Friday, December 31, 2010
A1s first solo go kart ride
Thursday, December 23, 2010
The week on patrol, November 15-19, 2010
I trained four nights this week and we rode my regular patrol numbers. Then on Friday I was back in the helicopter taking more pictures.
After we signed on to our computer Monday night, the first thing that jumped out at me was the number of patrol units in my beat for the night. We had 7, which is amazing! It was a Monday night and we would have been fine with 3, but it was still nice to see. There are many nights when we have 7 total units in the district which includes 4 more beats. We volunteered for a burglary of a motor vehicle report in another beat. The owner of the vehicle had no idea how the suspect had entered his vehicle. All of the windows were still intact. He thought that he had locked the doors, but had just about talked himself into believing that he had left then unlocked by mistake. I let D look around a little to see if he could find how they entered. He had no idea as well. Then I showed them a little hole just under the passenger side door handle. The suspect took a screwdriver or something similar and punched a hole just beneath the door handle and this unlocked the vehicle. It is quick, quiet, and very effective. The vehicle was a Ford truck.
Our first call on Tuesday night was a loud noise at a small apartment complex. There were 8 units in the complex and the loud music was disturbing 7 of them. The music coming from the one unit was very loud. We knocked, and no one came to the door. A neighbor stepped out and said that they had seen the resident leaving earlier in the evening. So there was nothing that we could do. We can not kick in a door for loud music. We recommended that they call the landlord who could come and open the door and turn off the music. I looked at the power meters to see if I could tell which one serviced that apartment. Briefly shutting off power to the apartment would probably turn off the music, but unfortunately the meters were not labeled with apartment numbers.
A little later, we pulled over a Jeep that had a few Texans stickers on the back window, but nothing out of the ordinary. In the vehicle were two females. The driver was all done up and dressed head to toe in Texans gear. The passenger looked like she had just woken up and had not bothered to change clothes. D got her driver’s license and proof of insurance and we returned to the patrol vehicle. I asked D for the license, and the picture looked exactly like the passenger. I thought that was a little strange. We returned to the Jeep. Turns out that the females were identical twins. We did indeed have the driver’s real license. It just so happened that when she got her picture taken for her license, she was not looking her best. The driver was a Texans cheerleader on her way home from an appearance. She asked if we wanted posters, and I said that D would love a poster (D had been silent this entire time, he had no idea what to say). She signed a poster for D and then asked if I wanted one. I said that my son, A1, would like a poster. She signed one for A1 as well. Her sister said that she was hoping to make the squad next year so that she could cheer with her twin. Maybe they would inspire the Texans to a few more wins?
After the traffic stop, we checked by with units on an assault in progress at a nearby restaurant. Three males were eating together. One of them decided to shoot video of his buddy eating using his cell phone. The buddy asked him to stop and he refused. It escalated into a physical fight and a table was shoved tearing a hole in a wall. After the fight, the males left, but were stopped nearby by another unit based on the vehicle description in the call slip. The restaurant could not decide if they wanted to press charges for the damage. Eventually, information was exchanged and a report was generated by the primary unit. Hopefully, the guy with the video fetish will refrain from shooting video of his buddy while he is eating in the future.
Our last call of the night was a stolen vehicle recovery. When a vehicle that has been reported stolen is found, we have to do a supplemental report to the original report stating that the vehicle has been found and is no longer missing. When that report hits the system, it takes the stolen hit off of the license plate. Recovery calls are usually called in by wrecker drivers who find abandoned vehicles and call them into our call center. The call taker runs the plate and it comes back stolen and they dispatch us to do a recovery. This call was not like that. An owner had reported his vehicle stolen the day before and then miraculously found it the next day. He found the vehicle a few blocks away from where he reported it stolen. I think that he was intoxicated the night before, and could not find his vehicle after leaving a club. Either way, we still have to do a recovery.
Wednesday night started with a few regular traffic stops. Then we checked by with another unit who had a possible unlawful carrying of a weapon case. A man left his business and was driving home in his Lexus. He had a blow out on the freeway and pulled over onto the shoulder. In the city, there is a program where certified wreckers will get a stalled vehicle off of the freeway at no cost to the vehicle owner. It is called the Safe Clear program, and it is not optional to the vehicle owner. If the vehicle breaks down on the freeway, whether in a moving lane or not, certified wreckers can pick up the vehicle and get it safely off of the freeway. Back to our Lexus with the blow out, a wrecker pulled in front of the Lexus to pick it up. The driver got out and said that he would prefer a flat bed wrecker. The wrecker driver called for one and he arrived a short time later and pulled up behind the Lexus. The Lexus driver exited his vehicle again, but this time he had a pistol in his hand which was down at his side. He did not threaten anyone or point it at anyone. The wrecker drivers saw the pistol and retreated to their trucks and called for the police. Officers arrived and the Lexus driver was taken into custody without incident.
The Lexus driver told D and I that he was a business owner and that he carried large amounts of cash and vehicle titles with him on a usual basis. That is why he carried a pistol. He did not have a concealed handgun license. It is legal in the state to carry a firearm concealed in your vehicle. It gets into a gray area when you exit the vehicle with the pistol in your hand. I called the district attorney’s office. They were reluctant to take charges because the pistol was legally in the vehicle and the vehicle was about to be towed, and you can not expect the man to leave the pistol in the vehicle when it is about to be towed. I countered with he did not have to have it in his hand down by his leg. I think that he was trying to intimidate the wrecker drivers so that he could use his preferred tow truck company. The DA did not see it that way. The Lexus driver was released and his pistol was returned to him (we locked it in his trunk) and then D wrote a detailed report. Sometimes when charges seem certain, the DA disagrees.
Later, we checked by with B and his rookie who had been dispatched to a major accident. A car being driven by a federal agent had pulled out into the path of a motorcycle. The motorcycle rider was wearing a helmet and was transported to the hospital by ambulance with minor injuries. The agent said that he had looked in the direction that the motorcycle had come from and had not seen anything. The area is very well lit and traffic was very light at the time of the accident. The agent said he was coming from a nearby gas station where he had just picked up a “friend.” I think that the agent was in a hurry to get some privacy and had been distracted while driving by his “friend.” Texting is not the only distracting activity in a vehicle.
We started Thursday night with a few traffic stops. On our second stop, the driver was intoxicated. He had two prior DWI arrests on his record. A DWI task force unit made the scene. D watched and listened as the task force officer interviewed the driver and then conducted the standardized field sobriety tests. The driver was arrested and transported to the station for processing buy the task force unit. While the tests were being conducted on the scene, a man approached and said that he was a friend of the driver. Apparently, the driver had called him and asked him to come pick him up after we stopped him. I told him that he was a good friend, but his buddy was going to jail.
Our last call of the night was a minor accident on the roof of an apartment complex’s parking garage. Two females came to the complex to attend a small party in an apartment. When they came back to their vehicle (Mercury Grand Marquis), they discovered that it had been hit by another vehicle. It had been struck hard enough to move it 5 feet and it would not start. They were pretty upset that it would not start since it looked like the vehicle was driveable otherwise. I noticed the kind of car it was and told the driver to pop open the trunk. In the trunk I found the fuel shut off valve and reset it. I told her to try to start the vehicle and it started. A Mercury Grand Marquis is just fancier version of the Crown Victoria police crusier that we drive. At the academy during the driver’s training, they told us about the fuel shut off valve since there was a chance we would spin out and the car would die and not restart. They were very happy that the vehicle was now operational, but also upset that someone would hit their vehicle and then drive off without leaving any information. Whoever hit them was probably drunk, and drunk people do not make sound decisions.
Friday night I was back at the helicopter hanger. I went on two flights and took more pictures of the city and the busy club areas. I had another great time up in the bird and got some good pictures at the same time.
That concludes another week on patrol.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Getting closer
What is "America's Music"? Dixie? Might be if MIssissippi is the birthplace of America's music.
Monday, December 20, 2010
Sunday, December 19, 2010
With a view
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Rotunda
Outside the factory
Friday, December 17, 2010
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Our home for the night
The adventure begins
Getting close to Greenville
Finally, some rest for the weary
It is amazing how people do not listen to simple instructions. They said the flight was full, so please do not put jackets in the overhead compartments. We watched every other person put a jacket up there, only to be removed later by others trying to find room for bags. Jen survived take off and was able to get a little rest on the flight.
There was an alternative couple one row ahead of us on the flight with two young kids. Our OCD kicked in when while playing with the toddler, she (the mom) put the pacifier in her own mouth and then later put the bottle in her own mouth. It was interesting to say the least.
Friday, December 10, 2010
The week on patrol, November 8-12, 2010
This week D and I were the print unit four nights and I got to take a ride on Friday.
Monday started off with some good news. B really wants to be a firearms instructor with our department. He has taken numerous steps to prepare himself for that role, including becoming a certified police instructor, and taking an armor’s class so that he can repair pistols. He is an excellent marksman with a good work ethic and an easy going manner. Recently, the indoor firearms range at the academy posted an opening. He interviewed and was awarded the spot. He will be an excellent instructor and an asset to the indoor range. I am very happy for him, while being bummed at the same time. We have become good friends and I will miss working with him. (Since he was told that he had the position, the Command staff have yet to approve his transfer. Hopefully, he will get to move soon.)
For our first call of the night, D and I checked by with B and his rookie on a burglary of a residence. A single man had purchased an older one story bungalow and then really fixed up the place. He left for work in the morning, and when he returned home discovered that his place had been burglarized. The suspect had thrown a small boulder through the smallest window in the house. That window happened to be in the master bathroom. When the boulder landed, it took a huge chunk out of the granite countertop. Then the suspect used his bare hands to remove the shards of glass from the window and he sat them in a neat pile it on the ground. He then climbed through the window and went through most of the drawers in the master bedroom and closet. An Apple laptop was the only item stolen. I examined the pieces of glass and found a few that had some good fingerprints on them. I took out my kit and was able to lift the prints from the broken glass. Hopefully, the prints will lead to a suspect.
During one of our traffic stops that night, as soon as D got to the driver’s side window, before he had a chance to say anything, the female driver asked for a warning. D had not experienced this tactic in the past and did not know how to respond. He recovered quickly enough, and told her why she was stopped and then asked for her driver’s license and proof of financial responsibility (insurance). She could not find her insurance card. She went on to say that she did not see the signs prohibiting the left hand turn at the intersection. She was trying to avoid a ticket, and who can blame her? D ended up giving her a warning, in the form of a citation for an illegal left turn and no proof of insurance.
Tuesday started off with a few uneventful and mundane traffic stops. D is getting the hang of how to make a safe traffic stop at night. Figuring out how and where to park, working the lights, radio, and computer is a little overwhelming in the beginning. And all of that is before even talking to the driver.
A few hours into the shift, my Sergeant asked us to check by with him and another unit on a domestic violence assault. The call was in the other district covered by my station, and D did a good job of finding the location. We arrived to find a female wearing a yellow jogging suit. At first glance, she appeared a little ‘fluffy’ around the middle. Turned out that she wasn’t fluffy, just in need of some support. After she told me her story, I understood why she was less than fully dressed. She said that her husband has been abusing her physically and psychologically throughout their entire marriage (5 years). He does not let her attain financial independence, going so far as to getting her fired from a few jobs. He wants her to have to depend upon him so that he can continue to abuse her. She had not reported anything in the past. This particular incident had been going on for two days. The only reason it stopped was because he literally threw her out of the house. She ran away to a local business and called the police. Since it had been going on for a couple of days, her bruises were severe. I took photos of all of the bruises that she felt comfortable showing. While I was dealing with her, other officers went to the house and took the husband into custody. Hopefully she will be able to make a clean break from him.
Wednesday night started out with the dog stuck in the fence that I previously wrote about. A short time later, we responded to an alarm at a local Christian school. We arrived to find the key holder on the scene. There was an open window in the little gym and an unlocked door in another building. We checked the building and did not find anyone inside. The key holder then walked through and did not notice anything missing. All of the computers and flat screen televisions were accounted for. He said that he had been having a problem with a homeless male that slept by the little gym. He did not mind him sleeping there, but he did mind him using that area as a restroom. D gathered all of his information and wrote the report.
In the middle of the shift we were asked to check by with a few units who responded to an assault in progress. The units were dispatched to the an intersection in the alternative lifestyle bar section of the district. They arrived to find four males, one of whom was bleeding, standing next to a car that had been absolutely mauled. Every window had been shattered and every panel had been dented with a tire iron. The suspects had even climbed onto the vehicle and jumped up and down on the hood and trunk. The owner of the vehicle had been hit in the face a few times by the suspects, luckily not with the tire iron. The owner of the vehicle told us that an argument had started between his group of friends and the suspects in a nearby bar. The owner of the car and his friends decided to leave that bar and walked to his car. Right when they arrived at the vehicle, the suspects pulled up in their vehicle, jumped out, and commenced the beat down. I took photos of the owner and his vehicle. Sometimes, seemingly minor arguments lead to major assaults and more.
D and I were the print unit again on Thursday. We checked by on a burglar alarm at a furniture store. The furniture store’s alarm provided real time audio to the alarm company and they could hear voices saying, “hurry up” and “grab that.” So, we knew someone was inside. Units were at the store within a minute of receiving the call. The front door had been shattered, but the suspects were gone. Later, the alarm company told us that voices of the suspects stopped about a minute before we arrived. Close, but not close enough. The suspects were after flat screen televisions. They tried to rip one off of the wall, and only succeeded in breaking it and leaving fingerprints all over it. I was able to lift some prints from the broken television. The suspects took one flatscreen off of an entertainment center. When they took off with it, the power cord stayed plugged into the wall, and came unplugged from the television. So, they have a television without a power cord.
This was Veteran’s Day, and our first traffic stop was, yup, a member of the military. She was an Army reservist and had recently gotten home from drill. She had made an illegal left turn, had an expired registration, and an expired inspection sticker. She was a easy ticket waiting for a writer. However, I could not bring myself to let D write her a ticket on Veteran’s Day. That did not stop me from harassing her about her driving and stickers, but in the end I thanked her for her service.
Friday night was a special treat. Earlier in the week, I had been approached by a Supervisor asking if I would take a few photographs for him. Our city is hosting a major sporting event in a few months and he had been tasked with developing a man power plan for our station for the event. So, he thought pictures of the area would be helpful. He wanted me and another officer to go up in our helicopters and take photos of the busy nightlife areas covered by our station. I did not have to be asked twice. I showed up at the Air Support hanger Friday night with my camera. I had to watch an introductory video and then sign a few forms. I was given ear plugs and a headset. A cold front was coming in that night, so they put the doors on the helicopter. They said that they usually fly without them. I climbed into the backseat and strapped in. There was not much room, and the seat was only about 12 inches off of the floor so my knees were in my chest. The pilot asked if I had flown in a helicopter before, and when I said, “no” told me where to find the barf bag, just in case.
They used a mobile generator to start the bird, and shortly thereafter we were in the air. Our first call was to assist officers responding to a burglary of a residence in progress. We were close and were soon doing tight circles over the area. The helicopter was circling to the right and I was sitting on that side. The helicopter was pitched quite a bit to that side I thought. Without the doors on, it would felt like I was suspended in mid air. The observer (passenger seat who runs the computer, light, and FLIR system) was using the “sun” (the large spot light on the helicopter) to light up the area around the house for the officers. After a few circles, the pilot asked me if I was alright. Thankfully, I was doing great. The circles did not bother me at all. Throughout the 105 minute flight, we checked by with other ground units. Unfortunately there were not any vehicle chases during the flight. When we were not checking by, they flew over the areas that I needed to photograph. I got some good photos of the area as well as some other great shots of the city at night. I went up in the next fight as well. It was a great experience.
That concludes another week on patrol.
Friday, November 26, 2010
The week on patrol, November 1-5, 2010
This week included lots of traffic stops and property crime reports. That can only mean one thing, I am training again.
I started training D Monday night. He is 32, married, and a former drummer and pharmacy technician. He is in phase two of the training program. That means he has completed three weeks of training on day shift. I have not trained in a while, let alone a phase two rookie that knows very little. I am sure it will take me a few days to get back into the swing of training.
After I gave him the day one in my patrol car speech which covers driving very slowly and smoothly along with do what I tell you to do (I say it nicely), we made our first traffic stop. The vehicle made the illegal left turn, D activated the lights, and he pulled over into a gas station parking lot. After D made his initial contact with the driver, I got the driver out of the vehicle. There was a very strong alcoholic beverage odor coming from the vehicle and I wanted to see if it was coming from the driver or the passenger. It turned out to be coming from both of them. I called for a task force unit to come and test the driver. I was certain that he was too intoxicated to drive. It took the task force unit about 30 minutes to arrive. He put the driver through all of the tests and he passed. I was shocked. This was only the second time (out of at least 100 times) that I have called for a task force unit and the driver had not been arrested. So, D wrote him a ticket, he signed it, and was free to leave. It was his lucky night.
A few hours later we volunteered for a report call in the other district. The home owner, Y, told us that the suspect, V, was a person that he has known for at least 20 years. They went to high school together. Y is a contractor and V is a homeless alcoholic. Y, out of the kindness of his heart I guess, decided to give V a job and moved him into his home. Things went well for a couple of weeks, and then V started not showing up for work. I am not sure how that happens when you live with your boss, but that is what we were told. Y said that morning when he went to the garage to get his tools to load them for the day, one of his cordless drills was missing. He immediately suspected V and went to his room. V was not there. Y called him and V said that Y owed him some money and that is why he took the drill. Apparently V was not yet ready to be a contributing member of society.
I was off on Tuesday night. I had a golf tournament to play in Wednesday morning. Since I am the talent (just kidding) so to speak, I thought that I would get a good night's sleep before the event. It was a four man scrabble to raise money for the men's ministry at my church. I played with my Dad, cousin, and great friend T. We have played in a few of these types of tournaments over the past two years, but this was the first one where we actually played up to our potential. We won the event by a few strokes and then won 2 door prizes during the awards presentation. Finally.
Wednesday night started with another theft call. The home owner told us that on occasion his garage door malfunctions. It starts going down, gets about half way, and then goes back up. Apparently that happened last night. He came out to leave for work and noticed that both of his vehicles had been rummaged through. He described the missing items to us in minute detail (he had all day to make a list). I then asked him if the door from his attached garage to his house had been locked last night, and he said no. I do not think that he had thought about that fact. It was unfortunate that things had been taken, but it could have been much worse.
Then we were dispatched to an auto theft. From the address, I suspected that the vehicle had been towed, and not stolen. As we arrived, there was a tow truck towing a vehicle from the parking lot. I pointed that out to D, and then I showed him the sign by the parking lot waring that your vehicle will be towed if you park here and leave the premise. Sure enough, this couple had parked here and then gone across the street to a club. When they came out, only about twenty minutes after arriving, their vehicle was gone. The tow companies have spotters that watch the lots. As soon as you leave the premise, they call in the tow trucks. We showed the couple the tow away sign and then gave them the phone number to the tow line. It was an expensive lesson to learn.
Then we made a routine traffic stop and had covered all of the training categories for the night. wW had just settled into our report writing spot, when we were dispatched to an assault in progress. Numerous other units decided to check by and we arrived after most of them. The people involved were intoxicated and not very open with information. So, after the female complainant stated that she wished we would all leave, my Sergeant told all of us to do just that. We returned to our spot and started writing. About 15 minutes later, another call dropped at the same address. We returned and no one would come out to talk to us. We left again, and sure enough, 15 minutes later another call at the same address. This time we were able to get some cooperation. The female that lived in the apartment had a birthday party that night. It was her and three other males that all work together at a downtown restaurant. They were all drinking and all of the males were trying to win the affection of the female. She made her choice, and asked the other males to leave. They did not go willingly. Fights took place, bottles were thrown, and a knife even made an appearance. The district attorney that I spoke with did not want to accept charges on anyone at that time. We made sure that everyone had a safe place to stay for the evening, far away from each other, and then wrote the report.
When I arrived at roll call Thursday night, the desk Sergeant advised me that we would be running a search warrant with a narcotics squad at the beginning of the shift. That is not my favorite thing to do, but it would be good experience for D. We sat in on the planning meeting and were told our area of responsibility. We were tasked to secure the parking lot of the club and to take anyone in the lot into custody while the squad hit the front doors. We all loaded up and drove to the location. We all descended on the place at the same time and the take down went very smoothly.
After everything was sorted out, we were asked to transport the two females that had been arrested. They both were being charged with possession of a controlled substance. One of them liked to be the center of attention. She cried all the way to jail. She told us that her occupation was "bikini dancer". She got the dancer part correct, but I do not think bikinis are involved, at least not for very long. She had an envelope in her purse with about 300 one dollar bills stuffed inside. She kept trying to tell us that it was not her cocaine, even though it was in her purse. That will all be sorted out later.
Later in the shift we volunteered for a criminal mischief report. The "man" that answered the door told us that his ex-boyfriend came over and broke his window. Apparently their 8 month relationship had recently ended. However, over the Halloween weekend, the ex saw our "man" at one of the clubs in the gayborhood with a new squeeze. This did not sit well with the ex and he decided to get some revenge by breaking a window and then slashing two tires on "man's" car. Men tend to be jealous creatures and when they date each other, it can get interesting.
On Friday night we were the print unit. We made three traffic stops at the beginning of the shift. One of the drivers was dumb enough to throw his cigarette butt out his window and onto the pavement while we were writing his ticket. He made it very easy for us to add the littering violation to his ticket. Then we were asked to check for prints on a vehicle that had been burglarized. The owner had left his laptop in plain view in the backseat of the vehicle. When will people learn to take their valuables out of their vehicles?
Later in the shift things went a little crazy with burglaries. First up was a private pharmacy. Inside the pharmacy has a room where the drugs are kept. Customers come up to a window set into the wall of that room to get their prescriptions filled. The window is 3 inches thick bullet proof glass. The suspects used a large rock to shatter the front door. They then hit the bullet proof window with the same rock. The glass did not break, but the entire window, frame and all, came out of the wall and fell into the small room. The suspect jumped through the opening and took the drugs that he was after. I was able to lift a few prints from that scene. The entire event was on video, so I knew exactly where and what he had touched.
About thirty minutes later, a coffee shop was burglarized. Ten minutes after that, a Blockbuster. At the coffee shop the suspects were after the tip jar. At Blockbuster, the flat screen TVs were the target. Two TVs were damaged, but they were not smart enough to realize that you just have to lift the TV off of the wall mount. They tried to just pull them off, and that does not work very well.
I am glad to be training again. D is doing well and is picks things up quickly. That makes my job MUCH easier. That concludes another week on patrol.
The week on patrol, October 25-29, 2010
This was a short week for me. B and I rode together every night and I was off on Thursday and Friday for our trip to Austin.
B and I were the print unit on Monday night. It was brutally slow, no vehicle or pedestrian traffic in the area. We checked by with J on a suspicious person call. The call slip said that a shirtless male was walking down the middle of the street yelling at cars that passed. We did not find anyone in the immediate area, but we did see someone a few blocks down the street. We drove down and found a male matching the description in the call slip.
J arrived a minute later and started talking to the male. The male told us that he was homeless. Then immediately after said that he wanted us to take him home. We asked where that was and he said again that he was homeless. This was going nowhere fast. It was obvious from the smell of the man that he was intoxicated. It actually smelled like he bathed in beer. When J told him that he was going to jail, he laid down on the ground. We got him up, cuffed him, and got him into J's patrol vehicle. At least he will not be run over while walking in the middle of the street tonight. B and I were the print unit again. As soon as we signed on to the computer, there was a print call waiting for us. The call slip said that a Constable needed us to take some prints for him. That was odd. I have not seen another agency request us for prints. Other agencies try to drop calls on us all of the time, but this was different, at least according to the call slip.
We arrived to find to deputy Constables talking to a group on homeowners. We asked the Constables what we could do for them, and they told us that they had been called to the house to make a burglary of a residence report. They called us to attempt to lift fingerprints from a few surfaces in the house. The county is divided up into 8 precincts. Each precinct has a constables office. Constables get calls in 3 different ways: 1. contract, their precinct will have a contract with certain apartment complexes or neighborhoods to provide services, 2. on-view, they see the incident take place, or 3. a citizen in their precinct calls their dispatcher requesting a unit. In this case, the homeowner called my department and decided that we took too long to respond. Then they called the constables office and a deputy arrived within a few minutes.
My department actually responded before the home owner arrived home. The damage was in the back of the house and that part of the residence was not accessible to the responding officer. We told the constable that we would take care of the primary report. They were thankful. The home owner then showed us around the house. The suspects came in through a set of French doors in the back of the house. Then they went upstairs, ripped the siren off of the wall, and started going through the master closet. As far os the home owner could tell, nothing had been taken. I tried to lift prints from the siren box and a few other surfaces, but only got smudges.
A few hours later we were dispatched to take a few photos of an assault victim. Her ex-boyfriend would not stop calling and harassing her. So, she decided that she would meet him in a public place hoping that she could convince him to leave her alone, not her best idea. They met at a local restaurant and the conversation did not go well. She got scared and decided to leave. He followed her and then began to assault her. He hit her a few times and then decided to drag her down the street. She was able to get away and other units responded quickly enough to take him into custody. I took a few pictures of her and tagged them into evidence. Hopefully, she will stay away from him from now on.
B and I rode my regular patrol numbers on Wednesday. The regular picture unit was not working, so we were asked to take a few pictures by my Srg. It was a tagging call. Two young males decided to buy some spray paint and go crazy. I took pictures of 8 different businesses that they put their mark on. They did not claim a gang affiliation, but they were very proud of their work.
That brings to an end a short week on patrol.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Firemen and their tools
Every now and then, I will hear a transmission over the radio that really piques my curiosity. One of those instances happened last night.
D, my probationary, and I had just finished loading up our shop with our gear, when over the radio we heard another unit say that she needed the fire department to check by on her scene. There was nothing unusual about that request. Then the dispatcher asked for patient information. Usually the response is something like, “white male, mid 30s, conscious and breathing with a cut to the arm,” or something similar. This time the response was, “a poodle.” It would have been awesome if she would have said, “white male, covered in curly fun, 28 in dog years, scared to death.” I pulled up her call slip on our mobile computer. Her call slip stated that a dog had gotten its head stuck under a fence. As we were driving toward the call, I wondered just how necessary this was going be. Were the police and fire departments really needed? How stuck can the dog really be? Why can’t the dog owner figure out a way to set the dog free? If the dog is stuck under the fence, what about digging it out? All of these thoughts were going through my head.
When we arrived, there were two officers and a Sergeant already on the scene. A K-9 officer arrived as we were pulling up. When D and I walked up, they all tried to be funny and asked if we were there to take doggy prints or pictures since we were riding the print unit. They asked if I had a “paw pad” for the prints. Everyone has jokes.
I walked over to the fence. The fence was wrought iron, six feet tall with 5 inches between the bars. At the bottom of the fence between every two bars was a 4 inch in diameter circular piece of wrought iron that had been welded in place. The dog’s head was stuck through one of the circles. The owner of the dog was sitting on the ground holding the back of the dog and his “partner” was on the other side of the fence trying to keep the dog calm with soothing words. I have to admit, the dog was stuck worse than I expected. Even so, my first thought was “if he got his head through the circle, his head will come back through the circle.” The K-9 officer was thinking the exact same thing. He wanted to douse the dog with water and lather up its head with some dog shampoo that he had with him. Sounded like a great idea to me. About the time that he was bringing the shampoo and water over to the dog, the fire department arrived.
Now do not misunderstand me, I appreciate the fire department. They are very helpful and do a great job. However, in this type of situation, they would rather stick an ice pick in their head than listen to an idea from the police. Maybe it has to do with department rivalries? The four firemen from the fire engine huddled around the dog. The K-9 officer gave his suggestion of the shampoo, but that was quickly shot down by the firemen. They used the analogy of a kid getting his head stuck in between the balusters (vertical rails) of a stairway. Sometimes, what goes through will not come back out. Ok, that sounds reasonable when you are talking about a child. However, most children are not covered in fur with two floppy ears. This dog’s fur was rather loose and had a little more give than your average child’s skin. At the minimum, why not try it before destroying the fence with cool fire department cutting tools?
The firemen would hear nothing of it, and set out to figure out the best way to cut the dog free. They started out with a gigantic pry bar. The type that they use to pry open car doors or force entry into homes. Huge. They quickly decided that was not the right tool for the job. They went back to the fire engine, opened up all of the cabinets and drawers, but could not find another tool that they thought might work. At this point, maybe lather up the dog with shampoo? Nope. How about call out a heavy rescue ladder truck with an abundance of cool tools? Yes sir. The ladder truck arrived and four more firemen joined us. They talked it over for a while, and the first tool of choice was a hack saw. They removed the blade and tried to saw the weld that was holding the circular piece to the bars. The fireman could not get a good grip on the blade, so it was on to the next tool. They grabbed a Rabbet tool, a hand powered portable hydraulic ram designed for insertion between a door and its frame for rapid forcible entry. They placed it between the two bars above the dog and started pumping. The bars bent outwards, but the dog was still stuck. Next tool to come out was a cordless reciprocating saw. That was deemed to risky to try. It is difficult to keep a reciprocating saw steady and in one place, especially when the dog would be thrashing about less than an inch away from the blade. Then they got out the cordless grinder. They came to the same conclusion with the grinder as they had with the reciprocating saw.
So the fire department Captain on the scene decided to bring out the big guns. He told his guys to get out the Jaws of Life. The tool that is most commonly used for cutting trapped victims out of vehicles. They unloaded the Jaws and the generator that powers them and fired everything up. At first they tried to cut the actual circular piece of metal that was around the dog’s neck, but there was not enough room between the metal and the dog. Then they decided to cut out a piece of the fence around where the dog was stuck. Six cuts later and the dog had an 18 inch by 12 inch wrought iron collar with razor sharp edges that he was trying to swing around. Eventually, they wrapped a fireman’s coat around the body of the dog and that seemed to calm him down a little bit. Now the problem was how to cut the piece of fence from the dog? While most of the firemen were discussing that, the Captain started working the dog’s fur and skin back through the hole. In about a minute, he had an ear back through. Then another minute and the other ear was through. A little more work and pushing and pulling, and the dog was free. The dog was physically unharmed, but I bet mentally he is a little leery of fences for a little while.
It turned out that the cutting tools were not necessary. It just took a little patience. But where is the fun in that? Why not take out all of the toys and destroy a fence in the process first? After the ladder truck arrived, there were 14 city employees (police and fire) and approximately 2 million dollars worth of city equipment brought to bear to free the dog. And a little water and shampoo would have done the job.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
The week on patrol, October 18-22, 2010
This week I rode with B twice, was the print unit even though I was not officially, and participated in an awesome in-service class.
B and I rode together on Monday night. We were the print unit because the regular officer was off that night. It was a very slow night. Not a single print or picture call dropped, but we did check by with a few officers on their calls. Since October is my birth month, I needed to qualify with my pistol. Monday night was so slow, it seemed like a good night to drive out to the outdoor pistol range which is up by the big airport. It was such a slow night in our area that 6 other officers went with us to practice their shooting. I qualified, but did not shoot as well as I would have liked. It was the first time that I had shot since last October. I wrote last year that I wanted to shoot more over the coming year, but that did not happen. Hopefully, this will be the year that I am able to practice a little bit more.
Tuesday night B and I rode together again. We rode my regular patrol numbers. Early in the shift we were dispatched to a male and female disturbance in the ward. We arrived and found our Sergeant already talking to the female. So we listened to what she had to say. The female who is 20 years old, told us that he ex-boyfriend who is 34 years old came over to her apartment looking for his cell phone. The conversation quickly turned heated, and the male ended up pushing her and then hit her in the face. Ok, so we have a good assault / family violence incident. The Sergeant decided to gather the information and do the report (I offered to do it, but she insisted). When the Sergeant asked the female to describe her ex-boyfriend for the report, the female looked at B. She said he was about B’s height and B’s weight. She said that he was dark skinned and then she changed it to light skinned. She did not know his date of birth or where he lived. She did not want us to find him. She was neither scared nor worried, just apathetic. So, why did she call us? I am not condoning his actions. If he hit her, he needs to go to jail. But if she does not care and is not going to help us catch him, why waste our time?
Right after roll call, we are required to “spark test” our tasers. This involves removing the dart cartridge from the taser, turing it on, and holding down the trigger for one second and then turning it off. This is done to make sure that the taser is working properly and will fire when you need it to fire. When I did my spark test on Tuesday, the taser did not fire properly. Usually this is caused by a battery issue. The desk Sergeant put a new battery in it and it still did not work. So, I needed a new taser. New tasers are acquired from the personnel at the outdoor pistol range. So, we headed out to the pistol range for the second night in a row. Since we were going out there, we figured that we might as well shoot again. So, already, I am doing better than last year. I shot a little better than the night before and got a new taser. Heck of a deal.
Towards the end of the shift we were dispatched to a person down. When we arrived the person down was actually in the back of a cab. B opened up the back door of the cab and started talking to the male. I shined my flashlight on his head and observed a bump on his forehead. It was about the size of a baseball. The male looked like he had a creature living in his head which was trying to get out. About that time an ambulance arrived and the paramedics got the male out of the cab. They started to ask him a few questions to check his mental state. They asked him where he was (location) and he responded with “I am right here.” This was repeated about three times. The paramedics looked like they wanted to slap him. Then they asked him what year it was and his answer was “October.” Again this was repeated a few times. After the paramedics were convinced that he was really out of it and not being sarcastic, they decided to load him up and transport him to the hospital.
I was by myself Wednesday night. The print unit was off, but the desk Sergeant said that we were too short handed for me to ride as the print unit. So, of course, the first call that I am dispatched to is a print call. Evening shift officers went out to a house that had been burglarized. Instead of calling for the evening shift print unit or even using the print kit that every patrol officer has been issued, they decided to wait until the end of their shift to drop a print call for the location. As soon as I arrived at the print call, I knew it was going to be a long one. The homeowner had numerous items out in the living room which he said had been moved by the burglar. Then he started asking about various surfaces and methods for lifting fingerprints. Outstanding, another person that has watched a little too much CSI. I explained to him the tools that I had been given for the job and what surfaces were conducive for me to left prints from. I ended up dusting quite a few items, but only came up with smudges.
A short time later, my Sergeant called me and asked if I would come to his location and print another scene. This time it was at a laundry mat that has been burglarized. They had video of the incident so I was able to see exactly where and what the suspect touched. He put his bare palm down on a folding table. So, I got out my stuff and lifted the palm print. Amazingly, it looked pretty good. I dusted a few other areas where the suspect had touched, but nothing compared to the palm. Those were the only two calls for the night and they were both print calls even though I was not the print unit. Strange.
I was off on Thursday night. I was scheduled to take a tactical shotgun class on Friday, and I wanted to be well rested before the class, for my safety as well as my classmates.
Friday morning I drove out to the county firearms complex. The county has a nice covered pistol range, two outdoor pistol/shotgun ranges, and a rifle range. There were 8 of us in the class and we met in a classroom inside the range house. Once inside, we were met by a county range officer. His responsibility was to show us a safety video. He took the opportunity to practice his stand-up comedy routine, and was actually rather entertaining. In the middle of the video, a county officer that was looking for something, maybe, opened the door to our class and verbalized. I say verbalized because no one in the room understood anything that came out of his mouth. I think he was mumbling cajun with a heavy, heavy, heavy southern accent. If you have seen the movie “The Waterboy”, think of the “Farmer Fran” character that was constantly mumbling something incoherent, multiplied by 10. He was completely unintelligible.
After the safety meeting it was time to get our get shotguns and head out to the range. The rest of the class was spent learning proper shooting techniques, speed shooting techniques, and tactical skills. We each shot about 200 rounds of free-to-us ammunition. Free ammunition makes any day a good day. The next time I go bird hunting, the birds should be very nervous.
That concludes another week on patrol.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
The week on patrol, October 11-15, 2010
This was my last week with O. He was set free on Friday. I ran three burglary of a residence calls this week and watched a scooter take a tumble.
O rode with me on Monday and Tuesday. On Monday night the desk sergeant called me into his office and asked me how O was doing. I told him that he was doing fine and that he was ready to be set free. O has a phone and if he has any questions, he can call me. I asked O if he was ready and he thought that he was.
Our first call on Monday was a burglary of a residence. A woman got a call from her alarm company while she was out of town. The alarm company told her that the back door sensor had been activated. The woman asked her mother to check the residence and the mom came by but did not find anything wrong with the place. The woman returned home a few days later and quickly realized that some of her belongings had been stolen. The suspect had entered through the back door. No windows had been broken and there was not any damage to the back door. In fact, the back door was still locked. However, the back door was only secured by a little twist lock on the actual handle. The kind that you might normally see on a bathroom door. There was not a dead bolt or any other type of lock on the door. And the woman lives in this place by herself. After O gathered all of the information for the report, the woman told us that this was the second time that she had been burglarized. I did not want to alarm her, but the woman was lucky. I told her as gently as possible that she was essentially inviting people into her home with that kind of lock on the back door. In the part of town that she lives in, there are people that go around and check out homes to break into. They go house to house and look for easy access. I told her that her place was the poster child for easy access. The only thing that kept her from coming back to an empty apartment was her alarm.
Tuesday turned out to be O’s last night with me. It was a slow night and all we did was check by on a few calls. Our first check by was at a disturbance that had been holding for over 90 minutes. A woman called saying that her boyfriend was destroying their residence. We arrived and the place was surrounded by a 10 foot tall fence with a locked gate. There was no getting over that fence. We banged on the gate and rang a door bell, but no one answered. Our dispatcher called the residence and a male answered the phone and said that the police were not needed. There was a supervisor on the scene, but there was really nothing that we could do. We did not have enough information to break down the gate and forcibly enter the residence. Even though it did not feel right, we all just had to leave.
Then we checked by on a major accident involving a scooter. We arrived at the address and there was nothing in the street. A man walked out of a nearby restaurant and told us that the man involved in the accident was inside. We went inside and found a very drunk male eating some pizza. He told us that he had been riding his scooter on a nearby street and was struck by a car. He crashed and the car kept going. He said that the scooter should still be in the road. He called some friends and they picked him up and brought him to the restaurant. We left and went in search of the scooter. We checked the area in which he said the accident took place and could not find anything. If a person is involved in an accident, let alone a scooter accident where he claims to be thrown from the scooter, you would expect him to be injured or at least have abrasions or torn clothing, correct? Not this guy. Now, he did not look like a yuppie lawyer, but rather like he had just left the local smoke shop and slammed a case of beer. In any case, he was not injured at all, not a scratch on him. I guess he just wanted some attention.
Our last call was another burglary of a residence at some crack apartments. A crack head came home after being gone for three days. He could not get into his apartment. So, he did what any crack head would do and kicked in the door. He found two other crack heads sleeping on his bed. When we arrived, the crack heads were still asleep on his bed. We roused them from their slumber. One of them was a 19 year old female. The other was a 25 year old male who told us that he had permission to be there. The other male owed him $15 and told him that he could stay there until he came back home. Apparently the crack head that lives in the apartment forgot the deal. The primary unit took the two crack heads to some other crack apartments nearby where the male’s brother lived. While we were there the resident crack head gathered up all of his belongings (two backpacks) and said he was going to find a new place to live. Outstanding.
Wednesday night I was riding solo and we had a rookie dispatcher. It is always BRUTAL when a new dispatcher is training on our channel. We are so spoiled by our regular dispatcher. She is great and takes very good care of us. The rookie dispatcher was being trained to send any call to any available unit as soon as it hit the board without regard to beat or work history. So, if you got a call and just stayed on it, she left you alone. As soon as you cleared a call, she sent you another one. If you were the only one clearing calls, you are running around like a chicken with your head cut off. It makes for a long night.
I checked by on a panic alarm at a residence. A panic alarm is supposed to be for a burglary, robbery, home invasion, or something like that in progress. For panic alarms, we run code 1, lights and sirens. We arrived and everything outside looked fine. I knocked on the door and a short time later a male wearing only a towel answered the door. He said that he hit the panic button by mistake on his remote. We impressed upon him that for panic alarms we come code 1 and are not too happy when it turns out to be dude in a towel that just hit the wrong button. He went on to say that he tried to cancel the alarm, but the alarm company told him that panic alarms can not be cancelled. So, he knew we were coming. Which then begs the question, why did he not get dressed? I told him that the next time he hits the wrong button to feel free to mix in some pants and a shirt.
My last call on Wednesday was a robbery. I arrived at the location and found a man in his late 20’s just absolutely weeping like a little school girl. I asked him what had happened, and in between sobs, he said that he had been at a local bar buying drinks. Two males walked up and wanted him to buy them drinks. He refused and then decided to leave the bar. The males followed him, grabbed him, punched him in the stomach, and then took his money. After getting robbed, he walked through 4 crowded blocks to the place where I found him, a 24 hour restaurant. He weeped that he wanted an ambulance to check out his stomach because they punched him where he had recently had surgery. At that point, he lifted up his shirt to reveal what looked like a 5 year old one inch long scar. At that point I wanted to ask him is he was menstruating, but that would have been insulting to all women. The ambulance arrived and the man demanded to be transported to a nearby hospital. My guess is that he was out of pain medication, and wanted to try to get a new script.
Thursday started off with another burglary of a residence. The door had been kicked in and the apartment had been ransacked, but nothing had been taken. The resident told me that two other apartments in that same complex had also been burglarized that day.
A short time later I was dispatched to another panic alarm at the same residence as the night before. This time, I was not in such a hurry, since I figured it was another “wrong button” on the alarm remote. I arrived and sure enough, that was the case. This time it was the roommate that hit the wrong button, and thankfully, he was fully clothed. They really need to get the buttons on their remotes figured out.
I was the print unit on Friday night. I did not run any print or picture calls. But, I did check by on other calls. I checked by with A on a loud noise in the ward. I was following her toward the call when I noticed a big SUV in the left lane begin to slow down rapidly. The SUV was being followed by a male on a scooter. The male was wearing a helmet and was carrying a green purse. Apparently the male was not paying attention. He looked up a little late and was startled to see the SUV stopping. The male panicked. But instead of squeezing the brake for the back tire, he grabbed the one for the front. This caused the scooter to stand up on its nose, and then flip over. I turned on my lights and stopped next to the carnage. As I pulled up, the guy was picking himself up off of the ground. I was doing everything in my power not to laugh, but was not successful. I got out of the car laughing. I could not help it. The male turned out to be ok and he was able to get his chick magnet scooter fired up and running again. The male nor the scooter ever hit the SUV. He took off and I continued on to the loud noise call.
That concludes another week on patrol.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
The week on patrol, October 4-8, 2010
This was a short week for me. I had an in-service class one day and was off for my birthday later in the week.
The week started off with a car chase. Early in the shift, O and I heard over our radio that a car chase from another district was about to come into our area. We began heading towards the general area of our district that the chase would pass through. The chase came into our area on a freeway. They exited the freeway, drove around a little, and then got back onto the freeway heading in the opposite direction. It is a challenge to catch up to a chase. They change directions frequently, run lights, and when you think you are about to cut them off, they will turn . When we finally caught up to this one, they immediately turned south, and away from our area. We did not follow, but continued to listen to the chase over the radio. About 15 minutes later, after losing the rubber on both front tires, the car crashed and the driver got out and ran. He ran into a back yard and then started jumping fences. He was caught two blocks away from the crash and had jumped at least 10 fences.
A short time later we checked by with a unit on a traffic stop. The officer had stopped a car for making an illegal left turn. When she ran the plate on the vehicle, it came back stolen. We arrived quickly and got the driver and passenger into custody without incident. The driver said that his cousin had loaned him the vehicle. That is not what the stolen vehicle report in our system stated. The report said that the owner of the vehicle allowed two homeless people to come into his house. Generous, maybe, but definitely crazy. When the man woke up from a nap, the two people and his vehicle were gone. Shocker. The district attorney took unauthorized use of a motor vehicle charges on the driver. The passenger had just been released from county jail. When he came out of the jail, the driver, who had been sitting outside the jail, asked him if he needed a ride. They agreed on a price and left. The passenger was not involved in the auto theft, so he was released. The driver said that he was going to return the vehicle when he was finished with it. Unfortunately for him, that is not the way that the law works.
I left work on Tuesday morning and drove out to the academy for another in-service class. This class was the divisional update. A few divisions will come in and talk about what they do and how they can help us. The narcotics division occupied the first two hours. They discussed the Mexican drug cartels and how they affect our city. They went on to discuss interdiction, human trafficking, and asset forfeiture. They showed us some pictures from some very imaginative traffickers. It was amazing the places where they had hidden living people in vehicles. The spots included inside the dashboard, underneath the seats, and one was disguised as a seat.
After narcotics finished, the academy staff told us that they had a video to show us and that we were the first group to see it. The video began by showing a photo of each officer that has been killed in the line of duty in our department. Following the photos, the video switched to news coverage from various stations reporting about an officer that had been shot in the face while serving a warrant 18 months ago. The video then cut to interviews of that officer, R, and his wife, P. They each talked about the incident and how it had changed their lives. As a result of the shooting, R had a stroke and lost some of the function of the left side of his body. He has had numerous operations and medically retired from the department 6 months ago. P has quit her job and now takes care of R full time. They have two kids in college. It was a very moving and emotional interview. After the interviews, the video ended with various members of the community (the Mayor, NFL players and coaches, members of the media) thanking the department and it officers for the job that we do. Immediately following the video, the back door of the small auditorium opened, and R and his wife P were escorted in.
They were greeted with a standing ovation. One of three that they received that day. They each talked to us and answered questions. They really tried to emphasize to us to appreciate what you have, because you never know when it will be gone. R said that he had thought about dying in the line of duty, but had never thought about being disabled and the burden that it places on your family. R kept saying over and over again how awesome and amazing P has been throughout the ordeal. P talked about how little the family saw R while the kids were growing up. R was always at work. P raised the kids. Now P has given up everything to take care of R. Amazing. They did not sugar coat what they have been through and what they face in the coming years. But it was a great example of true love and what it means to be married. For better or worse, in sickness and in health, P is living out those vows. That was one in-service class that I will never forget.
I was by myself on Wednesday night. A few hours into the shift, I checked by on a weapons disturbance. A female called and said that her boyfriend had a knife and had slashed all of the tires of her vehicle. A few units arrived and remarkably the male was still on the scene. He was taken into custody, but was not in possession of a knife. We checked her vehicle and one tire had been punctured and was flat. She told us that he had called her and wanted her to come over. She came over and he freaked out and cut her tire. He is currently on probation for assaulting her a few months ago. We asked her why she keeps seeing him, and she said that she loves him and he loves her. He has an interesting way of showing his love. He went to jail, and we ended up changing her tire. To protect and serve.
At the end of the shift, I was dispatched to a burglar alarm at a sushi restaurant. When I arrived I found a shattered window and some chairs inside had been knocked over. After the owners arrived and unlocked the doors, we checked the business. The suspects were long gone, but they had not taken anything. There was cash still in the register and in the tip jars. They had been spooked by something, or they were after something besides cash.
I was off on Thursday for my birthday and I took off on Friday to take care of Jen and her injured foot.
That concludes another week on patrol.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
The week on patrol, September 27 - October 1, 2010
The week started out with an in-service class. I had a partner for two nights. I ran a few interesting calls, but overall the call volume is dropping along with the nighttime temperature.
I attended my second in-service class of the year on Monday. The topic was the Criminal Intelligence Division (CID) and a Texas Crime Information Center (TCIC) update. A few people from the CID division came and told us a little about what they did and how they can help us and vice versa. The theme seemed to be Homeland security. A couple of the speakers kept my attention and a few others that just read the Powerpoint presentation did not. After lunch, the topic was network and computer security. He was a good speaker and while I am sure most in the room found the topic brutally boring, I enjoyed it.
O was with me again on Tuesday night. I was told that it is basically up to me how long O rides with me before he is set free. He is getting close, but I think that he would benefit from a few more repetitions. The problem is that he is only with me three nights a week, and even less lately with my in-service classes. The other officer that he has been riding with works at a very fast pace. He worked fast when I evaluated him. He has a hard time slowing down enough to explain to O what he is doing or allow O to help, so O typically is just an observer. This night was very slow. The cooler temperatures really do decrease the amount of calls for service. We checked by and helped out on a few scenes, but that was about it.
Wednesday night we were a little short handed. Unfortunately, the crooks did not cooperate and it was a busy night. I checked by on a disturbance with a CIT patient. The call slip said that a man was in crisis. We had been at the same apartment a few weeks earlier. The same man had gone into crisis and destroyed a friend’s apartment. Once he got out of jail (earlier today), he returned to the apartment. The friend did not want him there, imagine that. He was not actually in crisis at the time, the friend just wanted him to leave. We gave him a trespass warning and took him to the bus station. He said that he had a ticket to go to Dallas.
A little later, I checked by on an assault in progress at a club in the area. This particular club is where most of our problems seem to be happening lately. There are probably upwards of 25 clubs in the area, but this is the one club causing us the most grief. As I neared the club, I saw two males running away from the area. The call slip did not have a description of the suspects, so I continued on to the club. When I arrived, the primary unit gave me a description of the suspects and I told her that I have just seem them running away from the area. I returned to the area in which I had seen them, and was told by a bouncer at another club that they had gotten into a vehicle and turned south. I took off and found the vehicle a few block away. I did a traffic stop, and took the males into custody. I then returned them to the club so that we could figure out what had happened.
There had been a fight inside the club. Beer bottles had been used as weapons, and each group said that the other was the aggressor. There were not any impartial third party witnesses. No one wanted to press charges and no one had any open warrants. We took everyone’s information and I wrote a report. On a positive note, the club cleared out after we had been in the parking lot for a few minutes. At least we would not have any more drama there tonight.
After leaving the club, a suicide in progress call dropped. A suicidal male was standing at a pay phone in the parking lot of a gas station according to the call slip. Six units responded, and a male was at the pay phone. He was holding a knife to his throat and was talking on the phone. These situations always have the possibility to go bad in a hurry. A person with a knife can cover 21 feet of distance before an officer can shoot them. Even if the officer already has their gun out of their holster. Three of us spaced apart had our guns out on and pointed at the man. Another officer was trying to talk with him. As that officer was engaging him, another officer circled around behind us and behind the man. That officer took out his taser, walked up behind the man, and tasered him while he was still distracted. As soon as the taser fired, the man went rigid, and we rushed up to get the knife away and to take him into custody. Luckily, the man did not fall on the knife and we took him into custody without anyone getting injured. It was a fantastic resolution to a bad scene. As the man was sitting there talking to an officer, he would periodically say, “damn, that hurt.”
The night ended with a disturbance involving a cab driver. The driver picked up a male at a club and drove him home his apartment complex. For some reason, during the drive, some racial taunts were exchanged between the driver and passenger. Upon arriving at the complex, the passenger exited the cab and went inside without paying. The cab driver followed him to his apartment and then called the police. The cab driver told me that the passenger just got out and refused to pay. He did not mention the racial taunts. After a few knocks on the apartment door, the passenger answered and I got the whole story. The cab driver then admitted to his part in the racial taunting. However, just because you are rude to the cab driver and he is rude back, you still have to pay the fare. The passenger got out his credit card and paid the fare.
Thursday night I rode solo again. It was a night much like Tuesday, with very little happening. Towards the end of the shift, I was dispatched to check by with a narcotics officer who was going to run a search warrant. I was less than thrilled. I do not like checking by with narcotics officers. There is never much of a plan going in, and what happens is never part of the plan. Things always seem to get a little out of control. I arrived at the meet location, and found an officer from another agency. He told me that the others would show up in about 30 minutes. Once everyone arrived (6 officers from another agency, and 1 from my department) the lead officer went over the plan. We were there to execute a search warrant on the upper floor of a two story townhouse. They had reason to believe that inside that location was a marijuana grow house. A few days earlier, after establishing reasonable suspicion, they took a drug dog to the back door and he went crazy. They got the search warrant, and here we were. The plan was to wait for the person to arrive who was tending to the plants, and once he unlocked the back door, take him into custody. They had other officers watching his house and the grow house. To me, this sounded like it was going to take awhile and we were not going to be doing anything anytime soon. When it was time for me to go off duty, I told the narcotics guys to call for another unit when they needed one.
I ended up seeing the narcotics officer a few days later, and he told me that they ended up running the warrant about three hours after I left. The male arrived who was tending to the plants and they took him into custody after he opened the back door. Inside they found a very well developed hydroponic marijuana grow farm. He told me that there were 2.4 million dollars worth of plants in the house. It was a good bust.
I was the print unit on Friday and O was my partner. We were dispatched to an apartment that had been burglarized to attempt to lift fingerprints. The primary unit walked us through the apartment pointing out where he thought there might be prints. The apartment was a complete disaster. It looked like a tornado had hit the place. Not a single piece of furniture had been left undisturbed. All of the food had been taken out of the kitchen and opened. The air conditioner vents had been opened. All of the drawers had been emptied and removed. All of the pictures had been removed from the wall. It was a mess. To me it looked like the suspects were looking for something in particular, like drugs or money. I tried to lift prints from a few places where there should have been prints, but came up with nothing. Not even prints from the homeowners. It lead me to believe that the suspects were wearing gloves and had even wiped down a few surfaces for some reason.
After leaving that apartment, a major accident dropped. It was a head on collision and we were close. We checked by to control and divert traffic off of the road. I used the patrol vehicle to close the street and O directed traffic for 90 minutes. He seemed to enjoy it, for some reason. I think that he is just happy being back at work.
That concludes another week on patrol.
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