I evaluated J the first four nights of the week and was the print unit
on Friday. During the week, I was able to get J into a few challenging
situations that allowed me to really evaluate his abilities in the
three categories that he failed, safety, control of persons, and scene
management. Monday night started with a traffic stop. While we were sitting at a
traffic signal, a female driver ran the red light right in front of
us. Her reason, because she was following someone and they ran the
yellow light. So, I guess that is supposed to make it ok to run a red
light? I don't think so. We volunteered to run a family disturbance in another beat. With
family disturbances, you never know what you are getting yourself
into. It can be a very volatile situation and good safety practices
are mandatory. At this disturbance, a male and female were arguing.
They both admitted to pushing each other a few times. He claimed that
she swung a chair and tried to hit him. She said that they have their
differences, then added that she grew up Mormon, while his mom is a
divorced lesbian who was abused by his dad. They certainly grew up
under vastly different circumstances. There were no signs of injury to
either person. The district attorney's office refused to accept any
charges on either person. The male volunteered to spend the night at
another location. They were an embarrassed regular couple that just
let an argument go too far. Then we made a couple of traffic stops. On the second traffic stop, I
heard a new excuse. Asthma. We watched an Escalade make the illegal
left turn. The driver was acting normally. We pulled him over and as
soon as J approached the driver's side door, the driver started
coughing. And coughing. And coughing. He coughed out that he could not
breathe and that he was having an asthma attack. Ok, those can be
serious. J started trying to calm him down. But, the driver was really
bringing the drama. So, I asked him if he wanted medical assistance,
and he said no. J went back to the patrol vehicle and wrote the
ticket, illegal left turn, no driver's license, and no proof of
insurance. J returned and had him sign the ticket. After getting the
ticket, the attack magically stopped. A new cure, a ticket. Tuesday was day three with John. We started with a criminal mischief
call at a hotel. On video footage from the parking lot, a security
guard saw a truck drive around the parking lot a few times. The truck
stopped by another truck and sat there for a few minutes. The guard
could not see this area very well. Then the truck drove off. The
security guard went over and looked at the truck that was still in the
parking lot and thought that it might have been damaged. To top it
off, the security guard could not find the vehicle owner. So we could
not ask if it was old or new damage. Outstanding. Since we needed a
report, J gathered the available information, which was not much, and
dutifully completed the report. Then it was traffic time. We made three stops. The first driver was
from Washington state. We stopped him for making the usual illegal
left turn. He told us that he has not been down here very long and
that there are not traffic signs like that in Washington state. Oh
well, here in Texas, if there is a sign with an arrow pointing left
with a big red circle around it with a slash through it, that means
don't turn left. Welcome to Texas. The second stop was uneventful. Then while we were watching the
intersection, a vehicle stopped at the red light. Then got tired of
waiting, and just drove through the red light. When J asked him why he
went through the red light, he said that he was not familiar with the
area because he is from The Woodlands. So, were we to assume that
there are not any traffic signals in The Woodlands? There seemed to be
a disconnect in our communication, so J wrote him and we moved on. We started Wednesday, day 4 with J, with two uneventful traffic stops.
Then we volunteered for a family disturbance. The husband is a local
bar owner. He came home drunk and set off the house burglar alarm.
That woke up his wife and their three young kids. She quickly came
downstairs to see what had set off the alarm, and he had already
opened a bottle of wine and was partaking. They began to argue. She
did not want him at home if he was drunk. They yelled at each other
and then he threw the wine glass and wine bottle at her. Luckily, he
missed her and the bottle and glass just shattered against the wall.
Next, he grabbed a sturdy wooden dining room chair and shattered it on
the ground. Anger management issues? Then he drove off. We found him
at his bar where we took him into custody. Since he had not harmed
her, the district attorney would not take any charges. So, we took him
to jail for public intoxication. Thursday was day 5 with J, the end of the evaluation week. We took a
burglary of a motor vehicle report from another officer. The vehicle
owner left a large bag in plain view in the vehicle. The lock had been
punched out and the bag had been stolen. We did one last traffic stop,
and J's safety was fine like it had been all week. Our last call was a person down in car at a nearby convenience store.
The call slip said that she had been passed out in the vehicle for
over an hour. We arrived and J tentatively approached the car. I
noticed that the vehicle was on and in park. J knocked lightly on the
window. The driver woke up. J told her to open the door and she did
not. At that point, J looked at me for guidance. He had no idea what
to do from there. Our Sergeant had checked by and she stepped in. She
started yelling instructions to the suspect and banging on the window.
In response, the suspect reached down and put the car in drive. Wrong
choice. At that point, breaking the window would have been justified.
After some further instructions and encouragement from us, she took
the vehicle out of drive and eventually opened the door. She was
greeted with handcuffs and charged with DWI. She said that she had
been at a club and realized on her way home that she was not safe to
drive and pulled over into a well lit parking lot to sleep it off.
Good decision. However, putting the vehicle in drive when we are
instructing her to open the door, bad decision. It is generally a good
idea to listen when a uniformed officer tells you to do something. Overall, J did well for the week. His safety, control of persons, and
scene management were fine, until our last call with the drunk female.
He passed for the week, and knows what areas he needs to work on to be
a more effective officer. I was by myself on a slow Friday night. I was the print unit, and
there were not any print of picture calls. So, I checked by with some
officers on their calls to help out. That concludes another week on patrol.
on Friday. During the week, I was able to get J into a few challenging
situations that allowed me to really evaluate his abilities in the
three categories that he failed, safety, control of persons, and scene
management. Monday night started with a traffic stop. While we were sitting at a
traffic signal, a female driver ran the red light right in front of
us. Her reason, because she was following someone and they ran the
yellow light. So, I guess that is supposed to make it ok to run a red
light? I don't think so. We volunteered to run a family disturbance in another beat. With
family disturbances, you never know what you are getting yourself
into. It can be a very volatile situation and good safety practices
are mandatory. At this disturbance, a male and female were arguing.
They both admitted to pushing each other a few times. He claimed that
she swung a chair and tried to hit him. She said that they have their
differences, then added that she grew up Mormon, while his mom is a
divorced lesbian who was abused by his dad. They certainly grew up
under vastly different circumstances. There were no signs of injury to
either person. The district attorney's office refused to accept any
charges on either person. The male volunteered to spend the night at
another location. They were an embarrassed regular couple that just
let an argument go too far. Then we made a couple of traffic stops. On the second traffic stop, I
heard a new excuse. Asthma. We watched an Escalade make the illegal
left turn. The driver was acting normally. We pulled him over and as
soon as J approached the driver's side door, the driver started
coughing. And coughing. And coughing. He coughed out that he could not
breathe and that he was having an asthma attack. Ok, those can be
serious. J started trying to calm him down. But, the driver was really
bringing the drama. So, I asked him if he wanted medical assistance,
and he said no. J went back to the patrol vehicle and wrote the
ticket, illegal left turn, no driver's license, and no proof of
insurance. J returned and had him sign the ticket. After getting the
ticket, the attack magically stopped. A new cure, a ticket. Tuesday was day three with John. We started with a criminal mischief
call at a hotel. On video footage from the parking lot, a security
guard saw a truck drive around the parking lot a few times. The truck
stopped by another truck and sat there for a few minutes. The guard
could not see this area very well. Then the truck drove off. The
security guard went over and looked at the truck that was still in the
parking lot and thought that it might have been damaged. To top it
off, the security guard could not find the vehicle owner. So we could
not ask if it was old or new damage. Outstanding. Since we needed a
report, J gathered the available information, which was not much, and
dutifully completed the report. Then it was traffic time. We made three stops. The first driver was
from Washington state. We stopped him for making the usual illegal
left turn. He told us that he has not been down here very long and
that there are not traffic signs like that in Washington state. Oh
well, here in Texas, if there is a sign with an arrow pointing left
with a big red circle around it with a slash through it, that means
don't turn left. Welcome to Texas. The second stop was uneventful. Then while we were watching the
intersection, a vehicle stopped at the red light. Then got tired of
waiting, and just drove through the red light. When J asked him why he
went through the red light, he said that he was not familiar with the
area because he is from The Woodlands. So, were we to assume that
there are not any traffic signals in The Woodlands? There seemed to be
a disconnect in our communication, so J wrote him and we moved on. We started Wednesday, day 4 with J, with two uneventful traffic stops.
Then we volunteered for a family disturbance. The husband is a local
bar owner. He came home drunk and set off the house burglar alarm.
That woke up his wife and their three young kids. She quickly came
downstairs to see what had set off the alarm, and he had already
opened a bottle of wine and was partaking. They began to argue. She
did not want him at home if he was drunk. They yelled at each other
and then he threw the wine glass and wine bottle at her. Luckily, he
missed her and the bottle and glass just shattered against the wall.
Next, he grabbed a sturdy wooden dining room chair and shattered it on
the ground. Anger management issues? Then he drove off. We found him
at his bar where we took him into custody. Since he had not harmed
her, the district attorney would not take any charges. So, we took him
to jail for public intoxication. Thursday was day 5 with J, the end of the evaluation week. We took a
burglary of a motor vehicle report from another officer. The vehicle
owner left a large bag in plain view in the vehicle. The lock had been
punched out and the bag had been stolen. We did one last traffic stop,
and J's safety was fine like it had been all week. Our last call was a person down in car at a nearby convenience store.
The call slip said that she had been passed out in the vehicle for
over an hour. We arrived and J tentatively approached the car. I
noticed that the vehicle was on and in park. J knocked lightly on the
window. The driver woke up. J told her to open the door and she did
not. At that point, J looked at me for guidance. He had no idea what
to do from there. Our Sergeant had checked by and she stepped in. She
started yelling instructions to the suspect and banging on the window.
In response, the suspect reached down and put the car in drive. Wrong
choice. At that point, breaking the window would have been justified.
After some further instructions and encouragement from us, she took
the vehicle out of drive and eventually opened the door. She was
greeted with handcuffs and charged with DWI. She said that she had
been at a club and realized on her way home that she was not safe to
drive and pulled over into a well lit parking lot to sleep it off.
Good decision. However, putting the vehicle in drive when we are
instructing her to open the door, bad decision. It is generally a good
idea to listen when a uniformed officer tells you to do something. Overall, J did well for the week. His safety, control of persons, and
scene management were fine, until our last call with the drunk female.
He passed for the week, and knows what areas he needs to work on to be
a more effective officer. I was by myself on a slow Friday night. I was the print unit, and
there were not any print of picture calls. So, I checked by with some
officers on their calls to help out. That concludes another week on patrol.
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