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While on a ride along a few years ago in Utah, after the patrol briefing (where I learned that lieutenants and higher brass were generally clueless) and I signed a liability release, the patrol officer provided me with a vest and showed me how to deploy the rack-mounted shotgun. He told me not to be the second person out of the car at a stop or I would be locked inside the car... and he meant it (door knobs retracted so low you could not unlock them manually and the lock switch was disabled). Said if he told me to deploy the shotgun we were both in serious doo doo and that I should be prepared to use the shotgun. He asked if I could do that. The officer carried a Kimber 1911 TLE and was a former Army Ranger who had become dissatisfied with Army service and left the military as a SSG after 10 years. He covered all the gear in the trunk... some real goodies since he was also SWAT member. The trunk had enough ammo to fight a small war! He explained all of the car's light functions and other neat switches in the car and had me demonstrate that I understood. We responded to many requests for service throughout that night and all were uneventfull. I don't see how police cars can stand the abuse they are put through! Thank God we had good brakes and tires! The officer had totalled two police cars, one an unmarked hit broadside by a snowplow during a chase. He normally told me to stay with, but just outside the car with my door open so I could hear the radio. He always left the keys and never instructed me to deploy the shotgun. All in all, I gained real respect for the LEO job... one that can be boring as hell, but then turn to life-threatening in a heartbeat. At the time of my ride along, the city's police chief had previously been an assistant chief in LA who tried to apply what worked in LA to this city and as a result he was a dismal failure. Morale was in the pits. The current police chief was a lieutenant who came up through the ranks, unusual in this city, and who was appointed police chief while still a lieutenant. As a result he has the respect of the officers and morale has rebounded.

Not sure if a ride along in Texas could equal my Utah experience. Any one care to tell us about your ride along? Or a LEO to comment...