Rolling Over the Odometer

[Buford57]

To celebrate my 1,000th post I thought I'd share this again, since it was so well received the last time.

You may be an Old Cop if

Your Sam Browne ever held a revolver, dump pouches and a straight stick

Your light bar had can lights or bubble gum machines

You remember when a “1%er” flew Angels, Vagos or Bandidos colors

Your uniform pants had a sap pocket...with a sap in it

You ever referred to someone over the air as an “Adam Henry”

Your hat had plasti-cuffs and a Miranda card in the sweatband

Your idea of a training manual was “No Second Place Winner”

You were ever responsible for someone coming down with “Kelitis”

You ever lifted a print using the cellophane from a cigarette pack

You talked in 10-code to your Significant Other...and they understood

Reading this made you think of someone who is 10-42


And in particular, RIP Ian Campbell, Karl Hettinger, Russell Herrick, Jim Lien, Jim Haines, Earl Woodman.

 

[shouldazagged]

Hadn't heard the term "Kelitis" for a long time.

 

[Buford57]

Hadn't heard the term "Kelitis" for a long time.

Probably just as well.

 

[rwsmith]

I wasn't a cop

I've been around for a good while and I hardly know what you're talking about. After I caught on I was able to decipher most of it. I need sap (is that a slapstick), Kelitis and Adam Henry. 10-42? Dead?

 

[Doug M.]

10-42 is end of watch, so yeah, in this setting, dead.

Kelitis is a reference to the first good quality heavy duty (aircraft aluminum, IIRC) flashlight. Bright for the time, and with 5 D cells in it, a fine field expedient percussive maintenance tool for the resistive. Specifically it is a diagnostic term related to the injuries one would get from fighting a cop and taking a few good blows with the light.

Adam Henry is using the phonetic alphabet (cops use a different one than the military) for A-H, to wit, someone who has in fact evolved past an anal pore. (Spelling out the 7 letter vernacular for waste ejection port results in 7 * ... .)

There are two kinds of sap of which I am aware, the kind that is round and based on leather wrapped around a spring, with a knob end, and the flat ones that might in fact be known as a slapstick (not familiar with that term).

Experienced about half of the stuff the OP mentioned. Never wore a hat; did have a revolver but with speed loaders, a slightly better light bar. Did have (and wear) sap gloves. Still carry them in my POV.

 

[Buford57]

Doug M. nailed it.

The impact weapon in question evolved from the simple leather or canvas pouch filled with shot (blackjack) to a lead slug the diameter of your thumb and about twice as long with a coil spring handle sheathed in leather (what I knew as a sap) and finally the "flat sap" "slapper" or "slapstick". At least that's how we used the terms.

Any of them fit in the pocket just fine.

Sap gloves were good, but you had to remember that you were wearing them.

 

[wuluf]

Not a LEO myself but I've heard reference to the "wood shampoo" back in the day. Anyone care to confirm?

sent from my phone 'cause I'm too lazy to walk to the laptop..

 

[824tsv]

For those that have never seen them, here's a "Sap" on the left - we called them Ball Breakers, management called them "Leather Billy's". The aluminum flashlight is made by Kel-Lite, hence the Kelitis. Mine was originally a 5 cell, but over the years I've lost the 2 cell extension.

 

[Doug M.]

Not a LEO myself but I've heard reference to the "wood shampoo" back in the day. Anyone care to confirm?

*
I can't confirm what you heard - I wasn't there.

If you asking if the term refers to a wooden nightstick to the cranium, that would be yes. There are good reasons to use that technique in a fight, but the managers of the late 70s - mid 80s had no idea what they were saying and cried about "liability". You can do darned near anything in a fight with an offender as long you can give a good description of the reason. (I do LE legal as a government civil lawyer, and some of the stuff I hear and see is amazing. Like, smoking spice with the Good Idea Fairy, and so stupid Billy Madison would cringe amazing.)

 

[webley green]

Yep, recall most all of them, we had the slapjack version of the sap; still have mine. Hats were the round Air Force type of hat. Wood nightsticks went away and we got plastic ones, some opted for the ones with an extra handle. Times have changed.

 

[David LaPell]

While I don't recall any of those things in my career (I do have a copy of No Second Place Winner however and refer to it often). I remember that of my Dad when he was a cop when I was little. I remember going with him to go get one of the town's new police cars (gave us three after that and that included the blue car the chief drove). I even recall helping him put the door decals on in the driveway. I remember him carrying a revolver of some sort, I know it was a .38 Special and from a picture I saw once, I was thinking a Model 15 Smith. I remember the long wooden nightstick he had with him and the giant flashlight. He was only a cop for a couple of years since the department was all part timers except for the chief, he worked for a plant after that making better money.

 

[JM4151]

Old Cop

Joined the force in 1970. Had no problem adapting to new tools and methods except when computers for the cars came along. My partner and I shared an unmarked car and we were able to put off getting one in our vehicle. We both finally retired after almost 38 years in LE. Great career.