Ever get mistaken for a police officer

Have you ever been mistaken for a police officer.

  • Yes

    Votes: 49 73.1%

  • no

    Votes: 18 26.9%
  • Total voters
    67
  • Poll closed .
We wear navy blue uniforms, patches aren't extremely "EMS" looking, and badges. Honestly we are professional looking though.

Funny you bring this up though.

Where I work we can be in the best area, or the worst area, worse then Detroit. Its funny because I notice me and everybody else when walking up to a door, stand to the side knock on the door and yell EMS!

The other day we knocked on the door and I was with a newer girl so I let her do her thing since she wanted to play know it all. She stood off the side but never answered. Stupid BS call. Guy wanted to go to the hospital for finger pain....

She never yelled EMS but I could hear rustling through the house. So I decided to yell it and finally he answered his door and he said "Jesus F***ing Christ I thought you were the po-lice! Come inside I need to finish taking care of something"

So we go inside, and I about crapped myself when I saw a brick of coke sitting on the table as he was trying to cover it up with news paper and hide it in his floor...

So we get him to the ambulance and all. He asks my partner did you see anything? She's like nope. Asked me, I'm like see what? I don't care.

Really nice guy though, you would never expect...

Makes you wonder, if he's a dealer, with that kind of load, why does he need a ride to the hospital? Makes me wonder...

I could care less pretty much unless there is a kid in the house...


But yes, people think we are the police...a LOT...

Usually it works to our benefit on getting people to go to the hospital that need to go...
 
My partner and I were on the scene with a diabetic pt and she was placed under arrest by the police officer. Since I was the only female on scene, he asked that I pat her down to check for any weapons, lol. I know I wasn't really mistaken for a police officer, but I had to do their work.
 
MJordan2121 said:
My partner and I were on the scene with a diabetic pt and she was placed under arrest by the police officer. Since I was the only female on scene, he asked that I pat her down to check for any weapons, lol. I know I wasn't really mistaken for a police officer, but I had to do their work.
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I have had that happen to me before as well. Fortunately, most times the police are able to get a female officer to the scene, but that particular time there wasn't one available.
 
Does traffic control count? And this was at a standby event with NO need for ANY time of traffic control.

Get a lot of security questions when doing standby.

Oh, and a pilot once.
 
Not with the EMS agency but wearing my SAR coat with the sheriff's logo got taken for a Deputy.
 
The one agency I work for, all the time considering the patch says police dept on it, we wear police uniforms with badges. When i work the Hospital Special Ops, our uniforms look like the NYPD ESU with subdued patches so once again its possible to be called a cop. when I volly, they dont because people know that the uniforms look different.
 
Occasionally. We work for the County Sheriff so we wear the county sheriff patch on one sleeve and the "Sheriff's Ambulance" patch on the other.

Went to a DV once as a ride along and the drunk guy asked one of the crew members if she worked for the Sheriff. So she said yes and the drunk guy got all calmed right down and tried to act sober. :P
 
lightsandsirens5 said:
Occasionally. We work for the County Sheriff so we wear the county sheriff patch on one sleeve and the "Sheriff's Ambulance" patch on the other.

Went to a DV once as a ride along and the drunk guy asked one of the crew members if she worked for the Sheriff. So she said yes and the drunk guy got all calmed right down and tried to act sober. :P
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Way to commit a felony.
 
^
If the ambulance is ran by the sheriff's department, then it isn't a felony to say that you work for the sheriff's department. If the person asked if she was a sheriff, then it would be.

Similarly, I could state that I am a student at Tuft's Medical School because my grad program is administered by the medical school and my student ID card calls me a "Medical Graduate Student." While I'm not a medical student (yet), I am a student at a medical school. This is also why I say I'm a grad student at Tufts, and not a student at Tufts Med (technically correct).

As another example, I am an EMT-I (roman numeral 1) in California (well, until my California cert expires in March). Is it deceptive to run around declaring myself as an EMT-I on internet boards? Sure, because most people see EMT-I and think EMT-Intermediate, not EMT-One.
 
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I get mistaken for a Mass state trooper all of the time. At the company I work for our uniforms are practically identical. I wear the same pants except with a cargo pocket, same color shirt with patches in almost the same spots. We don't wear the goofy hats and horse riding looking boots the old timer staties wear.
 
Yup, Exp. by the intoxicated and psychiatric patients. Fun times ;)
 
Take note of what is happening in the SF Bay area of California and try not to look too much like a Police Officer. It is a scary time right now for LEOs and anyone near some of those areas or who use the transit system.

Stay safe!
 
VentMedic said:
Take note of what is happening in the SF Bay area of California and try not to look too much like a Police Officer. It is a scary time right now for LEOs and anyone near some of those areas or who use the transit system.

Stay safe!
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Can you explain?
 
Google "BART Shooting" and you'll find tons of articles - basically, there was an officer-involved shooting by the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) Police, part of which was caught on cell phone video. The problem is that the officer shot the person in the back, killing him - and this has led to violent protests in that area.
 
EMT007 said:
Google "BART Shooting" and you'll find tons of articles - basically, there was an officer-involved shooting by the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) Police, part of which was caught on cell phone video. The problem is that the officer shot the person in the back, killing him - and this has led to violent protests in that area.
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Shot in the back while laying face down. The video showing the shooting has been playing over and over on the news stations. However, I think the gunshot surprised the BART officer as much as it did anyone nearby.

http://www.kron.com/

Unfortunately I've been in this area for the past few days and downtown Oakland is a mess. Monday they are staging another protest which is supposed to be bigger than anything they've had so far. I definitely wouldn't want to be a BART Police Officer or Oakland either. Right now some of the news stations are running a series for people to write, call in or in person offer their opinions of the Police from that one time they felt abused. In other words, bash and trash shows aimed at LEOs which is further inciting. They have kept the flames fanned and has created serious tension for the LEOs.
 
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I get this a lot, but only because I carry an EMT badge in my wallet. EVERY TIME someone sees that when I pull out my money or ID, I hear "Are you really a cop man?" or "dannng I would have never guessed you were a detective."

I'm like WHAT? :rolleyes:
 
Please tell me your badge is provided by you service.
 
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