signal 35

ill try to keep this short. what is up with the deputies that can't initiate taking a call for service ( except for s54's, s17's, s11's, etc. ), but key up to go s35 as soon as another deputy takes a call? is this the way they are being trained? they are going s35 on past occurred type calls that are not in progess and not 10-12. and it appears that it is mostly the new "baby deputies". oh, i know that there is some dinosaurs out there doing the same thing too. everyone, with common sense, knows that they are just doing this to sound busy on the radio and to keep themselves 10-6. every district has deputies that can't seem to do anything without holding hands with another deputy. are these deputies afraid to do their jobs all by themselves? if so, they need to resign because as deputies, we don't have the luxury of always having someone holding out hand on calls. i hear the same ones doing it over and over again. c'mon supervisors! get these chronic s35'ers in line. tell them to "man up" and stay 10-8. it's time we disect some of these "siamese deputies" that are attached at the hips. and i'm not saying that one should not back up another deputy if it is truly necessary. the slackdaddys that im referring to already know who they are or should by reading this. pop quiz: which of the following requires s35? 1) s45 in progess or 2) s22 civil past occurred. if you cant figure it out, you belong working at checkers.

You are right... it is a supervision issue. The sergeant should be able to recognize this, but it may be difficult for some sergeants if they have been stuck on a desk as a detective or in some other non-street related job until they got their stripes. Then they are thrown to the wolves and give the appearance of being uneducated on basic law enforcement tactics and procedures. They too were likely "joined at the hip" to others throughout their career so it may be difficult for them to recognize others doing it.

i agree the s35 deal is a bit crazed lately. we have fewer deputies out per shift than when i started. less actual call answering deputies who will be there to help you in a bad spot.

the newer people don't have one important benefit that most of us did growing up as a deputy: experienced people to lead you along. when i started i was the one new guy on shift. everyone else had at least 2-3 years or more on the road. they taught me more than my sti's could have hoped to. plus,my sti's had more than just a few years themselves.

we have shifts where everyone is one probation. how can they learn from each other? there is no one there to prod them along or call them out for silly errors. it used to be when you needed help,you asked for it. and when you asked for help,every beating heart came to your rescue because they knew you needed it. now everyone just tails another deputy, and i think its mostly because they are all trying to figure it out for themselves. i don't think these new people are scared, they just need experience and confidence.

we could maybe help this if we adjusted the shift bids a little to avoid whole shifts on probation. on lots of the night shifts the traffic guy and k9 guy are the senior poeple.this needs to be worked on. i'm open to suggestions

i agree

It also frustrates me to no end when I see certain units CONSTANTLY s35 and never taking any report calls. They will quickly jump on a papa call or an alarm and then ask for s35 themselves.

They will run 1018 from one end of the county to the other backing up other officers but will not take a call themselves.

I have seen them to the point of being MADE to respond to calls that are in progress or such and have the dispatcher, pend that call for a traffic stop WTF!?!?!?!?! with certain supervision saying nothing, of course they lack command and patrol capabilities themselves usually. Of course they probably kissed enough butt to the upper staff that they promoted them to get the kisses off of their own backs.

I seriously think supervision should be promoted based on their hard work, skills, training, and personalibity with other officers and especially the public.

It is very sad that some shifts have no more then 1 year of experience and others have the most, BUT if you look at it, look at the original supervisors that were originally on the shift.

Don't get me wrong, there are some GREAT supervisors that I have worked for and I would without an insist mention them as some of the best supervisors I have had. And then Ive had others Ive counted the days before I can transfer myself off of the shift.

But if you look at the older deputies that constantly need supervision they were worth about a bag of rocks to start with. The newbies coming out now want all the glory but none of the reports that go with it, however, when the situation goes down, they have no way of handling it. That is a academy issue, a training issue and most important of all.. a issue within themselves. They never wanted to learn the 'man up' calls so therefore when stuck in the situation, they freak.

this has been going on since i was there... aint nothin' new. call 'em out on it! be tactful, but be honest...

i know how frustrating it is when a s21 pops up and lo and behold, that same d/s is piping up s35 to a past occured.

this problem begins and ends with supervision. the sgt. needs to pull 'em aside and have a heart to heart, but sadly a lot of them probably lack the nuts to do it.

everyone is afraid of "hostile workplace" issues. if someone sucks,tell them they suck

Been awhile since I looked at this page, but see a number of new beefs. I agree big time with this one. Part of being a deputy is having the skills to handle anything that pops up - the ability to adapt and overcome. It's great to know what the book says how you are suppose to do it, however, you need common sense and life experiences to make it work. Are you afraid to use the tools you have around your waist? Believe me if you show fear, the bad guy will sense it by your actions just like a dog can smell it on you. It's time to get mean and quit getting hung up on this customer care crap. Ours is the business of putting the scum of the earth in jail and protecting those people whom can't protect themselves. I'm all for proactive police work. Go search the scum out from their holes and keep them on the run - that way they won't have time to think about doing crime. Of course you want to practice officer safety but the bad guy knows he has a problem when you don't need an army to come after him. Ever hear "one riot - one ranger"? Sure makes the justification alot simpler also on the use of protective action report when it's a one on one situation or even when you face greater odds. Don't be a coward! Yes that's what I said! You know who you are--if you're scared--get you one of those nice office jobs and be a pretty boy or girl who shows up at the scene when the coast is clear. Don't be afraid to skin your knuckles or get those britches dirty - believe me that is the only thing the criminal understands and fears. You'll be surprised how much more productive youll be when you don't waist time waiting for someone to hold your skirt before you slap iron on the bad guy

Hey "old school", RETIRE...the agency ain't like that no more....it full of idiots that make selfish decisions.. :x

Old School is saying the agency SHOULD be like that now. He's absolutely right.

I've been here almost 10 years and things were alot better when I first started. The deputies were alot more capable of handling calls by themselves then they are now. Perhaps criminals have changed now and things have gotten alot tougher.

Alot of the deputies I worked with when I first started are either retired, resigned or in another field other then patrol so there's many new ones now that I don't have that same rapport with.

You definitely have to have good common sense to do this job. Corky is so pro-degree, which is good to have, but there's many deputies that don't have one that are smarter then ones that do.

There was a deputy many years ago in SW that had a college degree but was dumb as a box of rocks. He couldn't do any call without help. He was always on the tac channel asking the supervisor how to handle the call.

Now when I was 18-19 years old I didn't have alot of common sense to do a job like, this so I don't feel we should hire anyone that young to be a deputy. There should be an age limit of 21. Heck, you can't even buy bullets until your 21 but I'm supposed to feel comfortable with you backing me up?