My dad taught me how to be a good cop...... be honest, keep your nose clean, keep your mouth shut unless spoken to and back up your partners.
Your father was/is a very wise man. I just hope I've passed that same wisdom to two of my sons who are cops.
The other bit of wisdom he passed on to me was, "It's all bulls**t, kid."
My dad is luckily still alive. He did 33 years on the job and retired at the ripe young age of 52. That was 12 years ago. Now he's my go-to babysitter. His rank at retirement was Patrolman (or Patrol Officer as they call it now....PC bulls**t). He didn't want any promotions. He did things his way and didn't owe anybody anything. No ass-kissing, no backstabbing and no bribe-taking..... Things that are sometimes necessary to get ahead in this department.
Which is why I will most likely retire at the age of 52 at the rank of Patrolman..... ;-)
As I said before, your Dad is a smart man. I chose the promotion route because that's the way I wanted to go. But the problem with our profession is that we don't honor the police officer, the backbone of the department, anywhere near enough.
A lot of fine, hardworking officers don't want to be bosses and I respect that. Without those people, our system would not work. Please shake your Dad's hand for me and wish him a Merry Christmas.
My dad taught me how to be a good cop...... be honest, keep your nose clean, keep your mouth shut unless spoken to and back up your partners.
Your father was/is a very wise man. I just hope I've passed that same wisdom to two of my sons who are cops.
The other bit of wisdom he passed on to me was, "It's all bulls**t, kid."
My dad is luckily still alive. He did 33 years on the job and retired at the ripe young age of 52. That was 12 years ago. Now he's my go-to babysitter. His rank at retirement was Patrolman (or Patrol Officer as they call it now....PC bulls**t). He didn't want any promotions. He did things his way and didn't owe anybody anything. No ass-kissing, no backstabbing and no bribe-taking..... Things that are sometimes necessary to get ahead in this department.
Which is why I will most likely retire at the age of 52 at the rank of Patrolman..... ;-)
As I said before, your Dad is a smart man. I chose the promotion route because that's the way I wanted to go. But the problem with our profession is that we don't honor the police officer, the backbone of the department, anywhere near enough.
A lot of fine, hardworking officers don't want to be bosses and I respect that. Without those people, our system would not work. Please shake your Dad's hand for me and wish him a Merry Christmas.
Will do...... Not knocking promotions, in general. I envy anyone that gets ahead and hope to get promoted someday too. Just gonna have to do it on my own. I was speaking specifically about Chicago. I'm sure most departments have somewhat of a level playing field. Unfortunately, that's not the case here. I've had the pleasure of working for few great bosses over the years. Real leaders. It just sucks that the majority of my bosses have been clout-baby hacks who didn't earn their positions. Our meritorious system is flawed beyond repair. For every 30 or so people who get promoted on merit alone, maybe one or two actually deserve it.
All bull***t aside, I actually really like my job. Just have to ignore a lot of the nonsense and focus on the positives....... which is getting harder and harder to do these days. ;-)
Guns don't kill people, Daddies with pretty daughters do…..
The promotion system was more or less the same thing when I was in the Air Force, I got out in '06. Rather than being promoted to SSgt (E-5) based on merit, it was based on how many NCOs the military needed. So what would happen is they would just lower the passing standard in order to pass x number of NCOs. On top of that, if you have been in longer, you get more points towards the test, etc. We had jackasses who had been in forever make rank just based on time-in-service. It was a major reason for my separation.
Two of the things my Dad taught me: 1) in any organization, problems are best solved from the bottom up. When the people at the top try to solve the problems at the bottom, they usually just create more problems for the people who actually do the work.
2) Keep on living 'til the day you die. He was 63, terminal cancer for the last two years of his life, directed choir at church up until the last two weeks, was assisting a professor to translate her thesis from Spanish to English, continued to play in the local symphony until he couldn't breathe long enough to do it, and was mad as hell when he passed out and the doctor put him on the ventilator. I wasn't there at the moment, when I got there I told him "if you're not turned around by morning, out it comes". (something had happened that wasn't supposed to, so there was a chance.) The doctor said "maybe", I said: "Morning!" . He died a couple hours later.
WARNING: The above post may contain thoughts or ideas known to the State of Caliphornia to cause seething rage, confusion, distemper, nausea, perspiration, sphincter release, or cranial implosion to persons who implicitly trust only one news source, or find themselves at either the left or right political extreme. Proceed at your own risk.
"If you do not read the newspapers you're uninformed. If you do read the newspapers, you're misinformed." -- Mark Twain
I always thought my dad was the most unreasonable person around. When I got married at 26 everything began to change. Now I am 31 and I understand my dad a lot better now.
The most valuable lesson I learned from my dad was how to be a dad. In order to be a great dad to a child you must love and respect the mother. You must set the example for the child or the child will grow up not respecting the mother or any other woman.
I always thought my dad was the most unreasonable person around. When I got married at 26 everything began to change. Now I am 31 and I understand my dad a lot better now.
there is a time to be a parent, and a time to be a friend. after years of them being parents to me, my parents are now my friends.
when i was in high school and very active in soccer, choir, drama guild, art, track, and lifting, my dad would tell me "dont drink, dont smoke" now when we get together, all we do is drink good wine and smoke good cigars.
Comments
A lot of fine, hardworking officers don't want to be bosses and I respect that. Without those people, our system would not work. Please shake your Dad's hand for me and wish him a Merry Christmas.
All bull***t aside, I actually really like my job. Just have to ignore a lot of the nonsense and focus on the positives....... which is getting harder and harder to do these days. ;-)
1) in any organization, problems are best solved from the bottom up. When the people at the top try to solve the problems at the bottom, they usually just create more problems for the people who actually do the work.
2) Keep on living 'til the day you die. He was 63, terminal cancer for the last two years of his life, directed choir at church up until the last two weeks, was assisting a professor to translate her thesis from Spanish to English, continued to play in the local symphony until he couldn't breathe long enough to do it, and was mad as hell when he passed out and the doctor put him on the ventilator. I wasn't there at the moment, when I got there I told him "if you're not turned around by morning, out it comes". (something had happened that wasn't supposed to, so there was a chance.) The doctor said "maybe", I said: "Morning!" . He died a couple hours later.
"If you do not read the newspapers you're uninformed. If you do read the newspapers, you're misinformed." -- Mark Twain
The most valuable lesson I learned from my dad was how to be a dad. In order to be a great dad to a child you must love and respect the mother. You must set the example for the child or the child will grow up not respecting the mother or any other woman.
when i was in high school and very active in soccer, choir, drama guild, art, track, and lifting, my dad would tell me "dont drink, dont smoke"
now when we get together, all we do is drink good wine and smoke good cigars.