Your Pen is Trying to Kill You

I would like to add to your article. I'am also a trainer for my department. One big mistake I see almost everyday is officers interviewing a suspect and writing information on their notepad and their eyes are looking at what their writing. I noticed you can concentrate on the pen and paper more than the suspect. Watch a fellow officer do this then point it out to them. Thanks and stay safe, J Remka.

Point well taken, if you'll pardon the pun. We also need to remember that every time we hand a person a pen to sign a citation or statement that we are handing them a weapon that can be used to inflict a nasty stab wound.

I'm also intrigued by the new lines of pens that claim to be anti-bacterial or germicidal. Being kind of a germaphobe, the idea of taking back a pen that's just be used by some bipedal petri dish oozing MRSA and spirochetes to sign their summons really doesn't thrill me.

Bill, good point, how often have we all handed our pen to someone to sign a citation, took it back, then went back to our car and rubbed our eyes or something similar. Your point invokes a lot of thought, well done.

Good thing here in "dirty" jersey, no signature required for citations....

Video is awesome for minimizing distraction while letting you record useful info, especially things like hands-free body cameras. You get to focus on what you're doing while the camera records everything you see and hear for easier reporting later, easier convictions, protection from accusations, and so forth.

Michael
http://www.digitalallyinc.com

How `s this. On my job, we search all prisoners at the booking desk taking away all property while they are cuffed behind their back. Then, after uncuffing and finger printing we hand them a pen so they can sign their fingerprint cards. Ingenius. Think about it, its to dangerous to allow a person handcuffed behind their backs to have a pen, but not 5 minutes after uncuffing them we give them a pen. Don`t ask about brining it up to superior officers, the "it falls on deaf ears rule" applies.

How `s this. On my job, we search all prisoners at the booking desk taking away all property while they are cuffed behind their back. Then, after uncuffing and finger printing we hand them a pen so they can sign their fingerprint cards. Ingenius. Think about it, its to dangerous to allow a person handcuffed behind their backs to have a pen, but not 5 minutes after uncuffing them we give them a pen. Don`t ask about brining it up to superior officers, the "it falls on deaf ears rule" applies.

Bill, I am also a germaphobe. One thing I did when I worked patrol is carry some "throw down pens" . Those cheap pens that the department supplies or buy a large package of the cheaps ones and use those for the people that you dont want touching your pen. It was a real threat for me because we had an actual outbreak of MSRA in our jail and I came across a few people on the street that had it.