At work we have been told that due to budgetary constraints, there will not be as much city overtime this year. Luckily for my station, we serve a very politically active, generous, and involved portion of the city's population. We have groups that donate money to the city for the express purpose of funding police overtime for their particular areas of the city.
Currently, there are three groups that have donated money to be used in my area. The groups want the money to be used to add more units for patrol. Since we have more patrol units via the overtime, on night shift we have a zero tolerance unit. It started 6 weeks ago. Zero tolerance refers to arresting anyone for any violation. The thinking is the people that are doing these minor violations might be wanted for other violations or they might be about to committ major violations. Especially if the zero tolerance is conducted in known drug areas or high property crime areas. The zero tolerance unit is always a two person unit. The unit is not in the calls for service loop, meaning they will not get dispatched to calls. There is not a quota, but two people in jail each night is reccommended.
That is not my style of policing. When I was a rookie, the officers that I rode with were into that style. I learned a lot about policing through them, but I also learned that was not what I wanted to do every night. I would rather train and run calls for service and stop traffic.
Tonight at the end of roll call, the desk sergeant asked if anyone wanted to volunteer to be the zero tolerance unit. Most of the sergeants know that zero tolerance is not my style of policing and have not assigned me to the unit. It also helps that I train most of the time.
Last night was Z's last night of third phase. He has expressed an interest in the zero tolerance unit. So, after roll call I volunteered to do the zero tolerance unit for the night since we were done training. We loaded up and went in search of 2 people to throw in jail. We started off running a lot of plates via the MDT looking for warrants. Then we trolled around the ward looking for pedistrians or bicycles. Bicycles because they are required to have a headlight and tail reflector at night. Most if not all of the bicycles in the ward do not meet that criteria and bicycles are commonly used to transport dope around the ward. Pedestrians because they tend to walk in the street where a sidewalk is provided or they trespass in known drug locations.
It was raining and there was very little traffic of any kind. We ended up getting lucky and finding a guy walking down the middle of the street. He was not wanted for anything else but he did just get out of jail 3 days ago. We took him back to jail for walking in the street where a sidewalk was provided. After dropping him off, we were looking for lucky number 2.
We were patrolling in the Montrose area around all of clubs at closing time. We watched a male stumble across the street. He was obviously intoxicated. He walked up to a car and began yelling and beating on the window. We drove up and Z jumped out. He quickly cuffed him and searched him. Z then ran him via the MDT. I was outside watching the male and Z gave me a thumbs up. The guy had an open felony drug warrant and 4 city warrants. Cool. I confirmed the warrants and we had our 2 arrests for the night. Overall, it was a good experience. Z learned quite a bit and we got a wanted felon off the street. Not bad for a night's work.
Currently, there are three groups that have donated money to be used in my area. The groups want the money to be used to add more units for patrol. Since we have more patrol units via the overtime, on night shift we have a zero tolerance unit. It started 6 weeks ago. Zero tolerance refers to arresting anyone for any violation. The thinking is the people that are doing these minor violations might be wanted for other violations or they might be about to committ major violations. Especially if the zero tolerance is conducted in known drug areas or high property crime areas. The zero tolerance unit is always a two person unit. The unit is not in the calls for service loop, meaning they will not get dispatched to calls. There is not a quota, but two people in jail each night is reccommended.
That is not my style of policing. When I was a rookie, the officers that I rode with were into that style. I learned a lot about policing through them, but I also learned that was not what I wanted to do every night. I would rather train and run calls for service and stop traffic.
Tonight at the end of roll call, the desk sergeant asked if anyone wanted to volunteer to be the zero tolerance unit. Most of the sergeants know that zero tolerance is not my style of policing and have not assigned me to the unit. It also helps that I train most of the time.
Last night was Z's last night of third phase. He has expressed an interest in the zero tolerance unit. So, after roll call I volunteered to do the zero tolerance unit for the night since we were done training. We loaded up and went in search of 2 people to throw in jail. We started off running a lot of plates via the MDT looking for warrants. Then we trolled around the ward looking for pedistrians or bicycles. Bicycles because they are required to have a headlight and tail reflector at night. Most if not all of the bicycles in the ward do not meet that criteria and bicycles are commonly used to transport dope around the ward. Pedestrians because they tend to walk in the street where a sidewalk is provided or they trespass in known drug locations.
It was raining and there was very little traffic of any kind. We ended up getting lucky and finding a guy walking down the middle of the street. He was not wanted for anything else but he did just get out of jail 3 days ago. We took him back to jail for walking in the street where a sidewalk was provided. After dropping him off, we were looking for lucky number 2.
We were patrolling in the Montrose area around all of clubs at closing time. We watched a male stumble across the street. He was obviously intoxicated. He walked up to a car and began yelling and beating on the window. We drove up and Z jumped out. He quickly cuffed him and searched him. Z then ran him via the MDT. I was outside watching the male and Z gave me a thumbs up. The guy had an open felony drug warrant and 4 city warrants. Cool. I confirmed the warrants and we had our 2 arrests for the night. Overall, it was a good experience. Z learned quite a bit and we got a wanted felon off the street. Not bad for a night's work.
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