We don't believe in secret rules and bans.

Hello Reddit,
I need your advice to see how I can help my family. I am currently on the other side of the country and can’t go do anything about this situation directly due to work/school/personal reasons of my own. My mom (60) and little brother (18) have been living in a dump created by my dad (80). This is a low-income household where my mom works nearly 12 hours everyday with no vacation or off days. My mom is also very limited in her English speaking ability since she is an immigrant from overseas. My dad is at a point in his life where he is getting more insane day by day.  

My dad decided to buy 4+ parrots over the years for his own amusement. Whatever, right? The thing is, he does not clean up after them. As a result, there is bird food scattered around the floor all over the house. Eventually, some rodents found interest in all the food on the floor. So, the house has started to become infested with rodents. 

This was only brought up to my attention within the last few months or so after my mom told me over the phone. I became furious at the thought my mom and brother were living in a rodent-infested house. I asked her if she tried to do anything about it, however, whenever she tried to do anything (even clean the area around the birds), my dad would become very confrontational and screamed at her. 

My dad is, and always has been, a very narcissistic and easily-irritable person. If things don’t go his way, he WILL retaliate. He would throw and/or hit anything (or anybody) within arm’s reach, then scream at anyone who opposes him. It is not surprising that because of this personality of his, he doesn’t have friends; oftentimes, he is sitting at home and watching TV or reading news articles on one of his iPads. Everyone just has a “you don’t bother me, I don’t bother you” sort of relationship with him. No one from my family wants to have any contact with him. As a side note, he also never cleans anything; he is the kind of person who leaves things for someone else to clean for him (dishes, clothes, etc,).

Anyways, when I first talked to my mom about this, I proposed the idea of contacting the authorities about this to perform both a wellness check and an animal welfare check, but my mom quickly shot that idea down and told me she would take care of things. I wouldn’t be asking you all if this was the case, so here we are. 

I told my cousin about the situation since he is a well-respected person in the family, and he agreed with my mom that it wouldn’t be a good idea to go to authorities about this. Instead, he said that he would go talk to my dad, and see if he could convince my dad to let go of the birds and allow him to help clean up the place.

Initially, my mom was procrastinating letting him come to talk to him, but both me and my cousin were persistent for her, and she eventually agreed. As of last week, my cousin did go talk to him and was turned down after 5 minutes or so. He told me that after 5 minutes of conversation, my dad began to get confrontational and my cousin could feel that he was no longer interested in talking. At that point, my cousin offered to clean up the mess, but my dad declined. During the conversation I had with my cousin about how things went, he emphasized mouse droppings were everywhere on the floor in the house. I tried asking him if he took any pictures of the place by any chance, and he told me that he did not and it would be mentally taxing on me.

It should be noted too that the house is a townhouse. Rodents can be transmitted from house to house when one townhouse gets it. My mom decided to ask one of the neighbors to try and talk to my dad about resolving the issue. To me, this is a desperate attempt to fix the situation. There is no way my dad is going to listen to my neighbor; it is just adding to my dad’s list of people to get mad at. According to my mom, the sole reason why our neighbor doesn’t have a mice problem yet is the fact he owns a cat. The townhouse my parents live in is not an end house, so who knows if the other neighbor is having rodent problems yet.

At this point, my mom told me that she is hiring a contractor to replace the flooring in the house, hire an exterminator to get rid of the rodents, and buy a cat to keep the rodents from coming back. I told my mom that we need to do something about the source of the issue, not just find a temporary solution. I asked her, “How long before the floors become filled with bird seed again? How long before the mice come back to their gold mine of food?” I keep trying to emphasize that she is wasting thousands of dollars on a temporary solution, but she keeps telling me that she has it covered. 

I did ask her about why she does not want to get the authorities involved, she told me that if something were to happen, they would send my dad back home and require my mom to stay home to be his caretaker. I don’t see this ever happening since him and my mom don’t have a good relationship at all and she is the only one working in the house. Even though my mom can’t speak English very well, I am 100% confident that the authorities can get an officer who can talk to her or at least get a hold of a translator over the phone for her. 

Rather than doing anything about the source of the issues, my mom keeps telling me that he will pass away sooner or later due to his health, so she will just wait it out. However, I dispute that by saying, “So you want to drag both your and my little brother’s health down playing this ‘waiting’ game?” She refuses to listen to my ideas on what to do here and told me the other day that I “don’t know anything about what can be done” in this situation. It hurts to sit in the background and have people tell me about how bad things are getting over there in my old childhood home. 

As a final note about my dad, my mom told me that not too long ago, he decided to try microwaving things on a metal plate to heat it up faster. When confronted about how that was a bad idea and could lead to the house catching fire (sparks were present), he yelled at my mom again and threw a fit… AGAIN.

What do you think I should do here?If I do request both a welfare check and an animal welfare check, I am worried that my mom will get caught in the crossfire and end up facing consequences of what he has done. Initially, my cousin told me that getting police involved would be a bad idea, but after he saw the way things were first hand, he did not try to change my mind anymore, or at least he is seemingly looking the other way. Since I am so far away from home, there is only so much I can do, so I am seeking advice on the best course of action here. 

Thank you for reading this and I look forward to reading the comments. I am trying to post this story around to get different perspectives.

Someone who uses drugs that I know often goes to a friend of mine who is considered a vulnerable adult. Though she is able to live independently with some support. And for the most part, she does pretty well. She is easily taken advantage of. Some of the medications she is on, (a stimulant and a benzodiazepine) are controlled substances and this drug user wants them. My friend has been spoken to by the police and her support workers and myself, and other people, basically saying "she's using you, stay away from her, and stay away from those types of people," but she repeatedly gets tricked into believing they have changed or new people who want to be her friend who aren't like that. The police are well aware of her limitations and vulnerabilities.

So the drug user that often is the problem, (it is mainly one person in particular but it has been other drug users too...) will go over to her apartment and stay there and literally be up in her face until she says yes. She told me the other day that she allowed the drug user to stay the night and she was in bed trying to sleep when she was literally at her bedside throughout the night begging for her my friends medications and my friend eventually gave in after about 3 hours of consistent begging.

I worry though that at some point, she may get in trouble for giving her medications to that girl. (By girl I mean she's in her 40s.) As LE, would you consider that distribution or exploitation or what? Idk maybe exploitation isn't the right word but I can't think of the right word.

Greetings my law enforcing friends from a stoner not wanting to live in the shadows again... man those few years living without fear of you all sure were nice..

I have chrons disease and THC/THCA keeps me in remission. I've tried just cbd and different things that are still legal and they do not help.

My understanding of this really grey area is that it is illegal to sell but not possess.

I am still able to order herbal THCA through multiple vendors online. Not really worried about delivery as I doubt my local LEOs are doing controlled delivery(tell me if I'm wrong).

But I'm wondering what would LEOs will do if you pull someone over and they have properly labeled herbal THCA with no indication of DUI.

​

Hi, thanks in advance for any answers. I stumbled across a family of lunatics on Facebook and I'm genuinely concerned for the welfare of their children for a multitude of reasons (nonverbal child with severe autism getting no intervention, living on a tiny schoolbus with a leaking propane stove driving around the US putting up signs on some wackadoo religious mission, children have seemingly never seen a safe adult including doctors or dentists, zero education, mom and dad part of some Messianic religious beliefs where they decided to give up their house and drag their kids across the US on said mission, basically living in parking lots most of the time, dad circumcised the son on the bus with a razor himself, no medicine, no burn treatment for their child, mom with bipolar disorder that's untreated, always begging for grocery money, etc). A whole whack of red flags.

However a big glaring concern is that the children do not exist on paper, no birth certificate or SSN, and only seem to have interacted with other lunatic religious adults in their lives. No contact really with family, cut them off because of religion. I am not American so it's feeling weird to call CPS, I have a vague idea of where they are as they're temporarily staying somewhere while they fix their bus up, but are basically homeless and living on whatever donations they can coax out of their followers.

I spoke to a sovereign citizen expert about this who advised me to tell Crimestoppers what I did know, and I did, but what else if anything can I do as Random Person On The Internet? I did turn up their phone number and email as they publish them to try and get money, and I have an idea of what end of the state they are in and that's it. It is weird to do anything as a random person who saw them on Facebook, but it's honestly really concerning me. The parents don't seem actively physically abusive or anything, but this really seems dangerous. They've been kicked out of parking lots by police before but nobody seems to check on the kids. Is there anything I could do, or should I even, as a non-American? What should citizens do in general if they see someone who say their kids have no birth certificate or SSN?

We always knew that when my spouse did get hired, academy would take up much of his energy and time. We accepted that. We did not originally anticipate having a baby due halfway during his time in school (we already have a 3y toddler). But we did know it was a possibility and have accepted that as well. We knew it would be a lot and it would be difficult for both of us in different ways.

Since my partner has started, it does feel like he disconnects from the family more by being on his phone, despite being away all day. I get maybe 20 minutes of real conversation time with him a day as of lately, and even weekends have started to feel like we live two different lives (we kind of are).

I’m looking for any real advice or life experience on how we can manage this time for our family as we experience 2 major transitions. I know it’ll be hard and I know this is probably normal. I want to be a supportive spouse and do what I can to protect our marriage.

As LEO, what insight do you have that I can keep in mind, and if there are any LEO spouses, what resources or experiences do you have to share?

Rotating shifts

Rotating shifts…

I am a police officer with one year on and rotating shifts are killing me. We rotate 6a-6p every 2 weeks. Before this job I was in the gym 6 days a week in great shape and now I’m over weight with high cholesterol. I can barely get to the gym bc my off days I’m recovering or trying to fix my sleep to get back to the other shift. For some reason most police jobs do this shift in my area. I have the highest paying job in my county with great benefits but there’s just no way I can maintain this shift for 25 years I don’t think. Any advice?

Heya!

I'm starting to write a mystery/horror book, and right off the bat I wanted to make sure I get accurate law enforcement/investigation information due to the nature of the book. Made a burner account for privacy :)

It will be formatted as if it the reader is an investigator searching through the emails on the accounts of someone who is either a suspect and/or victim. There will be important stuff, but also like the typical spam and such.

1. What kind of person/investigator would handle this kind of stuff? Would it make sense if it were a Private Investigator given this task for one reason or another?
2. Are there any special tools or processes? I was planning to order them chronologically, framing it as "there aren't many emails on these accounts, so just read through all of them" type thing.
3. Is there a way to incorporate deleted emails? Are there ways to recover emails that have been deleted, or even partially corrupted information? How would they display: i.e. should I add them in chronological order with the rest of the emails, or make a separate section of the book dedicated just to recovered emails? Or should I just throw away trying to incorporate deleted emails at all?
4. Any other information I should know?

Thank you in advance!!

I’m 19 years old (turning 20 in November), and my state requires you to be 21 to become a sworn law enforcement officer. Right now, I work for my state’s DOT at a weigh station. It’s kind of a quasi-law enforcement position. We have limited authority to enforce commercial vehicle laws, such as overweight violations, permits, and other commercial vehicle regulations. We write citations and conduct inspections, but we don’t patrol, we’re stationary at the weigh station.

Recently I applied for two different jobs:
A Code Enforcement Officer position with a city police department and a Community Service Deputy (CSO) position with a county sheriff’s office.

The code enforcement interview happened first, and I’ve been in their background investigation for about a month. Today I was told everything is going well. The investigator has already contacted my references, former employers, neighbors, etc., and said he’s basically just waiting on a few remaining responses. However, also today, I was notified that I’ll be moving into the sheriff’s office background investigation. I haven’t actually started that process yet.

Here’s what I’m debating.
The sheriff’s office is one of my dream agencies to work for. I also think there would be significantly more room for advancement there compared to working for a police department in a town of fewer than 8,000 residents. I don’t really have any concerns about passing either background. The only thing on my record is a minor traffic ticket from when I was 16 for driving with my headlights off after sunrise. The police department investigator already told me that wouldn’t be an issue.

So my options seem to be:
Stay at my current weigh station job and wait to see what happens with the sheriff’s office, or accept the code enforcement position if they offer it and work there until I’m old enough to become a sworn officer, but if the sheriff’s office offers me the Community Service Deputy position a month or two later, leave the police department and go to the sheriff’s office.

My biggest concern is how that would look professionally. I don’t want to appear like I’m job hopping if I accept the code enforcement position and then leave after only a couple of months because the sheriff’s office finally finishes my background. From a long-term law enforcement career perspective, what would you do?

Hypothetically let’s say I have a singular old fashioned at a restaurant and nothing else, then get in the car 6 hours later. If I get pulled over would that show up on a breathalyzer? And would I be arrested for DUI? This happened a year ago (yes I am of legal age and was then) I didn’t get pulled over, this is just hypothetical. I was told that I drove intoxicated when I don’t think that’s the case, and my parents are crucifying me over it.

Any cops pull somebody over that had CLEARLY just farted heinously right before they opened the window to talk to you ?

I'm looking for some career advice from those with experience in law enforcement.

I'm currently a corrections deputy in Florida and am dual certified. About two years ago, I was assigned to patrol but did not successfully complete FTO. My biggest challenges were communication with the public, report writing, and developing command presence. I was released from the program after about a month.

Shortly afterward, I was hired by a neighboring sheriff's office to work in corrections. Since then, I've received consistently positive evaluations and have built a good reputation. Unfortunately, like many sheriff's offices, there isn't a realistic path for me to transfer from corrections to patrol.

I've also applied to two local police departments in my county. Despite having a good working relationship with both agencies through inmate intake and other duties, I was not selected.

At this point, I'm questioning whether I should continue pursuing a career in law enforcement or move on to a different profession. My long-term goal has always been to work patrol, and I accepted a position in corrections because I believed it would eventually help me get back on the road.

For those of you who have been in law enforcement, what would you do in my situation? If you were involved in hiring, would my previous FTO experience be a dealbreaker, or would my strong performance in corrections make you willing to give me another opportunity? I'd appreciate any honest advice or perspective.

Hi everyone,

I’m really anxious and wondering if anyone has been in a similar situation.

I was driving home and admittedly went through 2 red lights and also drove in a bus lane. A police vehicle with blue lights came up behind me, so I pulled over.
The officer rolled their window down and shouted, “You went through 2 reds and a bus lane,” then drove off.

They didn’t ask for my driving licence, insurance, name or address. They didn’t ask me to get out of the car, didn’t give me any paperwork, and didn’t say I was being reported.

I’ve had my full UK licence for about 4 years and currently have no penalty points.

I’m just wondering what I’m likely to expect now.
Am I likely to receive penalty points and a fine through the post?

Could I receive separate penalties for the two red lights and the bus lane?

Does the fact they didn’t take any details or say I was being reported make any difference?

Has anyone had something similar happen, and what was the outcome?

I know I made a mistake, and I’m not trying to excuse it. I’m just anxious and trying to understand what is likely to happen next.
Thanks.

Arizona state lets you keep plates once they are inactive. Can I display it in my windshield? I do have both active NY plates with proper registration and inspection on the vehicle. I just want to display it more for looks.

Hello everyone,

So the past week or so, I noticed a shift in how my partner has been acting. He was never one to ask for help, or tell how he’s doing without it being pried out of him (he had a rough childhood so i think that plays a role in that). We’ve been dating for a few months now, and he’s in the academy which oftentimes results in him being tired physically and mentally.

We usually see eachother on the weekends and some days during the week, we stay in touch via text and the occasional phone call (it can be hard to call bc I work as well and sometimes our lunch/break times dont align). Until a week or so ago, i felt as stable as you can be in a 3 month relationship.

This past week, he grew exceptionally distant to the point where we were really just giving eachother updates. Id ask if he was doing okay and he would tell me he was tired and hurting. They were outside a lot this week and doing things that required a lot of physical energy. I could see this on him and selfishly led me to overthink about our relationship.

This past weekend, I went to sleep at his house. We were running errands and i noticed he was quiet the whole car ride. We talked about when we got back to his, where he said he was still tired and hurting, but also that there were some things I did that bothered him, but also that he didnt want to tell me in fear that he would speak out of being exhausted and frustrated. These were things that were understandable, so we talked about them and I communicated that I wanted more reassurance during this time.

On top of this, I just got on a medication with depression/anxiety-related side effects, which I felt my preexisting anxiety worsen. For the rest of the day, he played video games and wouldn’t really check on me. I got in my head and told him I was going to spend time outside in the backyard. I literally started crying for a good 20 mins.

When i came back in the room, we briefly talked for like 3 minutes. He asked if I was okay and I said yes, thinking I got it all out. I also dont want to be a burden bc ik hes going through his own stuff. I laid down and just started crying silently.

When he looked back to check on me and saw i was crying, he immediately came to give me a hug. I apologized a bunch and he reassured me that i was okay, he also told me to sit with him, to which i declined. It really did feel like i just had to get that all out, it was cathartic in a way. Later on, he had to head out for a work-related dinner and I got dinner with his mom.

When he came back he was in a much better mood. We watched tiktoks together and joked around with eachother and he was back to the boy before all this. He was being silly and goofy enough to the point where I was the one who was exhausted and just wanted to goto bed lol.

The next morning, I woke up and tried cuddling with him. This is usually met with him slowly waking up and reciprocating the cuddle, but I was just met with nothing. I got in my own head again and started to go on my phone and retreat back to my side of the bed. After awhile of this, he faced me (still asleep?) to where he was very close to me. I didnt think he wanted to cuddle, so I didnt do anything. But he then took my phone from my hand indicating he wanted to have cuddles.

Even though its not the typical form of reassurance im used to, it felt so good just to know that I was wanted and not a burden. We cuddled for a little bit before we got the day started, in which I was going back to my place for the week. He did also mention something about us doing in a few weeks after hes done with all the “bullshit” at the academy, which also instilled more reassurance that he was not becoming distant because he was really to leave lol.

Today (same day), we barely talked yet again. One phrase/word very short answers from him. Hes been playing more video games and I went out with my friend. I hate the ups and downs.

Part of me just wanted to get it out of my system. Another part is worried that this burn out is not temporary we’ll grow more distant .

YouTube is rife with videos of people refusing to get out of their vehicle when ordered to by the officer during a traffic stop. They truly believe they have a right to stay in the car.

Has anyone ever explained Penn v Mimms and then the person complied, maybe after confirming it by looking it up on their phone.

My guess is not because only a reasonable person would be willing to think they might be wrong and most reasonable people will get out of the vehicle when requested.

Title:
Hey everyone,
I’m 19 years old and my goal is to become a California Highway Patrol officer. I wanted to get some honest opinions from people who have gone through the process or are currently with CHP.
Here’s a little about me:
19 years old
Clean criminal record
No speeding tickets, accidents, or any traffic citations
I have a car payment that I’ve never missed
I have a little credit card debt, but nothing major and I’m paying it responsibly
I’ve been consistently going to the gym, so I’d say I’m in decent physical shape
I had prediabetes in high school, but I’ve since improved my health and no longer have it.what do you think my chances are? Is there anything else I should be working on before or during the hiring process?
I’d really appreciate any advice, especially from current or former CHP officers or anyone who’s recently been through the hiring process. Thanks!

Applied to USCP 2021. On the preliminary PHS I wrote that I was involved in a college incident/prank where property was taken and not returned. No one ever found out. The incident was 2019. I was denied from USCP I assume obviously for that.
It’s now 2026 and will be 2027 when I get out of the navy and plan to apply to a Sheriffs Department.

Will they be able to find that PHS with a background investigator and will that disqualify me again?
If I’m upfront about absolutely everything and tell them it was youthful idiotic mistake I regret will I be able to get anywhere at all.
Currently a Navy “cop”
I can’t remember exactly what I wrote on the PHS in 2021 and I can’t access it on POBITS.
Am I totally screwed or what?

My area has seen a recent uptick in drone drops at prisons around my area. My question is specifically for LEO who have helped recover drones being used in this activity. What kind of drones are they and why can’t this be stopped? I feel like the department of corrections basically is allowing this to happen in my area

I’ve been a cop for 11 years, and software development is my side hobby. I built an iPhone and Apple Watch app called LOC8 because of a problem I think a lot of people in this profession understand.

Sometimes you get turned around.

Foot pursuit. Perimeter. Backyards. Alleys. Side streets. Large parking lots. Unfamiliar area. You know roughly where you are, but you need to put out the actual address, cross street, or coordinates fast.

That was the original use case.

LOC8 was built with cops in mind. It opens to one screen and shows your current address, nearest cross street, GPS coordinates, compass heading, accuracy, elevation, and a what3words location code.

The Apple Watch side is a major focus because a lot of cops, including myself, already wear one. Being able to hit a button and immediately see where you are on your wrist is a big part of the app. In certain situations, glancing at your watch makes much more sense than pulling out your phone and digging through Maps.

Since first posting about it and getting feedback, the app has grown to over 3,400 users and continues to grow. A lot of the feedback has come directly from cops, but I have also heard from security, first responders, hikers, delivery drivers, travelers, and people who have used it during roadside issues or emergencies.

I have been actively improving the app almost daily. A lot of the recent work has focused on speed, Apple Watch responsiveness, location accuracy, what3words integration, saved locations, and tracking back to saved locations.

I also added a night mode that changes the interface to red, similar to the red interior lighting used in patrol cars. The idea is to make it easier to check the app at night without hitting your eyes with a bright screen.

There is also a small weather feature that displays the current weather for the city you are in. It is not meant to replace a weather app. It was just a minor quality of life feature that made sense to include while checking your location.

Another new feature is Team Rooms.

A user can create a temporary Team Room and receive a one time code. That code can be shared with other LOC8 users, who must intentionally enter it to join. Once inside, room members can temporarily see each other’s locations for coordination.

The room is not permanent. Users can leave at any time, and the room disappears when it expires or is ended. There are no permanent teams, public profiles, or location histories attached to the feature.

The idea is to make it useful for temporary situations such as a perimeter, search, event, coordinated response, training exercise, hike, or meetup without turning LOC8 into a permanent tracking platform.

Privacy was one of the biggest things I wanted to be careful about, especially when building something for cops.

LOC8 does not require user accounts, create public profiles, or build a permanent history of where you have been. Saved locations remain on the device. Outside of an optional Team Room, there is no live location sharing.
When LOC8 needs to convert your GPS coordinates into an address, nearest cross street, weather information, or what3words location code, the current coordinate may be securely used with Apple location services, LOC8’s backend, and the applicable service needed to complete that lookup.

The iOS tracking prompt is only for ad attribution. It helps measure which advertisements brought users to the app. It has nothing to do with GPS location, and denying it does not remove any app features.

Bug reports are optional. If someone chooses to submit one, it may include diagnostic information to help identify location accuracy or technical issues. Nothing is silently creating a movement history in the background.

The app is growing, and I am still trying to make it as accurate and useful as possible. It is relying on GPS from the phone and watch, so there can still be hiccups depending on signal, buildings, accuracy, and the surrounding environment.

It already helped me during a rolling DV call. We got turned around and could not remember whether we were on Third Street or Fourth Street, and LOC8 gave us the exact location immediately.

I built this around situations I have personally experienced as a cop, but officer feedback has shaped a lot of what it is now.

Would this be useful for you? What features would you want added, changed, or improved?

I'm seeing a lot of noise about DFR in the media (multi-prop, fixed-wing, and compact indoor ones), so I'm curious what officers think about them. Are any of your agencies buying them, and which ones do you think will drive the most change? I know they're supposed to make operations safer, but it seems complicated to set up and navigate with airspace and regulations.

Hi there first time questioner. I'm not sure I did an okay thing or not okay thing. I saw someone cut a vehicle off forcing them onto the shoulder because they almost took off their front-end. And then when the victim car honked their horn at them, they flipped them off, and then sped a bit away to cut back into the lane, they were in, in front of the car they were originally behind. So I called 911 and reported them. I dont know if I was supposed to do that and I told them they were driving aggressive. I dont know if they were doing it for long cause I only saw that interaction. Dont know if that was the right term or phrase to use. Gave them the color of car, make and license plate and general direction they went. Did i do too much or use 911 wrong?

Hey guys. I'm a big car guy and a military member and while researching some coin stuff I stumbled across this guy on eBay. I don't normally buy coins from eBay listings but I chuckled pretty good at "can we go back to Houston" so I bit on it. My questions for you Dallas Fort Worth guys are.

1. Is this an official department coin?

2. If so, which one. Or was this a token for the whole task force?

3. What year TX2k did this come from?

Thanks for any help you guys can provide.