"Busy night?"
I've gotten asked this quite a bit the last few shifts by my citizens.
No, actually-- it's not. And I feel kind of ambivalent about that.
See, if I'm not busy with calls for service, then apparently, people aren't perceiving crimes to call in. When I don't have calls for service, I drive around looking for crime. And frankly, I've not been seeing much in my nice little town, the past couple of weeks.*
So basically, I'm bored, but that's a good thing. Because being bored means that everything's all right.
My last audiobook just ended, and night time radio sucks rocks right off the ground.
I feel kind of like a goalie on a really good team, who feels kind of bad about wishing that the other team could take a shot on his goal once in awhile.
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*Note, too, that in numbers-driven evaluation, my P.D. can thus actually be seen as failing, when reviewed by our city council. See, the numbers of calls for service, tickets, and case reports are down, so we must be doing less work, right?
Or, we're actually doing our job on patrol, and the calls for service have dropped because we've actually prevented some crime.
Labels: day at the office, police
posted by Matt G @ 6:32 PM
6 Comments:
I really prefer my local pd to be bored. Although, ours gets into picking petty stuff(is the fact that my trash can is on the curb after trash day really that important?), but that's a separate point. Hell, I'd donate audio books to keep ya'all entertained between calls. I enjoy seeing you, but I'd prefer seeing you in a social capacity than a professional one.
Calls are down? Great job local PD! You have established a great balance of police presence to prevent crime. Everyone wins!
I'd guess that the local mutts have spread the word that crime doesn't pay in your town. Which is the kind of reputation you want for a PD. It's what everyone always says they want, crime prevention, not crime solving.
Of course being politicians, when they actually get it, they suddenly decide that the PD is over staffed and over paid. Which begins the cycle again.
If you're busy, there's too much crime; if you're not busy, you aren't working. You can't win that game.
My Boss:"You're not going into the field enough fixing broken stuff." Me:"That's because I have everythihng working perfectly and it costs you money when I deploy." Boss:"Good point. Carry on." Then he died. New Boss:"You're not in the field enough" etc. Sigh.
I'm a network & systems administrator / high level tech geek. I tell people that when they walk in my office and I'm playing solitare or web surfing, that means that I'm doing my job right because my job is to make sure the computers are maintained and problems are avoided. You WANT me sitting on my hands for at least 25 to 30 hours of my week. You DO NOT want me being busy as the proverbial one-legged man all the time. That is a sure sign that something's wrong, or someone doesn't understand my job.
"...my P.D. can thus actually be seen as failing, when reviewed by our city council. See, the numbers of calls for service, tickets, and case reports are down, so we must be doing less work, right?"
That's the politicians' game, and I hate it. They'd use the same argument against the FD if they could get away with it, instead of making them look like idjits.
Bored is GOOD in your line of work, and 'hopefully' your Town Council appreciates that!
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