Can I have a job description for officers like in Law and Order?

Police Officers, have you ever gotten an idea or otherwise been inspired or influenced by a TV show that affected how you do your job?

• For example, some sort of interrogation tactic or out of the box investigative idea you saw on Law & Order or some other police procedural.

• Answer:

  I have seen this happen many times, and almost always it leads to doing something the cop shouldn't do. Movie lines and catch phrases ("Make my day," "Do you feel lucky, punk?") are probably the most common spillover into the practice of real policing. However, I've also seen some very bad tactics introduced because someone saw it in a movie. For example, many movie posters and close-ups show the hero in a tight shot showing his head and shoulders, with his handgun in a two-hand grip, often with his finger on the trigger, and the gun pointed upward and held right next to his face. It makes for a very dramatic pose. As a real-world tactic, this is a hugely bad idea. If the cop is startled or trips, he may flex his hands involuntarily and pull the trigger. If he does this, between the muzzle blast and the noise, he will be blind, deaf, and possibly flash-burned. Further, if you're going to shoot a gun at an unintended target, it's usually better to have the bullet go down, rather than up. The ground or floor is more likely to absorb the round with minimal damage. Further, you don't have to be concenred with where a bullet launched into open space will land. What goes up must come down, and a small bullet is likely to cause property damage or injury when descending at terminal velocity. Still, I have seen many cops (usually young ones, but a few older ones) conduct building searches or prepare for tactical entries by holding their guns in this way. The preferred tactic is to hold the gun in "low ready" position, pointed forward and down. When a target comes into view, the gun is brought to bear on it. The shooter doesn't lose visual contact with the target as he would if the gun was brought down from the movie star grip, and the first part of the gun that comes into his field of vision is the front sight. Until the shooter is actually ready to fire, the finger remains off the trigger and outside the trigger guard, pointed in the same direction as the gun barrel. The time required to move the finger onto the trigger is inconsequential. In real life, the actions of most TV and movie cops (Det. Harry Callahan, Sgt. Martin Riggs, Det. Sonny Crockett) would get them fired in short order. When life imitates art in police work, it seldom ends well.