Ride Along with a Cop
For my field experience paper I decided to go on a ride along with a cop. I chose to go with the Syracuse Police Department because I live in Syracuse and it was the easiest for me. I rode with Officer Colin Handy. We went from 6pm-6am on a Friday night. It was such a great experience and I am glad I got the opportunity to go along. When I first arrived, I had to fill out some paperwork. Then he took my license, made a copy and took the papers. When he finished with that, he showed me around the police station. It looked so much smaller than it really is. He showed me a few of the interrogation rooms they have. They aren’t at all how I imagined them. They are just small little rooms with nice comfy chairs and nothing else. I imagined it to be a dark room with little stools and a big table separating them, like you see in the movies. But it wasn’t at all. Then he showed me the evidence room. It was way cool. When they collect evidence they put each piece in a plastic bag after they take pictures of it and then they put it in a separate little locker and once or twice a week the police chief goes through and does the rest of the paperwork and documenting. I really liked that room. It also had the place they take blood work and test for drugs. Then he showed me a room where they take the polygraph test and fingerprints. It was full of different computers and machines. I found it very interesting because I didn’t know that police stations had all of that stuff. When he finished showing me the station we went out to his car and he explained to me all they have to do before and after every shift and arrest. They have to take out the seats and clean the floor so that if someone drops drugs they know exactly who they belong to. He also told me what all the things do in the car, but he said it would make sense if I could actually see it. We headed on the streets at first to just do some traffic patrol. It wasn’t very fun because nothing was