SACK DRAGGING COPS

The following comments were made by a close friend who is a retired state police agency manager and were made in response to my blog CAN'T COPS HAVE FUN ANYMORE?

The reason the Washington Chief of Police put up the warning signs to police officers during National Police Week is because of the complaints from local business owners. There is nothing worse than a bunch of drunk cops who believe that they are entitled to free drinks, meals and discounted room rates. If they don't get it, look out! This permeates law enforcement from top to bottom.

Beer distributors and liquor wholesalers have always been big targets. They have to hide when any retirement party or promotion is announced. They will wind up furnishing all the beverages sometimes to the tune of thousands of dollars. Add to that other freebies like hospitality rooms, ice, bartenders, and clean up crews. Of course, in return you seldom see a beer truck or whiskey drummer getting a ticket. In fact, I have literally seen beer trucks getting police escorts through traffic snarls to get to county fairs and concerts to sell their products. What the cops don't know is that most of the product that gets donated to their parties is usually out of date and scheduled to be destroyed.

Cops who accept or solicit freebies are called sack draggers. I once worked with a cop in a major Texas city who never paid for a meal. He would literally make sure that his meal was free by saying to the waitress, "Cops eat free here, right?" If he was denied a free meal, he would make a scene and leave. Upper management cops are just as bad. The only difference is that they put the arm on upper scale restaurants. No fast food for lieutenants or above.

Christmas at the cop shop is a wonderful time of year. Gift baskets of liquor, frozen turkeys and hams litter the squad room. Each year Dillard's department stores send a letter to every police and fire department offering a substantial discount for Christmas shopping on a certain date. It's a nice gesture. The loser is the restaurant owner in the mall that gets hit with all the cops and their families who expect to eat free.