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.
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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