What are the odds of an LEO turning crazy or "out there" because of working in law enforcement?

**Terminator** · 07-30-07, 01:37 AM

What are the odds of an LEO turning crazy or "out there" because of working in law enforcement?

For the LEO's, tell us if you're crazy, or "out there," and tell us some of the weird things you do. Yo copper, how did ya get so crazy?

I know police work has turned me into a near certifiable, committable nutcase.

**CTR man** · 07-30-07, 02:09 AM

Thats understandable since you guys deal with nutcases on a daily basis.

**mack** · 07-30-07, 03:04 AM

I know i am sane because the voices tell me I am. We do not tell you that! Yes you do. No we don't, You do, We don't. Yes You do you told me just before I wrote this. No, we did not, we definately did not tell you you were sane.

**countybear** · 07-30-07, 04:02 AM

I think that psychological survival dictates a certain eccentricity. Seemingly cavalier attitudes about what some consider topics too morbid or serious are ways for us to deal with realities that otherwise would create emotional overload. Call it "crazy" or "out there", I call it sanity, or at least a means by which to guard against losing one's sanity.

**Jenna** · 07-30-07, 04:08 AM

Originally Posted by Terminator

I know police work has turned me into a near certifiable, committable nutcase.

Really? Who would ever think that?

Maybe it's the LEOs who are sane because they recognize the craziness of the world, while the rest of us are crazy for assuming the world is sane.

**Hawk1** · 07-30-07, 07:10 AM

In my time, I've personally known three officers who have been comitted...it does happen.

**conalabu** · 07-30-07, 07:29 AM

I remember an incident that happened quite a few years ago, prior to me becoming an LEO that has always stuck out to me.

I was interning at a PD and as LEO do, we were hanging out at a deli and meeting up with the county SD and waiting for the staties to arrive. The state ran two man cars on the over night and I had met one, but not the other. The one I hadn't met walked into the deli, ignored all of us and beelined for behind the counter. As soon as he got back there, he reached into the pizza warmer, got a slice grabbed a drink and threw some cash into the cash drawer when the clerk was ringing another customer up and then walked over to us. My first thought was this guy is crazy as hell and way to free about his ways. As we were all chit chatting, another deputy pulled up outside and came in to tell us he had just got his new car. We all piled out to check it out and then all stood around talking about the CV versus the Caprice. We were standing about 50 feet from the new car and the crazy trooper walks away from the group and towards the new Sheriff car. He walked over to the driver door and started messing with the door, still munching on the pizza slice. The deputy laughed at him and told us, "door is locked. He can mess with the outside all he wants." Virtually right after saying this, the trooper opened the door and slid behind the wheel. And then drove off. The deputy let out a scream of anguish that was akin to a mother losing her first born. The statie opened that CV up. After a few minutes of amusment racing back and forth in front of the deli, he pulled back into to the lot of the deli and parked right in front of the deputy with a sliding jolt. As he got out, the deputy started yelling and generally throwing a hissy fit that the statie broke his new car. The statie stated the car worked pretty good and started heading towards his own car. The deputy wailed that the drivers headlight was out and screamed his sergeant was going to kill him for breaking the new car. The statie walked over to the CV, kicked the thing in the bumper hard enough to rock the car and the light came back on. Statie shrugged and said "fixed", went back to his car, got in the passenger side and laid the seat back while telling his partner "I am ready, lets go arrest someone". The deputy started to pull out a knife and mutter things, so the partner decided it was time to go. Took about five minutes before we heard the state car check enroute to the jail.

At the time, I thought the statie was a complete nut. Which, in retrospect, I still believe. However, I now also understand that I would do much the same thing now and have at times come awfully close to doing the same if not worse.

**Cidp24** · 07-30-07, 08:20 AM

Craziness is relative. Things that would make a civi go

is just a good practical joke around a police station.

This job does something to almost everyone.

**Jks9199** · 07-30-07, 06:05 PM

I'm not crazy.

And I don't listen to the voices in my head, either.

The ones coming from the steering wheel have better ideas!

**mfranklin01** · 07-30-07, 07:01 PM

i am positive that the reason they make us take a psych test is to make sure we are all a little crazy. a normal person wouldn't be able to handle this job. and one of my favorite saying "normal people scare me"

**jmur5074** · 07-30-07, 07:53 PM

Originally Posted by mfranklin01

i am positive that the reason they make us take a psych test is to make sure we are all a little crazy. a normal person wouldn't be able to handle this job. and one of my favorite saying "normal people scare me"

I'll agree with that.

**Twan007** · 07-30-07, 09:00 PM

I think Jenna might have a very valid point, especially after reading an article Countybear sent me the other day...

as far as cops going "crazy"... not going to get into a discussion on the ever shifting "norm" of society vs the perceived norm of the average person, and the average person's need to deceive themselves into thinking that "bad things don't really happen" and "good always wins"

**lewisipso** · 07-30-07, 09:34 PM

I do what I do. It may be crazy but it works for me.

Walked across the top of a unit onto the hood to get the attention of a few hoodlums giving a couple of my rookies a hard time. After a loud and straight forward conversation they shut up and went home as did the rest of the neighborhood.

Yes. I did stand on my push bumpers and get stupid with a subject in front of his family for screwing up my surviellance not once but three times.

I have arrested "high profile" persons such as council members and lawyers. I was told I was crazy because of their position.
That's just some.

I didn't think it was crazy or off the wall. I thought it was necessary.

**hemicop** · 08-12-07, 01:35 PM

Most veteran officers couldn't pass the psych eval. they took to get the job......crazy? I know my outlook on things & attitude has changed, I just don't know if it qualifies as "crazy"

**BigDawg** · 08-12-07, 02:34 PM

All I have to say is this.........Everyone else isnt normal, therefore I'm not the crazy one.

1*girl · 08-12-07, 02:54 PM

Originally Posted by conalabu

Virtually right after saying this, the trooper opened the door and slid behind the wheel. And then drove off.

Lol that was great! Sounds like what one of my friends in Macon did a couple of weeks ago when I was down there.

**narcodog** · 08-12-07, 03:27 PM

Since this is on an open forum i refuse to comment.

**JLK** · 08-12-07, 03:27 PM

I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy ever minute of it.

your just jealous because the voices don't speak to you.

**PCSD722** · 08-13-07, 03:15 PM

I find myself to be,,,jaded I guess would be the right word, which comes in handy while seeing everything that we get to see each day, nothing surprises me anymore, I am amzed but never surprised and being jaded at work I have no problem with, most of the time I have no problem with it off work either...but when I am with my 7 yr old I do my very best to leave it all behind. When the day comes that I cant or wont, then I feel it will be a problem that would need to be addressed. Now my fiance thinks I am a bit crazy when we see some idiot doing something stupid and she says "he is gonna get hurt doing that" and I reply "f*ck him, one less for us to deal with" I dont think it is cray saying that I think it is just good common sense

**mack** · 08-13-07, 05:55 PM

I think in all honesty that we have developed our own ways of dealing with what we see and hear and deal with on a daily basis. To the outside world we may appear crazy and insensitive, but it is what helps us to get through the day. Are we crazy? Of course we are, we have to be to deal with what we deal with. Do we hear voices? As I always say we better hear voices, especially that little voice in the back of your mind that tells you that something ain't right, that is the important voice to listen to.