Lynn, cops continue residency showdown in Superior Court

Forgive me, but I find this mentality a bit archaic. It offends me that anyone would assume I don't care about a community because I don't live within it. People forget that sometimes we need a mental break. Office folks can leave their work on their desks, but when your "office" is the city/town border, how do you get a break? I used to live where I worked. Maybe it was convenient to stop by the house if I needed something, but when I went to the grocery store and noticed that nearly everyone in line with me had been in the back seat of my cruiser, it was time to go. At my last agency, I was 15 miles from the city line. I gave more than my share to the community in which I worked, not only through my employment, but through volunteering thousands of hours to various organizations. At the same time, it was nice to be able to be somewhat anonymous when I went to the grocery store near my house.

Maybe when the so-called justice system handles criminals more appropriately, and society values those of us who put our lives on the line 24/7, it might be more palatable to live where we work.


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What kills me is that teachers are exempt from residency requirements under the law. I'm not saying that all the fault for crappy schools lies with the teachers, but if a teacher works in a crappy school they can live in a city with a better school system and send their kids there. It's not right that cops should be required to live in the city they work and then have to either subject their kids to a school system where they will likely be in classes with someone their father/mother arrested or spend a small fortune sending the kids to a private school outside of the city. One of the reasons I wanted to go to a private high school was because I knew there was less of a chance of my dad locking up one of my classmates.

Here is what everyone seems to forget; it's just a job. Police, fire, ems are jobs, nothing more, nothing less. They are not my way of life. While I am at work I will give you 100% when the bell rings, but I could careless if a friggin 747 crashes into the center of town when I am on days off.

There are only two career paths that I see as a true lifestyle commitment - clergy and the military. In those two professions you truely give up your lifestyle to the career.

Labor relations as viewed by management:

When the city wants something from you it's a calling and you need to be altruistic.

When you want something from the city it's a job and you need to remember you're an employee.

I don't know about the fire side, maybe because a lot of you work other jobs it's not the same. For most cops it is a lifestyle, on duty, hours at details, cops hang with each other and their families.

I think it effects your lifestyle, but it should not become your lifestyle. The effects are working nights, week-ends, holidays, missing important dates because of conflcting schedules. However there are other jobs that have the same effects on your life style, nursing comes to mind, they work nights, week-ends etc. I notice that a lot of police, fire, ems and nurses tend to socialize togther, a big part of that is schedule induced (i.e I am working this week-end so I went drinking on a Tuesday night with some nurse friends because we have the same days off).

Too many people on the job impose the job on their lifestyle. How many PO's carry a firearm off duty so as not to miss the potential big arrest. Same as FF and EMT's always riding around with jump-kits and scanners in case the big one happens. I carry a concealed firearm, and even when I worked in LE it was simply because I know the world sucks and I wanted to be able to protect my loved ones, same with having emeregncy medical supplies ---- I have a nice jump bag, for my loved ones, not to be a hero stopping at accidents.

I see the military as different because you literally may have to uproot your whole family and move thousands of miles away.

These are very demanding jobs, but you do have the power and ability not to make it all consuming and have it take over your life

Yeah...don't think its so you can make a big off-duty arrest. More as a last resort to protect yourself, your family, or an innocent bystander from the violent human garbage that walks among us.

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All I can tell you is what I remember seeing as a kid and I don't think my dad was ever really off duty. Heck even after he retired, when a neighbor got robbed she called my parents' house first. I've seen it with a friend on the job too when one of his neighbors came to his house because she was having a problem with an ex. It seems that when people know you're a cop they expect you to help. Actually, wasn't it on here that I read something about a guy who was off duty, was in the bank while it was being robbed and the teller looked at him and outed him as a cop wanting him to help? Not sure if that's a true story or anecdotal, but it affirms my belief that cops aren't always able to turn it off even if they want to.

Sorry to burst your American hero bubble, firefighter39, but yes, it is a lifestyle. It is not "just a job", and while I carry off-duty more to protect me & mine more than anything else, the reality is that my chosen profession is by its very nature, a completely different way of life. It is not just the hours or odd days off; we are forced to view the world in a completely different manner. You don't see many firefighters getting attacked off-duty because of their profession.


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Ask any nurse how many times they have been called at home by a nieghbor or friend for a medical emergency, it's not just cops who can't alway turn it off. I agree, like adroitcuffs said above cops get attacked off duty, as well as business executive (most recenlty the threat in Framingham to the Cumerland Farms exec comes to mind), nurses, even firefighters all because of what they may have done or not done at work. I know nurses who have been followed home from the ER by psyco's because of what happened in the ER. College professors get killed, stalked and harasassed for giving bad grades, the list goes on.....

You did not bust my "American hero buble" because I don't have one to bust I have no delusions about what I doand or don't do. I have an honest job, make a decent living. When I am on duty I give the resident a somewhat honest days work for an honest days pay. When they call I am there. The vast majority of PO's and FF's work in small towns, there is always the risk that any of us could make the ultimate sacrifice, we are not all running into burning buildings or shooting it out with the bad guys everyday.

My point is that you have the power to make it your way of life and have it consume you. Law enforcement is not unique to that.

I'm not going to argue with you, I can only comment on things I have seen first hand. But, you're missing the point when it comes to residency requirements. Nurses are not required to live in the towns they work in. I'm sure some do get calls at home, couldn't tell you I don't know any nurses on a personal level like that. I'm going to withhold some of my other comments for the simple reason that I'm not going to waste my time arguing with you.

For the record, I'm not the one bursting your "American hero bubble". If you're going to get pissy with me at least get pissy over something I wrote. Oh and I'm glad you can put in a "somewhat honest days work" for an honest days pay. You sound like my neighbor who works for the FD who spends half his work day at his house. How do I know this? Because the asshole brings home a company car and leaves it parked in front of his house for 3-4 hours at a time. I'm sure he feels he puts in a "somewhat honest days work" too since he has the ability to respond when called.

My point is that unless you are the child of or the spouse of a cop, don't tell me how it affects the way of life of their families who are also forced to live in cities they don't necessarily want to live in because of some bullshit residency requirement.

I think (and I hope) what you are trying to say isn't coming across clearly. To compare the occasional exec being threatened, or the other examples you noted to people on this site who have been confronted in the grocery store on more than one occasion by someone they've dealt with at work is a little insulting. Statistically speaking, those incidents pale in comparison to the number of cops who have been encountered off duty. Not to mention, who did those execs, nurses and college professors call for help when they were threatened? The Police. Do I try to "shut it down?" Abosulety, but sometimes the people outside don't see it that way and see us as cops 24 hours a day.

Are you saying that if you came across an accident while off duty, with people injured and no one on scene you wouldn't stop to render aid? I don't know you so maybe I've out of line but I bet you would stop and I think you'd do it because of who you are and not what you do for a living. So in that respect it is a lifestyle. You might not wear the T-shirts or do the musters but you do have a different lifestyle than the a large percentage of the general public.

Do not confuse "lifestyle" with "consumed". By its very nature, becoming a LEO does change the officer's (and the officer's family's) way of life; that is the reality. And yes, there is a much greater chance of an officer being attacked and/or mistreated off-duty than the management of Cumberland Farms. My point is that I think it's assinine to require an officer live in the city/town of employment. It's rather sad that you apparently lack the integrity to give more than a "somewhat honest day's work". Sorry, it is more than "just a job".


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Or Boston Officer Wayne Anderson who was shot infront of his home after a shootout with a POS in 1994. Wayne was off duty and lived in Boston with his family.

As with many archaic laws in the commonwealth I see residency requirements as being unenforceable and eventually phased out through collective bargaining. If the argument is response time for emergencies, that's more palatable than this "having a vested interest in the community" crap.

Any police dept that agrees to a residency clause these days should consider how many of the rest of their municipality employees have the same requirements. For example many in the Worcester city government know what's best for its residents, but of course couldn't live there themselves.

I never have or will be occupied by making a job a lifestyle. It will burn you out too quick. The residency laws are a danger to police. Everett just implemented one for all new police and fire hires. Here is a example you lock up john dirtbag . Now you have to reside in the city you work in. The danger comes in because john dirtbag will find out where you live or worse his kids and your kids go the same school. I was told in the sspo academy police should never live where they work.

I believe that for at least some of us, this job is a calling and a way of life. It's not always something we can just, "turn off." If you need an example what I mean, just look at this website. How many of us are off-duty and still talking shop?

I believe the vast majority of us would be the first to jump in if we see someone in need of help while we were off-duty, that's what we do. Not every "Joe Citizen" would do that and that's what separates "us from them."

As for residency rules, I don't agree with them either. As Cuffs said, it's an archaic way of thinking. In some of the bigger cities, just imagine growing up and being friends with someone like Whitey Bulger. You become a cop and he goes the other way. He knows where you and your family live. You have to investigate him or his new buddies. How does that go over? Just ask some of the folks at the NYPD. Some of their biggest corruption cases over the years have come from instances like this.

The vast majority of us here in LA live nowhere near the city. Most of us live a minimum of 30 minutes away from our stations. In fact, I know several people who live two hours out, including a couple who live in the Las Vegas area, but we make it work.

I attended our police memorial a couple of days ago to honor the 207 LAPD officers killed in the line of duty. I can assure you not all of them lived in the City but they gave it their all for the the city they didn't live in.

Lynns so shitty even the Cops don't want to live there.

I just can't imagine having to respond to neighbors' or coworkers' houses. I don't buy the whole "you'll care more if it's your city" argument the community policing majors speak of....

I think the concepts of "community policing" and officer discretion need to go hand in hand. If you are going to force an officer to live in a community which will require him/her to have professional interactions with his neighbors, then you shouldn't tie his hands in how he is forced to deal with those interactions. Especially in issues like DV and DUI, which seem to now leave no room for discretion at all, mainly for liability issues. Not every interaction needs to end in arrest / summons, which is a concept that seems to be lost on stat focused administrators. If your kids are going to attend the local school, you shouldn't be forced to charge 50 of their friends with "constructive possession of alcohol" after a party (which I think is asinine in most cases)
Part of the reward of living in and caring for a community is robbed when you are going to be forced to assume the role of draconian authority figure in the eyes of your friends and neighbors.

I have taken action in my neighborhood a few times. Once when a drunk had a broken bottle and my kids had gone for a walk with their uncle and I thought they could be in danger. All incidents were documented and a four hour OT slip was submitted and approved. They want me to take action....they will pay for it.