Question for the Police officers here ...

NYPD at one time tried to require residency, but was shot down in court. It is a rare officer who lives in the city.

Years ago I was in the Army Reserves and knew a Sergeant who was NYPD and lived in Brooklyn. He was proud of the fact that he lived in the city he worked in and was preachy to the other guys who lived elsewhere. He was murdered in his neighborhood by some dirtbag he had put away and was let out on the NY legal system's "Catch and Release" program.

I must know a small army of NYPD/Transit/Housing and Port Authority Officers and NONE live in the city, especially if they have families. My old neighborhood on LI is mostly city employees. Even the FD/Teachers/Sanitation Crews move out.

Contrast that to my years as a child, the local County PD officers lived in the community. My uncle lived next door and was an SCPD sergeant. Nothing happened in the neighborhood he wasn't aware of. The number of times I was told by adult neighbors to "Go tell your Uncle Jimmy" about something wrong or out of place was legion. He knew every family with "Domestic" problems and every punk kid looking for trouble. It is different now.
 
I live in the city I work in, and would not have it any other way. I personally feel that it should be a requirement, at least in smaller agencies. Having to go to the store with the same folks you interact with on a day to day basis does a lot for the ego. I feel that I have a personal investment in my job, and strive to the best job I can for that reason.
 
Having to go to the store with the same folks you interact with on a day to day basis does a lot for the ego
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What about when you go to the local Mickey D's and realize that the teen behind the counter is the same one that pulled a knife on you a couple months ago when you were detaining him for a curfew violation? :barf: I'll live 2 towns over, thank you. Take-home car be damned.
 
You learn to deal with it. Personally, I dont eat at places that I dont know the staff, or I cannot see them prepare my food. Again, the way you treat folks is directly correlary to the way they will treat you when they are in charge. This is good for the humility.
 
I'm not LE, nor do I play one on TV. I did sleep at a Holiday Inn once, though. Housing in Seattle is somewhere around $500K median. It's expensive anywhere in Western WA, but Seattle prices are outrageous. I don't see how an honest cop could possibly afford to live there. Obviously I'm not saying every cop who does is corrupt , but housing prices there are the reason the outlying communities are growing so fast. Besides, a big city almost like a country in that it has different neighborhoods analogous to states, each with its own culture and economics. There are parts of Seattle that are as nice as Beverly Hills, and places where you need your CCW to walk down the street in safety. Having the police live in the area where they work is a noble idea, but hardly practical in most urban areas.
 
Here the Department will discourage it, as they don't want you getting cosy with the people you police. You'll probably get posted quite a way from where you live to the other side of the county.
London police officers mostly live outside Greater London, as property prices are too high in town for an officer's salary and the Metropolitan Police pays more than neighbouring departments (partly because of this) and so tends to suck in potential recruits who might otherwise join the local force.
 
i live in a small town in montgomery county

and i have neighbors who are houston police 35 miles south in harris county, humble police 16 miles south in harris county, and hiway patrol guess they can live any where in the state.
 
I always thought officers should live where they police, kind of like a "Mayberry" situation. Capt Charlie has pointed out some things that I had never considered.

Maybe this explains why the deputy who live 3 houses down keeps such a low profile.
 
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