Yup, I am still behind. But, I am gaining ground. This was an uneventful week. I rode with AR on Tuesday and was the print unit for three nights. My family was out of town for most of the week, so it was very quiet at home.
On Tuesday, AR and I were dispatched to a domestic violence call at a local bar. Tuesday night is not a big night for the bars and this one was mostly empty. A woman met us in the parking lot and said that she was a waitress at the bar. She told us that the assault took place at her apartment and that she drove to the bar afterwards. She did not have anyplace else to go. Her boyfriend has an anger problem that he takes out on her. On this night he pushed her against the wall a few times and then threw her to the ground. This was not the first time. There were no marks on her for me to photograph. She went on to say that he is attending a local college and comes from a wealthy family. There is no excuse for domestic violence. It is unfortunate that he was not on the scene for us to arrest.On Wednesday I was asked to check by with a unit on a burglary of a motor vehicle to attempt to lift some fingerprints. The owner of the vehicle had parked in a very secluded parking lot and then walked to a nearby bar. He returned to find his stuff had been stolen and his vehicle had been damaged. This parking lot is about a thirty yard square of dirt that is surrounded on all four sides by tall trees. The only way in is a short, two lane dirt road. The lot can not be seen from the nearby businesses or apartments. When it is dark, it feels like you are in a cave in this parking lot. Why would anyone park their vehicle in this lot? I have no idea. I was able to lift some fingerprints from the passenger side door glass. It appeared that the suspect had placed his entire palm on the glass to brace himself as he punched out the door lock. I lifted most of the print and tagged it for processing. This made me feel like I am slowly getting a little better at lifting prints. A little later, I felt inept at it.
Very late in the shift I was called out to a burglary of a used car lot. The business had multiple security cameras that captured some of the burglary. The suspect had seen some of the cameras and had gone so far as to climb on the roof and move the camera to face another direction. The suspect then pushed a window air conditioner unit that had been in a window, through the window and into the business. He then crawled through the hole and into the business. The video showed him rummaging around a desk. He placed his hands on the top of the desk and on the drawer handles. In the video it appeared he was not wearing gloves. So, I figured that I would be able to find his prints. Nope. I dusted everywhere that I had seen him touch in the video, and nothing, nada, zilch. Not even smudges. I tried the regular powder and the magnetic powder with zero results. It was strange. I even got on the roof and dusted the camera housing that he grabbed. Same result. I imagine there is an explanation, but it baffled me.
It was raining Thursday night. The roads were slick and accidents plentiful. I blocked traffic for an accident unit early in the shift. A city park's truck had lost control and done a few spins before hitting a tree and light pole. Luckily he did not hit another vehicle. The driver said that he was going the speed limit and the back end just stepped out and then the vehicle rotated. Possibly. My guess is he was speeding on the slick twisting road, but it was not my accident to investigate.
Friday night was very uneventful, even more so than the previous three nights. I was off on Saturday night. Thankfully. I had an early tee time Sunday morning.
I am starting to feel more comfortable in the roll of the print / picture unit. It gives me the opportunity to go to both districts, and to run some traffic without worrying about calls that are holding. They are going to hold interviews for the permanent print unit spot in a few weeks. We shall see what happens.
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