The Eurofurence Forum
Eurofurence Community => Special Interests => Topic started by: Venture on 17.12.2013, 23:58:14
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Since the EF20 is all about CSI, are there any real life cop's (or related) furry's coming to EF? :)
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I'd more fit into the forensics cathegory in CSI, ahahahah xD I'm currenty studying to become a bio-medical laboratory scientist :) That's what I believe our teachors told us it's called in English. Either way. Laboratory stuff, woohoo! Even observing autopsies and analyzing the remains, from time to time, if you're employed in the right department for it (pathology).
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I'd more fit into the forensics cathegory in CSI, ahahahah xD I'm currenty studying to become a bio-medical laboratory scientist :) That's what I believe our teachors told us it's called in English. Either way. Laboratory stuff, woohoo! Even observing autopsies and analyzing the remains, from time to time, if you're employed in the right department for it (pathology).
Interesting, for us those tasks are preformed by the national forensics institute (NFI), not by the police. Both are part of the Ministry of Justice though.
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Aiming towards it. I study at a faculty of criminal justice and security. Which is pretty much police work.
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In the late 1970's I served as a Police Dispatcher on a small-town police force in the middle of the Mojave Desert in California. This was before the days of the "911" universal emergency telephone number. It meant that I wore a uniform like a police officer, but with a smaller badge, and no more police powers than any other citizen; I couldn't arrest or cite anyone, except as a "Citizens' Arrest".
My job consisted of working at the front desk of our small police station, answering the phone, taking complaints and dispatching police officers or calling out the volunteer fire department. It meant raising the flag in the morning in front of City Hall (if I worked the graveyard shift) and taking it down after 17:00 (if I worked the swing shift). It meant that after City Hall was closed for the day (after 17:00), I was the city government, for any emergencies, complaints, or troubles which the Good Citizens of Adelanto, California, thought the city government was responsible for handling.
In our police department the dispatchers handled all citizens who called or came in the front door, mostly just like the receptionist in any corporate lobby. If their business required a form, we gave them the right form and hleped them fill it out. If it required a police officer, we grabbed one if he was in the station, or got on the radio and had him report to either the station or the scene of the incident (Our town had one full-time officer per shift, augmented by reserve officers, usually two a night for swing shifts and weekends, and we kept them patrolling around the town and along the main highway through the desert, unless on break or when filing a report or bringing in an arrestee). And we handled all of the clerical functions, such as typing up the arrest/action reports from the officers' notes, filing citations with the County Clerk at the county courthouse, keeping the administration files for licenses and permits and such.
Our most important function, however, was to keep track of the officers' status - where they were, what they were doing, and who they were dealing with; and making sure that if they needed help, that it was rustled up and sent their way. We acted as the police officers' "lifeline", getting info that they needed, coordinating "mutual aid" with the California Higway Patrol ("CHP") or the County Sheriff's Department, keeping tabs on the Sherrif's Deputies working around the edges of our town, and watehcing their backs, as necessary, too. We kept logs (and mental pictures) of where officers were when they made a traffic stop or a house call, and coordinated any medical or fire response needed.
Small Town Law Enforcement and Peacekeeping in the rural American West is not much different from in a big metropolitan city - but it's different enough. It made for an interesting experience, and some amazing and sometimes humorous stories.
I learned a lot about Police Officers, their lives and activities, what they did and how they did it...and what it does to them. I learned enough to realise that I didn't want to follow the path to becoming a Police Officer - I frankly doubted that I was up to it, and it didn't look like it would leave one with many pleasant memories at the end of a long and happy life.
Police work is Corrosive to the Spirit - It seems inherent in the nature of the job, unfortunately. It changes how you look at your Fellow Man, and not for the better. It leaves you with certain prejudices, which are reinfoced to the point where they seem like certainties, and this affects one's behaviour and approach to the job, in bad ways. In the USA, the number of Police Officers who make it to a normal retirement (rather than for a disability, or "removed from service for everyone's best interest") is distressingly low. I firmly believe that Policemen should be retired on full pensions after 10 years of service, with time to find another career or life path, while they are still sane and socially adaptable enough (that is, not too badly soured) to make the change. I'm convinced that Society owes it to them for what we require them to do in our names, and for what they lose in the process.
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What a huge reply :) I'm a parttime dispatcher too, besides my regular job. With us we have civilian dispatchers in full uniform and police dispatchers in full uniform. They all to the same work though.
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Five and a half years with the Metropolitan Police in London, an interesting time to be sure. Now I just have my police German Shepherd dog fursuit.
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I do some work for police, as external consultant, about computers and similar, especially to discover informations, tracking, analyzing, and to explain to the judge the "computer things" :P
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Pffft I`m going as a criminal
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When I was still in University a had a couple of temp jobs as security guard / bouncer, but not actual police..
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I had applied at the German customs some years ago. Does that count? ;)
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I had applied at the German customs some years ago. Does that count? ;)
Hoecker, sie sind raus!
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The closest I have is being a professional Doorman :) (I do it for a job too, not only for EF ;) )
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Well we'll see u there anyway :D
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In the late 1970's I served as a Police Dispatcher on a small-town police force in the middle of the Mojave Desert in California. This was before the days of the "911" universal emergency telephone number. It meant that I wore a uniform like a police officer, but with a smaller badge, and no more police powers than any other citizen; I couldn't arrest or cite anyone, except as a "Citizens' Arrest".
Late 70's? Wow, you're definitely a veteran in the Fur fandom then, I imagine?
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Late 70's? Wow, you're definitely a veteran in the Fur fandom then, I imagine?
Well, I will be 58 years old by the time EF20 is held; and looking back at it all, I discover that I am a veteran of a lot of things, many of them quirky and even anachronistic.
I became intensely interested in Animation, Anthropomorphics, and Foxes back in December of 1972.
But I didn't become involved in - wasn't even aware of - Furry Fandom as such, until 1997. I knew of Organised Science Fiction/Fantasy Fandom before then, but didn't participate in it until 1997. An American Fan named Fred Patten - who has been at the nexus of ComicBook, Science Fiction, Animation (a co-founder of the Cartoon/Fantasy Organisation, or C/FO) , Anime and Manga, and Furry Fandoms - sponsored me for membership in the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society (LASFS) shortly after that.
Fred (who is signed up on this forum, and has posted a couple times) has made a reasonable argument for an origin of Organised Furry Fandom as somewhere around 1984 or thereabouts - possibly even earlier; so I don't think that I can really be regarded as a veteran of Furry Fandom.
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Late 70's? Wow, you're definitely a veteran in the Fur fandom then, I imagine?
Well, I will be 58 years old by the time EF20 is held; and looking back at it all, I discover that I am a veteran of a lot of things, many of them quirky and even anachronistic.
I became intensely interested in Animation, Anthropomorphics, and Foxes back in December of 1972.
But I didn't become involved in - wasn't even aware of - Furry Fandom as such, until 1997. I knew of Organised Science Fiction/Fantasy Fandom before then, but didn't participate in it until 1997. An American Fan named Fred Patten - who has been at the nexus of ComicBook, Science Fiction, Animation (a co-founder of the Cartoon/Fantasy Organisation, or C/FO) , Anime and Manga, and Furry Fandoms - sponsored me for membership in the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society (LASFS) shortly after that.
Fred (who is signed up on this forum, and has posted a couple times) has made a reasonable argument for an origin of Organised Furry Fandom as somewhere around 1984 or thereabouts - possibly even earlier; so I don't think that I can really be regarded as a veteran of Furry Fandom.
But you'll be attending from the USA? That'll be cool to look u up! I'm a dispatcher too ;) (parttime though, my regular duties have me on patrol)
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But you'll be attending from the USA? That'll be cool to look u up! I'm a dispatcher too ;) (parttime though, my regular duties have me on patrol)
I would like to do that! Indeed, if we could find a convenient time - and a convenient place to gather, which would function like the foward lobby of the Maritim did, with comfy chairs and a table or two to set drinks - it would be interesting to gather all of the Minions of the Law together and compare notes and swap stories.
...But so as to not mislead, I should state that I was a Police Dispatcher back in the late 1970's; I no longer serve in that particular profession, although I continue to monitor the radio channels for old times' sake, and to keep some skills from getting rusty. I currently earn my living as a Communications Electronics Technician in the Telecommunications Department of the Union Pacific Railroad, and in 5 more years may retire with a US Government Railroad Pension.
This raises a point of curiosity for me: Is it allowed in Europe for the general public to monitor police or public safety radio communications, or possess equipment capable of doing so? Or is this regarded as illegal activity?
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This raises a point of curiosity for me: Is it allowed in Europe for the general public to monitor police or public safety radio communications, or possess equipment capable of doing so? Or is this regarded as illegal activity?
I used to be a 'radio scanner listener' myself but we (NL) and other countries have switched to Tetra radio communication that is encrypted and thus far has not been 'cracked' so it's no longer possible to listen in to the emergency services' radio traffic. The only thing we can monitor is the dispatchers' pager messages to the fire department and the ambulance services, but that's only the first general call of an incident, the rest of the communication is as said voice, and thus encrypted. Cracking that code is a federal crime ;)
The pager messages can be monitored live here, though in Dutch:
http://monitor.p2000alarm.nl
Where P2000 is our pager network and C2000 the (voice)communication network.
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Indeed in the UK we use the Airwaves network and again it's fully encrypted. Misuse of the system and trying to hack the system are both criminal offences.
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I see if I can get to fit into my labcoat :O
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I've had an idea for a panel/demonstration - inspired by the few who have posted here about being involved in (or studying to for) Forensics or Evidence Collection. But before I suggest it to the nice programming folks, I want to sound out and see if anyone here feels they would like to host or sit on such a panel.
Fingerprints: One of the oldest and most commonly-known clues used in identifying criminals and connecting them to a crime scene. And while not every police cadet goes on to become a detective or crime-scene specialist, almost every one is introduced to taking fingerprints when booking in an arrestee, and detecting and collecting "latent" prints from the crime scene, for later analysis and match-ups.
We could have a panelist actually fingerprint audience members using a legitimate fingerprint card (actually, this may be done with bio-scanners nowadays), and then have someone demonstrate how to "dust" for prints on objects previously printed, and then the challenge of "lifting" those prints and storing them.
Regarding the print cards, these would be presented to the people who volunteered, or shredded on-site; I realise there are serious privacy concerns held by most europeans - particularly germans - and would understand if the actual fingerprinting was considered too sensitive to attempt (not to mention the fact that fingerprint ink does not clean up as easily as it should!), but a demonstration of the detecting, collecting, and preserving part should be fun! (there is a delicate touch required, and in some cases a judgement made on an appropriate powder for s specific surface or condition).
We could have the Police Furry with the best technique guide interested audience members dusting and lifting a print! Not that many "civilians" can truthfully claim that they have actually done such a thing, and it may be worth bragging points someday.
SO - is this a good or bad idea?
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I'm one of those "very privacy sensitive Germans" ;) and given that I keep control of my fingerprints, I'd be quite fascinated by such a hands-on workshop. I don't know how those "legitimate fingerprint cards" look like, though if they are more than a boring white paper they may be a nice memory to keep, too. Possibly also try to 'fingerprint' other stuff, if there would be a color which is easily cleaned off?
Don't count on me having time to attend, though :(
*purrrr*
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Darn I got so overwhelmed at my first con that I totally forgot to look anyone up from this topic xD
Did find one or two fellow law enforcement furry though xD Did u guys have a good time?