The week on patrol, September 20-24, 2010

My week started out with O for two nights and ended with an in-service training class. 

Our first call on Monday was a robbery/delayed report. The call came from a pay phone at a gas station. Once we arrived, the male told us that he had gotten paid earlier that day and had cashed his check. Then he went to a game room and turned $1300 into $3400. I should take him to Vegas. He left the game room and was walking along the road when a car pulled up and two men jumped out. They put a gun to his head and took his money. This happened about 2 blocks from one of our command centers. So, then he gets on a bus, and takes it to my part of town. His walk to the bus stop and subsequent bus ride took 90 minutes. Once we had heard his story and O had gathered all of his information, I asked O what he thought actually happened. O said that it probably happened about like he told us. That is a possibility, but I doubt it. O then asked me what I thought happened. I think that he cashed his paycheck and then went to the game room. At the game room I think that he lost all of his money. Then he left and wondered what he was going to tell his baby’s momma. He got on the bus and had some time to think. He hatched the robbery idea and called us. His story just did not make any sense. A little luck is one thing, but $1300 to $3400 is more than a little luck. He should have gone straight to a stop-in-rob and bought a lottery ticket. Why not go straight to the nearby command station to report the robbery? Why ride a bus to a different part of town and then report the robbery? Lots of questions without any good answers. 

A few hours later, we checked by on another robbery. A young man that lives in the area was sitting at a table outside of a Starbucks “borrowing” the free wifi. A group of 4 males approached him and asked him for the time. Right after asking, one of them jumped on him and another one grabbed his computer. The males then ran off towards downtown. The victim flagged down one of our officers, N. N got on the radio and put out a description of the males. Right after the description went out, another officer saw 4 males matching the description. As he approached them, two of them ran off. We responded and saw one of the males running down a nearby street. I accelerated the patrol vehicle and caught up to the runner. As we came to a screeching halt just in front of the runner, he saw me and decided that I must be related to Brian Urlacher. Because he threw himself to the ground face down and put his hands behind his back. It was not his first encounter with law enforcement. At about the same time, another officer saw the other runner and took him into custody. That runner still had the victim’s laptop in his possession. We brought the runners back to the scene and the victim positively identified them as the robbers. It was a great example of quick and effective police work.     

On Tuesday, O was with me again. We checked by with B on a disturbance a few hours into the shift. Once we arrived, the male that answered the door told us that his ex-boyfriend had just hit him in the face. We asked him what happened and he told us that there was a knock on his door at 2 AM. He decided to just open the door without looking. As soon as the door opened, his ex-boyfriend whom he has a restraining order against for previous violence, punched him in the face and then ran off. Who opens the front door in the middle of the night without first looking outside? Peephole maybe? Then added to that is the fact that he knows that his ex-boyfriend wants to harm him and he still just answered the door. Nothing quite like making it easy to be victimized. At least make the ex work for it a little bit. 

On the way to dinner we were dispatched to a burglary of a business. A nearby piano bar had been burglarized. The entire front of the business was glass, but they do not have a glass break sensor connected to their alarm. The bar has a motion detector, but it only covers the entrance. So, the burglars broke the farthest window from the door. Then they absolutely destroyed a video game and vending machine that were by the windows. They even took a few beers out of a nearby cooler and had refreshments while they worked. They finally set off the alarm when the walked to close to the front door. There is not telling how long they were inside, but from the damage to the machines, I would bet they were in the bar for at least 5 minutes. It might be time for the bar to get a glass break sensor. 

I rode solo on Wednesday. There were a few loud noise calls and another fake call by the same guy from last week. Towards the end of the shift, I checked by with A on a suspicious male. He was walking around a neighborhood looking into cars. When A approached him, he had a knife in his hand. She told him to drop it, and he did not listen. Luckily for him, she did not shoot him, even though she would have been justified. She was able to take him into custody without further incident. Once he figured out that he might go to jail, he said that he needed an ambulance. Then he asked us to “pinkie swear” to something. He refused to give us his address and then sang his phone number to us. He went to jail for safe keeping, and for walking in the street where a sidewalk is provided.

I was solo again on Thursday. I was dispatched to an accident involving a wrecker driver. A Cadillac did not yield the right of way leaving a stop sign and was hit by the wrecker. No one was injured. The Cadillac was an older model and had a minor dent on the rear quarter panel. The wrecker sustained quite a bit more damage and the bumper was bent severely enough to touch the tires. From the damage to the wrecker, if it had been a new Cadillac, the trunk of the Cadillac would have been ripped off. They don’t make cars like they used to.  

I left work Friday morning and went straight to the academy for my first mandatory in-service class of the year. This class was on decision making and ethics. The first half of the class was taught by two assistant Chiefs. They were both very good speakers. They tried out something new on our class. They broke us into groups of 12, handed us a sheet of paper, a Sharpie and a box of crayons, and asked us to redesign the department’s logo using the mission statement as a guide. We had 15 minutes and then we had to present the logo to the class. The exercise was a little “touchy-feely” but ended up going smoothly. Each group’s design was impressive and it was interesting to hear them explain their logos. 

The afternoon was a disaster. The first speaker was a dead ringer for Margaret Chu, except she was not funny. She talked about sexual and workplace harassment. I say talked, but in reality she read. Each Powerpoint slide that came on the screen, she read. I am relatively certain that everyone in the room could read. It was brutal. She advised us to refrain from hugging in the workplace. Not because the parties involved will be offended, but because an on-looker might complain. I guess B and I will have to stop embracing. Too bad. The last 90 minutes was spent watching a video of the department’s lead counsel discussing what he thinks we need to know. Just like last year he talked about the Golden Rule and quoted scripture. It was extremely boring. So, boring in fact that I am sure that I missed a little of his talk. 

That concludes another week on patrol. 

Posted via email from will7079's posterous

The week on patrol, September 13-17, 2010

This week I had a partner for four out of the five nights. The week included someone calling in bogus requests for the police and a male who bit off more than he could chew.

On Monday night, O and I started out with a BMV. The associate athletic director of a local college went to a bar to watch his football coach's weekly show get recorded. He left his university briefcase in the backseat of his SUV. When he came out after the show, his window had been shattered and the briefcase was gone. This is his first year at the new university, He came down here from a school in Indiana. He and I talked football for a few minutes while O gathered the information for the report. Later in the shift we were dispatched to the one vehicle rollover accident that I have already written about.

O was with me again on Tuesday. We checked by on a code 1 call early in the shift. Code 1 calls are in-progress calls. They are our highest priority calls and we use our lights and sirens to get there in a timely manner. This call slip said that a male had the clerk at a nearby stop-in-rob at gunpoint and was in fact, robbing the store. We arrived in less than a minute along with three other units. Absolutely nothing was going on. The clerk had no idea what we were talking about. In general, fake or bogus calls suck. But a fake code 1 call where details included in the call slip make it sound real and we hurry to get there, those are definitely below average and dangerous. This person called in a few more fake calls during the shift. He used the same name and cell phone number each time and dispatch did not send us to those fake calls. They tried to triangulate his cell phone and use GPS to get a location, but that takes a little time and we could not find him. Our dispatcher talked to him briefly, and he offered to buy her a drink. Our dispatcher deserves a drink, but he is a moron.

I was by myself on Wednesday. The only call of interest was a discharging firearms call. People hear a loud noise or fireworks or a car backfiring, and they report a discharging firearms call. Usually we do not find anything as we check the area. Every now and then, we find a body. Tonight we did not find a body, but we did find spent shell casings. We did not find anything that had been hit by the bullets, but at least the caller really did hear a discharging firearm.

I had traffic court again on Thursday night. This time I was there for 15 minutes. The citizen had hired an attorney and wanted a jury trial instead of a judge trial. That is his right, and I will see him in court again for the jury trial. The citizen's logic is this; he is trying to make me appear in court as many times as possible. If I do not show up one time, the ticket will get dismissed. I was early for roll call after the brief court appearance. The LT took me in an office and asked how O was doing. I told him that he was doing fine, but it was going to take a little time. O only rode by himself for about two months before the medical issue sidelined him. So, he does not have a vast amount of prior knowledge and experience to draw from after his six month absence. He almost needs to be retrained. Which, in a sense is what I am doing.

I rode with J on Thursday. The shift was quite slow until we were dispatched to a shooting scene. Initially, the district attorney did not want to take any charges against the suspect. So, the evidence was collected and we wrote a very detailed report. A few days later, the desk Srg informed me that felony charges had in fact been filed against the suspect. Better late than never.

I was the print unit on Friday and O was my partner. We ran a few calls, but nothing that was print or picture related. In the middle of the shift, we checked by on an assault in progress in the drive through of a fast food restaurant. The restaurant is open 24 hours and caters to the drunk driving crowd after 2 AM. We arrived and there was nothing going on in the parking lot or the restaurant. So, we started checking the cars in the drive through. We spoke with a few people and they had a funny tale for us. Two females were in the parking lot of the restaurant. Two males pulled into the parking lot and yelled some derogatory comments towards the females. The males continued driving to the drive through. The females yelled right back at the males, got into their vehicle and pulled into the drive through as well. Some more insults were exchanged until the male passenger stepped out of the car. He ripped off his shirt like he was the Hulk and started yelling and pointing at the females. So, the female passenger also stepped out. She did not rip off her shirt, or point, or yell. What she did was kick the male's butt. She took him to the ground and rubbed his face on the concrete. When we spoke to the male, he still had leaves on his face from the ground. The female told us that she knew a little martial arts. To add insult to injury, the male went to jail for public intoxication. On the way to jail, he cried. Priceless. You act like the Hulk in a drive through and challenge a female to a fight, you lose, go to jail, and cry. Not a good night for him. The only thing that would have made it better, was video.

That concludes another week on patrol.

Posted via email from will7079's posterous

The rest of the story...

On most of the local news stations and in the newspaper, there is a story concerning a homeowner who shot a person that was trying to break into his house after his vehicle was towed. That was my call and this is what happened.

I had traffic court again at 9 PM on Thursday. Court ended at 9:15, and I went over to the station. J and I rode together since I was there an hour early. Half way through the shift we were dispatched to a shooting / just occurred at a home in the middle of the Gayborhood. We were the second unit on the scene. The first unit on the scene placed two men in handcuffs and found a third male that was laying on the threshold of the front door. On any police scene, our first goal is to make sure that the scene is safe. That is especially true on a scene where we think a gun is involved. That is why the two men were immediately placed in handcuffs and searched. The man on the ground was quickly searched for weapons as well. A gun was found on a chair just inside the front door. It had been unloaded and the slide had been locked back. I took that gun into custody and put it in my back pocket for safe keeping. Another officer and I then searched the house to make sure that no one else was hiding inside. Once the scene was safe, we began our investigation.

The two men in cuffs turned out to be H, the homeowner, and N, the second suspect. The man laying on the ground was W, the primary suspect who had been shot in the leg. The homeowner and the two suspects were all black males. An ambulance arrived shortly after and loaded up W and transported him to an area hospital. A unit followed the ambulance to the hospital since W was the primary suspect in a burglary of a habitation.

This is what H, the homeowner told us had happened. H said that he took his car and drove to a few of the nearby bars. When he returned home around 2 AM, a vehicle was parked in the street blocking his driveway. He called the police to have the vehicle ticketed and towed so that he could access his driveway. A unit was dispatched to that call and did indeed ticket and tow the vehicle blocking the driveway. H then went inside and started cooking himself some breakfast, grits on the stove.

In the middle of the cooking process, he heard two very loud crashes. The noise came from the front of his house and was the sound of breaking glass. Thinking that his home was getting broken into, H ran to his bedroom and grabbed a loaded .45 caliber pistol. He then crossed his living room and approached a glass paned door that led to the small outer room where his front door was located. Through the glass, H saw a male break his front door and start to come inside his house. H pointed his pistol at the male and fired one shot. The bullet went through the glass in both doors and then into the leg of the male. The male dropped to the ground and started yelling for help. The second suspect N, who had been on the sidewalk started coming toward the front door. H lifted his pistol again and told N to stay away, which he did. H then called the police and we arrived shortly thereafter.

After hearing what had happened, it was my responsibility to call the Homicide division. They are called on every shooting scene. Homicide generally does not roll out a team unless someone dies. I heard from the officers at the hospital that W was going to live. W had been shot once and the bullet had broken his femur. I told the homicide investigator that W would live, and he released the scene to us to process and complete the initial investigation.

My next call was to the district attorney's office to get charges accepted on the suspect. We have to have permission from the DA's office to charge anyone with more than a class C violation. So, I spoke with an assistant DA and gave her the facts of the incident. I thought that we had a very easy burglary charge against W. I was wrong. The assistant DA refused to accept any charges at all and wanted the case referred to the investigative division for further investigation. What in the bleep? I had a suspect break two windows and a front door. Then try to come in the door. The suspect was in custody and stated that he was mad that his vehicle had been towed. But the DA thought further investigation was necessary? There are two elements to a burglary offense: 1. Unlawful entry combined with 2. the intent, attempt, or actually committing a theft, assault, or other felony. The DA said that they had to prove our suspect had intent. I said that he was not breaking in to have breakfast with the homeowner.

I was incredulous as were all of the officers and supervisors on the scene. I called back the homicide investigator to see if he had any suggestions. He advised that I call back and ask to speak to the acting intake chief DA. So, I did and got the same answer. He wanted the case referred to the investigative division so that the case could be walked straight through to the Grand Jury.

Since no charges had been accepted, there was no reason for the officers to keep W in custody. They gathered all of his information and left the hospital. We had already gathered N's information, so we released him as well.

Our full time print / picture unit was on the scene and I asked him to document the scene. He took quite a few photographs and then took custody of the pistol and shell casing that we found. He then tagged those items into evidence.

All that was left was the report. J entered all of the screens while I ate a bacon sandwich and then it was my turn to write the narrative of the report. In a report like this where charges are not accepted and we are releasing a burglary suspect into the wild, I had to make sure and cover all of our behinds. It took me over an hour to write the narrative, which is an eternity for me.

The homicide investigator advised me to call the Burglary and Theft division when they opened at 6 AM to give them a heads up on the case. I did so. A few minutes later, the B & T investigator called me back and told me that they wanted W in custody. Her LT thought that W needed to be in custody, even though he had not been charged with anything and was in the hospital. I said ok, and contacted my supervisor while the B & T investigator called the hospital to make sure that W was still there. The investigator called me back and a logical decision had been made. W was still in the hospital and decided to send one of their own officers to the hospital since they believed that charges were imminent. I said great and went home.

I turn off my ringer on my cell phone and the house phone is also turned off in the bedroom. Between 7 AM and 11:30 AM, my cell phone received no less than 5 calls concerning the shooting. At 11:30 AM, Jen came in and woke me up because a LT called the house and in her words sounded "frantic" to speak with me. I called everyone back and answered their questions. Since the story was getting a lot of play in the media, the chiefs were concerned with the case. That puts pressure on everyone below the chiefs. The last thing that I heard from the lead investigator was that he was walking the case to the Grand Jury, but he thought that he would only be able to get a criminal mischief charge against W. That is too bad, but better than nothing. It made for a frustrating, but interesting shift.

The week on patrol, September 6-10, 2010

I started out the week by working on a holiday. I had a partner for two nights and moved back to my old beat. 

Since I have a little bit of seniority on the department, I have the opportunity to be off on some holidays. The holidays are staffed by volunteers and then by seniority, with the least senior people getting ordered in to work on the holiday. I was given the option to have it off, but I figured that I would work it and earn some easy comp time in the process. After roll call, I walked to the parking garage and found my shop (our term for patrol car). One of the first things that I was trained to do after finding my shop is check the backseat for weapons or contraband. The last thing that we want to happen is for a prisoner to leave a weapon in the backseat and for the next prisoner to find it and possibly use it. So, I opened up the back door of the shop and began my inspection of the backseat. Sitting on the floorboard on the driver’s side of the backseat was a crack pipe. Wonderful. That means that a prisoner had a pipe in his possession when he was put into the backseat and then left the pipe in the backseat. It also means that the officer who put the prisoner into the backseat did not check the backseat after getting the prisoner out, which is another thing we are trained to do. 

So, it was now up to me to make the necessary phone calls, tag the crack pipe into the narcotics division to be destroyed, fill out the paperwork, and write the found narcotics report. I tried to contact the officer who had last driven the shop in an effort to find out the owner of the crack pipe, but was not able to get in touch with them in the middle of the night. A few days later, I was able to talk to the officer. They said that the only prisoner they had in the backseat during their shift was a prisoner that they picked up from the city jail. They had to get the prisoner warned at the county jail and then returned the prisoner to jail. What that means is that the prisoner had been searched by no less than the arresting officer, a jailer, and the transporting officer and they all missed the crack pipe that was in the prisoners possession. Crazy. It is no wonder that every few years we receive mandatory training in searching techniques. 

I was notified by the desk Sergeant Tuesday night that I was going back to my old beat. The one for one switch was approved by the LT. I am still on late side, but I am back in the district that I have mainly worked in for the last 10 years. Tuesday, was my last night riding north of the bayou. The desk Srg asked B and I to ride up there because quite a few people were off in the district that night. We were notified at roll call that most of our communications were down. Our police radios and mobile computers were not working. There was a fire department channel that we get on our police radios that was still functioning, so all of patrol for the entire city was working off of one channel. We normally work off of 10 different channels. Only in-progress calls were getting dispatched until the other channels came back online. The only other time that I have seen the radios go down was during Tropical Storm Allison when everything flooded. The radio channels came back up relatively soon, but the computers did not until very late in the shift.  

A few hours into the shift, B and I were dispatched to a criminal mischief of a vehicle. Once we arrived, the owner told us that he was awakened by his car alarm. He looked out a window and saw two males fleeing on bicycles. Since his truck has been burglarized a couple of times in the past, he has installed surveillance cameras. He took us inside and showed us the footage of the incident. His vehicle was parked out on the street. Two males pedalled up and punched out the door lock. Then they entered the vehicle and started searching for something to steal. After looking around for about 15 seconds, the vehicle alarm sounded and they fled. What made the incident interesting, was the owner’s question for us. After showing us the video, he lamented that this had happened to him and his neighbors numerous times over the past few months. He installed lights and cameras and a vehicle alarm, but it keeps happening. He asked, “What else can I do?” I thought, how about park in the garage? 

When B and I pulled up, I noticed that the house was connected to a perfectly good two car garage. Maybe, just maybe, the garage was built to hold two vehicles. It would stand to reason that if your truck was secured in your garage instead of parked out on the street, that it would not get damaged or broken into every few weeks out on the street. I understood his frustration, and I would love to put some BMV suspects in jail, but in the immortal words of Jerry Maguire: Help me, help you. 

Wednesday night found me back in my old beat. It was a particularly slow night with nothing really going on. 

I was dispatched to a disturbance early in the shift on Thursday. A male was banging on the door of an apartment and would not leave. Myself and another unit arrived and found the male. He said that his friend lived in the apartment and that he had left $500 in the apartment under the carpet. We knocked on the door and found out that they were, in fact, friends. We then asked if we could check for the money and were not able to find it. The male who lost the money told us that it was no big deal. He was not worried about the $500. He said that he would leave and would not bother the male in the apartment any longer. We were not called out the apartment again that night. Once again we were not getting the whole story. Who leaves $500 in someone else’s apartment? And when the money is gone says, “no big deal?” This issue was not resolved, but it was postponed for later. 

The rest of the shift was spent checking loud noise calls and illegal parking calls. In the past we have had a big problem with wrecker drivers calling in illegal parking calls in hopes of getting the tow. Seems like a conflict of interest to me. The frequency of the calls by the wrecker drivers had slowed down dramatically, but it is starting to pick back up again. 

I was asked by my supervisor if I would allow another officer who was coming back from a medical issue to ride with me for a few days. The LT wanted to make sure that the officer was ok and fit for duty. I had evaluated the officer about a year earlier and got along with him, so I agreed as long as I had no liability. That was agreed to and Friday night was O’s first night back on the street in over 6 months. It was Friday, so I was the print unit. This would allow O to ease back into night shift patrol. We checked by with a few officers and then were called to take some photos. I took a few pictures of a male and female. The male had assaulted the female at a bar. The female had fought back so the male had some injuries as well. Turned out that they had been married and the male did not appreciate the female coming into the bar with a new man. He went to jail for assault. The rest of the shift was uneventful. 

That concludes another week on patrol.    

 

      

Posted via email from will7079's posterous

High speed + alcohol = rollover

A few minutes after bar closing time on Tuesday morning, RH and I were dispatched to a one vehicle major accident. We arrived to find a car wheels up with no driver.

However, we did have a few witnesses. Our driver had the misfortune to crash between a halfway house and some very low income apartments. Residents of both places just so happened to be awake and outside at the time of the accident. Amazingly enough, the best witness was neither high nor intoxicated. She told us that she heard the cars before she saw them. When they came into view, the vehicle involved in the accident was leading what appeared to be a street race against another car. The vehicle came to a curve that led to a freeway entrance ramp. The driver lost control at the beginning of the curve, clipped a concrete post, started sliding sideways, and went over a small median. When the vehicle came down off the median, the driver's side wheels bit into the concrete and the vehicle flipped onto its roof and slid across the road and up onto the sidewalk. At that point, our witness said that everyone that was outside started running toward the vehicle. As they approached, the driver crawled out of the vehicle. He walked to our witness and said that he was going to call the police and then continued walking. She went on to describe the driver to us. A few minutes later, I saw a male matching the description walking on the sidewalk across the parking lot behind the flipped over car. I yelled at the male to stop. We made eye contact, and the male turned around and took off running. I did what experienced officers do, I used the police car to chase him. B was in the area looking for the driver as well and we both caught him about a block away. The male had a few minor cuts on his arms and face. He was also covered in glass dust. He looked like he was wearing glitter. I asked him why he ran from me, and he played stupid. He said, "I do not know what you are talking about, I was just walking down the sidewalk." We then asked why he left the scene of an accident, and again he played stupid. "I was at the club with some friends and my car was stolen. I do not know how I got here."

We took him into custody and returned to the accident scene. Our witness positively identified him as the male that crawled out of the car. He was the only person in the car, so he was our driver. We knew he was the driver, but the DA's office needs a "wheel witness", someone that can state who was driving the vehicle. I called for a DWI task force unit, who came to the scene. The male finally admitted to the task force unit that he had been in the vehicle, but stated that someone else was driving. I guess that "person" just vanished. The male refused all tests and later refused to give a breath sample at the station. He had two previous arrests for DWI with one conviction. It was not his first rodeo.

The wrecker driver used chains to flip the vehicle. Then he had to use some dollies on the back wheels since they were not in rolling condition. He then used his spoons and boom to pick up the front of the car. As he was driving away with the car, he hit a bump and the car fell off the spoons. Due to the condition of the vehicle, there was not any new damage to worry about. Ir seems like there is never a shortage of crazy events and drunk people to deal with.

Posted via email from will7079's posterous

The week on patrol, August 30 - September 3, 2010

I ran some interesting calls this week. It was a short week for me and I had a partner every night. It was a good week.

B and I rode together Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Monday night started off slowly. We were patrolling the beat when A sent B a text asking us to check by with her. I pulled up her call slip and she was on a fraud report at a residence. We were close and checked by with her. She had a roommate stealing the identities of her other roommates by opening credit card accounts.

The owner of the residence, F, likes to have roommates to help her offset her mortgage payment. For the past few years, she has used roommates.com to find these roommates. Using that service, she has found and had live with her, 5 different roommates. Until now, all of the roommates have been great. She currently has two girls living with her, G, a Spanish girl, and J, the identity thief. 

Earlier in the evening, F received a call from one of the credit reporting agencies alerting her that there was some suspicious activity involving one of her credit card accounts. The reporting agency told her some of the basic account information. F called the card issuer, and they gave her some limited information over the phone. She found out that she had not opened the account, about $6500 had been charged to it so far, and they also gave her the email address and phone number associated with the account. While she was on the phone, she noticed J’s purse sitting on the kitchen table. The purse was open and an envelope was sticking out of the purse. The envelope was addressed to G and was from a credit card company. This made F very suspicious. She got G and showed her the envelope. G opened it and it was a credit card in her name. G had not opened or applied for this account. 

F and G then confronted J who was upstairs in her room. J was not confrontational, but was not answering the questions either. F and G started searching her room with J’s consent, and they began to find receipts, other envelopes, and credit card statements that were not in J’s name. F called her parents who came over and then the police were called. Among the papers that they found in J’s room, F found a store receipt that was also a credit card statement. F’s name was listed as the card holder. The statement said that the card had been opened at the store. F also found some of the clothing on the floor from that store with the tags still attached. 

When we arrived, J was gathering up her belongings and was planning on leaving. It took two tries, but R did finally get charges accepted by the DA’s office for credit card abuse. F and G gathered up all of the documents that they had found with their names on them in J’s possession. Those were tagged into evidence. I got onto F’s computer and was able to get into the account that J had opened in G’s name. The email address and phone number for the account were the same that the credit reporting agency had given F for the account in her name. So J used the same info for both accounts. The address she used was an address in Dallas. Then we checked Facebook. The email address was associated with a male on Facebook that just so happened to be friends with J. So, we got as much info about him that we could from Facebook, so that he could be added that to the report. F went on to tell me that J did not have a job and hung out at the house all day. J paid her first month’s rent with a check from provided by a friend and the second month’s rent was paid via a Western Union money wire. I asked F if she found any of that suspicious, and she said at the time, no.  

B and I transported a very quiet J to jail who was charged with two felonies. Maybe roommates.com is not the best way to find a roommate? 

On Tuesday, B and I checked by on a disturbance involving a CIT patient. We arrived and the primary unit was just getting the patient, H, into custody. H was yelling and screaming and basically freaking out. We walked him over to the patrol cars and sat him down on the ground. Then we went to the apartment where he was staying. He was staying with a friend at the friend’s apartment. The friend is who called the police. He called because H had destroyed his apartment. Windows were broken and every piece of furniture had been disturbed. Book cases were knocked over and anything breakable was broken. The friend told us that H was bi-polar, off his medications, and drinking heavily. H had lost a custody battle involving his children earlier in the day and that sent him into crisis. Once H was in custody, we called for a specialized unit to come to the scene to access H. The unit arrived and was completely useless. They did not even speak to H, until we had him calm and then they riled him back up again. Normally the specialized CIT units are very helpful, but no luck this time. The primary unit ended up transporting him to a psychiatric center and then to the county jail where he was placed into the psych ward. 

Wednesday was very slow for the first half of the shift. Then we were dispatched to a complainant chasing a suspect. We found the complainant, a bar owner,  and he told us that the suspect, a black male, had just gotten into an old truck and the truck went north. We put that out over the radio and another unit saw the truck almost instantly. We got the truck stopped, but there was only a female in the truck. We took the female into custody and the other units went to begin searching for the male suspect. We took the female and her truck back to the complainant’s business where we found the complainant. 

He told us that his business, a bar, had been burglarized 4 times in the past week. So, after closing, he drove his vehicle down the block and watched his business waiting for the suspects. He knew what the suspects looked like from surveillance footage from the earlier burglaries. As he is sitting there, he saw the male suspect exit a side door of his business. He did not see him enter the business. The bar owner then began to follow the suspect, who was walking. Eventually, the suspect figured out that he was being followed. The suspect then picked up a large rock, ran at the bar owner’s vehicle, and shattered the windshield with the rock. The suspect then ran off. The bar owner then saw the old truck driving around the area. He knew the truck was involved because it had been used in the earlier burglaries. The officers looking for the suspect set up a perimeter, called in the dogs and helicopters, but did not find the male suspect. 

I looked at the surveillance footage from the previous burglaries, and the female that we had in custody looked a lot like the female in the footage. However, the DA’s office did not want to accept any charges on the female for burglary at this time. They wanted the case referred for further investigation. So, we gathered all of the information for our report, and I informed the bar owner that she was not being charged tonight. A few minutes later, another bar employee came over to me and said that he had been outside watching the bar as well, but from across the side street. He said that he had seen the female come out of the bar right after the male. He also said that the old truck had been parked out in front of the bar. So, I took the bar owner to the side and asked him if while he watching his bar, he saw the old truck pull up and stop in front of the bar. He said that he had not seen the truck. So, somebody was not telling me the whole truth. I did add the employee’s statement to the report, but I included that I did not believe his account of the events.  

The female went to jail for driving without a license and insurance. She never told us that she was picking the suspect up from the burglary, but did say that he mother taught her to “look the other way” when a man is taking care of her. She also gave us all of the information that she knew about the male suspect. Hopefully, the investigator will be able to find him and charge them both with the burglaries. 

I had traffic court on Thursday. Court was at 9 PM. It was judge court, which means if the officer shows up, the violator is guilty. Not 100% of the time, but close. This male decided to take defensive driving. I got out of court at 9:30, so I went over to the station to talk to the roll call Sergeant. I wanted to find out if I could do a 1 for 1 switch with an officer to move back to my old beat. He said that it was fine with him, but that the LT would have to approve. That sounded reasonable to me. During roll call, we were all told that the great court overtime experiment was over. We were now supposed to start going to court at 8 AM like in the past instead of 1 PM. The city tried having us show up at 1 PM in order to save money. It did not have the intended outcome, so a month later, they went back to the old system.

Thursday night I rode with J. We checked by with a unit on a major accident. A bicyclist had been hit by a car. The bicyclist said that he was crossing the street on the bike at a green light. The car was turning onto the same street and apparently did not see the bicyclist. The car hit the bike and drove off. There were two problems. One, as he was screaming in pain and not making very much sense, he said that the accident occurred about two blocks away. Normally, no big deal. But the guy was carrying on so badly about his not obvious injuries, I doubt that he could have moved two blocks from the scene of the accident. Secondly, his bicycle was not damaged. No scratches, nothing bent, nothing broken, it looked just like new. I have never been on a bike that was hit by a car, but I have a feeling that there would be some damage to the bicycle. The call was not ours, so after we were done providing traffic control, we took off. 

I was off on Friday night before our trip to Corpus Christi for the weekend. That concludes another week on patrol.  

 

 

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Labor Day weekend

Since Nana is still in the rehab facility recovering from her fall, Jen thought that it would be nice to visit Corpus Christi during Labor Day weekend. Hopefully, seeing some grandkids and great grandkids might lift her spirits.

Jen and Courtney decided to drive down Friday morning. Jen with A2 in tow, pulled A1 out of school a little early. Then she picked up Courtney and S1 along with all of the stuff that is needed to take care of an infant. Fortunately, we have a Suburban, so a trailer was not necessary. They made it safely to Corpus. They visited Nana and then had a late dinner with family.

Mike and I were scheduled to come down the following morning since Mike and I had to work on Friday. At work on Thursday, I was sitting in the Sergeant's office when the desk Sergeant asked if I wanted to take Friday night off. There was a spot open in the book. That sounded great to me. That way I would not be driving to Corpus after working all night. Mike and I decided to go eat dinner at Chuy's Friday night. Then we went back to his place and played some Halo. It was a fun guy's night. I had already packed and brought the dog with me, so I spent the night on his couch.

Mike and I packed up the Highlander Saturday morning. Two sets of golf clubs take up quite a bit of the cargo area of the Highlander. We listened to podcasts all the way to Corpus. Since our wives do not particularly care for them while they are in the vehicle. We arrived in Corpus just in time for lunch. When we visit Corpus, it seems like all we do is eat. After lunch we watched the first Longhorn game of the season at Nana's house. The Horns struggled a little early, and the score was closer than the game actually was.

That evening we went to a minor league baseball game. The Hooks are a Double A team that has been in Corpus since 2005. They are part of the Houston Astros minor league system. They play at Whataburger Field. It is a nice park with some minor league quirks. There is a swimming pool just beyond the right field fence. Between every inning they held some type of contest or threw something into the stands. They also had a wheel that you could spin to win prizes. One dollar bought you three spins and the line for that was at least 50 people deep all game long. Right after we arrived, Jen bought A2 a miniature pink Hooks bat. She had gotten one for A1 the last time they went to a game. His is not pink. During the game, A2 kept saying that she wanted to see "Rusty". Rusty is the mascot for the Hooks. He is a "Hook". They also have "Sammy" the seagull. In the middle of the game we saw Rusty on the first base side of the field. We took the kids over, and Rusty autographed the kids' bats. As we were walking back to our seats, A2 saw Sammy. So, we got Sammy's autograph as well. That was the highlight of the game for the kids.

On Sunday morning, Mike and I went out to fetch breakfast. We chose Krispy Kreme. There is still a location that is open in Corpus. As soon as we walked in the door, the staff was offering us a free hot glazed donut. We did not turn them down. We picked out a dozen (Mike likes the filled ones, nasty) and paid. The pricing is interesting, $7.50 for 1 dozen, $12.50 for 2 dozen, and $13.50 for 3 dozen. The more fat and sugar you buy, the cheaper it gets. We stuck with one dozen.

After breakfast, Mike and I met Uncle Fred at a local golf course. Fred had arranged for us to play, and the price was right, free. The course was nice, some water and long rough. Mike and I struggled and decided to call it quits after 9 holes. I figured that it would not have been very nice to get back to Nana's house and tell the wives that we had a miserable time on the golf course while we let them take care of our children by themselves.

When we got back to the house, it was lunch time. They have a 5 Guys Burgers and Fries in Corpus, so we decided to give that a try. The menu is very limited. Burgers or fries, but they do them both very well. We all visited Nana that evening and it was great to see her. She looks like she is doing well considering what she has been through. We brought her some Whataburger for dinner. They had just delivered her dinner surprise when we arrived. After looking at what was on her tray, I was glad that she did not have to eat it. After we left the rehab facility, you guessed it, it was time to eat. We ate at On the Border. Quick side story, when I was dating the girl that introduced Jen and I, we were driving and passed an On the Border. She turned to me and said, "I wonder what kind of food they serve there?" I responded with "Canadian." The food was good, but the drinks were expensive. Mike and I each had 2, and they were more expensive than our food, all of our food, combined. Ouch.

When we woke up Monday morning, it was pouring down rain. We packed up the vehicles and cleaned up the house. Mike and I got a laugh out of watching Jen and Courtney "groom" the rug with a broom that looks like a rake. After stopping to say goodbye to Nana, we drove home in the rain. Nana told the girls that the next time she sees them, she will be at home. I hope that her spirits stay up. She is working hard to recover her strength and range of motion. She is a tough Great Grandmother.

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The Week on Patrol, August 23-27, 2010

The week started off with a man skateboarding on the freeway and ended with more burglaries. In between was the heavy duty tow that I wrote about earlier along with a few residential burglaries. 

The week started off quite slow, which seems to be the norm lately. A few hours into the shift, I was dispatched to a traffic hazard. The call slip stated that a man was riding a skate board on the freeway. That definitely qualified as a traffic hazard. I checked the area and could not find the male and was just about to clear the call when I found him. He was riding on the shoulder of the freeway. He had made it quite a distance from where the caller had seen him riding. I pulled up behind him and activated my lights. He pulled over to the right. Not really, I passed him and stopped on the shoulder. When he caught up with me, he stopped and I put him and his board into the backseat of the patrol vehicle. I asked him why he was on the freeway, and he said that is the only way that he knows how to get places. He told me that he was planning on exiting a few miles south, so I drove him to his exit and let him out in a parking lot. I could have written him a ticket for failing to maintain the minimum speed on the freeway, but I decided that he already had enough problems. 

Most of Tuesday’s shift was consumed with the leaking 18 wheeler and the heavy duty tow truck I wrote about earlier. 

Every night before roll call, I stop at the half-door that leads to the radio room. That is where the radio room attendant hands out radios and keys to the patrol vehicles as well as some other equipment like radars. As I was getting my radio and keys, the attendant told me that it was my night to have the camera. Before our shift had a full time print / picture unit, the camera was handed out on a nightly basis to an officer. It was given to a different officer each night on a rotating basis. The full time print officer had the night off. The attendant told me that it was my turn to have the camera. No big deal, I do not mind taking pictures, but I could not believe that my name was already on the top of the list. After all, I had been the print / picture unit every night during my 6 week rotation which had only ended two weeks earlier. It was no problem to have the camera, just interesting timing. 

The night was very uneventful. My only primary call was for an assault. The call slip stated that the assault occurred at a nearby bar and that the caller only spoke Spanish. The caller lived in an apartment above a small meat market. I could not find the address, so I called the phone number in the call slip and spoke with the complainant. I speak very limited Spanish. I can conduct a traffic stop, count to 100, and tell you to “drop the weapon and show me your hands”. Even with my limited Spanish, I was able to figure out where the caller lived. I went to that address and found the meat market. There was no answer at any of the doors. I caller the phone number again and there was no answer. I had the dispatcher call the number and she spoke with the caller, but the caller refused to come outside and talk to me. I guess in between talking to me about the address and me arriving, they decided that they did not really need a police report. 

The print unit was off again on Thursday, but they gave the camera to another officer. About an hour into the shift, a buddy called me and asked if I had my print kit with me. I told him that it was in my personal car and that I would get it and bring it to him. Once I arrived at his scene, it became obvious that what he really wanted was not my print kit, but for me to process his burglary scene for prints. No problem, he is a friend and that is what I should expect when the regular print officer is off since I did the print rotation. 

He had a residential burglary. The location was a three story townhouse. The suspects kicked in the front door and then ransacked the entire place. They went through closets, drawers, flipped over mattresses, and everything in between. At least that is what it looked like to me. Come to find out, the suspects did some of it, but the couple that lived in the townhouse, were not exactly tidy housekeepers. Jen would have freaked out just seeing the place, let alone if she would have had to clean it. The suspects did steal quite a few items from the residence including some jewelry and about 20 bottles of wine. Apparently you work up quite a thirst burglarizing houses. They even tried to take the gas grill which was located on the second floor balcony. Maybe they had a cook out planned and needed another way to grill? I noticed a few areas which were touched by the suspects. Where the dust which was everywhere had been disturbed. But there were not any ridges at all in these areas. I also processed a few jewelry boxes that had been moved and they did not yield any print ridge detail either. This led me to conclude that the suspects had been wearing gloves. 

As I was leaving that scene, another officer bumped me over the radio. He asked if I could check by on his scene. I told him that I would be on my way. This prompted the dispatcher to send me a message telling me that I should have been the print unit that night. This scene turned out to be a carbon copy of the last scene. A three story townhouse that had been burglarized. This was a bachelor pad and was much cleaner than the last place. This place had been ransacked as well. The suspects took two flatscreen televisions, numerous game systems, blu-ray players, bottles of cologne, an AR-15 and 60 rounds of ammunition, and a car. The car had been parked inside the garage and the keys were inside the townhouse. They loaded up the car, pulled out, and shut the garage door behind themselves. They also took 20 cases of beer. I said it was a bachelor pad, and one of the guys worked for Anheuser Busch. As for prints, it was the same story at this house. Places where I knew the suspects had touched had no prints or smudges at all. Gloves again, and most likely, the same suspects hit both townhouses. They were only about a half mile apart. 

I spent the second half of the shift manning the front desk of the station. Sitting at the front desk you are responsible for taking walk up reports and for answering the phone. 

On friday night, I was actually the print unit, and no print calls dropped. It was a typically busy Friday night and I checked by on quite a few scenes, but nothing was very interesting. 

Just like that, another week on patrol is in the books.    

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