted, but I thought I might

>have something to say to this question. Our department requires that

anyone

>riding along must be doing so for a reason. Everything has to be approved

>by command and you do not get to pick with whom you ride along. The

reasons

>someone may be allowed to ride along include, but are not limited to,

>trainees (communications, community service & patrol), police academy

>hopefuls, school projects, community relations, and occasionally the news

>gets to have a peek. Other than that, pleasure ride alongs are out of the

>question. Our policy has been more liberal in the past, but I like it the

>way it is now.

>POPE

>

July 11, 2000

I don't know my new places policy on riding. I know I saw something on

dispatch riding hours and have been meaning to inquire about it. I do know

that spouses are not allowed to ride. At Union County anyone could ride as

long as they signed a release form and had approval through a supervisor.

Of course if 2 members of the opposite sex not in a relationship started

riding together often the rumors would fly...most of the times totally

untrue but you all know how that goes. In n County, where my husband

works, you have to sign a release and have approval of the supervisor and

sheriff. I ride with my husband whenever I can. I don't know if the

Sheriff of n County would approve a boyfriend/girlfriend ride along. I

only say this because of another policy I know of there. (One I don't

totally agree with) They have take home cars in n County. If you live

with a person of the opposite sex and are not married, the deputy is not

allowed to take his/her cruiser home.

Sara Winfield

July 11, 2000

Well that is strange...so if you are single, and dont live with anyone, can

you take your car home?... and what would they say if you had a

boyfriend/girlfriend that happen to stay over 6 nites a week..LoL

Jim in Ohio

>

>Reply-To: 911consoleegroups

>To: <911consoleegroups>

>Subject: Re: 911:: Ride a longs-ok or not ok

>Date: Tue, 11 Jul 2000 20:44:01 -0400

>

>I don't know my new places policy on riding. I know I saw something on

>dispatch riding hours and have been meaning to inquire about it. I do know

>that spouses are not allowed to ride. At Union County anyone could ride as

>long as they signed a release form and had approval through a supervisor.

>Of course if 2 members of the opposite sex not in a relationship started

>riding together often the rumors would fly...most of the times totally

>untrue but you all know how that goes. In n County, where my husband

>works, you have to sign a release and have approval of the supervisor and

>sheriff. I ride with my husband whenever I can. I don't know if the

>Sheriff of n County would approve a boyfriend/girlfriend ride along.

>I

>only say this because of another policy I know of there. (One I don't

>totally agree with) They have take home cars in n County. If you

>live

>with a person of the opposite sex and are not married, the deputy is not

>allowed to take his/her cruiser home.

>

>Sara Winfield

>

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July 12, 2000

The Department I worked for maintained a Ride Along Program where any

Department person could ride along at any time with permission of the

Shift Sgt. They even had a Citizen Ride Along Program. Citizens could

fill out a request to ride and could request a specific officer or shift

they wanted to ride with. Records check were run of course and any of

those who had criminal histories were turned down. Worked real well,

many citizens who rode got a much better understanding of what the

Department did. Made for some real good PR's. Newer Dispatchers got to

see what was on the other side of the Mic. and it really helped them

know why the officers asked those weird questions.

Van

Retired

Served Proudly

July 13, 2000

Dear responder to my response,

Ok, I didn't mean to " touch a nerve " I was just giving an overview of the

way my department handles ridealongs...and it sounds very much like the way

your department handles them. I can't figure it out if you are upset by what

I said, or making light of it. All I meant was that a valid reason must be

given, appropriate checks made, and the decision comes from the command

staff. Please let me know if you are just trying to dis me, or have a real

problem with my response. I can take it.

Thanks,

POPE

----Original Message Follows----

**snip** OK, the use of the phrases " for a reason " and " pleasure ridealongs "

touched a nerve here! **snip**

**original message**

Hello, this is only the second time I have posted, but I thought I might

have something to say to this question. Our department requires that

anyone riding along must be doing so for a reason. Everything has to be

approved by command and you do not get to pick with whom you ride along.

The reasons someone may be allowed to ride along include, but are not

limited to,trainees (communications, community service & patrol), police

academy hopefuls, school projects, community relations, and occasionally the

news gets to have a peek. Other than that, pleasure ridealongs are out of

the question. Our policy has been more liberal in the past, but I like it

the way it is now.

POPE

________________________________________________________________________

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July 13, 2000

Oh, no dis to you at all! I apologize if you took it that way....I meant

that strikes me as another example of an administration who doesn't

understand our jobs and what they entail. Thinking that a ridealong was

just " hanging out " and not understanding how much of a help it is to not

only our job, but the officer's job as well. The way it was worded, I

interpreted it to mean you can ride once as a trainee and that is it. I am

a big believer in riding as much as possible so that the dispatchers and

officers can learn from one another. At my (larger) agency, command staff

are people we rarely see, on midnight shift the highest-ranking person we

have on duty is a sgt and they make most of the decisions but they would

laugh harder than anybody if referred to as " command staff " ! Why do they

not let you pick who you ride with?

Re: 911:: Ride a longs-ok or not ok

>

>Dear responder to my response,

>Ok, I didn't mean to " touch a nerve " I was just giving an overview of the

>way my department handles ridealongs...and it sounds very much like the way

>your department handles them. I can't figure it out if you are upset by

what

>I said, or making light of it. All I meant was that a valid reason must be

>given, appropriate checks made, and the decision comes from the command

>staff. Please let me know if you are just trying to dis me, or have a real

>problem with my response. I can take it.

>Thanks,

>POPE

>

July 13, 2000

The policy with my police department for ride alongs is you can ride once a

week, you can choose which division you ride with, but now which officer.

So, if we wanted to we could ride every week. For citizens, they have to

pass a background check, and then they can go.

Shana

Dispatcher 25

KCPD

July 14, 2000

Vern Writes;

Cant speak for all, but as a Reserve Officer, I probably two

sometimes three shifts a week. It did not take me long to find out that

many officers just dont like ANYONE in their car. If a " Command Staff "

assigned a Rider to him, he is not a happy camper and will do almost any

thing to get rid of the rider. Like he might tell the Sgt he has

several reports he has to write so it may be better if the rider went

with some one else. The Sgt knows who does not like riders, and those

that don't mind it at all. So that may well have something to do with

who he assigned a rider to. Myself as a " Officer Trained, and Armed " ,

and could spell better than some would end up writing their reports for

the nite and keeping their Daily Log.

Vern

Retired

Served Proudly

Kim Kinsey wrote:

::::::::::::snip::::::

At my (larger) agency, command

> staff

> are people we rarely see, on midnight shift the highest-ranking person

> we

> have on duty is a sgt and they make most of the decisions but they

> would

> laugh harder than anybody if referred to as " command staff " ! Why do

> they

> not let you pick who you ride with?

>

;;;;;;;;;;;;;snip;;;;;;;;;;;;;

July 14, 2000

Hey,

that's cool, I can understand your reasoning, it is a shame that some of the

people in charge of us have little clue about what thepeople they are in

charge of do. I think the shift supervisor just wants the control of

picking who has a ridealong and also, they know who is down reports, or who

may be working a " hot zone " all sorts of factors. When I mentioned command

staff, I only meant those " in charge " . Our agency had a Patrol Lt for each

rotation, who supervises both day and night shifts...sort of a noon to

midnight gig, or something similar. Our Sgt basically runs the shift

though. I am a huge fan of ridealongs and am trying to get my staff out on

more of them (as an on going training sort of thing) but due to

understaffing (woe is me) it is not possible at this juncture. Thanks for

responding back, i didn't want anyone thinking i was trying to be a dork or

anything.