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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