Animosity Between Staties and Locals

[Welpe]

At the risk of starting a fecal storm, I want to ask a serious question. What seems to cause the animosity between state LEO's (such as the CHP) and local LEO's (county, city)?

Is it jurisdictional issues, feelings of superority or maybe something else I'm missing?

It seems at least here in CA that the CHP and local agencies have different jobs to perform for the most part so I'm curious as to how all these issues seem to come up.

[Operator13]

I dispatch State Police units, am I allowed to post here? Looking at the TOS I think I can, if not I apologize & delete.

With my position I have to co-ordinate with local agencies on a regular basis.

In my experience we've never had a problems with any of the locals, mind you we cover 520+ miles of highway spread accross the entire state.

They call us when they need back-up or have a major incident ner-by and I'll call them when my units have extended response times due to travelling time.

Our patrols also have "National" in the cars and can communicate directly with some local PDs.

[jmur5074]

I've never seen any "animosity" between different LE agencies.

Not around me anyway. Everyone works together very well

[cntryboy0531]

Ok... This is just MY experiance in MY area..

I don't know how thing's work in other states, but in the state of florida, the Sheriff is designated as the chief LEO of the county (including cities). The Sheriff and their deputies have the authority to work anywhere in the county, including the city. By statute, The sheriff, and any of his deputies have the authority to unseat any police chief in the county. We are placed with quite a bit of authority. Do we ever use this? Not to my knowledge.

The downside to this authority, is the fact that as the Chief LEO of the county, a city has every right to pretty much pawn off whatever they want, to the county Sheriff to work (they can pick and choose what they want to do). The city's I've worked with in my district, are pretty bad about doing this. They actually have a "list" of things they refuse to do and call us out to do for them even though they have more staff on shift than we do. I've answered calls well within the city limits because the city didn't want to work it.

Is there "animosity" between us and the city, you bet.

With the highway patrol?? Eh, comes and goes. Their job and our job pretty much doesn't interact much because of the different roles. They work car accidents and run traffic enforcement. Pretty much the only time they bother us is when they take a car accident and try and pawn it off on us, like a few nights ago.

[Terminator]

I dispatch State Police units, am I allowed to post here? Looking at the TOS I think I can, if not I apologize & delete.

Yes, we'll allow it. As a dispatcher, you have something to add to this, based on your job experience.

[Retdetsgt]

There's no problem that I know of in Oregon. In 28 years, I can't recall any spat between us and the state police. We're the largest LE agency in the state and the only things that have gone back and forth have been who will investigate wrecks on the freeways in the cities. It kinda comes and goes depending on OSP's manpower, but there has never been any animosity regarding it.

In the rural areas, OSP and locals work pretty closely together. OSP is generally available to pursue criminal invesigations the little agencies aren't equipped to do.

[chris2001]

None here either. The Troopers and local LE around here actually team up to do traffic enforcement and to handle some cases. Its not abnormal to go on a call and have a trooper around here show up to help you out. I have had a couple of them back me up on DV calls and things of that nature.

[Dudleydoright]

In Missouri the Highway Patrol is just that with some exceptions. We work with them well. In rural areas the patrol does more than traffic and accident investigation at the request of the local sheriff.

[Jks9199]

At the risk of starting a fecal storm, I want to ask a serious question. What seems to cause the animosity between state LEO's (such as the CHP) and local LEO's (county, city)?

Is it jurisdictional issues, feelings of superority or maybe something else I'm missing?

It seems at least here in CA that the CHP and local agencies have different jobs to perform for the most part so I'm curious as to how all these issues seem to come up.

Generally -- (and I'd say this applies to problems between fire services and police, too),

I think it's often caused either by assholes on one side or the other who just can't along. Whether it's a trooper writing a cop, or a cop writing a trooper's wife/kid/neighbor... it's someone who couldn't play nice with others. Ironically, the folks that cause problems often aren't particularly liked by their own agencies...

Then you throw in a few guys who either accept the hype their fed at the academy that "the products of this academy (trooper or local or federal) are the finest in the world and none are their equal" or for whatever reason have a "we're better than you" snear... And people don't like them!

Sometimes, it's jealousy, too. Say the Acme PD has the best and newest toys or better pay; somebody else is going to wish they had 'em too, and may compensate by looking down on them.

[kdm0409]

I know at my dept (S.O.) we get along with the state guys, they work crashes and other traffic related incidents, but they have been known to show up to help out on other calls as well...The city PD can be a pain in the ass... Day shift will help us out and back us up almost anytime, but the night shift will not.. If the city has a warrant on someone and they pick them up, they call us to transport (they are right beside us and could walk them across the street, but are too lazy to!) The admin is who seem to have the most problems, but for the most part some officers on each shift get along well with the others at the other agencies..

[Billiardnut]

Where I work in Missouri - I am very fortunate to get to work with municipalities and state officers. In fact as a county officer we often utilize officers from the other agencies as backup (and vica-verca)

[Sleuth]

You should have seen some of the responses I got as a Fed ! I learned to push the fact that I was NOT the FBI, who have really abused the State & Local guys. That's OK, they tried to run over me, too, and I pointed out that I was also a Special Agent, and they could just 'sit in the back of the bus'.

It's all up to individuals, as each agency has some "Adam Henry's", who get in the way of getting the job done.

[Ghostrider]

The only animosity I've ever seen has been started by one cop citing another cop. The cop who got cited goes back to his guys and, being pissed, badmouths not just the guy who gave him the cite but the dept. that cop works for. That's the short answer. Read my rant if you so desire:

On our dept. we have criminal cars and traffic cars. The criminal cars handle the usual calls for service (family fights, robberies, burgs, crime reports etc.) and the traffic cars (or "Traffic Nazis" as I affectionately refer to them) PRIMARILY handle crashes and traffic enforcement.

Now, I think every dept. has at least one guy who will cite his own mother and therefore does not extend professional courtesy to any cop he happens to stop. This can result in the cop who gets cited going back to his dept and saying, "Hey fellas, this cop from ____ dept. cited me. Time for some payback. Cite anyone from that dept you stop." And the games begin.

I'll use the CHP because they're a good example and were mentioned in the original post, but this could be any traffic cop:

I personally have never had a problem with any CHP officer that has stopped me in the few times I've been stopped in my approx. 20 yrs as a cop (we work closely with the CHP in our area and have alway enjoyed a great, mutually supportive relationship with them). That being said, I've heard from other CHP officers (CHPS) that some CHPS have cited/arrested other CHPS! Can you imagine? Anyway, one must remember that the CHP is primarily a traffic enforcement agency. In fact, their badges say "State Traffic Officer."

Some seem to take it personally when another cop violates a traffic law. As traffic cops, I'm sure they stop many other cops and I'm sure some of them, after awhile, get fed up with cops speeding (etc.). Kind of like when the sgt. sees the same mistake over and over again. It may be the first time you made the mistake but it's the 10th time he's seen it, so you get both barrels when he goes off. And so it goes with the guy who keeps stopping cops. Maybe after awhile (if he hasn't always been that way) he just decides everyone is getting a cite, regardless of who they are.

Regardless of who cites who, the guys on the dept. of the guy who gets cited will probably feel bitter toward those from the dept. of the guy giving the cite. I think we can see how this particular cause of animosity gets started. But, like I said, it's the only cause of animosity between depts. in this area I've seen.

[keith720]

All of our agencies get along very well. I've never seen either the state or the county hesitate to back up each other and that courtesy is extended to the local city P.D.s as well

[Pedro56]

We get along with the "State Boys" pretty well, it's a lot of the Crook County Sheriffs we dislike, and a suburb or 2 as well.

[Tripleseven]

In Vermont, there are so few of us we rely on municipal cops to back us up sometimes. At my barracks, we cover 21 towns as the primary police and we also have 110 miles of interstate. There is one full time local police department in our area and one part time department. I rarely see the Sheriff department since I work nights but they are usually contracted by specific towns for traffic enforcment. VT is a tight knit LEO community, but the only thing I have a problem with is that part time cops in this state go through a 1 week, thats right, a 1 week academy, and then are on the street for FTO, and they do the same job as full time cops. I'm sorry, but you can't learn anything in one week and it shows. Other than that, there's no "animosity" with me. I was actually in the LAPD hiring process just before I took the job in VT.

[AngryBassets]

Years ago, and I mean in the 70's/80's, there was alot of animosity between local cops and the NJSP.

We were fat, unprofessional, poorly trained slobs. They were elitist dckheads.

Now, there seems to be a good working relationship. In my busy suburban town, the State Police handle everything on the limited access highways (we have three). We occasionally call them for assistance with huge disturbances or if we follow something onto the highway (stolen car/pursuit/etc), and they do the same if they follow something onto the local roads or they are tied up.

They are polite and very professional. Perhaps at other levels (investigative, etc) there may be some tension, but not with the road guys.

[Cujo]

I've been a cop ten years and have never had any interagency trouble. There are always certain individuals that you might have a problem with, but not agencies themselves. I have heard, (just heard mind you, not experianced), that the Sheriff's and State troopers don't get along well, but that has not been my own experiance.
Pax
Cujo

[badboys1517]

In Ma, there really isn't that much animosity between State & Local police, at least in the area that I work. There seems to be more animosity between State, Locals, & Sheriffs. In MA, the sheriff's dept are not really Law Enforcement. They run the county jails, and have K9 teams, and BCI(Bureau of Criminal Investigation), but have no authority to make motor vehicle stops or work the road as a police officer. In fact they are not even issued citation books and are on the Do Not Issue list by the RMV. Some of the deputy sheriffs seem to forget this, and make motor vehicle stops. Well, if they make an illegal motor stop and find something, guess what? They have to call the police and we get stuck handling their shit. Naturally, this causes some animosity towards them. They should stick to doing what they do best, care custody & control of inmates, and leave the policing to the real police.

[Welpe]

I missed the thread rejuvenation. Thanks for the input everyone!