IamA Police officer in the largest city in America. AMAA!

Son of a police officer and a one time police officer candidate (out in the burbs) here. I have a lot of respect for the police.

My brother used to work in the Manhattan DA's office and his number one complaint was the number of officers who would arrest people for discon, OGA or even loitering (which has been ruled largely unconstitutional), with absolutely zero legal grounds for doing so. When he would tell the arresting officer he had no grounds to arrest he would get puzzled looks back at him.

Do the officers actually realize these are bad arrests but don't give a shit or do they actually think their authority extends much further than it does?

There is a break of information between the DA and the PD. Discon and OGA are legitimate offenses, but the problem is that officers don't handle paperwork very well sometimes. They will write "Deft was acting in a disorderly manner" etc instead of actually quoting what the perp was doing and what area of the penal law he was violating. This causes the DA to turn it back. I understand it, which is why I use direct quoting from the penal law when processing arrests. It helps the DA understand the situation better.

Agreed, however, some (maybe a lot) of officers seem to use discon and OGA as a catch all where no laws were actually broken but the officer was disrespected or the person was not complying where his compliance was not mandated by law.

Has happened, and I can't disagree with you on that. I would be an idiot to say there was never a shoddy arrest, but from experience the majority of the discon collars in question are made under the right pretenses - just not written up correctly.

Hey 10-13, there was a case a little while ago where the NYPD fired on a mentally derange man in Times Square and missed all the shots, hitting 2 innocent bystanders. Is there a policy such as "be double damn sure you don't shoot civilians walking in Times Square", would those officers get in trouble for missing the shots. Or is it just considered a mistake?

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57602998/

It is extremely hard to hit a moving target, under pressure, with half a second reaction time in a busy street.

If I remember correctly in that story, the guy was taunting at the officers and going for his waist saying "I've got something for you! Here it comes!" or something along those lines. It wasn't a bad shoot, just bad accuracy.

Shooting at the range can't train you to shoot in the street. When your adrenaline is pumping on overdrive keeping a weapon steady is near-impossible.

The policy if people are around is to only fire if there is an immediate threat to life, and limit your fire to limit ricochet and loose rounds. There isn't a place in the city where a bullet can't find its way into something other than the target... 8.5 million residents provide that.

First of all, even though you aren't in my city, I want to thank you for your service to the public. Second, if you could choose to be a police officer in any other city, where would it be?

Hmmm... I'd say if I had to choose I would work somewhere in the midwest away from tall buildings. I like the countryside.

Good day to you, sir. What's your opinion / the general opinion in your police force of NY's Governor Cuomo? I find him to be an arrogant douchebag who reminds me of Willem Dafoe as the Green Goblin in the 2002 Spiderman movie. =]

Cuomo has his good and bad, but overall he's doing the best he can with what he is given.

First thanks for doing this!

1. What are your thought's on DeBlasio in general, and on policing in particular?

2. What do you think of laws like the city parks closing? I've always wondered if that's still seen as an effective measure.

3. I have a card verifying my relation to a police chief from NJ, would that actually do anything in the event I'm pulled over for something?

4. What's your opinion of Kelly?

Again, thanks for doing this AMA and for taking on such a tough job.

What are your thought's on DeBlasio in general, and on policing in particular?

I don't think he has a grasp on the reality of crime in this city.

What do you think of laws like the city parks closing? I've always wondered if that's still seen as an effective measure.

It is pretty effective. Before that kind of stuff was enforced as much as it is now, those parks were just slums of people shooting up and robbing people.

I have a card verifying my relation to a police chief from NJ, would that actually do anything in the event I'm pulled over for something?

Eh, it might, but not if you're a dick. Being polite and nice is 99% of the battle.

What's your opinion of Kelly?

The guy is a good man. He takes all of the criticism in stride. He's the kind of person that does what is needed rather than lie to everyone and do the opposite.

I'm curious how often you train with your firearms. I hear (what is to me) horror stories of some smaller town PD Officers training with their firearms maybe once or twice a year in a Saturday training session. It just scares the living crap out of me that I've potentially trained significantly more than the people meant to protect me, and that's just as a casual once a month shooter.

Also, I'd like to hear your experienced opinion when you think it's appropriate for me to tell you I have a firearm in my dash? I hear some people say I should always tell a cop, and I hear others say I should only say if the cop is going to be searching me and it's not a big deal if it's just a traffic stop, and I'd like to hear the opinion of an actual officer. Only been pulled over twice in my life and that was before I started carrying.

I am required to qualify every 6 months. I personally shoot once a month. The range is always open for us to use - they even provide ammo. It's a win-win.

Also, I'd like to hear your experienced opinion when you think it's appropriate for me to tell you I have a firearm in my dash?

Immediately when I walk up to your car. Interrupt if you have to. Just let the cop know that it's there and it is legal. He will probably ask you out of the car, but that's okay. It's all for the safety of you and him. He doesn't want you to be in reach of the weapon, and you don't want him to mistake you going for your glove box as an act of lethal aggression.

Completely serious question here. A few years ago, my sister was robbed outside of my house in the middle of the day. They guy had a knife to her. I had just had ankle surgery, so I ran outside as fast as possible. the guy took off, I hopped in my sisters car and drove after him with the intent to hit him with the vehicle. He got to the woods behind our neighborhood before I could. If I would have hit him, would I have been arrested for it?

Was he posing a threat to you at the time that you hit him with the vehicle? No, he was fleeing. You would have gotten into trouble for it.

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Heh, no sorry.