Thursday, June 3, 2010

The week on patrol, May 25-29, 2010

This was a long week for me (I am spoiled). I had training on one of my regular days off. I finished evaluating TV and I started a new 30 day rotation on Saturday.

I made the long drive out to the academy early Monday morning for a training class. It was a mandatory class for all field trainers. It was a training refresh class. In the morning, procedures were emphasized, especially ones that had recently caused problems in the training program. The afternoon was spent with academy personnel. They gave us a brief overview of what they are teaching and how they are instructing the cadets to perform certain tasks. We had a chance to ask questions as well. It helps if the academy and the field trainers are on the same page.

Tuesday was day three of evaluation for TV. Our first call was a burglary of a motor vehicle at a hotel. The man came into town with all of his earthly belongings in his Tahoe. He took out what he needed for the night, and left everything else in the truck. He came out to the truck a few hours later to get something else, and discovered that everything else was gone. He had left a laptop, camera, cell phone, and other items in plain sight in the vehicle. When are people going to learn? Do not leave stuff in your vehicle.

Then TV volunteered for a minor accident. We arrived to find two vehicle in a gas station parking lot. One of the driver's could not speak english and handed TV a Korean driver's license. Luckily, a friend of his came to the scene and translated for us. The Korean had been in the middle lane and wanted to turn right. So, he just turned. He did not look to his right to see if anyone was there. He told us that it is ok in Korea to turn from the middle lane. Sounds like it can be dangerous to drive in Korea.

Wednesday night start off with a robbery in an apartment complex. A male drove into the complex and noticed a vehicle follow him in through the gate. So, he stopped his vehicle and the other vehicle stopped behind him. Two males got out of the trailing vehicle and walked up to his door. They opened his door, pulled him out of his vehicle, robbed him and assaulted him. what can be learned from this incident? Lock your car doors and if you notice people get out of the car behind you and begin walking up to your car, drive away.

Next, a male called the police for a theft. He told us that he was drunk. So drunk that he passed out at a bus stop after leaving a club. When he woke up, his wallet was missing. Really? A bus stop? He was lucky that he was not kidnapped and sold for parts in Mexico.

Then we had a stupid driver award candidate. We were turning left with a green arrow at an intersection. A vehicle coming from the opposite side of the intersection, had a red light and without stopping turned right, directly in front of us. We stopped him and he said, "it slipped my mind to stop at the red light." When that is the best excuse that you can up with on a traffic stop, just keep your mouth shut.

TV made another traffic stop a short time later. It turned out to be the driver's birthday. TV is still young and sensitive. He let her go with a warning since it was her birthday.

Our last call of the night was a person down. The call had been dispatched a few times already, but no one could find the down person. TV found him. The male was bleeding profusely from the head and informed us that was HIV positive. Wonderful. After TV puts his gloves on, he searched the male and then held him up so that the paramedics could look at him. The male started to fall, and TV, being young and sensitive caught him. TV did not get any blood on his uniform, but did get some on his arm. It just so happened that TV also had a recent mosquito bite on the same arm as well. TV was worried that the virus could be transferred through the bite and into him. So, I did some online research and everything said that HIV can not be transferred through an insect bite. TV was happy to hear that.

Thursday night was the last night of evaluation for TV. We had the usual property crime report and then we did a few traffic stops. Our last traffic stop involved two females on their way home from a club. The computer told us that the driver was wanted for two class C warrants out of a nearby jurisdiction. TV called and confirmed the warrants and then arrested the driver. As you can imagine, she was less than happy. I told the passenger to call a friend to come and get her. She did not have a driver's license. Otherwise she might have been able to drive the vehicle home. While I was inventorying the vehicle since it had to be towed, the passenger said, "sometimes I hate you guys". She had no idea why we were arresting her friend. I then explained to her that her friend had warrants out for her arrest. She said "oh" and apologized.

On Friday night, AR and I rode together since I was not training. We responded to lots of loud noise and suspicious person calls. We had a person down call that said a male was laying in a driveway bleeding from his head. We arrived and sure enough, he was there and blood was pooling around his head. He was conscious and breathing and very drunk. He said that his girlfriend got mad at him for dancing with her sister at the club. On the way home, she was driving and they began yelling at each other. He decided that he had heard enough and jumped out of the moving vehicle. His head absorbed most of the fall and he was transported to the hospital.

Our last call was for five suspicious black males looking into vehicles while walking down the street. We drove around for awhile, and finally found five black males walking down the street. Bingo. I shined the spotlight on them, and they all stopped. Their story did not make any sense, so we checked them all on the computer. Two of them turned out to be runaways. We released the others. We were unable to contact the runaways' families, so we took them to a county youth facility.

I started a new 30 day rotation on Saturday night. I am the print / picture unit for our station on night shift for a month. I am not in the calls for service loop. I can take calls or check by and help or do traffic or whatever. I am responsible for all of the requests to take pictures of scenes or to attempt to lift fingerprints from scenes. After I helped out on a few calls, I went to my usual traffic spot. A vehicle pulled up and told me about a male laying in the grass at a nearby gas station I went over and found him. He was a regular looking male in his 20's that was passed out in the grass. Once I woke him up, he was able to tell me where he lived. It was less than a block away on the other side of the street. He had been out at a bar with friends and they drove him home. Only they did not get him home, they got him to a gas station and dumped him out. He was polite and was able to stand and walk, so I took him home. He was very appreciative. He needs better friends.

I was called out to two scenes to take pictures. One scene where a male was assaulted by another male with a knife. It was not nearly as bad as it sounds. The male had basically two scratches on his arms. Thorn bushes do more damage. The other scene was an attempted sexual assault. The female had some scratches on her and during the struggle she yanked out some of the suspect's hair. I photographed her and the clumps of hair on the ground. Then I uploaded the photos and wrote a brief supplement to the report.

It was a good week with some interesting people. TV did well while finishing evaluation. He will make a good officer. We are fortunate at my station, for the most part we get good rookies. I am looking forward to the print unit rotation. It may become my permanent spot. I am definitely not CSI worthy, but I am willing to learn.

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