The week on patrol, January 10-14, 2011

This week, I finished evaluating one rookie and started training
another rookie.

Monday was day four of evaluation with L. We started off the night
with two traffic stops, both for illegal left turns. After ticketing
the second vehicle, L wanted to document the traffic stops on our
daily work card, so he started to look for his copy of the traffic
citations. However, he could not find one of the citations anywhere.
He looked everywhere in the patrol vehicle and even drove back to
where we made the traffic stop to see if he could find it on the
ground. I think that he accidentally gave the first driver's citation
along with the second driver's citation to the second driver. I had
never seen it happen before and had no idea what to do about it. I
called the desk Sergeant and he had never heard of that happening
either. So, we turned in the one ticket that we had, and it was the
first driver's lucky night.

Later that night, we checked by with units on a burglary of a motor
vehicle in progress. The homeowner said that his vehicle had been
burglarized three times in his driveway, so he installed a camera and
a motion detector to monitor his driveway. Tonight, his motion
detector activated which set off an alarm in his house. He came
outside with a bat and found a guy sitting in his truck. The guy got
out of the truck and tried to run away. The homeowner was a little
faster because he was able to hit the suspect with the bat a few times
before the suspect got away. A short time later just a few blocks
away, other officers saw a parked vehicle with it's hazard lights on
and the vehicle's alarm was going off. The officers pulled up and a
guy got out of the car and tried to run away. He did not make it very
far and was taken into custody. Since it was so close to the scene of
the other vehicle burglary, we brought the homeowner over to see if
this was the guy that he chased and hit with the bat a few times.
Turns out it was indeed the same suspect. While the suspect was
getting identified by the homeowner, the suspect threatened the
homeowner. The suspect just took his class A misdemeanor burglary of a
vehicle case and turned it into a third degree felony retaliation
case. A few hours later, while L was still completing the report, we
heard over the radio that the same homeowner's vehicle was burglarized
again. I called the homeowner to make sure that this was a new
incident, and sure enough it was. Absolutely crazy, that was the first
time I have seen the same vehicle burglarized twice in one night. I
think it might be time for the homeowner to start parking his vehicle
inside his garage.

Tuesday was the last night of evaluation for L. We started with a
routine traffic stop of a vehicle that went through a parking lot to
avoid making the illegal left turn.

Later, we took a robbery at a local convenience store. Two guys came
into the store with what looked like guns but turned out to be tasers
and demanded money from the register. They took money from the
register and the safe. Then they tasered two of 4 males in the store.
They got away with about 500 dollars. This was the third robbery at
this store that I have worked in the last month. If I was the clerk, I
would be looking for a new job.

L did a great job during his week of evaluation. He made my job very
easy. My next rookie, was a little more challenging.

I started training a new rookie, H, on Wednesday. He was very polite
and calm and a little older for a rookie, 38. It was going to be a
difficult transition for me going from evaluating a rookie that is
relatively self sufficient, to a second phase of training rookie who
basically has no idea what is going on.

We were the print unit that night and a print call was waiting for us
when we logged onto our computer. The print call was from a burglary
of a residence that happened in a very nice part of town during
evening shift. It was a very large house and that evening, the female
owner left for two hours and did not set the house alarm. She came
home and found that the back patio door had been kicked open. The
suspects had gone through most of the house, which had to take a
little time. We found a flat screen TV which had been moved and sat on
a stairway landing. I was able to lift some finger prints from that TV
that had been moved. Once the prints are actually analyzed in a few
years, maybe we will get lucky and develop a suspect.

Then we made a traffic stop at my usual intersection. A vehicle made
the illegal left turn. It was H's first night time traffic stop, and
he did ok.

Thursday was day two with H. He started off the shift completely
preoccupied, to the point that it made me nervous and we had to talk
about it. It turned out that right before the shift, he found out that
his father had a terminal disease and was not expected to live much
longer. That would be extremely distracting. I told him that he could
go home. There is no shame in taking a night off when you have other
things on your mind. But, he decided to stay. He rallied and refocused
and did fine for the rest of the night.

We made two traffic stops that night. The first one was before I found
out about his father. H performed horribly. He was very distracted and
made numerous mistakes. Then we talked, and he rallied. He did much
better on the second traffic stop. However, I was uneasy for the rest
of the night.

Our last call was to provide traffic control for a fatal accident. A
hispanic male in a pickup truck drove the wrong way down a one way
ramp and slammed into a concrete barrier. He was wearing a seatbelt
and the air bag deployed, but you can't change physics. Too much speed
coming to a stop too quickly causes severe damage to the body.

We were the print unit again on Friday night, H's third night of
training. Our first call was an aggravated robbery with a weapon. The
complainant took an engine out of one car and put it into another car
for the suspect. The suspect kept coming up with excuses about why he
could not pay. Tonight, the suspect showed up and knocked on the door
(the complainant works out of his house). The complainant answered the
door and was immediately punched in the face by the suspect. The
suspect then showed the complainant the gun that he was carrying.
Another male with the suspect then grabbed the keys to the car with
the new motor and they drove off.

Later we were asked to check by to take a few pictures of a scene for
the primary unit. Two guys broke into a business close to our police
station. They took a wheelbarrow and a generator. Then they decided to
push the wheelbarrow containing the generator down the main street
right by our police station, not the brightest bulbs in the package.
That raised the suspicion of an officer passing by and after a brief
chase, they were stopped and taken into custody. The primary unit
wanted pictures of the burglary scene, along with the cut fence and
the cut locks, so I took care of that for him.

It will be interesting to see what the next 12 nights with H bring.
That concludes another week on patrol.

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The week on patrol, January 3-7, 2011

Wow, am I behind in my writing. Time to try and catch up.

Monday night was a City holiday. I rode with B. We were very short handed that night and the only unit in our beat. We ran a lot of calls, most of them were crap, but three stood out.

A disturbance was called in by a neighbor. Another unit was dispatched and we checked by. We found the front door unlocked and a screen door open. We knocked and there was no answer at the door. Since the caller had said that it sounded like a fight was taking place, we opened the front door and announced ourselves. There was still no answer so we began searching the apartment for anyone. In the bedroom, we found a male passed out and bleeding on the bed. At first, he tried to play possum, acting unconscious. Eventually, with some gentle encouragement, he woke up and decided to talk. He said that everything was fine. He did not need or want any medical assistance and the people that assaulted him were gone. So, we left and locked the front door on our way out.

A short time later, we were dispatched to another disturbance. This time, it was person refusing to leave an apartment. At the same time the suspect calls and says that he is being held and can't leave the apartment. When we arrived, the complainant met us outside of his apartment. He told us that he picked up the other male at a bar and brought him home. Once they got inside, the male started smoking crack. Not a big shocker. When we got to the apartment, he was sitting in a chair. He did not appear to be there against his will like he had claimed. He was not chained or cuffed, even though he may have wanted that. He just did not want to leave. After making sure he did not have any crack left, we told him that he was leaving. As he was leaving he demanded an "escort". That made me laugh. I said you are getting an escort, right off the property. Then he said he wanted a ride back to where he had been picked up. Unfortunately for him, our cars do not say taxi on them.

Our last call was for a male destroying his own apartment. When we arrived, he was gone. His mother and girlfriend were in the apartment. The apartment was in shambles. About 10 minutes later, he returned. His biggest concern was about a baggie that he said was in his pocket that he was holding for someone. His pockets were empty. Then he said that he had consumed 20 beers and had Xanax in his system. He was bi-polar and diabetic. He was in a manic stage and definitely a threat to himself. So, we took him to the psychiatric hospital and did an emergency detention order. Hopefully he will get back on his prescribed medications and be able to function.

On Tuesday I was up at the Academy for an in-service class. It was a low light shooting class. Very practical, since I mostly work at night. I always enjoy shooting someone else's ammunition.

Wednesday night was my first night with a new rookie, L. It was his first week of evaluation. I always try to start off evaluation with a mundane report call. It helps to settle down the rookie. They are VERY nervous, and need to relax. Reports are generally easy and allow them to ease into evaluation. Our first call was a basic burglary of a motor vehicle. The guy left his GPS in plain view, and it was gone when he returned.

Next was traffic stops. We did three. Two for passing through a parking lot to avoid a traffic control device and one for an illegal left turn. L did a good job with the traffic stops and his safety was excellent.

Our last call was another report. This time, it was for a criminal mischief. Someone had used shoe polish to tag a guys '94 Pontiac Fiero. He said that he thought a former female "roommate" was the likely suspect. The vehicle was also tagged on Monday night. There was definitely more to this story that he was not willing to share while his current girlfriend was standing next to him.

Thursday was day 2 of evaluation with L. We started with a simple theft call. A female could not find a diamond pendant. The last time that she knew she had it was mid November, 6 weeks earlier. Tonight, she looked for it and could not find it. She wanted to report it stolen for insurance purposes. The entire thing sounded strange and I was skeptical. Her apartment had not been broken into and nothing else was missing. I think that she lost it, and was just making something up to attempt to get insurance money.

Our last call of the night was a CIT (mental illness) disturbance. A group home called us to take a guy to the psychiatric hospital. They told us that he broke curfew at the home and their plan was to call us and have us take care of their problem. The male would not speak to us at all, not a peep. Eventually we spoke with the manager of the facility who agreed to let him back in for the night. The psychiatric hospital would not take him from us. He either has to check himself in or be a threat to himself or others and he was neither. There was nothing that we could do.

Friday was day three of evaluation with L. We were the print unit. We did not have any print or picture calls that night. We made two traffic stops. One driver went through the parking lot where we were sitting. He drove right next to our vehicle to avoid the illegal left turn signs. The driver was from Saudi, and claimed that he did not know that what he did was illegal. L told him that ignorance of the law was not an excuse and wrote him a ticket. It was awesome.

That concludes another week on patrol.

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A1, A2, and Avery ready for bed

A1 & A2 are sharing a bed while Nana is staying with us. Avery joined them tonight.

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Tea party time!

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The week on patrol, December 27-31, 2010

It was another short week on patrol for me. I worked on Monday and
Wednesday and was off for the other three nights. Monday was the day
that the city observed the Christmas holiday. B and I rode together
both nights.

Our night started off with a burglary alarm at a restaurant. Most
burglary alarms calls that we run are false, either some type of alarm
or human malfunction. At this particular restaurant, when the alarm
goes off, it usually means that they have been burglarized. We arrived
and checked out the exterior and everything was fine. Just another
false alarm.

We wrote a couple of parking tickets and then we were dispatched to
an assault in progress at a gas station. The disturbance started off
as a boyfriend / girlfriend argument and then the good samaritan
decided to join in the fun. The girl reluctantly, she did not want to
"get involved", told us that the past 5 days had been hell. The male
had lost his job and was depressed. Tonight they decided to go out and
try to have fun. They went to a bar and the male caused a disturbance
there but left before we arrived. A little later, she said that he got
out of the car and she left him in the street and drove off. She
stopped to use the restroom at this gas station. He ran after her and
got to the gas station before she exited the restroom. She ran out of
the gas station and jumped into her car and locked the doors. He
started banging on the windows and pulling on the door handles. He
pulled so forcefully that he broke one of the handles off of the
vehicle. This is when the good samaritan got involved. He approached
the upset male and tried to settle things down. For his effort, he got
punched in the face. So, he went back to his jeep and got out a tire
iron. At this point he was worried for his safety and for the females
safety. Once he had the tire iron, the other male came at him again to
hit him. He swung the tire iron and connected with the male's head.
That slowed him down. We ended up taking the boyfriend to jail for
public intoxication and assault. I commended the good samaritan for
getting involved, but you never know what will happen when you insert
yourself into other people's business. That situation could have ended
much differently.

Our first call on Wednesday night was checking by at an apartment
complex with J and C on a domestic disturbance. A boyfriend and
girlfriend went to a bowl game at the nearby stadium. As they were
leaving, they got into an argument. They arrived at the rail platform
and when the train arrived, she stepped onto the train. Apparently, he
was not ready to get onto the train, so instead of verbalizing that,
he grabbed her and snatched her off of the train. Then for good
measure, he grabbed her iPhone, threw it down, and stepped on it. They
got onto the next train and proceeded home. Once they were home, the
girl used the house phone and called her dad who lives out of state.
She told him what had happened. The dad was furious, as most dads
would be, and he then called the police. So, when we arrived at the
apartment, the boyfriend was still there, which is always a bonus.
Most of time, the guys that assault their wives or girlfriends leave
before we get there. Once we found out what had happened, C called the
district attorney and they took criminal mischief charges for the
phone damage, but not assault. At least he was going to jail.

B and I ran a bunch of other calls that night, but none of any interest.

That concludes another short week on patrol.

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The week on patrol, December 13-17, 2010

This was a very short work week for me. I worked only two nights and
was off the rest of the week for our trip to South Carolina. I had a
partner for both nights.

B and I rode together Monday night. B found out earlier in the day
that his transfer to the indoor pistol range at the academy had
finally been approved. He will move to the academy in January. He was
very happy and he will make an excellent instructor. I am very happy
for him, but sad at the same time since we have become good friends
and work very well together.

There were not very many units on the street Monday night. Luckily,
it was a Monday and turned out to be not very busy. Our first call was
a burglary of a motor vehicle. A lady left her laptop bag and Coach
purse on the back seat of her vehicle and went inside of a restaurant
to eat dinner. Shockingly, when she returned, she found a broken
window and her things were missing. By leaving her valuables in plain
sight, especially a purse and laptop bag, she was essentially placing
a big sign on top on her car that said, "TAKE MY STUFF, I AM NOT SMART
ENOUGH TO KEEP IT." People will never learn, until it happens to them,
and even then sometimes it takes 3 or 4 times.

Our last call was a for a loud noise disturbance in a very nice
apartment complex. We arrived at about 3 AM, on a Tuesday morning. In
this complex, all of the apartment doors open off of interior
hallways, kind of like a nice hotel. From the hallway, we can hear the
noise, loud sounds from a TV. We knocked once, forcefully, but without
marring the door. No answer. We knocked a second time, this time every
other apartment in the area heard the knock. We are persistent. Still
no answer, but the loud noise stopped. Not good enough for us, so we
knocked a third time. Finally, we hear the sound of the door
unlocking. We were greeted by a guy wearing what appeared to be ONLY,
an Ed Reed Baltimore Ravens jersey. He is not wearing pants and is out
of breath. He says, "Hey guys, what is up?" I can only shake my head
and laugh. Who answers the door without wearing pants? Dude, did you
not check the peep hole? Next time, mix in a pair of pants before
opening the door and saying, "Hey guys."

Tuesday night was even slower than Monday night. B and I were
partners again. We checked by with A on a suspicious event. A guy
called and said that he heard a strange noise outside of his bedroom
window and he thought that someone was in his backyard. When we pulled
up to his house, he came running, not walking quickly, but running
down the sidewalk looking like he had just seen a ghost or an alien.
He was very pale and breathing very rapidly. Once he told us what was
going on through his hyperventilating, we set off for the back yard.

From the man's reaction, I was expecting zombies in the backyard.
However, no such luck. The backyard and side yards were empty. It did
not appear that anything had been disturbed. While we were walking
back to the front of the house, we heard a noise over the fence. The
house sits next to a small apartment complex. We looked over the fence
and saw a guy working on his car. This was just over the fence from
where the man's bedroom was located. We met the man out by the
sidewalk and explained what we had found. He was still freaking out,
but beginning to slowly calm down. We coaxed him safely back inside
his house. B and I turned to A, who is a female, and told her that she
had bigger balls than that guy.

That concludes a short week on patrol. Next up, South Carolina!

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The week on patrol, December 6-10, 2010

The week started off very slow and gradually picked up as the days
passed. I had a partner for three nights. I was off on Friday for
Jen's work Christmas party.

B and I were the print unit Monday night. It was very cold and very
slow. There was nothing going on and the radio was silent for much of
the night.

Tuesday night was a little busier. B and I were the print unit again.
AG, another officer, was in an accident. A car ran a red light and
slammed into the passenger side of her patrol car. She was not
injured.

A little later we checked by on a burglary of a business. A cookie
bakery had been broken into. Someone threw a rock through the front
door. The owner said this was the third time his business had been
burglarized in the last year. In the two previous times, the cash
register had been stolen. This time, nothing had been taken. The owner
was, understandably, very frustrated. It smelled amazingly good inside
of the business. Maybe the burglars just like the smell of cookies?

B and I were not allowed to ride together Wednesday night. Four
officers from our district called in sick. It was a very cold night
with not many calls, but not many officers either. The night started
with wrecker drivers repeatedly calling in the same illegal parking
call. A vehicle was parked close to a fire hydrant. I ticketed the
vehicle. But that was not enough for the wrecker drivers. They wanted
it towed. Oh well, they do not run things.

I checked by with a couple of units on a domestic disturbance. Tranny
drama. A transvestite, due to the goodness in its heart, decided to
let another tranny live with it. They cohabitated for a month. Then
tranny A decided that tranny B had to go and kicked him to the curb.
Tranny B was pissed and came back and broke in a few days later.
Tranny A did not know Tranny B's name. They lived together for a
month, but did not know each others names. Wow. I am sure they shared
all kinds of other things, but not names.

My last call of the night was a theft of service from a restaurant.
An obviously homeless guy ordered and ate $18 worth of food. When it
was time to pay the bill, he got up and walked out. He had no
intention of paying the bill when he walked in. Another customer and
the manager stopped him and held him until I arrived. I issued him a
citation for theft and gave him a trespass warning for the location.
If he returns, he will be charged with trespassing, a class B
misdemeanor. Even though he was wrong, I felt like the restaurant, at
the very least, enabled him. They had to know or at least think it was
a possibility, that he was not going to be able to pay. The area is
full of homeless people. I would not want them to discriminate based
upon looks or clothing, but they could ask for him to pay in advance
or at least show that he was capable of paying. That sounds reasonable
to me.

J and I rode together on Thursday. Our first call was a burglary of a
motor vehicle at a very nice restaurant. The owner gave the car to the
valet and the valet parked the car out of sight behind the restaurant.
The car was burglarized and the owner was very upset. He said that the
was going to sue the restaurant for parking his vehicle in the back
and out of sight. Getting your vehicle broken into sucks and causes a
hassle, but to sue a business over it? That seems a little much to me.

Our last call was to the convenience store that was robbed twice last
week. The clerk claimed that he had seen the robbers out on the
sidewalk. When we arrived, they were gone. We drove around the area,
but they had vanished.

I was off on Friday night to attend Jen's work Christmas party. The
party was at a dueling piano bar. They had a really good turn out and
it was a fun place.

That concludes another week on patrol.

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