An officer's perspective

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Next week will be interesting

While I was standing at the radio room door waiting to get the keys to my shop (police car) and my radio, my sergeant asked me to come to his office when I was finished getting my gear. Other officers were standing around and overheard the request. It felt like I had just been called into the principal's office to answer for a transgression. I was not worried, if I had done something really wrong, Internal Affairs would have come calling, not my sergeant. Once I got to his office, my sergeant kind of stuttered and stammered for a minute, searching for the correct way to say what he wanted to say. This actually made me think for a minute that I was in trouble. Once he finally found the words that he wanted to use, it was actually good news and bad news.

First, the good news. Since I am a trainer and an evaluator, part of my job is documenting what happens during the shift. I am required to train or evaluate the probationary officer's performance in 16 different categories. I must cover all of the categories at least 3 times in a 5 day week. I usually cover all 16 categories every training or evaluation day. This documentation takes some time as you can imagine. We are allowed and encouraged to start and complete if possible, the documentation during the shift. I write my documentation while the probationary officer is writing whatever reports he/she has to write. As an incentive/reward for training, the department gives me an hour of paid overtime or comp time (time in the books that I can take off later) for each training or evaluation day. When I went through the training program, trainers got the hour of overtime along with a take home patrol car. So, the department has taken away some of the incentive to train. Now for the good news, my sergeant told me that we can now put in for an hour of paid overtime and an hour of comp time for each training or evaluation day. The only caveat is there must be enough documentation to justify the extra hour. This is great news for me, I am always in need in comp time since I tend to take some time off.

This led into the bad news. My sergeant then told me that starting next Tuesday, I will be evaluating a probationary officer in week two of phase 6. Training is broken down into 6 phases. Three phases of training, a different trainer for each phase, which are 3 weeks each for a total of 9 weeks. This is followed by phase 4, which is 2 weeks of evaluation, a week each with two different evaluators. If the probationary officer passes, he is finished with the training program. If the probationary officer fails evaluation, he goes to phase 5 which is 3 more weeks of training in only the categories in which he failed. Then we come to 6th phase. Final Evaluation. The probationary officer is evaluated in only the categories that he failed in phase 4. It is 3 weeks in duration. If a probationary officer passes week 1 and week 2, he has passed and is done with the training program. If he fails week one or week 2, he gets to go to week 3, for a final do-or-die week of evaluation.

The probationary officer that I am getting next Tuesday, just finished failing week 1 of phase 6 of evaluation. That means that he must pass with me, or he has failed the program and will be terminated. So, needless to say, he will be stressing beyond belief. I will be evaluating him in officer safety, the only category that he failed in phase 4. It is imperative that I do excellent documentation since there is a good chance that he will fail and be recommended for termination. When someone fails the training program, that have the option of going before a termination board and all of the documentation is reviewed. At this point, if the documentation is poor and does not adequately justify the failing scores, the scores can be changed and the probationary can be passed. Even if the probationary has no business being an officer. Therefore, good documentation is vital if the probationary might fail.

I have done one other 6th phase evaluation and it went very well. The probationary had learned from his mistakes in phase 4 and learned from the additional 3 weeks of training in phase 5. I have been led to believe that that is not the case with this probationary. I will do my best to go into the evaluation without any preconceived notions about the probationary officer, but it will be difficult. The evaluation process is supposed to be without bias. But, it is also the sergeant's job to prepare me for what I may have to do. Regardless, the probationary will get a fair chance from me. If he passes, he will have earned it, and likewise if he fails. It should be interesting.

Sunday, September 6, 2009

The best time of the year

September to December is a glorious time of year. It is my favorite time for numerous reasons, some of which I will elaborate upon.

Saturday marked the beginning of the Longhorns football season. They started the year with their typical non-conference beat down. They bulldozed the Warhawks of some Louisiana school by the score of 59-20. They made plenty of mistakes during the game. So the coaches had lots of teachable moments. I did not watch the game. It was only available on pay-per-view, so I listened to it over the Longhorn radio network. I was not as fortunate as some others to be given tickets to the game. I am not bitter, just envious. I can be an absolute trainwreck during the games. I do not scream at the television, but I will make comments from time to time. I will pace and have been known to jump up and down. Hopefully this was the beginning of another run at the National title.

Next Thursday is the start of the NFL season. I am a Cowboys fan, but as Jen can attest, I can watch any NFL game. This fall most Sundays will be spent at Mike and Courtney's house watching the NFL Sunday Ticket. I am sure glad that Mike decided to go with DirecTV.

It is a little hot and humid during the long Houston summers, so the cooler days that fall promises to bring are definitely a bonus.

Since having children, Halloween has been very enjoyable. The kids love to get dressed up. I think Austin will be a ninja this year and Addy will be Minnie Mouse. We typically start the night at the South Main Baptist Church Fall Festival, because churches can not celebrate Halloween. Instead, they celebrate fall, on Halloween. Then we do some trick-or-treating around our neighborhood. However, I am not sure what is going to happen this year, Halloween falls on a Saturday. The Longhorns play Oklahoma State that day. Hopefully, it is not a night game.

I enjoy the time change. I prefer for it to get dark earlier in the evening. I am not entirely sure why, but it just seems more natural that way to me.

Thanksgiving is in the fall as well. Lots of great food with the entire family. The Cowboys and Longhorns play on that day. As long as the Horns win, it is a great day. This is also the day that we take all of the Christmas decorations out of the attic. For most families, this is probably not a big undertaking. At my house, it requires prior planning. I schedule it for this day since the entire family is at the house to help. Otherwise, I think it would take the better part of a week for me to do it by myself. Every year, Courtney counts how many boxes come down, but I never remember. I think somewhere around 50.

We celebrate both Jennifer's and my birthdays in the fall. It is an excuse for me to buy what I want. Like I need an excuse, but it sounds good. I also get to buy more clothes from Ann Taylor for Jennifer. She is so easy to buy for, she looks great in everything.

Then we have the Christmas season, a fabulous time of the year. A very stressful time as well. It helps to remember what we are celebrating, the birth of our Lord and Savior.

The rest of you can prefer the spring or the summer, but I will take the fall every year.

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Saturday, September 5, 2009

Friday, September 4, 2009

A little too close to home

The probationary that I am currently training, Tray, earned the nickname, the Grim Reaper during his three weeks of training on evening shift. During those weeks, he and his trainer were dispatched to 5 dead person calls. A few were suicides and the others were natural DOA calls. So tonight, just after roll call, Susan, our regular dispatcher, sent me a text message asking if we needed a DOA for the training program. I knew Tray had done a few, but doing another while of the third phase of the training program would help to get him ready for evaluation. So, I texted Susan and told her that we would be on our way in a few minutes.

We arrived to find another officer already on the scene. Come to find out, the call actually dropped at 8:45 in the evening. We arrived on the scene at 11 PM. An early side evening shift unit got the call, passed it off to a late side evening shift unit, who passed it off to us. At least the evening shift officers had begun to gather all of the necessary information for our report.

This is what happened. Earlier this week, a 67 year old man that I will call Bob, had minor surgery on his leg. It seems that it was healing properly and he had no complications or any other major medical problems. His wife, I will call Lisa, flew to New York City yesterday to attend the US Open tennis tournament with their son who lives in NYC. This evening, Lisa calls their house and Bob's cell phone numerous times and gets no answer. So, since they live in River Oaks, Lisa called River Oaks patrol and asked them to check on her husband, Bob. Lisa also called their housekeeper and she came to the house to open the exterior gate and then the front door. The River Oaks patrol officers (they are off duty HPD officers or licensed security guards) entered the house and found Bob. They searched the rest of the house and found no signs of a struggle and no signs that the home had been broken into. All of the doors were locked and the windows were intact. It seems that Bob was walking down their stairs, lost his balance and fell forward. Towards the bottom of the staircase, the stairs turn 90 degrees. So, there is a small landing, then a wall, and then two more stairs directly to the left when coming down the stairs. Bob fell at just the wrong angle. His head hit the landing right where it meets the wall and his neck broke. His glasses snapped in half and his head forehead split open and bled.

The medical examiner came and processed the scene. They took pictures and inspected the body looking for anything that might point to something other than a tragic accident. They did not find anything. They loaded up Bob and took him to their office for an autopsy. In the mean time, two family friends had arrived. One of them came to take the family dog to her house and the other came just for support and to gather any information possible to pass on to Lisa in NYC. After the body car and the medical examiner investigator had left, the friends asked me about the house. I told them that there was a medium sized mess on the stairs and advised them that there were services that would come to the house to clean it up. They did not want Lisa to come home to find the mess, and I had to agree with them. They thought that Lisa would be home the following morning. So, they decided to tackle the clean up themselves. I sent the rookie to the car to start the report and I grabbed a handful of gloves and helped them look for cleaning supplies. We found the necessary supplies took care of the stairs. Lisa is very lucky to have friends like these two ladies. This was the first time that I had been in a situation to help clean up something like this. These two ladies were brave enough to do this for a friend, so I helped out. Each night holds something new on patrol.

As an officer you learn to distance yourself from what you see. It is a defense mechanism. I have seen all manner of things that you never wish to have to see, and very little bothers me. This scene bothered me. It hit way too close to home for me. Mom and Dad, be careful on your stairs! Take your time and if you need me to come down and take stuff up or down, call me. It is the least that I can do after you have done so much for me.

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Meet the teacher

Third grade is an important grade for a child. It is a TAKS testing grade in Texas as well as a transitional grade. What I mean by that is the children are growing up. They are no longer babies in the school sense and are expected to be more responsible. They are also expected to learn at a quicker and more effective pace.

Last night was meet the teacher night at Austin's elementary school. My parents were kind enough to watch Addy and Austin while Jen and I headed up to the school. We arrived to find actual parking spaces in the parking lot. Which is amazing, his school has a horrible parking problem. There were about 100 other parents waiting outside the front of the school doors to enter the building. There was also a Galveston county sheriff's deputy outside monitoring the parking situation, just in case someone parked in the fire lane. While we waited to enter the school, we talked to other parents that we have met through school or little league. The assistant principal unlocked and opened the front doors and we were herded into the building like cattle. It felt like we were flying Southwest Airlines. We made it to the correct third grade classroom and were greeted by the very cheerful Mrs. Collins. She instructed us to find our child's desk and to sit down. Thank goodness Austin is not in kindergarden, because those chairs are tiny.

Mrs. Collins asked the parents to write a note to their child and to hide it in their desk. Of course, Jen took care of that for us. Her handwriting is perfect and she could write cards for Hallmark if she wanted. Then Mrs. Collins started her presentation about her teaching philosophy and what we could expect for the school year. She talked about how much she loved kids and how she already loved our kids and how much she was looking forward to the year with them. She told us not to worry about the TAKS test, that everything was going to be ok. Her specialization is reading, but she also loves math and science. She talked about giving presentations to other teachers and teaching them how to be more effective teachers. She said that she gets to school early and does not leave until 6 in the evening. She said that she rarely has a substitute because she rarely misses school. She uses positive punishment and gives the kids the benefit of the doubt. She loves technology and employs it in the classroom. She said that her children have both graduated and are no longer living at home. Throughout her entire presentation, I kept thinking, "Wow, she sounds just like my mom." How fortunate for us and especially for Austin.

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Wednesday, September 2, 2009

A nice effort, but she still went to jail

We stopped a white Lexus for making the illegal left turn from Westheimer onto S. Shepherd. The vehicle stopped in the BookStop parking lot. Tray, my current rookie approaches the driver's side and tells the female driver that she was stopped for making an illegal left turn where prohibited by sign. He then asks for her driver's license and proof of insurance which she provides. I have walked around the front of the car from the passenger side and join him on the driver's side. He then asks if she still lives at the address on her license. She faintly said no. So, he asks for her current address, and she whispered it to him. He had to ask her to repeat it a few times. After getting the address, we walk back to our patrol car.

I immediately ask him if he noticed anything unusual. He stated that he thought that he might have smelled alcohol on her breath (FYI, ethyl alcohol has no smell, but alcoholic beverages do). I told him that he was correct, there was a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from the vehicle. Since the driver was the only one in the vehicle, the odor was most likely coming from her. She was whispering in an effort to not project the smell. I called a fellow officer that is on the DWI task force, and he came to our location. He asked why we stopped her and why we thought she was intoxicated. For training purposes, I had Tray answer his questions. After receiving the answers, the task force officer asked me if she was polluted. I answered "definitely".

The task force officer gets her out of the Lexus. She is chewing gum now in an effort to hide the smell. She is wearing a spaghetti strap ankle length green dress and 4 inch heels. She has had some "work" done as well. The officer has her step in front of his patrol car, which puts her right in front of the camera that he uses to record the field sobriety tests. He performs HGN, which stands for horizontal gaze nystagmus. Nystagmus is the involuntary jerking or bouncing of the eyeball due to due a disturbance in the inner ear. The consumption of alcohol hinders the brains ability to correctly control the eye muscles resulting in the horizontal jerking of the eyeball. The more alcohol consumed, the more pronounced the jerking of the eyeball. She had 6 clues HGN, which means she is over the legal limit.

So, the task force officer asks her to perform the other tests which require a little movement. She protests that she can not do the tests in heels, so she is told that she can take them off. To do so, she decides that she has to bunch up her ankle length green dress. At this point the dress comes up to her knees. She gets the heels off, but does not put the dress down. The next test involves raising one foot 6 inches off of the ground for 30 seconds. The task force officer demonstrates. She decides that the dress is hindering her and bunches it up further. Now, the dress is holding at mid thigh. After doing that test, the task force officer demonstrates the walk and turn test, 9 steps, turn, 9 steps. Apparently, she thought that the dress was still limiting her, so she pulled it up some more. She is still on camera. The front of her dress is now being held just below her waist. She is showing off the goodies, commando style. I am not sure if she thought that would get her out of the arrest, but she tried her best. She was taken to Central intox for processing. She blew a .17, over twice the legal limit.

It was a great training call. The probationary got to see first hand, just how far some will go in an effort to get out a ticket or arrest. Here is a quick iPhone picture that I took for illustration purposes, since this is a story that some would not believe.

Mini Me 2

It was an interesting coincidence to read Jen's thoughts about Addy. I have been thinking along the same lines lately in regards to myself and Austin. Not only do children seem to bring out the best and worst in a parent, they copy those same behaviors.

Tonight was Austin's first Upward flag football practice of the season. His team ranges in grade from 3rd to 5th, 8 to 10 years old. Austin is one of the youngest boys on the team. During practice, the team did a flag pulling drill. We, I am one of the coaches, set up a 15 yard box, spread the boys out, and said go. The object is to pull as many flags as possible. We did the drill twice and Austin's flag was pulled immediately both times by older boys. He sighed and became obviously frustrated and down on himself. I told him to keep trying and to get flags. He rallied and kept trying. Seeing him react with frustration was like watching myself in the mirror.

When I was his age I played soccer and little league baseball. I was coordinated but not athletically gifted. I was also small like Austin. Quick side note, one of my very few regrets is not playing high school football. I played golf for fun with my dad. I eventually took golf more seriously. Mainly because I was better at golf than other sports. You see, I am competitive, some would say very competitive. At least genitically, I was predisposed to be a good golfer. I like to win. I thought my best chance to win came from playing golf.

Austin also likes to win. When he does not win or do well, he gets frustrated, just like I do. He has seen me get frustrated. Unfortunately, I have modeled that behavior for him. I became mindful of that fact from watching him react the same way that I do. Since realizing that, I have tried, somewhat successfully to react differently. At least I pay attention to my reactions when I know he is watching. I do not think that there is anything wrong with being competitive or wanting to win. I just want Austin to realize that it is ok, and can still be fun if you do not win. I do want him to strive to get better and to want to win. I want him to try harder to win. I do not want him to give up if something is tough. But, you do not always win.

He also has a tendency to get down on himself and to be negative. This absolutely breaks my heart to hear coming from my son's mouth. I want so much for my kids to have a high self-esteem. Not cocky or arrogant, but I want them to like themselves. I want them to know that God created them in his image. I want them to be happy in their skin and to enjoy who they are. I try to reinforce what amazing kids they are. Addy is not quite old enough to grasp this, but Austin certainly is. I want Austin to know that I am proud of him and that he is a great kid. Jen and I have been blessed with wonderful children, and they need to know that we feel that way.

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