What happens when....

Yah that's crap. The same thing happened to me when a neighbor made a false complaint against me. I work in CT but live in Massachusetts and my neighbor made up a story to try and get me in trouble. He was upset that he had to put in a $40,000 retaining wall because I complained to the town about my water problem. Anyway, he goes to my PD making up all kinds of crap (some very serious) which my PD opens an IA on. I was cleared of any wrongdoing (thank god I had witnesses) but it irks me when the average JOE can make a BS complaint about you when you are OFF DUTY and OUT OF STATE. The public knows they can do it and they will continue to do it because they have a bone to pick with cops. :twisted:

[meldog]

I would hope to think that anyone driving in a reckless manner would be called on the carpet to their superiors if driving was part of their career choice.

That does not only include LEO's but FedEx, UPS, Verizon, etc..

If you pick a career where citizens can see your employers name and phone number on your car... when you do something "wrong" and dangerous- everyone is going to see it and, in all likelyhood, call and tell someone about it.

I am off to work.
Have a great night.

Hopefully the supervisors who take these BS complaints have the brains to realize 99% of them are false. Most complaints made by citizens are people who have been arrested, gotten tickets, etc. By the way MELDOG...where do you work? Maybe some cops can watch you to see what you do wrong and report you for it later.

[meldog]

I am a CPA. I work for large organization locally. I have never been arrested and I have zero tickets. In fact, for a year, I volunteered with your agency (and others) working with DCF in emergency foster care placement for abused kids. I now give my time to the GAL program in Hillsborough County.

In addition to that, working full time and raising a two year old, I also volunteer at the VA in Tampa reading and sometimes just sitting there talking to the veterens that come back from Iraq and have no family or anyone else. I have helped raise thousands of dollars to get everything from knitting supplies to prepaid phone cards to Girl Scout cookies donated for the injured men and women returning from war.

For some reason, you have a chip on your shoulder. I am not a liar or a scumbag.. and MOST people aren't. I am not sure why you think you needed to come at me like that. I am just someone who had to avoid getting hit by someone driving one of your agebcies cars recklessly in the residential neighborhood that I live in.

I realized in reading some of the posts on here, I was better off NOT asking what happens when a citizen has a concern because "we" are always wrong anyway.

I'm Mother Theresa. I do no wrong, and a lot of volunteer work. I'm perfect because of these things. I decided because I didn't get what I wanted out of talking to a Supervisor, I would post something on the LEO's web site (because some how thru my CPA job, all the volunteer work I do, and raising a child alone) I have time and knew that there was a site where I could post something about a cop doing something wrong.

Somehow, this doesn't sound legit -

[meldog]

If you wanted to piss me off, you did.. you won.
I am not raising my child alone, I never said that.

I am far from perfect but you won't find me drunk driving or smoking crack. If that does not sound "legit" to you.. you have a tainted opinion of the world. I believe is being a good person and giving back to the area and the people that serve my country and protect me.

I know about this site because I do police and firefighters taxes for FREE every year. An officer from TPD asked me about deducting his internet expenses and he told me about this site.

Since I now know the true felings about how most LEO's feel about the people of the community, I will not be offering that again next year.

Thanks for opening my eyes.

I have a tainted opinion of the world because what I do for a living, people - and it IS MOST PEOPLE lie to me thru the course of my daily duties. I have a tainted opinion of the world because some people want to kill me because of the uniform I wear... I have to be leary of anyone and everyone I stand too close to.

You came on a cops message board to complain about a fellow officer - what in the heck did you expect? A warm embrace? You claim to be a professional (which is why you told us all about your career) yet posting on a message board about something that a simple phone call to the person you spoke to earlier (because you did know that person's name) would have given you all the answers you desired.

Not stopping at a stop sign is nothing more than a misdemeaner traffic violation, yet you want to make it a Federal Offense. If you reported a specific vehicle, make and model to me after witnessing the vehicle 'stroll' thru a stop sign - I couldn't do anything about it anyway. Traffic Violations must (By Statue) be witnessed by a Law Enforcement Officer - it is considered hearsay otherwise. 300 officers in the department, 10% female, how much time would you like tax dollars spent on this Internal Affairs Investigation? Even bogus complaints are a part of an official record.

Had you been professional in your follow up inquiry, and made a follow up call, and received the answers you were looking for from the person you first spoke to - instead of going on a message board and casting the first stone (i.e. pissing off a couple people) you wouldn't have been fired back upon. You want cops to be professional, yet the public doesn't have to be, and posting complaints on a cops message board about a cop is no where near professional - if there were a public message board about citizens of Westchase, would it be ok if a TPD officer posted something on there about citizens who do wrong in that community and who live on your street? This forum is a Cop community - like family. What did you expect when you came here and criticized a member of our family? Would you be defensive if someone here made comments about your daughter?

It's a cops forum, for cops - not for citizen complaints. I've done nothing wrong here on MY forum about MY family. If you have been offended while posting on this site, that's like having a burglar sue a homeowner because he broke into a house and was injured during the offense. Maybe the burglar shouldn't have been braking into the home to which the burglar wasn't invited, and therefore wouldn't have been injured in the process.....

“northern cop” whines about how he was the subject of a false complaint, then shows why he was probably the pride of his department by wanting to know where “meldog” works, so cops can watch to see if she commits any violations. Let’s retaliate against anyone who makes a complaint on a cop. Pure genius “northern cop!”

And then there’s “Tainted.” I hope to God you don’t work for CPD. Since when is running a stop sign a “misdemeanor” traffic violation? And please note, I spelled misdemeanor correctly. Maybe if you did any sort of self-initiated activity, you’d know it’s simply a civil violation. However, from reading your first paragraph, your paranoia that everyone is out to get you probably keeps you locked in your cruiser, in the middle of an open field, most of your shift – lamenting about the numerous hours you have put in as a police officer, yet no one has formally recognized your vast achievements in crime suppression. And when did we balloon up to 300 officers? CPD has been hovering in the 260 range – give or take a few – for the past decade. Also, the personnel assigned to the Office of Professional Standards (by the way, it’s not called Internal Affairs) are paid by city tax dollars to review and/or investigate complaints against those employed by CPD. The taxpayers don’t get a rebate of their salaries or budget if the investigations are kept to a minimum. And lastly, if you are fortunate enough to join this often under-appreciated profession, you should EXPECT “bogus complaints” to be made against you during your career if you do what you’re paid to do – which is to enforce the law; not be shocked or appalled when it does happen. That’s the nature of this beast. If your psyche is so fragile that you immediately go into this sort of aggressive defensive mode, you need to find yourself another line of work.

To you, “meldog,” all I can say is that those who posted negative responses don’t seem to grasp the fact that you can’t have double standards. Officers penalize citizens for running stop signs, yet they should be immune from any sanctions if/when they do it while off duty in a city vehicle? That kind of thinking will only erode the trust and respect the vast majority of citizens share with the members of their local police departments.

The truth is not much can be done to that female officer. If the investigation were to reveal she did run a stop sign, then most likely a negative entry would be added to her evaluation and she’d be put on notice to drive more carefully or face progressive disciplinary measures. No one – that includes citizens as well as officers - can receive a citation for the majority of traffic violations in our state statutes (which includes stop sign violations) if an officer didn’t witness the violation; unless it involves a crash, and thankfully it did not.

And finally, don’t let the few knuckleheads or Neanderthals who decide to post negative comments taint (no pun intended) your opinion of the majority of law enforcement professionals out there who appreciate the public’s support of what we do.

So in your eyes, posting complaints on a message board would be better than making a follow up call with someone in IA? (I mean, they DO call them IA investigations right? Or are they OPS investigations? Have you ever gotten an "IA" or do you get "OPS"?)

I'm no where near paranoid. Officer safety means something to me, and I wish it meant more to some that I work with. Most people do lie to me during the course of my day. Guess with your angelic wings on, they see you as someone who walks on water, yet wears a badge. Wow, where are you working Walt Disney World PD? Are you stupid enough to show your gun side to everyone you meet? Good practice there - How about just unsnapping your holster for them too?

My point was that this poster wants everyone to know what an upstanding person they are. Supposed to be college educated (CPA) and a wonderful parent - yet feels that expressing a complaint on a cops web site was a good decision whereby they didn't believe they'd be made fun of? CPD has a web site, and a way to contact individuals directly and via emails - that's what that site was set up for, not this one.

Wow - Fantasy cop, with no safety skills living in a Fantasy world - I wanna party with you!!

Speaking of partying did ya hear about the banquet? See you next time dude :shock: