Looking For a Police Job? Decent Pay, Danger, Lots of Hate and Bad Bosses
/(Tips to help you enter one of the most toxic professions successfully)
By: Kirk Lawless
I could have “chased the money,” but I answered a higher calling, and that was to be a cop. Mission accomplished, and with a career cut short, I decided to use the talents God gave me to help other cops. I keep my finger on the pulse of all things law enforcement related; I speak with recruits at the local police academies, I field phone calls from brothers and sisters in distress (no matter the hour, nor however long it takes). I listen. I don’t repeat what is told in confidence. I still give advice when cops who know me (or not) reach out with a problem they think I can help straighten out.
I’m not afraid of anything, especially bad bosses.
If you’re a recruit looking for a job, or a newer officer looking to move to another agency, I’ll share some important information with you and I hope it helps you navigate the treacherous waters on which I have already sailed. I know thousands of cops. I’ve been around lots of police agencies (some good, some in dire need of house cleaning).
There’s lots of hate in this job and I’ve been working on my own side of hating things and letting it go, but it’s a process. I have already forgiven the ones who have attacked my family and I and I’ll say it openly. The apologies will never come. I know that but that doesn’t mean I’ll be quiet when the backstabbing and attacks come.
Remember, people hate you for three reasons. They see you as a threat. They hate themselves. Or they want to be you (put that in your back pocket, as it might help you sort some thing out in your career later).
As we say on the job, “fair” is something to take your kids to. You’re going to see shit that will leave you shaking your head.
When you find yourself looking for that police job, you need to do your research of the particular department. Don’t believe everything you hear and only half of what you see. The rumor mills are in full swing at most departments, and the coconut telegraph spreads news like wildfire. I’ll cite some examples of “Red Flags” about departments and bad bosses and you can compare them to your job search. There are lots of good bosses out there (we’re not talking about them), but sadly there are a ton of “shit” bosses. I’ve worked for both kinds and my former department was certainly not suffering a shortage of bossed culled from the turd cart.
If, by chance, the department you are interested in (or they are interested in you) has a seemingly endless record of bad press, whether locally, nationally or internationally, look into them. My former agency has many fine officers, but at the top (the brass) when piled together, probably don’t amount to one good street copper. Remember, most of these guys are politicians and the only thing worse than a bad boss, is a bad boss turned full-blown politician. Example: police chief turned mayor. Find out how they got from point A to point B and follow your gut.
My former department made international news when an HIV positive teacher took a little boy out of a classroom took him into his own office and sexually assaulted him. The boy told his parents, who took him to the hospital, a rape kit was performed and they were successful in their endeavor to obtain the suspect’s DNA.
The police department was notified, a report was taken and that was that. The parents kept after the department and it took three years to investigate the crime. In the interim, the known suspect was not arrested, his DNA was not seized, nothing. Three years! Eventually somebody (after being pestered by the parents) arrested the suspect (his DNA was a match…surprise!). The suspect was offered a “contract” to his cellmate to “erase” the little boy and his parents. No suspect, no crime. A savvy reporter went after the chief of police Tim Lowery, and interviewed him about the crime and the three-year wait for action. The interview is out there. He laughed at the reporter, while saying his office didn’t drop the ball, but someone in the department did. There was not much said after that interview, (coincidentally chief Lowery was running for the mayor’s seat) and it seemed that maybe the reporter was called off the trail to not have bad press for him before the election. He is now the sitting mayor. The story made it into the London Times in the UK. That’s a huge Red Flag!
As mayor he promoted the assistant chief, Tim Fagan, to police chief. The reporter came after the new chief when another sexual and physical abuse of several children that went untouched for several years was uncovered. They didn’t care for that. This is usually when the brass looks for somebody to “throw under the bus,” and ends in a termination, and both cases presumably morphed into lawsuits. The Mayor turned chief and the new chief were the guys who should have been under the bus, so nothing happened. This is where the lack of integrity comes into play. In my opinion (and of many others) both should have just quietly gone away. But, they weren’t going anywhere. They were suckling at the teat of old mother Florissant and they wanted to keep making it until she runs dry. Red Flag!
In Florissant you’d think lots of folks had daddies that were hammerhead sharks, their eyes should be just a bit too far apart, the gene pool at the police department was so incestuous. Favors owed, favors paid, “wonder ponies” were promoted at a hypersonic speed, often without the proper educational credentials to match each promotion and pay grade. My college transcripts were handed over to the office of policing standards after obtaining each degree, but when “guys like me” asked to see the same credentials of the recent promotion recipient, it became a “private personnel issue” and therefore they were never produced. In other states cops and politicians get arrested for this behavior. It’s commonly referred to as “theft of honest services,” RICO violations, wire fraud such. The feds have the info but for now…crickets. Red Flag!
If the department you’re scoping out, buys into an accreditation organization but does not adhere to its own policies that is a huge Red Flag!
If they change the rules and regulations willy-nilly to conveniently suit them and their cronies (and I mean changed from original format to something completely new and then back again within a week, to ensure the “right” person gets promoted. Red Flag!
In my opinion, the standing chief and newly elected mayor threw a young cop under the bus when a doorbell camera captured images of an unmarked car hit a suspect running on foot (I’ve seen way worse). I’m not sure if the “boo boo” bus took the guy to the hospital. The chief said that the video was “disturbing” (apparently not as disturbing as not investigating the previously mentioned child sex abuse cases for three years). The terrorist group BLM protested and the cop was suspended, terminated and charged quick, fast and in a hurry. Red Flag!
I was at some of the protests and while cops from other agencies were taking bricks, frozen water bottles to their heads and cups of piss to their faces, I have video of a high ranking official sneak out the front door of the PD and literally hide in the bushes while watching the shit show, instead of wading into the fray like a real boss! You don’t want to work somewhere that the boss is that fearful! Red Flag!
Most agencies have a memorial wall commemorating the loss of cops killed in the line of duty. My former agency has three: one died in 1963 (way before my time, so I don’t know much about it), in 1979 a sergeant was gunned down after curbing a bank robber, getting shot 8 times (he died of cancer caused by his injuries in 2000, with three bullets still inside him, one in his head). What did the department do for him? According to the older cops and family members, not much. And yet another, died in 2009 during surgery after suffering a crippling OTJ injury in 2003. They terminated him in 2004. What did the department do for him for the five years while he suffered? Not a damn thing! Red Flag!
But they, have the “memorial” roped off in the lobby of the PD I see as a “look at us. We’ve lost three cops in the line of duty holding the line.” It’s shameful and it’s a disgrace. Now they’ve taken to placing commemorative plaques invoking the names of the dead cops that I don’t believe they give two shits about (but hey, it’s a nice photo op). The lobby is reminiscent of a New Guinea headhunter’s trophy wall full of shrunken heads. Perhaps it affords the family some pride and comfort, that’s a good thing, but the only folks who really cared about the dead cops are their brothers and sisters, not the bosses, and certainly not the politicians. Red Flag!
Remember, it’s cheaper to bury us and have a fancy funeral, rather than fix us or help us, especially financially (not everybody gets their turn at the teat). Red Flag!
In October of 2017 a feeble and failed attempt was made to deny me my “retired in good-standing” credentials. Under H.R. 218 “The Law Enforcement Officer’s Safety Act (I’ve earned that with 28 years of time, sweat, physical injury, and blood) and they can’t take it from me. They slandered me after probably consulting with the city attorney and hearing that trying to pull my credential was a bad idea after providing them to me since 2012, by telling certain officers that I should be watched during qualification because I posed a danger; to who, other cops? That’s absurd. Who was responsible? I’m betting it was someone either named Tim or Tim Mayor and Chief. They probably don’t know that I know this, but they do now (names, dates, times). Red Flag!
Here’s an example of delusional, shameful, and disgusting behavior. On August 25, Mayor Tim Lowery was at a local business speaking with an 85-year-old United States Army combat veteran. His name is not important, but I know him. The two were engaged in small talk and a witness, my son (knowing the Mayor by sight, but the mayor not knowing him) heard the old “Combat” Veteran ask the mayor if he, himself had served. The mayor’s reply was, “I did. I served Fives years in Afghanistan.” My son called him out as a liar and as committing “Stolen Valor” by telling such an outlandish and shameful lie to the veteran and purple-heart recipient. The thing is, you never know whom I know or where I am. Sometimes I’m everywhere (but not Afghanistan) Mayor Lowery needs to make an open apology starting with every city employee who served in the armed forces. I’m sure they’ll be happy to hear of his false exploits. He can do the same with every veteran organization he can find. He has access to a cable channel. That would be a good thing to do, face it like a man instead of hiding like a coward. This wasn’t an “Uh, I misspoke” moment or “He misunderstood me.” It was lie, a horrid lie. I think it’s just another reason he should just quit and go away. I got confirmation from my friend, the Combat Veteran, who is missing a prominent digit on one hand, courtesy of a Viet Cong bullet. Mayor Tim Lowery said exactly what he said. My friend said that he occasionally runs across a “forked tongue” and doesn’t understand why they tell vicious lies.
If you’re a veteran and this disgusts you, drop the mayor a note: Mayor Tim Lowery 955 Rue St. Francois, Florissant Mo 63031, or call him at 314-921-5700 and tell him what you think about any of these Red Flags!
Chief Tim Fagan can be reached at Florissant PD 1700 N Highway 67, Florissant, Mo 63031, or call him at 314-831-7000 and tell him what you think about the child sex abuse. Red Flags!
If, during your search for a PD to begin a career, you see any of these Red Flags, run, don’t walk and find another place.
My friend still misses his finger he left in the Vietnam jungle, but passed on a chance to go back to look for it!
Feel free to contact me. kirklawless@yahoo.com
Kirk Lawless is a 28 year, decorated, veteran police officer from the St Louis area. He’s a former SWAT operator, narcotics agent, homicide investigator, detective and Medal of Valor recipient. Off the job due to an up close and personal gunfight, he now concentrates on writing. He’s a patriotic warrior, artist, poet, actor, musician, and man of peace.
