The code 1 tone came over radio (a high pitched tone that is designed to get officer's attention) and Susan (our regular dispatcher) announced that a robbery was in progress at a seafood restaurant on Airline Dr. Four hispanic males with guns were in the process of robbing the business. We were not dispatched, but we were not very far away so we started heading that way. The primary unit arrived on the scene and announced that he could see the males with guns out still inside the business. That got everyones' attention and every available unit that was in the area started flying in that direction. Two of the suspects tried to flee out the back door and were caught instantly by officers with shotguns and AR-15s at the ready. The other two suspects ran back into the kitchen and took the employees as hostages. They holed up in the back of the kitchen , near a window. Then they began taping up the employees. Officers entered through the front doors of the restaurant and started a dialog with the highjackers (HPD lingo for robbers). SWAT was called to the scene, which is standard procedure when there is a hostage situation. Just as SWAT was beginning to arrive, the highjackers were talked into surrendering. Officers then took the 8 people left in the business into custody. We had to take everyone into custody to make sure that the suspects did not try to blend in with the hostages. It ended peacefully, with no injuries and all of the suspects in custody.
As we were heading back to our patrol vehicle, the code 1 tone sounded again. This time it was a home invasion in progress. I drove, since I knew the way and I do not enjoy being a passenger especially during code 1 driving. We arrived in a couple of minutes. We found the front door to a nice townhouse had been kicked in. We received permission to search and Ron and I went to the second floor while another training unit took the bottom floor. We found the residents. The female said that she had woken up for no reason in particular. She then had heard some noise outside her bedroom door. She opened it to find the suspect. She screamed and he ran. The suspect was gone before we arrived. I found it interesting that the shattering of the front door did not wake up anyone in the house.
Quick public service announcement. Most strike plates (the plate that has a hole in the middle for the deadbolt to slide into) are secured to the door jamb with 1/2 inch screws. If Austin kicked a front door with those screws, it would fly open. Go buy some 3 inch screws and replace the 1/2 inch screws. The 3 inch screws will go through the jamb and into the actual frame of the house. That way, when the crackhead kicks the front door, it is his leg that breaks and not the door.
A little later, that tone again. This time it was a sexual assault in progress in a white vehicle that was north bound on the Southwest Freeway. A few units attempted to locate the vehicle as they were given updated locations from the dispatcher. A friend of the victim was on her cell phone with the dispatcher. She was following the suspect in her vehicle. The last thing she said was that the victim had jumped from the suspect's moving vehicle at Irvington and the North Loop. We never found the victim or the suspect. It was a wild goose chase.
There was also an accident involving two cabs, a crazy woman that keyed her neighbors car, threw dog feces on the driveway, stuffed trash in the mailbox, and threw paint on the front door, and a person who reported his vehicle stolen because he had gotten into an accident while he was drunk and fled the scene among other craziness. Well, Aunt Joanne wanted some action, be careful what you wish for.
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