Continuing the Battle

As many of you know, the FOP printed cards to hand out to the public to let them know when they were assisted by an off duty officer. This proactive endeavor, which would create positive support for the take home car program and the Department, was immediately stopped by Chief White.

^ I didn't know this was being done, but as a citizen I think this would be a really good thing to do. I can't believe how many people don't realize how often they've been assisted in some way by an officer that isn't on-duty. I've only been driving for about 10 years or so and I've been helped four times by officers due to some kind of car issue and once a flat tire. 3 of the 4 times, the officers were off-duty.

Very well written article, too. I think this site is absolutely invaluable for you guys to get out the truth without having to censor the facts because of threats from an administration and system that is only working against you. Thanks for what you do and keep up the good work.

Being a metro employee myself I wholeheartedly support your cause. I know the unjustness of Jerry's ways but I also know that sometimes the LMPD can be their "own worst enemy" (actual words heard from an officer). I know the value of the take home car program and also know that some officers DO NOT and that's why it is in jeopardy at the moment.

The public knows officers have a DUTY to stop and assist while they are in the car, however, many citizens have stood by countless times watching officer...after officer...after officer, pass them by when they need assistance. The only way to garner true support from your public is to step it up and show them what they could lose. Make the actions actually observed by your citizens match the words written here. The situation you are in is dire. Few have spoiled it for the many. I know a lot of officers who DO their off duty share and it's commendable. However, many DO NOT, and those selfish moments of ignoring those citizens in need has created a negative perception of this department.

Jerry looks wonderful to the average citizen because "he's doing things to better our city," he took a pay cut too, he's not raising taxes. Those of us in the kingdom realize the facade but John Q. Public does not. The citizens perception is the make it or break it point in this game.

Paul,

I found out last night from a good source that Jane and JOhnstone are working again but are volunteering their time. They are both in the same positions they were before but are supposedly working for free. Anyway we can find out for sure?

BP

Saw the new general memorandum about how the dept is trying to get a nations acredidation. What is real funny about this is how the last section tells how it will improve moral and how everyone will be treated faily and the same as everyone will be under the same rules.

I really wonder what color the sky is in their world if they really believe that this will change anything about this P.O.S. department with the current leadership and mayor.

I have been a police officer for ten years and have enjoyed most days on the job. I have worked predominately in the west end where I feel I have made the greatest difference. I have gone into burning buildings, shut down crack houses, read to the school kids and befriended the drunks and prostitutes when no one else, including their own family would have them. I have been thanked numerous times by the elderly that are too afraid to walk on their porch in Park Hill because they are scared of the kids. I HAVE been shot at just this past fourth of July at 18th and Lee, but continue to stay positive and willing to help. I take pride in what I do; so do the majority of officers. People are quick to pick on the police for a variety of reasons, mainly because we the daunting task of enforcing the laws that taxpayers want enforced and the citizens are usually on the receiving end of a ticket. I'm sorry for anyone who completely labels all police as crooked or wrong or whiners because of the acts of a few. That would be the equivalent of me disliking all convenient store clerks or bank tellers when I am short change or not given a receipt. Any position where an individual can label an entire group for the actions of few is surely being labeled by someone that is perhaps also a bigot because of an unpleasant encounter with a person of another race or nationality. I'm sorry you are unable to treat all people, even police officers, as individuals. I believe it is thinking such as your that will forever harbor racism and hatred. I can assure you, for ten years, I have been called countless white derogatory terms by the black folks in the west end, yet not one time have I thought about hating or disliking blacks for the actions of a few. It's just not what mature people do. If you need to call me a name as well for this posting, so be it. I know who I am. Maybe you should soul search and figure out why you need to bash the police and what need it serves. Grow up and learn to live your life in harmony. Its too short....KT

My husband is now retired but when he was with LMPD I can not tell you how many times he would stop (off duty)to help someone when we were on our way somewhere while in his "take home care".

Lexington Metro still has take home cars with no restrictions. The only officers that pay are the ones that drive home and live out of the County! They have been merged longer then us and still have not taken the cars away! Funny huh?

yeah, and Lexington has a better mayor who doesn't hate police officers and a different puppet, I mean chief. backs

How Police Officers Deal With Stress

Friday, 06 February 2009

Dateline: Litchfield County, CT

THE REGISTER CITIZEN

Police officers have one of the highest suicide rates in the nation. They have the second highest divorce rate in the nation and abuse alcohol at about twice the rate of the general USA population. These three categories; suicide, divorce and alcoholism are three key indexes used by researchers to determine the stress level in a particular group of people or profession.

Leading stress researcher Hans Selye states that police work is? the most stressful occupation in America, surpassing the high stress job of an air traffic controller.? According to a study conducted by the International Association of Chiefs of Police, each year nearly twice as many officers commit suicide than are killed in the line of duty.

Chronic stress causes officers to numb their sensitivity. They can not stand to see human misery on a continuous basis.

The human mind has this defense mechanism in order to survive and to continue to work under these unusual circumstances. Anxiety can build in the police profession from continuously being around tragedies and death.

Studies show that out of the 940,000 sworn police officers in the United States, approximately 20 per cent suffer from post traumatic stress disorder, according to Robert Douglas, Director of the National Police Suicide Foundation. It is not unusual for officers to fail to recognize their own stress, pushing the anguish and pain they see on a daily basis to the back of their mind.

The relentless emotional roller coaster ride an officer is subjected to causes great concern for his or her well being. One minute the officer is talking to a lost motorist giving them directions, the next they are responding to a robbery in progress call. This can wear a person down over time. Think of dealing with the worst that human kind has to offer on a daily basis.

The lack of respect for life, the lack of caring for another person and the abuse that is so prevalent in our society today. Murder, robbery, rape and abuse, who wouldn?t develop a jaded outlook on life and become cynical about their surroundings?

Police officers see all or some of this type of behavior on a constant basis because they are the ones in our society who deal with these issues as they happen in real time.

It does not matter if the officer works in a large metropolitan city or for a rural county Sheriff?s Office; on some level every officer experiences this type of stress.

How can police officers prevent the stress from overwhelming them and bringing them to the dark side? First, all police department administrators should offer a good Employee Assistance Program (EAP) to give their officers an outlet to talk about what they see and experience.

Talking about the horrors rather than holding them in and remaining silent helps greatly.

Exercise, good nutrition, and rest are vital to an officers well being. Working out helps to relieve stress and build a positive attitude. Good nutrition gives the human body the vitamins and nutrients it needs to function regularly and be healthy. Additionally, getting the right amount of rest and relaxation is vital to an officer?s good health and well being.

Law enforcement leaders must make sure that their officers realize that police work is not their entire life. Develop friends and relationships outside of the workplace.

Continually talking about police work does not give an officer the break from the job that he or she needs. Develop and maintain social relationships that divert attention away from the job.

Friederich Nietzsche said whoever fights the monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster.

EASY WAY TO GET RID OF STRESS. WRITE TICKETS TO TRUCK DRIVERS. IF POSSIBLE LOCK 'EM UP FOR NO INSURANCE.

Ladies and Gentleman of the LMPD,

As a trained 1st responder who has just helped dig my family out of the snow, and then cleaned up the debris eft behind, I feel ill. My doctor advised that it is still Flu and Cold Season.

Ach-blue!!!! See, I just sneezed...

I have to get with my beat partners and make sure they are feeling okay as this maybe contagious.

Ach-Blue!!!!

Oh, lordy lord, it is getting worse.

Ahhh, now I'm interested. So this is your hobby, or entertainment? Or am I misunderstanding?

As far as the passion comment, that was meant for the subject itself, as it relates to the officers, not your observations of officers. Emotional stability? No I never meant to give the impression of assumption. I'll explain later.

But please going.

Ther is a simple solution to this: Just leave and don't come back You remond me of the guy that has to get the last word in on everything. You know everything then start your own website. You aren't a cop so why come here? You have not had to suffer under Abramson's policies so why are you here? From what I have been able to gather you have a chip on your shoulder because Police drive to fast. SO WHAT? Get a life. Someone insults you so you feel you have to respond each time. Turn the other cheek and move on. If you know you are not wanted someplace then why bother going there? You are not the beacon of truth that will enlighten anyone on this server.

Some of the people of this site need to grow up with the arguing back and forth, it makes us all look bad and shows lack of maturity. Some people just say stupid things to get a rise or response in return but don't stoop to their level.

I agree with you man, this trucker guy needs to get a girlfriend or something. He always talks about how much more dangerous it is to be a truck driver, and yeah sure more of them probably do get hurt or killed then us every year. It's not a competition though, so why he is trying to make it one is beyond me. That being said, as far as statistics go I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact there are way more truck drivers in this country then there are cops, therefore more incidents/collisions/deaths are likely to occur. Does not take a detective to figure that out.

Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson will share an abbreviated State of the City address with the Metro Democratic Club in Louisville this Wednesday. His normal presentation at the Downtown Rotary Club was canceled due to the ice tsunami, so this will be his first opportunity to share his thoughts. Its his second year in a row.

Mayor Abramson will open with the shortened address, then take questions from the audience. The meeting is free and open to the public, and should last a little over an hour.

Event will take place at:

American Legion Hall

2919 Bardstown Road

Wednesday, February 11th

6:00 PM.

Hopefully you'll be there to ask difficult questions.

let's get back to the subject on how the mayor is such a screw up. Look at the online cj (2-11-09) and how he is looking to build (new construction) on a bike station. Some where that one can lock up their bike while downtown so they don't have to drive. He is looking for 3m from the feds (transportation) for this then they will contribute 1.3m toward it. If they don't get the funds from the feds they will look elsewhere to complete the project. What a crock of SH!T. He is wanting to charge the police more for the privledge of the take home car, furloe metro goverment workers to save money but can spend 1.3m on some building to lock up bikes. I wonder who will be working this job and how much he is going to pay for it. I thought ALL projects were on hold until the budget was under control. Seeing he already said the metro budget will be short next fiscal year I wonder where he is going to get this money from.

Ok, I would absolutely love for someone to tell me how this works. On one side, we have an entity that prides itself on its own integrity and accountability. A unit that constantly refers to themselves as heroes, arguably at a higher rate than soldiers currently at war and fighting for their very lives, and who blatantly expect more than mere respect for performing a menial job. Menial thankless jobs are nothing new. There are millions of them across the country. From the 3rd shift waitress at Denny,s, who puts up with dunken partiers, to janitorial and maid service at any number of businesses, they all do thankless jobs. Myself, I am a truck driver. We very rarely, if ever, see the fruits of our labors. I doubt anyone ever really thinks about what someone had to go through, in order for all those products that are magically upon store shelves whenever we go to the grocery, come from.

The point is that no job is alone in that, the worker likely feels vastly underpaid and underappreciated. Just don?t try to tell the cops at LMPD.com this. You see, they have such a complex about themselves on that site, that the moment you point out something wrong, you are told that life isn?t fair, so just deal with it. It really does run in direct contrast, because they will tell you how diligent they are, how they will lay their lives on the line for the safety and protection of the citizens, but in reality, when it comes time to back that up, they only care about themselves. Less than 1% of the time that someone who is, or claims to be, a cop, lashes out with anger and venom, with personal insults, and even a couple times, physical threats, someone will stand up and say that the behavior exhibited on the site is not acceptable.

I had maintained that cops regularly allow bending, if not outright breaking, of certain laws that they are charged with enforcing. It started with traffic laws, and how cops simply disregard them. I have gotten many different reactions and/or responses from people.

Some tell me that I have made my point, and to move on. To me, this would be akin to ticketing a violator, having the violator say ?So what??, and continue to violate the law. Should the cops take their own advice in this instance, they should realize that they have made their point, that people violate traffic laws, and move on, never writing another ticket because well, its an old issue.

Some tell me that life isn?t fair, that I should simply deal with it, which, again would compare to trying to arrest a criminal for stealing someones belongings, and being told that life isn?t fair, so get over it, at which point they would be expected to accept that theft goes on and do nothing in return.

Some will tell me that cops deal with criminals so they should be allowed to break the traffic laws. This one I fail to justify at all, other than basic ignorance. The most rational response is that if cops are allowed to break traffic laws, which ones? Add to that question, at what point does it stop? If traffic cops are allowed to break traffic laws, then should homicide detectives be allowed to murder people? It may seem to be an exaggerated example, but look at the examples of history, and see how people have abused their authority throughout even recent history. Two quotes come to mind to support this, one from John Emrich Edward Dalberg Acton, who said ?Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men.? The other would be by William Pitt, a British Prime minister in the latter 1700?s ?Unlimited power is apt to corrupt the minds of those who possess it.?

Don?t get me wrong, Im sure if I was the person in the position to abuse power, I might find a way to justify it myself. Im just logical enough to recognize that fact and say before hand, that defending the indefensible, and excusing the inexcusable, is never made more right, simply by being guilty of it.

Bringing this to a point, as opposed to generalities, we currently have a website in which cops en masse, refuse to address the issue, ******** opposed to excusing it. We have this group talking about how they should go to get their questions answered by the mayor. I find it ironic, that they can insist on getting their own questions answered, while ignoring questions asked of them.

Why is it that they can insist on demanding accountability of the mayors office for abusing his position while refusing to account for their own abuses and accountability?

To get even more to the point, as pertaining solely to the website, why is it that an entire group of postings in which I think I successfully made my point, disappears based supposedly on a general curse, yet when someone is libeling me, is allowed free reign for such insults directed specifically at me? Ive heard the arguments that it is a website FOR cops, but not one ?non-cop? has been told to leave IF they are in fact, kissing the ******** of cops, and blindly excusing their behavior.

Now, I?m not sitting here complaining about inequality, because there is a point in all of this. If, as cops, you are going to brag about how righteous an upstanding you are, then it would seem to me, that you should actually show it. If you can sit by while someone threatens violence on your behalf, sling insults on your behalf, then considering that I am just an anonymous post on the internet, what will you actually do to a criminal, or rather someone you DEEM a criminal, since factual evidence of accusations arent needed? I guess its apparent that enough people believe the hype that cops use to justify their egos, that they face death at every turn of every day. In reality, using their own website against them, the number one cause of death is traffic accidents. Now, since some, but not all, spend most of their day in their cars, they would be at an enhanced risk.

The problem with that, is that there are countless people who drive just as much, if not more, than cops. Federal job statistics, which I have posted numerous times, mean little to cops, because in actuality, the numbers simply do not come close to adding up. Cops are no where near the top 10 of job occupational standards. I don?t understand the thought behind ignoring federal stats just because they do not line up with your way of thinking. There is no bias behind this.

I understand stress levels all to well. I know how a bad day at work can affect your entire life for what will seem like an eternity at the time. The problem is that all too often, the view that cops see is them against everyone else, when in reality, it should be cops + civilians against criminals. Now, as history has set a precedent for me, it is necessary for me to say explicitly, and still it will be ignored, that I do NOT hate cops. I hate the ABUSE of the position. I hate any abuse, but this in particular because it has a direct effect on me. I know that any given cop having a bad day can, and will, take it out on me, or any number of other civilians who might share a similar appearance, skin color, name etc. Ive experienced it personally.

My only question before a cop writes a ticket, is would I be getting this ticket, IF I was a cop too? I mean, if I get pulled over, and when that officer walks up to my window, I show a badge while pulling out my license, would I have ended up with a ticket?

Color me delusional, but if you cannot follow the law, how can you enforce it? Well, I guess more to the point, how can you enforce it fairly?

those posts were meant for the truck driver,they weren't from him

I made a couple of your points earlier, but they went unresponded to. "It happens, get over it," "lifes not fair deal with it," "cops speed" are all completely unacceptable answers, and as history has established, I wonder how many of them, if any, are willing to do something about it? They have bestowed a perk upon themselves clearly inviolation of the law, and justify it with a baker getting free bread (not illegal) and a butcher getting some free meat (also not illegal).

To add to that, they refuse to be accountable themselves, to what the law clearly states, as well as their own mission and values statement, but demand accountability from the mayor over something that may, or may not be, in their own contract.

Im just curious if each officer is allowed to decide for themselves, the extent to which the law applies to them. By the way, several of those minor traffic infractions cost 4 people their lives a few years ago.

And in order for a dept to run smoothly.. You gotta look @ the way it starts... The MAYOR and THE POLICE CHIEF.. Need I say more? -JW-

you ever have a waitress let you have a cup of coffee on the house before?

'truck driver' - you are an egotistical, argumentative idiot that thrives on conflict. I have read some of your postings and found that you have nothing constructive to offer this site or apparently - mankind. YOU ARE PROBABLY A DISGRUNTLED DEFENSE ATTORNEY (I do have respect for some defense attorneys). A long time ago, when I was young, I was annoyed that cops would sometimes hit their lights through an intersection and go through on red. I was annoyed that they would drive past me really fast sometimes when I had to go the speed limit. I thought this was unfair. I disliked the things I saw cops do. I have lived all over the world and all over the US. Then I left the military and became a police officer because it made me sick to see people being robbed, wronged, and taken advantage of when they could not defend themselves. I then learned that police officers must OFTEN get places very quickly, but safely, when responding to RAPES, ROBBERIES, BURGLARIES, PEOPLE TRAPPED IN CARS ON FIRE, BLEEDING TO DEATH, DROWNINGS, DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, SHOOTINGS. GET THE POINT. I quickly learned that officers do abide by the law, but must circumvent when public safety is at stake and time is of the essence. Quit worrying about everyone else - fix yourself. You are probably one of the A-holes that won't move over or slow down when you see the blue lights and almost killed me while I was helping someone else. If you are so high and mighty - why don't you shut your mouth and apply? I know, I know, polygraphs and drug testing. Besides - it is nice and cozy under Jerry's desk wearing knee-pads huh? Clean off your face - that's disgusting. now back it on up

WHO FREAKIN CARES!!!!?