The week on patrol, May 18-22, 2010

It was a short week for me. I only worked the street two days. I was sick for two nights and had an adjusted day off on another for training. I also got another rookie. I had thought that I was done training for awhile.

Tuesday afternoon I started feeling bad. I found out later that Jen had started feeling bad at the same time. Jen and I were essentially out of commission from Tuesday evening until Thursday morning. We had contracted some type of food poisoning, probably from bad shrimp. Luckily, neither of the kids got sick. I missed work Tuesday and Wednesday night. A big thank you to my parents for watching A2 while we recovered on Wednesday.

When I got to work on Thursday, the desk Sergeant told me that I had a new rookie, TV. I would be doing his second week of evaluation. TV has prior military experience and some college as well. Our first call was a burglary of a motor vehicle at a beer garden.

We arrived and met the complainant's sister. The complainant had already gone home. Her sister was very happy to see us. She was young and cute and wearing a wife beater. She walked up and leaned her elbows on TV's window sill. It was funny to watch TV try to maintain eye contact with her. We exited the patrol car and TV gathered her information for the report as a witness. When TV asked her for her phone number, she said, "for you guys, or for the report?" TV politely said for the report. She looked disappointed.

Then we were dispatched to an accident involving a motorcycle. He was just driving down the street and saw a vehicle that he thought was going to pull out in front of him. He got nervous, lost control, laid the bike down, and slid for a couple of hundred feet. He was wearing leathers and a helmet, so his injuries turned out to be minor.

Friday night started off with a bang, or three. We were on the way to a disturbance in the Ward when we heard three gunshots nearby, very nearby. We turned left and encountered a large block party. There were about two hundred people in the street. I radioed for back-up and the response was very quick. We made our way slowly through the mass of humanity to find a car. A male had walked toward the car and fired off three round from an automatic pistol. We found two shell casings. Luckily, no one had been hit. There was a child in the car, so it could have been ugly. After we secured the area, we found out that the male had shot and then melted back into the block party. We had passed him as we made our way to the scene without knowing what or who we were looking for. The disagreement had started on Facebook, and led to gunshots. Crazy.

Then we responded to yet another property crime. This time it was the burglary of a residence. The suspect entered and exited through a window. The window had been locked, they broke the glass and unlocked the window. All that was stolen was a laptop. Other items had been laid out to take, but were left on the living room floor. The homeowners had probably surprised the burglars when they unlocked the front gate. As the homeowners came up the driveway, the burglar grabbed the laptop and exited the window.

Saturday night I was off since I had a training class on Monday, a regular day off for me. Saturday was spent putting together a new swing set for the kids. Mike and my dad were crazy enough to help. Thanks. It was a long day, but the kids were very excited when they saw the results.
A two day work week was nice. Minus the food poisoning, I could get used to that.

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The week on patrol, May 11-16, 2010

JW and I rode together all week and finished up his evaluation. He did well and will be a good officer. He has a good understanding of patrol and seems to have good decision making skills.

On Tuesday night we went to a strange burglary of a residence. The house was not in the best neighborhood. The homeowner stated that the suspect came through a back window that had been left unlocked. The window was in the laundry room which is where the homeowner's dog had been left. When we pulled up, the dog was outside and was going absolutely crazy. The homeowner walked us through the house and told us about all of the items that had been stolen. Everything from guns to cash to jewelry to electronics was missing.

We called for our print unit to come out and try to lift fingerprints. He dusted for prints on the window and ledge and other areas where missing items had been located. He could not find any smudges, let alone prints. In some areas, the dust had not even been disturbed. We took all of the information for the report, but some things just did not make sense. I found it hard to believe that someone would try to come into that small room with a big dog locked inside. They would also at least leave smudges on the window or the ledge when they came into the house as well. Finally, the areas around where the alleged stolen had been sitting, the dust would be disturbed. It looked like things had been delicately picked straight up. That is not typical behavior for burglars. JW included all of our investigative findings (lol) in the report.

On Wednesday night, we had two drunk males call the police on each other. They each stated that the other had threatened them. It turned out that they were landlord and tenant and in a dispute over rent money. Drunk people can be very annoying.

Later we responded to a male that stated that he had just been robbed. He said that two males had pulled a gun on him and had stolen his ID card and his Lone Star Card. They left his cell phone, credit cards, and cash. Not likely. Robbers do not usually leave that kind of stuff behind. Nevertheless, JW took his info and gave him a case number for the report that he would write. About 45 minutes later, the same guy called in stating that he had been robbed again. This guy was having a bad night. We went back to his location. This time, some of his "kin folk" were outside as well. He told us that he had just seen the suspects that had robbed him in the area in a red Pontiac. Ok. Then we talked to his family. It turned out that our victim had sold his Lone Star Card. You see, not many crack dealers take the Lone Star Card. At least not yet. Our victim was a crack fiend and he went to jail.

Thursday night we did two more property crime reports. Violent crime is down, but property crime is going up. That was also the night that we did the traffic stop where JW told the female "you do what I tell you to do!"

Friday night was JW's last night of evaluation and it was raining. That means accidents. Our accident involved two vehicles. One driver, who was not drunk, just completely missed a stop sign and t-boned an SUV. Luckily, no one was injured, but she did get a citation.

Saturday night was very uneventful for a Saturday. We had one found property report and we responded to quite a few loud noise disturbances. A few traffic stops and that was it for the week.

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A new excuse on a traffic stop

During overtime today, I responded to a telephone report of a DWI on the freeway. I was one of three units that responded. None of us found the DWI, which was probably out of our area before we were even dispatched.

While I was on the freeway driving to the call, I was passed by a blue Honda. Yes, you read that right. I was driving a marked police car on the freeway and was passed. Not a good idea. I sped up and started following the Honda. The freeway was busy, but moving. The Honda was going 85 mph, weaving in and out of traffic without signaling. I finally caught up with the Honda as it almost rear ended an SUV and abruptly changed lanes cutting off another vehicle. I went around the traffic and pulled in behind the Honda and activated the lights. The Honda pulled over on the left shoulder of the freeway.

After letting the dispatcher know about my traffic stop, I walked up to the Honda. I found three girls that looked like they were headed out clubbing. I asked the driver for her license and insurance which she provided. They I asked her why she was driving like an idiot. She said "I am starting my menses, my female time, my period." It was so kind of her to say it three different ways, in case I did not know what she was referring to. She then said that she was trying to get to the hotel to take care of her issue. I looked at her license and she lived locally. Since we were on the side of the freeway, I did not want to spend the time figuring out why she was going to a hotel when she lived here.

I wrote her a ticket for speeding and making a lane change without signaling. When I handed her the ticket, she looked shocked. I think that she had used that excuse before and it had always worked. Not this time honey.

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That time again

Today they had me squeezing Nemo while I donated.

Sent from my iPhone

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Two things not to do on a traffic stop

JW and I were parked in a dark gas station parking lot waiting for a vehicle to make the illegal left turn at a nearby intersection. As we were waiting, without slowing down at all, a small Nissan blasted through the parking lot to avoid making the illegal left turn. Well, that is just as illegal as making the illegal turn, so JW initiated a traffic stop. We walked up to find a young female talking on her cell phone. JW told her to end the conversation, which she did reluctantly. JW then asked for her license and insurance. She handed over her license and then said that this was not her car. JW again asked her for her insurance. She snapped back that her insurance was in her car but this was a friend's car. So, does your friend have insurance? She did not know. She asked if she could call her friend to find out. I said sure, hang tight, and we will be back in a minute.

We returned to the patrol vehicle so that JW could write the citation. As we are sitting there and JW is messing with the computer, I noticed that she was getting out of her vehicle. I tell JW what she is doing and he opened his door and told her to sit back down. She stopped walking and then dramatically rolled her eyes at him. At that point JW said in a stern voice like he was talking to an obstinate child, "do what I tell you you to do!" She huffed, turned around, and returned to her vehicle. It took me awhile to stop laughing. The rest of the traffic stop was uneventful.

A couple of things to take from this traffic stop. If you are on the phone when the police stop you, at the very least, sit the phone down until the officer is finished talking to you. Secondly, and more importantly, if you do not want a pistol pointed at you, stay in your vehicle unless you are specifically instructed otherwise by the officer. This concludes today's helpful tips.

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Behaving badly

Last Tuesday I was fortunate enough to play golf again with my Dad and Terry at Southwyck, our default home course. For some background, I grew up playing golf. In high school I played just about every day. I was the number 1 player on my high school's team my junior and senior years. That is not saying too much, the rest of the team was not very good. I played in a few tournaments all over the country, but was never in contention to win. In college, I walked on at Texas Tech and the University of North Texas. I did not travel with the team to any events. I qualified for a couple of tournaments but did not go for various reasons. At Texas, I tried out for the team but did not make the team. I came within a missed two foot putt to quality for the US Amateur. All of that to say that I have played a lot of golf and have played at a reasonably high level. That means that I still have very high expectations.

I do not play nearly as often as I did in high school or college, but I still think that I should play as well. Now, I have a wonderful family to support. So, I had to get a real job. The last two months I have played more often than I have in years. This has been fun, but it has also raised my expectations. I expect to play as well as I did in college. That brings us to last Tuesday.

The round started off well enough with two easy pars and a good drive on number 3. I rushed my second shot on number 3 and hit it to the right into some deep grass. I was unable to find my ball. Double bogey. No big deal. One bad shot, you move on. Not me. I did not freak out and throw things or scream, but inside I was ready to break something. Over one bad golf shot. Just crazy. This same attitude is what hurt me when I played competitively. I would let one bad shot turn into 4 bad holes. That is exactly what I did on this day. I did not recover until hole number 8. By that time I was 7 over par. Once I settled down and told myself that I did not care any longer, I played fine. From 8 through 18, I was one under par. I can still play a little bit when I have the right mental outlook.

Now I just have to figure out how to not let the bad shots get to me. I get upset at places other than the golf course. But nothing sets me off like a bad shot. It is hard to describe. I immediately feel this rage inside of me. I can not think of another situation that I face regularly when I have the same feeling. In an effort to get some help, I bought a golf psychology book last year. It is called Zen Golf and yes, it does have some crazy easter religion aspects to it. But, not to worry, I am not going to being Buddhist any time soon. I bought the book in audio format and listened to the first couple of chapters last summer. They actually seemed to help. I started playing a little better and the bad shots did not bother me as much. Then I started to play a little less due to the time of year and stopped listening to the book. I think that it might be past time for me to break out the book and finish it.

I hate the way that I react to bad shots. I am embarrassed and frustrated by the way I allow the bad shots to affect me. Hopefully, with some discipline, I will be able to break this terrible habit. I hope so. It stinks to pay good money to go play, only to be mad part of the time. I also want to enjoy the time that I am able to be out playing with friends and my Dad. Maybe I need so accountability? Dad, Terry, Mike, the next time that you see me acting like a spoiled 4 year old, call me out on it. Thanks.

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The week on patrol, May 1-8, 2010

In the past I have sent out updates to the blog on an almost daily basis. After some thought, I have decided to experiment with sending out weekly updates. Sometimes, if I feel like an event or story warrants it, I will send it out sooner. I will see how this goes and possibly tweak it in the future.
This week was a little different. I had a training class on Wednesday, so I was off Tuesday night. CC finished up evaluation and I started evaluating W, one of CC's classmates.

The tac team at my station had signed up to take a covert clearing training class at the academy that is taught by the SWAT team. The tac team ended up having a schedule conflict, so they offered their spots in the class to the patrol officers. Ten of us from my station showed up for the class and we all met on the SWAT deck at the academy Wednesday morning. The goal of the class was to teach officers to safely and effectively search and clear buildings while working as a team.

The first hour was in the classroom going over techniques. The next few hours we spent practicing the techniques while searching a small and large apartment in a four person team. Three members of my team were from our station and we picked up another officer from another station. Then we broke for lunch. After lunch they had some scenarios for us to run through. This time we had a five person team and we were all from my station. These scenarios had SWAT officers inside posing as suspects. Our goal was to search safely and to not get shot by the SWAT officers. They had pistols loaded with simunition rounds. They are small plastic rounds that will get your attention if they hit you. They told us that they would only shoot us if we did something stupid, such as not cover our backsides or miss an area that should be searched. We went through the two scenarios, found and arrested or shot the bad guys and none of us got shot. It was great training and made for a fun day.

Wednesday and Thursday night were boring and uneventful. Each night CC wrote two property crime reports and we made a few traffic stops. People are still leaving their laptops in their vehicles and are surprised to find them gone when they return from the bar or club or restaurant. And people are still making the same illegal left turns.

Friday night was a little more interesting. It was CC's last night of evaluation and we were dispatched to a robbery. A 22 year old female parked her car in the street across from her residence. When she opened the door, a male was there and snatched her purse from her. The male then demanded the keys to her car. She hesitated (dumb but understandable). The male threatened to take out his knife. She gave over the keys. Then as she was stepping out of the car, the male yanked down her dress exposing her and tried to grab her and pull her into the car. Her survival instinct kicked in and she fought. She was able to get free and ran away. He drove off in her car. She was able to give us a good description of the male and she knew her license plate number which is amazing in itself. Luckily she was not injured and hopefully we catch the basterd.

While we were dealing with her, another officer, SK, stumbled upon 5 young females in the parking lot of a local high school. The girls were all around 14 years old. They were there to meet three males. One of the females had met one of the males at a park and through a social network, set up this meeting. A short time later, the males arrived. They were all around 19 years old. They had marijuana and condoms in the car. One of them was a sex offender. There is no telling what all they had planned for the girls. All of the girl's parents were called and they all came to pick up their daughters. The girls were all supposed to be spending the night at one of the girl's homes. They left that house, went to a skating rink, and then took the city bus to the high school. If one of those girls was my daughter, I am not sure that she would ever see the light of day again before she graduated. They have no idea how fortunate they were that SK found them and helped them get home safely.

CC's last evaluation call of week one was a one car major accident. Three females were trying to find a club. The freeway was about tom split and they were not sure which way to go. So, naturally, they slammed into the traffic barrels. They totaled their car, but luckily for them, they only had minor injuries.
I started evaluating another rookie, W, on Saturday. This is his second week of evaluation. He went to college and has a tv/film degree. He worked in that industry for a few years and then decided to do what he had always want to do, be a police officer.

A hour into the shift, we were dispatched to an assault in progress. That is classified as a code 1 call which means lights and sirens. The call slip stated that two males were in the parking lot fighting and throwing bottles. Then the slip was updated to say that one male was fighting with two females. When we arrived, only one side of the altercation was still on the scene. The other group left before we arrived. The location was a Mexican food restaurant that has a very nice patio/cabana area.

One group of females was in one cabana and two couples (2 males and 2 females) were in the next cabana. The males decided to start throwing empty beer bottles into the nearby parking lot. They must have thought that stupid juvenile behavior always impresses the females. One of the ladies from the group of females decided to say something to the males because her vehicle was parked nearby. This started an argument between that lady and the other females (the ones with the bottle throwers). That argument turned physical, with one lady kicking another lady. When one of the bottle throwers saw this, he jumped up and pushed the lady that had just kicked his date. When he pushed her, this caused the raised cabana to roll back about 2 feet from the stairs creating a hole that two females fell into. Then more beer was thrown and finally the couples left and we were called. The females had all been out celebrating Mother's Day. They had not planned on being in a fight, but now they have a story to tell.

That brings me to the end of another week. I think that W is going to be my last rookie for awhile. The next class of rookies does not graduate from the academy until September. For a few months I am not going to have a rookie to do all of the work. It will be a nice break.

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Another week on patrol

It was an interesting week at work. I finished training the Sooner and I started evaluating CC. I rode one night by myself and another with a fellow officer. On the nights that I was not training or evaluating, I was dispatched to great training calls. Figures.
The week started out slow with my final day of training C. He started evaluation the following night and should not have any problems. The following night was my first night with CC. He is from Venezuela and has been in the States for 10 years. He was an engineer before becoming an officer. The night was very slow. There was very little traffic and no calls for service. We were able to make three traffic stops and checked by with another unit on a family disturbance. A husband pushed his wife and the district attorney took Class A assault charges on the husband. It was a perfect training call so we took over.
CC was still on his trainers schedule, so he had Thursday and Friday nights off. He switches to my schedule on Saturday. That meant that I was without a rookie for two nights. On the first night I was dispatched to a found property call. I arrived to find a business owner who had found a homeless person's property behind her business. There were two multi tools, a pair of pliers, a box cutter, a hat, some papers, and a wallet. The business owner asked me what she could have done with the stuff and I suggested that the trash was an option. Then I dutifully took custody of the crap, wrote down her information, tagged the property into the property room, and wrote a report. Outstanding police work.

Later I was dispatched to an assault / injury / just occurred. Most of those calls are simple, straight forward report calls. Gather information and then regurgitate it in report form. Not this time. A 54 year old schizophrenic female that is off her meds (of course) went out drinking with her daughter. On the way home, they get into an argument that turns physical. The daughter beat the crap out of mom. Then the daughter kicked mom out of the car. Mom's left eye was severely swollen and she would not stop crying. Then she tells me that she wants to kill herself and has tried unsuccessfully in the past. So, I have to cuff her and take her to the hospital. Since she is drunk and injured, I can't just take her to the psychiatric hospital. I have to take her to the ER where she will be allowed to sober up and her injuries will be treated. Then she will be transferred to the psychiatric unit. Once there, we go through triage and are assigned a bed. Then I have to do an Emergency Detention Order. Then I have to write an assault / mental illness report. It was a perfect training call, but I had no one to train.

The next night I rode with another officer in the beat. We are friends but had never ridden together before. We were dispatched to an assault with a deadly weapon in the ward. When we arrived the suspect was gone. We took the report info and left. Twenty minutes later the call dropped again. The person with the gun was back. Six units quickly converged on the area. We saw the suspect and he took off running. S and B took off running after him. The suspect jumped a fence and ran for a few blocks and then disappeared. Just vanished. We set up a perimeter and had a dog search but never found him. However, we were able to find out his identity. B then filed an evading arrest warrant on him and found out that he is wanted for possession of a controlled substance. That is why he was running.
After that we were sent to a three car accident with a disturbance in the gayborhood. We arrived to find a convertible BMW, an Explorer, and a Honda Accord parked on the side of the road. After talking to the drivers we found out that the BMW rear ended the Accord which then hit the Explorer. The driver of the BMW was a real PITA. His statement to me was "I do not know what happened" without any further elaboration. He received a ticket for failing to control speed. His BMW was towed because the radiator was destroyed in the accident. As the car was being towed away, the man began crying. He walked over to us and said "I do not think that it is fair that you are taking my car away from me. That is my baby. I hurt my baby."
Saturday night arrived and I was able to get back to evaluating. CC and I helped B with an accident involving a DWI. The driver was hard of hearing. So he got out of his vehicle sounding crazy. He was not crazy, just sounded that way. Going through his vehicle we found Cystic Fibrosis medications. Sure enough, the driver and his twin brother have CF. We talked about that for awhile. I made sure that he was not diabetic, since a diabetic reaction can look like intoxication. He had recently turned 21 and went out and had a few drinks. He had been driving southbound in the northbound lanes of a city street when he struck another truck. It was very fortunate that no one was injured. He was charged with DWI.
We also had a robbery / car jacking. A man was driving his truck and stopped at a red light. While he was stopped, two females and a male opened the passenger side door and jumped into the truck. They pushed the man out and began driving off. The man jumped into the bed of his truck. Bad idea. This is not the movies. The truck sped up and then made a quick u-turn throwing the man out of the bed of the truck and onto the street. Luckily he was not run over by another vehicle but he did have some road rash. Then he tells us that he knew the people that had jumped into his truck, one of the females was his ex-girlfriend. Ok, my BS meter was now on full alert. We asked if he was meeting them there. No. Why were they there? No idea. Did they know you would be in this area (20 miles from where he lived). No. Did you loan them the truck? No. He stuck to his they just happened to be there and jumped into the truck story. Whatever dude. Just because you say it, does not make it true.

Next week I will finish evaluating CC and I get to go to a training class in the new SWAT house at the academy. I am looking forward to that.

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