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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErASUGL00gQ

One of the good ones.

Hope it's not a repeat. Searched but could not find.

That was worth the price of admission. They should clone Elton and send him around the country to train cops.

One word, "Professionalism".

Thanks for finding and posting this story. Guys like Elton deserve the credit that they've earned. How you can do anything for as long as he has and not have a bad day once in a while is beyond me, let alone be a traffic officer and keep up that kind of a record. Bravo!

Impressive. Wish there were more like him.

"Old School"...he talks like the officers I grew up with. In my case, I think some of it could be attributed to the fact that they knew pretty much everyone in the county personally...the Highway Patrolmen didn't rotate in and out...most of them lived and worked here for most of their careers...they ate lunch with us at the same cafes everyday...their kids went to school with us...they went to church with us... they were a part of the community just like everyone else, and when you have that kind of connection, things are just different. We had one HP officer (retired 15 years ago and still lives and farms here) who was notorious for ALWAYS writing a ticket if he stopped you....even wrote his wife one for slow rolling a stop sign in town one day)...but he always just talked and laughed with you while he was doing it, and I never heard anyone say he gave them a ticket they didn't deserve. What's amazing in Officer Eltons case, is he somehow manages to do that in a metro area, where he doesn't have those personal connections. Kudo's to him!

Great job.. IMO deputies learn to talk to people while working in the jails. It helps when they hit the streets. Part of being a LEO is being a salesman and he can sale the tickets w/o making a person feel bad.

texanjoker wrote:Great job.. IMO deputies learn to talk to people while working in the jails. It helps when they hit the streets. Part of being a LEO is being a salesman and he can sale the tickets w/o making a person feel bad.

You're probably right, but it is ironic that one of the long-time complaints against LA Co. Sheriff's Deputies used to be that they picked up bad habits in dealing with people by being required to work their first two years in the department in the County Jails before they could start street patrolling. Of course back then (circa 1960s through the 1980s), most of the people in prison really really might have been hardened criminals. Maybe that's changed? I don't know. All I know is that this was the common perception for a long time—that the LA Co Sheriff's Deputies were a bunch of hard cases because that's all they dealt with for two years....hard cases.....before they could start doing street patrol.

This guy is a breath of fresh air. My neighbor across the street back when my wife and I were first married was a LA Co. Sheriff's Deputy with Sargent's rank. He worked as an undercover narcotics detective. He was a tall, scary looking guy, but he made pretty good company.

The Annoyed Man wrote:

texanjoker wrote:Great job.. IMO deputies learn to talk to people while working in the jails. It helps when they hit the streets. Part of being a LEO is being a salesman and he can sale the tickets w/o making a person feel bad.

You're probably right, but it is ironic that one of the long-time complaints against LA Co. Sheriff's Deputies used to be that they picked up bad habits in dealing with people by being required to work their first two years in the department in the County Jails before they could start street patrolling. Of course back then (circa 1960s through the 1980s), most of the people in prison really really might have been hardened criminals. Maybe that's changed? I don't know. All I know is that this was the common perception for a long time—that the LA Co Sheriff's Deputies were a bunch of hard cases because that's all they dealt with for two years....hard cases.....before they could start doing street patrol.

This guy is a breath of fresh air. My neighbor across the street back when my wife and I were first married was a LA Co. Sheriff's Deputy with Sargent's rank. He worked as an undercover narcotics detective. He was a tall, scary looking guy, but he made pretty good company.

That is actual a real perception to a point. The crooks always treated us different then the city police as they knew we were hard and didn't put up with their nonsense inside or outside. They also know that the jail is our house. To the normal public that may appear different, but it actually is a good thing IMO. You just have to tone when to turn it on and off. The people inside are worse now because the low level offenders are not incarcerated. In CA you don't even book a misdemeanor into jail except for rare occasions like domestic violence or if the city has their own jail because there is no space.

Texanjoker, I am not sure that I agree about the jail. Even with inmates, my experience showed that treating them as people and with some human dignity got better cooperation. There are ways to be polite but still establish and maintain control. I will stipulate that while my inmates were all convicted felons, they were all military also, since it was Ft. Leavenworth.

I wish i could say I had never been complained on, but I can at least say it was never from a traffic stop. I do agree that it is how you approach the person and handle the stop. I always used the seven step approach and worded the stop in a non-accusatory way. The seven step approach, for the non-LEOs, is a guide line where you identify yourself, you agency and authority for the stop, the reason for the stop, then identify the person, tell them what action you will take, take it and release them with a polite good by. Do not say to have a nice day after giving them a ticket, as it will always seem sarcastic.

Notice that the one thing this means is you also never ask them if they know why you stopped them. It comes across wrong and can be seen as asking for an admission of guilt or some other admission. By non-accusatory, I mean saying things in terms that do not sound like the person was bad or evil. For example, I would never say a person was speeding, but would say I stopped them for exceeding the posted speed limit (which is also the legally correct offense). Saying failing to stop seems to be less accusatory than saying running a red light, etc. Being polite and keeping it professional always seemed to work for me.

But isn't it more fun to scold a grown adult as if they are a little kid?

Good American. This should be the norm.

esxmarkc wrote:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErASUGL00gQ

One of the good ones.

Hope it's not a repeat. Searched but could not find.

You know there's going to be one person that sees this story and complains just because.

But did you notice that after 20 years, he still hasn't been promoted past traffic enforcement?

j/k