Has anyone ever participated in a ride along with a local police officer?

Read a WTHR about the Indianapolis PD encouraging the citizens to do so, and it kinda has me intrigued.

Any positive/negative experiences?

I had a ride along AND and overnighter.

Have done it was pretty interesting. Buddy was a chaplain for 10yrs. Saw some gruesome stuff....

Roommate had an internship with Akron PD one summer. He showed me a gang territory map. Literally all of Akron was some gang territory I guess. Any specific questions, let me know.

I know my brother did a ride along with his good friend who works the nightshift

Trueblue23;1710887 wrote:Has anyone ever participated in a ride along with a local police officer?

All my ride alongs were not by choice and I was in the backseat in handcuffs.

I've done it 3 times in Toledo. I will never fault a police officer again because of it.

Edit: In a city I will never fault them. Suburbs are a different story lol.

I've sat in the front and the back set.... The view is different but the final stop the same

Uz2Bon36;1710924 wrote:All my ride alongs were not by choice and I was in the backseat in handcuffs.

What he said

Laley23;1710926 wrote:Suburbs are a different story lol.

A lot of wacked out drugs find their way into the blood system of suburbanites and that situation becomes wicked.

Sonofanump;1711096 wrote:A lot of wacked out drugs find their way into the blood system of suburbanites and that situation becomes wicked.

Except that dbag probably doesn't have a gun on him.

I did one in college for the purpose of writing an English paper about it, and it was a really interesting experience. This was in Columbus and spent most of the shift in the area east of OSU's campus.

Saw a drug deal about 20 minutes in, and the cop I was with ran after the guy on foot. I was left alone in the ghetto sitting in a cop car until other officers arrived and drove me off. There was a kinda/sorta hostage situation, and they had a house surrounded until the guy surrendered. We saw a guy walking on the street who the cop recognized had a warrant, so he arrested him and took him to jail. We walked through some vacant houses to see all the drug dens and scared up some homeless people. It was very interesting overall, and it produced a very easy to write paper. I was most surprised by how the officer knew almost all the people he saw on the street by name, even in an urban environment like Columbus. He had arrested them, their dads, their uncles, etc.

gut;1711102 wrote:Except that dbag probably doesn't have a gun on him.

True, the possibility of that would be less.

Had to do a ride along in law school. Nothing crazy happened

no "ride-alongs" but more than I prefer "take-alongs"

I did one a month or so back with a friend. It was lame, but Bellefontaine isn't exactly crime ridden. The most exciting thing was a driver who passed with one headlight, and we found out they were driving under suspension. Yipee!!!

(I wanted some taser action or something)

I'd never do it in DC. The only place worse than DC for a police officer is Chicago.

sleeper;1711150 wrote:I'd never do it in DC. The only place worse than DC for a police officer is Chicago.

Yeah, I have no desire to be left alone in a cop car at night in Anacostia, while a cop is chasing down some thug.

Love it how like_that continues to idolize and fixate on me with his signature. Keep it up Sport.

Did a ride along twice in Columbus. Both times in the neighborhood just off campus. Crazy shit and lots of drugs! The officer I rode with the first time showed me how to access the shotgun and where the "oh shit" button is to call in all the troops in case shit got real bad. The officer I was with got in a foot chase and left me in the vehicle while two people were still in the car he pulled over. In seconds, the helicopter was flying above the car I was sitting in and a back-up car with two officers secured the area where I was at. It was quite the night...would do it again in a heartbeat!
They did catch the guy who ran and proceeded to beat the shit out of him. Stuffed him in the back of the cruiser and he looked like he had just got run over by a semi.