New job
So, it’s been about 4 months since I started the new job. Like most new employment it was interesting at the beginning, if for no other reason than there was a bit of the unknown to it. The people are decent and several, like me, are retired troopers. Makes the job a bit easier when you have comradeship that comes with working alongside people who have similar experiences. The office space is decent though a tad gloomy. No one bothers you for the most part and that’s plus. The hours are good and weekends are off for my pleasure. Got a car that keeps me from paying a butt load of money for gas too. No threat of callouts, dead people or mayhem. That’s a big plus.
As time has gone on the apple has become a bit tarnished. My office has a guy suffering from a bit of the Napoleon Complex. At least that’s my take. He was a local, part-time cop in a small New Hampshire town. Did some time as an EMT or firefighter of sorts and that’s always honorable (unless of course you’re like the guy from Bradford I arrested). Yet, there exists in him this - it’s hard to find the word, contempt maybe - for former state troopers. It’s hard to pin down but it is definitely there. He has been in the office for nearly 25 years. He worked in the Grants Unit and now in my unit as an analyst/investigator. He drives his own car back and forth which seems to cause him a little bit of angst. I get the vibe that he doesn't like state troopers because he thinks they’re arrogant or condescending to local police. In my experience that is common among many local officers though not all. A lot of troopers do little to counter that perception and I think that’s a problem. It simmers below the surface and can get in the way of effective policing at times. During my career I did my best to always treat other police officers with respect despite my own feelings. Whether or not it always came across is unknown to me but, while being a trooper was always a point of pride, I never tried to lord it over anyone. Still, I get the distinct impression that my colleague would prefer that former troopers remain quiet about our past exploits - good or bad.
I work in Medicaid Fraud and am bored stiff, literally. Everyday I come here it’s a struggle to fill my time. As weeks have rolled by and the case load has increased a bit, I spend less time staring at the wall or out the window but, overall this is the most boring job I’ve ever had. Now, you may think to yourself, “It can’t be that bad buddy. Investigate something. Find something productive to do.” Good points yet, this place is filled with lawyers and I came from a place filled with troopers and lawyers don’t think like police…at all.
State troopers are a different breed of cop. Sure, we’re all law enforcement and certainly we are filled with different personality-types. Most hover around some definition of “Type-A”. You have your Type A plus, “run around with your hair on fire” troopers who are always marching to the sound of the guns. Then there are the Type A minus trooper, like me, who like to work but understand life is short and there’s more to it than writing 500 speeding tickets a week. Given that, police officers are generally people of action. We like to take a case and work it. Gather evidence, interview people, develop a suspect and make an arrest or move on. Get things done. That is not the way it is here and it is beyond frustrating. What used to take a week now takes a month or more. Cases that would be solved one way or the other in a couple of weeks now drag on for months, years sometimes. Not all of that lag time is justified either. As a Troop Detective I was able make decisions and move on things that now have to be approved by two or three layers of bureaucratic nonsense. For instance, a search warrant for a doctor’s office where we are seizing some files has been in limbo now for nearly two weeks. This is unconscionable. In my last job, this warrant would have been signed, sealed and acted on within a week - a week and a half if a weekend got in the way. What’s happening here is inefficient and wasteful. The bureaucratic inertia is painful and frankly, this position ought to be part-time and nothing more. We currently have two investigators and an analyst/investigator. At least one of the investigators ought to be part-time, if here at all.
Anyway, that’s about all the time I have for this complaint session. Be well and hang in there.