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The NYC mayoral race is like the Kentucky Derby for smelly camels.

Of course we have the same LE background, and are of the same era, so I agree with what you're saying. But without giving out too much detail, you're well aware of that special place that my precinct is responsible for and I think that gives the younger guys here like myself even more experience handling and moving perps than most guys in our department. So to add a few specifics...

Keep the cuffs tight. If you can fit a finger in there they are too loose. You also need to keep their greedy little paws facing out, and not inwards where they can meet and manipulate things. I've seen a lot of posts saying that a female deputy was possibly overpowered by a large male suspect. I don't want to second-guess anyone without being there, but a simple push of tight metal cuffs against the bone just above the wrist will bring anyone to their knees. If a perp is rear-cuffed properly a slight twist will bring him to his knees in pain.

Keep your gun side pivoted away. It seems simple enough, but complacency does set in after a while. Since I'm a rightie, I keep my left hand on a cuff ready for the twist and my right hand on the perp's right arm. My firearm is away from the subject, and he is also in front of me.

Know who you are dealing with. I've met more than one officer who transported someone without even reading the charges on the arrest report. You can't drop your guard even if its a low-level offense, but if a guy has a charge involving violence against him your adrenalin should be pumping even more. Talk to the perp. They are often quite willing to play amateur defense attorney and you can learn a lot about their mentality.

Watch the environment. I don't know if it applied in the Atlanta case, but I know that a hospital room is aready source of weaponry. There are needles around, metal silverware and lots of "medical" excuses to be lax. Nurses and doctors are often sympathetic to the "former altar boy trying to get back on track and go to college" kind of sob story. Ignore them. They know as much about perps from watching "NYPD Blue" as you do about dispensing medicine from watching "ER". ALWAYS search again...I've transported perps arested by elite units and seasoned vets and no one has EVER said a negative word to me or my partner about searching them again. It can be intimidating at first. In a way I thought the vets would think I was questioning their work by doing so, but now I understand that its a point of pride for them that we'll do it and won't turn up anything new. Don't be afraid to grab the privates either. The perps are counting on you being squeamish around there.

I'll get off my soapbox now...I still have so much to learn myself. Good post bro, and hopefully someone's life will be saved as a result of the lessons learned through today's tragedy.

"There seems to be a lot of 'blind' support for police officers here at FP. Do they ever make mistakes? How about waiting for more of the facts to come out before deciding who is at fault?"

You've been here long enough to know that there far more "blind" support here for any report that accuses police officers of wrongdoing. I'm surprised they're not here already.

"He'll fit right in."

Amen brother. Those turds were cursing at my partner and I at a 59 on 6th the other night. My partner is a vollie out on the island too, and he wasn't amused. This was after we had already cleared the building of residents before FD even got out of bed.000

I love waking them up for dumpster fires at 4 am.... :)

"Does NYC sell its used weapons like many other cities do?"

Issued duty weapons (currently the Glock 19, Sig Sauer P226 and S&W 5946 along with some old revolvers still floating around) become the property of the invidual officer. Backup guns are purchased privately by officers. I'm not sure about the ESU (SWAT) longarms. Guns that are taken as evidence are melted down after trial, tragically...

I've heard that some real beauties and vintage guns have met their fate this way. Sad, but not surprising, that the city won't take advantage of another possible revenue stream.

"But, you talk out of both sides of your mouth, like your old-timer..."

I have no idea what you're talking about. I like my job, and I getting a good collar and earning the respect of my peers. Just like most decent people like to do their jobs well. But I'm not looking to get into a shootout or jump from rooftop to rooftop just to catch some guy for glory and the honor of NYC.

"when I see plenty of resources available for traffic fund raisers, but get a brush off letter for property crime, then I disagree with the allocation."

If thats what you see where you are then I'm with you. What I see is 3 or 4 cars in my precinct overnight and one or two of them constantly tied up taking reports for 20 minutes at a time for fenderbenders or small crimes where the perp is already long gone. If I'm freed up to look for the next guy breaking into a car or to stop a stabbing its a good thing. If that extra time means that they expect me to write more tickets its just wrong...

"I would LOVE to see cops actually driving the roads and catching the tailgaters, racers, SOBs who cut you off, weaving drunks, etc. That kind of traffic enforcement would get nothing but kudos."

I don't know what goes on elsewhere, but I could write a book of those type of violations every hour if I had any time. I go after the cabs almost exclusively as does every cop I know, mainly because any driving New Yorker would tell you they are the "yellow menace".

"In this case, they were directing traffic."

What case are you talking about? Not 9-11-01?

"As a LEO, I am sure you think you are special, and deserve being called a hero."

Obviously you're sure of a lot of things. I'll you something I was told by an old-timer here almost as soon as I got out of the academy..."A hero is just a sandwich, kid". I do my job professionally and to the best of my abilities so I can go home to my family and friends after every tour.

"There is little difference, to me, between the cops and the robbers!"

There is nothing I can say, nothing I can show, that can dispel a delusion rooted so deep. People like you make me wonder why I even bother. Please don't ever visit NYC. I would hate to get t-boned by a cab while racing through an intersection to come help you.

"That is part of the problem with the police. Real crime ie theft is not a high priority item on your agenda. Administrative crime (signs too big, speeding, cigarette taxes not paid, and -horrors- guns owned) now thats the sort of thing law enforcement can really sink its teeth into."

Its not an issue of real crime or not. The issue is if you only have a certain number of cars with cops in them do you want to have one of them spend a half-hour taking a report for a crime when the criminal is long gone? I think I'd rather have the car available for a quicker response to an in-progress crime, and let a civilian take the report over the phone. The crime is still documented, and its not like patterns of such crimes still can't be tracked to better place undercover stakeout-type units. As for the other stuff, being hard on dangerous drivers (not someone that misses a red light by a tenth of a second like the cameras seem to love) saves lives and saves people money.

"You're basically saying that if a criminal isn't caught in the act by the police, then don't bother them with it. Your attitude sucks."

My attitude is just fine, thank you very much. Treating every "smash and grab" like the Lindbergh kidnapping decreases response time to both serious crimes and minor in-progress ones. If you want to attack the concept back it up with something other than your antipathy towards LE. I think its a step towards allocating scarce resources more efficiently.

"Just consider how much of your local police force time is spent enforcing piddling traffic laws that produce lots of revenue but little real benefit, and how much is spent solving and preventing burglaries, which produces real benefit but little revenue, and voila, the lack of emperor's clothes is revealed."

To some extent I agree. I would love to give up writing parking tickets except in special circumstances, but I still believe in the value of moving violations. Aggressive driving is a big problem in NY, and one of the main sources of our incredibly high insurance rates. I drive 55 or so in the right lane going to work and I see all kinds of craziness going on. So when I can

But I would love to spend hours staking out burglary-prone locations too. We have a plainclothes unit that does just that, often spending hours on rooftops in our precinct waiting and watching.

Whats needed is balance. Everyone notices someone that pulled over for speeding or running a stop sign, but most don't see or know about other things going on in their neighborhoods.

"The same has happened here. I guess when Dunkin Donuts is burgled, they will arrive pronto!"

Blah, blah and blah. Why am I not surprised to find a donuts comment in a thread full of people that don't know anything about advancements in LE theory and practice.

"Thieves broke into a friend of mine's car and stole $800 worth of property. The police would not come out and investigate. They took the report by phone and mailed him a copy to send to his insurance company along with his claim."

Thats actually considered innovative in LE. Basically, if the guy smashed your window with a rock and grabbed some CDs a few hours ago he is gone. There is no sherlock holmes activity involved here. All sending a patrol car does is take a car out of service that could be ready to stop an in-progress crime.

"There are posters on this forum who actually believe that LEOs are motivated by public safety instead of revenue."

I may not care if you personally get home every night, but I'd rather not have to help find whats left of you after a crash. I only wish I got a cut of the revenue too, but that goes straight to your local government's slush fund.

"You're one of them, I take it. Ve haff vays of makink you tock. Shpeel de beans, bustah. You vill giff us das info vots behint de sceentz, ja?"

Sorry, I don't have any inside info. All I've done is look at the man's record. There are two main career tracks in the NYPD for the ambitious; "boss" and "detective". I may be wrong, but I don't think in over 150 years has there ever been an NYPD commissioner whose previous department rank was 3d grade detective. The guy had a good relationship with Giuliani and made the most of it. I can tell you with certainty that there were others that were better qualified to hold the post that he had on that fateful day.

"Now your talking, I'm not highly familiar with these names or resumes --- I'm going to be researching... but this is more like it."

Bill Bratton was responsible for all the NYPD initiatives that eventually returned NYC to a sense of normalcy (at least by NYC standards). He is an ambitious man, and he does have a rivalry with Giuliani going back as to who should take credit for NYC's gains in crime reduction. But if you talk to almost any NYPD cop with "time on" they would say that he was the most innovative and popular leader in the past 20 years.

From all that I've heard, read and seen the guy sounds like a winner. Possibly the most creative law enforcement leader in America. But, like I said earlier, I'm sure there are a slew of other qualified candidates from federal and local with whom I'm not familiar.

"Who is not an opportunist in pol? The reason Bush cut him loose was that the dirt got heavy, someone knew he would do a good job, make the country safer --- and we can't have that can we..."

I think there are stronger ex-NYPD candidates out there than Kerik. Timoney from Miami is ex-NYPD, along with Bill Bratton who is currently running the LAPD. Talking to many NYPD officers and supervisors with a lot more experience leads me to believe that there are quite a few others just from our department that are even better qualified than Kerik.

Kerik became nationally known after his work on 9-11. That doesn't mean that there aren't other well-qualified NYPD candidates along with many others from other law enforcement agencies with whom I'm not acquainted. Honestly, I never heard anything positive about Kerik other than he was a decent street cop and didn't destroy the innovative projects of his predecessors.

I'm not sure of the politics involved, but from what I've heard and experienced I'd be talking to Mr. Bratton right now.

"Ya know, alot of us prayed for Bush to have 4 more years for the good of America and God heard and answered. I for one, just want what's absolutely best for our country - we can't always see it, but God can. I pray for the best man for the job to get the job."

From what I've heard from the older guys on my job, Bill Bratton would be the man if you're looking to hire someone with extensive domestic law enforcement experience. He was the real innovator as NYPD commissioner long before Kerik, but left becuase he butted heads with Giuliani. He currently runs the LAPD.

"he rose quickly through the ranks of the NYPD and was resented by many of them."

Thats all true, but it doesn't mean that his critics within the department were wrong.

"Anyway, we started speaking about kerik and this guy despised him for some reason. Called him an opportunist who did not know what he was doing. I told him I didn't agree but this guy worked with kerik for several years and just felt he was not right for Homeland security."

Lets just say that Kerik was a 3d grade detective that made out on his association with Giuliani.