Police Ride Along?

[OneGuy67]

Speaking as a LEO, it depended on the person in the car with me. Most come with expectations and some with unrealistic ones. Some are there for the wrong reasons. I always recommend ride alongs, especially if they are coupled with a citizen's academy. I personally enjoyed the education part of the ride along; to educate someone about what I did and why. Some cops feel they need to entertain the ride along person and thus, go do things they normally do not, like constant traffic stops, or go call to call to provide an impression of being continually busy. The truth is, a lot of time we end up taking calls for service and handle cold calls, simple criminal reports that are boring to the onlooker. The officer shouldn't be putting the rider in a position in which they may be endangered, so having them "clear a house" isn't wise or prudent. Having a rider write a ticket is asinine.

[Irving]

The officer shouldn't be putting the rider in a position in which they may be endangered, so having them "clear a house" isn't wise or prudent. Having a rider write a ticket is asinine.

That's what I thought about clearing the house. The ticket wasn't a traffic stop, it was just some car that had been sitting in front of some house for 3 days and needed to be moved. I just wrote the ticket out of the book, no contact with anyone at all.

As far as the house, a lady came home to find her door open and unlocked, she strongly suspected it was just her kids being irresponsible, but wanted to be safe. The officer I was with called for another officer and we waited out front till he arrived. I thought for sure I'd be standing in the driveway with the lady, but they had me come in with them. I was pretty surprised by that. They basically had me stay a few steps behind them as they went through the house and made sure no one was in there. On a side note, that house had been built onto several times over the years and was like a fun house maze. I'd hate to be on a dynamic entry team having to clear that house for real.