'62 Po-po?

[skyhigh315]

Hi

I briefly served as a peace officer in an earlier time in my life. "Po-Po" is a lot less offensive term to me than "ghetto talk." I have a hard time understanding why LE officers being held to the highest standards of conduct is somehow 'coming down on them' or 'anti-cop.' As the other former LE officers here would surely agree, nobody hates a bad cop worse than a good one.

I never miss an opportunity to thank public servants--especially war vets. If I see an old-timer wearing his Vietnam Veteran or Korea Vet hat in a restaurant or bar, I usually walk up and introduce myself and chat him up a little. No way he gets out of there paying for his own food, either. I'll quietly approach the server and ask for their check. Heck, I even got to meet a lady war vet--a nurse who was at Pearl Harbor when it was attacked. She was in uniform, too! When I tried to pay her check, the server told me I was the third one to try, lol.

As for LE, I understand the job and I'm grateful for those who bring it honor. I do, however, keep in mind that it's a paid, voluntary job (unlike getting drafted to go to Korea or VN). It takes a special kind of person to do that job well though, so yeah, I tip my hat to you guys who've also worn the badge and walked the line. Thanks for your service.

 

[BillinOregon]

We need more like you, Skyhigh.

 

[30coupe]

I followed my father into police work in 1975. I spent 14 years in uniform until my third knee surgery and the advice of my surgeon forced me out. I thought I would retire as a police officer, but instead, spent 29 years as a high school/middle school teacher. I never heard the term Po-Po until I was watching an episode of "Murder Chose Me" on TV. Rod Demery didn't seem offended by it, so I didn't see it an insult.

What Skyhigh said about good police officers detesting bad ones is absolutely true. On the other hand, I'm afraid our police officers have all been labeled as bad, particularly by some politicians who should be supporting them. There are bad police officers, but the percentage is a lot lower than the general population. I've known literally hundreds of police officers, but I can think of only a handful that I thought unworthy of the badge.

As the the revolver, while I haven't owned one, I shot one owned by a friend. He much preferred the open top Colt-type revolvers over the Remingtons (he had some of each) because he said the Remington style were much more prone to cap jamming. He taught me to kind of snap the Colt to the right while cocking and the spent cap flipped onto the ground. It never jammed for me, nor did I ever see him experience a jam. I did manage to jam the Remington a time or two, but I wouldn't say it was often. We did, however, tend to shoot the Colts more. I have to admit, I don't remember the model the .36 was, but the .44 was a Dragoon, I believe. They were repo's so I don't know if that makes a difference or not.

 

[Jäger]

Starting in 1974, I did 11 years in policing, back when it was a S&W Model 10 in .38 Special. Then a friend who went high speed full drag convinced me that jumping out of airplanes at night in the military, with far more and bigger guns than I would ever see in police work was the place for single adrenaline junkies. 28 years of that, and here I sit now retired; still don't know which one I liked better. Miss them both.

"Po-Po" didn't exist back in the '70's, but lots of other stuff did. I appreciate the civility of this site, where the OP edited his post despite not having to, in order to maintain that welcoming civility.

To throw my stick on the pile, I probably wouldn't notice today. What did (and would) get NOTICED would be the tone in which something was said, or posted. I think "po-po" is kinda like many things that have become mainstream despite originating in the ghetto/gang culture. Wearing ball caps backwards, some of the language, etc. Why mainstream people who actually have a life, along with an expected longer life span, would choose to adopt portions of gang culture into their identity is a question in itself. You find something cool about it that makes you want to emulate losers?

I didn't even mind the "pig" and other vile stuff. If these people (who we referred to in turn as "scrotes") wanted to draw our attention to them, I was young and happy to oblige them. I learned early that I can write tickets and charges just as fast as they can run their mouths. Those who signalled they wanted my attention usually got it; if not then, sometime in the near future. For street police, it is always useful to have the culls help you out by self identifying with how they act towards police. If you don't have thick skin, police work is not a good career choice.

I'm always a little uncomfortable with the "thank you for your service"; in the back of my mind I'm always thinking "No, thank you for being one of the taxpayers, who made it possible for me to have such exciting and fun jobs". I could have spent my working life in the mines, the sawmills, pulp mills, etc like my brothers and cousins did - I think I did the best of all of us. So thanks to everybody out there who make it possible to choose a career in either police work or the military.

 

[skyhigh315]

Hi,

I don't know if you guys noticed, but that nice old nurse there in her uniform is wearing the rank of Brigadeer General on her shoulder-board. Not too shabby. It was a nice ride home, explaining the whole thing to my young son. He was 6 at the time, and didn't know why the lady was dressed that way, or why I kept calling her "General." Now he's getting 5" groups at 25 yards with a Pietta 1861 Army .44 in 5.5" at 13 years old.

 

[Smokey Plainsman]

Guys I apologize for using that word.

Clearly I struck a chord when I used the term unwittingly, and I apologizing for using that language. I am asking a moderator to close this thread. Thank you and again, I am very sorry for my poor choice of words.

 

[Zonie]

I'll close the thread but only because you asked for it.

Personally, I think the 1862 Colt Police pistol is the most beautiful of all of Colts revolvers.
Small, sleek and still powerful enough to do the job if needed it is a work of art.