[quote]AZMojo wrote:
snipeout wrote:
I have been a police officer before a corrections officer. As a corrections officer I see every single person that is arrested and doesn’t bail out from the municipality. In a county with over 1million people in it that tends to be alot of people yearly. Although the street cop is the one who arrests them they see me 8-16 hours a day, they learn my first and last name and if they feel wronged you better believe there best bet for retaliation is on the street where they have a leg up. I have never had a negative run in on the street, but you better believe I hear “Yo C.O.” way to often on the street. We have 140 officers in my jail, 130 of them carry off duty, any CO with a shred of common sense carries off duty.
-How many run-ins have your co-workers had? Not being in law enforcement myself, I’m unfamiliar with the actual off the job risks. What kind of arrest powers do you have, if any, while off duty?
It seems to me that carrying while off-duty wouldn’t provide that much more security against a street criminal that recognizes and has it out for you. I mean it’s not like he’s gonna challenge you to a duel or anything. Most likely he’d have the drop on you, and you reaching for your weapon at that point would increase the chance of you or your family members getting shot. I don’t image you’re planning on strolling the mall with your thumb on the latch, are you?
I know it’s better to have one and not need it rather than need one and not have it. I’m just asking what the actual threat is, based on your and your co-worker’s experience.
What is your officer to inmate ratio, like 1 to 4? I wish the school system could afford that.
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Lets start off with inmate to officer ratio in my jail, for my shift we staff 22 people and we have 530+ inmates. Now of those 22 people 8 are in areas that they can not leave because they would breach our security and allow people to walk right out. We have 14 people working as some sort of rover(i.e. available to respond to an incident). If I work our east wing or west wing as the floor officer we have 5 dorms adding up to roughly 130 inmates. On a bad day my ratio is 140 to 1 and on a good day I am 50 to 1.
As for arrest powers, we are police officers. Off duty we are REQUIRED to act if a crime is being committed, failing to do so is official misconduct(a second degree crime) punishable by 5 to 10 years in prison. As for altercations on the street, it is a rarity but if I am carrying I feel way more secure if something were to happen.
As for the inmate who has made bail on the street having the drop on me, you are right. Why should I be unarmed and have no way to protect myself, unlike people in normal jobs my awareness of my surroundings both in and out of the jail is probably 1000 times greater. For example, in a restaraunt I do not sit with my back to the door. Being a corrections officer( even more so than a street cop) makes you way more aware that there are more scumbags out there than most people think.
As for carrying off duty not providing much more protection I am definitely going to have to disagree, in my circumstance being a CO and having 6 years military experience in a specialized unit gives me way more training and the ability to keep my cool when the shots re going off around me, when that con misses with his first shot or so he’s gonna end up with 2 .40 cal hollow points buried in his chest.
