Gettin His Mack On

Like most people, I spend my days off being lazy, then running errands at the last minute. I was grocery shopping when I spotted a deputy sheriff from an adjoining county working an extra job in the in-store bank. Not a bad extra job. Anyhow, I look at him again. I think I know this guy. In fact we once worked at the same department a long time ago. He had a reputation as a 'self described super-cop' who liked to get into messes. Anyhow, he got himself run off from the department for something so stupid. Well, years later I met a woman officer who is his ex wife. We became friends, lost touch, and ran into each other again on a call. Anyhow she's told me some horror stories.

Anyway, I'm watching the deputy talking to a lone woman trying to leave the store. It's apparent to me that he's hitting on her. Well, I don't begrudge anyone 'gettin they mack on' but it was funny knowing his history. I watched him walk her out of the store (which officers working at the bank usually don't do because that would be the ideal time to hit it-the bank, not the woman) and give her what I'm presuming was his phone number. Oh well, another small anecdote in the man-woman melodrama.

Reminded Me of My Wife

I thought it was a disturbance. Turned out it was a guy whose damn tire broke off his car and he was lucky enough to wheel it into his apartment entrance. Sadly the tire jammed in the frame keeping him from going any further, thus blocking the apartment entrance. Well, needless to say people were trying to get by and being the good people they are instead of understanding they got hostile. They were waiting on AAA which usually take too long. The only reason we joined them was for the hotel discounts for when we travel. Anyway, the AAA wrecker shows up, but it's a flat bed wrecker and unable to do the job. So then he tells the guy's wife (who came out to help him) she has to call AAA back and ask for another wrecker. We have cars backing up and almost crashing because people cannot use caution down that street. Another wrecker shows up, the right kind. The husband (driver of the car mind you) says "to hell with it" and asks the wrecker how much to hook it up and move it inside the complex. The wrecker quotes him $50. Well, that's a little pricey, but he is tired of being yelled at and stuck outside so he agrees. His wife explodes. He is telling the wrecker to hook up, she is saying no. He tells the wrecker to hook up his car and he'll pay the $50. His wife starts shouting at him that he's being stupid. He's telling her not to worry about it, he'll handle it. This is the old difference between men and women here. He is being logical. He knows the problem, he knows the solution. In this case he has traffic, and angry drivers breathing down his neck. In order to reach the solution he has to swallow a bitter pill for now. Now, she's pissed because they pay for AAA service, and doesn't feel it's right to have to pay $50 and she doesn't care that other people are breathing down their necks. She feels she is right in refusing the other wrecker and criticizes him for disagreeing with her. I saw my wife in her. He finally tells her to get back in her car (and away from him). I walk up to him and ask how long he's been married. He says six years, the same as me. He utters some days he thinks twice about it. I think he was just upset that she was criticizing him instead of backing him. I told him it's all part of the man-woman melodrama. I go to her and ask her to take it easy on him, he's just trying to end an unpleasant ordeal and yes, $50 is a bitter pill to swallow but it's not the end of the world. See, logic vs. emotion.

Christmas Day

Well I hope everyone had a good Christmas. I was drained. I didn't sleep much that night. In fact I think I may have had a total of four hours sleep. Well, I wake up, shower, and go to my parents' house to open presents, visit, and eat. I go into work and I was expecting a slow day. We found an IHOP that was open. I was drained all through dinner. It reminded of my days on night shift when I would drag ass into an IHOP (or Denny's) at 4am. Their coffee wouldn't make me up and after leaving with a full belly my body wanted to lay down and go to bed. Kind of difficult when I still have two hours left to patrol. Anyway, I'm cruising down the street when an accident call drops over the radio. I get there right behind the ambulance. I size up the scene. Two cars damaged, one woman on the curb smoking a cigarette saying she's nervous. My spider senses kick in. I listen to her as she talks to the medics. I'm thinking in the back of my mind this woman is drunk and is trying to hide it. She says she wants to go the hospital. Well, that is going to hamper sobriety tests. Well, maybe since she hit a parked car and the only person involved is herself, then perhaps we could just work the accident, show she was at fault. We can even add that she 'had been drinking' (which insurance companies don't like) but not enough to make a DWI case on her. Well, she stumbles to the ambulance where I interview her. She admits to being on a dozen psychiatric medications and along with beer and patron. She's an idiot. I'm rolling my eyes, so are the paramedics. Well, while I'm gathering information people come up to us and tell us they pulled her out of the car and she said she was drunk. Well, there goes that earlier possibility. Now we're going the full nine yards. Long story short, she went to the hospital, then went to jail for drunk driving. She ended her Christmas in jail. What a rocket scientist. As I was leaving for the day I heard another officer calling out on another crash scene for traffic control. Right before I turned off the radio I heard him say "it's a double fatality!" Oh no! Two people ended their Christmas dead. I learned the next day they were killed by a drunk, 16 year old girl. I sure hope her life is over.

Christmas Eve

Well normally one would expect a slow Christmas Eve and Day. Yet since we're in the fourth largest metroplex in the country our share of fools will act up. Well here is a summary of what happened today;

A drunk hit another car in a parking lot. He didn't do any damage, but he went to jail for drunk driving. What kind of ignorant fool gets arrested on Christmas Eve?

Another drunk decides to stalk his ex-girlfriend. She wants nothing to do with him but he takes a cab from the other side of town and stands in her driveway. We find him in a nearby store. He's on bond for drunk driving, and walking around drunk. So, he too gets arrested and spends Christmas Eve in jail.

A woman was with her family, 3 kids, and an elderly deaf man. Two thugs carjacked her with knives and took off in her van with the kids and the elderly man. They let the man out on the other side of town. No word on the kids.

For a 30 minute span, assault calls dropping in the west side of town. In one incident, a brother grabs a bat and goes to swinging on family members. Some people!!!!

A Story I Heard

Officers were called to a house alarm. They arrive to find the door open. So, they draw their guns and go inside to check the house. Well, unbeknownst to the officers (and to the home owner) some friends entered the house setting off the alarm. They were planning a surprise birthday party. Well, they are hiding when the officers come in with their guns at ready. Suddenly, people jump up shouting "surprise" to find themselves staring down the barrel of guns. Well, the people got upset and a supervisor had to make the scene. Now, I don't know what the supervisor said but I know what I would have said. I would have told them it's their own damn fault! You don't sneak into some one's house and jump out shouting 'surprise' to a bunch of nervous cops and get upset at their reaction. Talk about morons!

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Well, a lot of internal drama. I don't feel comfortable posting it openly here (although I may privately email it). Let's just say the more things change the more they stay the same. Well there were a couple of exciting events. One officer stopped a woman who practically threw her license at him screaming at him. Yeah, she has problems. Well, she also had a warrant. Nothing better than when a smart ass motorist has a warrant for their arrest.

***One time, I stopped a guy for speeding. I was using a hand held radar that didn't hold a charge very well. So, I would turn it on, use it, then get a speeder and turn it off. I stopped him and right off the bat he was an a**hole. He demanded to see my radar because "it was his legal right!" Well, that's a myth. Police don't have to show radars, only stupid people, and lawyers think that. Well, I ran him and found a traffic warrant for his arrest. Normally I wouldn't bother with it. However, since he wants to run his mouth okay. I confirm the warrant, and go to him and bring him back to my car telling him he will see my radar. I also had the warrant information on my computer. So, I bring him back to my car and show him the hand held radar. He looks incredulously at me since it is turned off. I then ask him to read the computer. He sees his name and asks what that means. I inform him he has a warrant and he's under arrest as I slap cuffs on him. He regretted opening his mouth then.***

Anyhow, he goes to arrest her for the warrant and she takes off. By the time he gets back into his car and goes looking she's already disappeared. Well, that dumb bitch got away today. However aside from the original minor traffic warrant she had, she now has a felony warrant and it won't go away. Sooner or later her dumb ass will get caught.

At the end of the shift, an officer goes to a family disturbance. When she yelled for back up I could tell all hell was about to break lose. Sure enough she gets on the air screaming. She's fighting. Of course I'm on the other side of town and can only wait for the units in her area to get to her. The cavalry finally arrives and things get under control. She goes to the hospital complaining of hand and leg pain. She probably over exerted herself but she will be okay. The two punk asses who were fighting to start with will spend the night in jail.

Stupid!

Thugs are dumb as hell. Not to mention careless. This guy is out, cruising with warrants. Well, he decides to make a turn and cut off a police officer almost hitting her. So, she stops him and arrests him for the warrant. The stupidity of some people never cease to amaze me!

Swing batta batta swing!

Sometimes things don't as planned. We went to a welfare check. Neighbors hadn't seen an elderly man who lives alone for months. He's kind of a hermit, no known family or friends and keeps to himself pretty much. I get there and find mail stacked in his mail box and newspapers stacked on the porch. There is a past due payment notice on his door. I've met him before. I gave him a ride home one night when his truck broke down. The last time anyone saw him, he wasn't feeling well. All the classic signs of a dead body inside the house. I check the doors and windows and they are all locked. I find a back door with frames cut into it for a window. Well, I figured breaking out one pane of glass and reaching in to unlock the door is the easiest, and less intrusive method of getting into the home. I take my baton, take aim, and whack! Nothing except a loud noise. Whack! Whack! Whack! G dammit this glass isn't breaking like it's supposed to! Plus, now I have neighbors peeking over the fence to see what the noise is. Fortunately word has spread and everyone else thinks the resident is dead inside as well. I reposition myself like Babe Ruth and take another whack at the pane. Well, instead of the single pane shattering, the entire window, all panes, shatter. Oops! Well so much for less intrusive. I clear out the glass so as not to get cut reaching in only to discover another pane! Oh damn! Storm door! Well, I've come this far. I finally shatter the second pane and open the door. A rotten smell drifts outward. I'm sure of it, someone is dead inside here. We go inside, announce ourselves as police and look at all the trash. There were literally hundreds of liquor bottles, beer cases, soda cans, food containers still half full littered everywhere. It was impossible to even walk in the kitchen. It was covered in litter about four feet high. We check the house, nobody. Literally I mean nobody. I did find some sh** stained paints and underwear and a clump of human hair in a sink. Well, only God knows where he is. So all I can do now is leave a case number, my name, and a claims form to replace the door that I broke and write a nice report explaining why I destroyed a thousand dollar door. Oh well, if/when he comes home and finds his door destroyed hopefully he will be understanding.

"Whatcha gonna do now?"

This is the thuggish mentality that always pisses me off. Two vehicles are stuck in traffic. One vehicle honks at another. The driver who got honked at gets upset, has a bruised ego and wounded pride. So, he follows the other vehicle until they get stuck at an intersection. He then gets out of his car with a gun and taps on the window, aims the gun at the man and his kids and goes to repairing his damaged ego.

"Whatcha gonna do now? Huh? I say what? Whatcha gonna do now?"

He then leaves satisfied that he's still a man. The victim follows him and happens to pass one of my fellow officers and flags her down. They stop the guy and arrest him. He had no criminal record until now. This is the kind of mentality we inadvertently nurture.

"Don't mind my mom, she's 30!"

I drive up to a three car accident at an intersection. One of the drivers involved was a suburban mother with her kids with her. Off the bat her oldest daughter, probably about 8 or 9 years old is hopping around. She's asking "is someone going to jail?" "We were scared!" and "Wow!" Well, I asked for her driver's license and she had to return to the car to get it. The little girl then says "don't mind my mom, she's 30!" I could only shake my head. I'm 33, what would that child think of me?

Oh please grab that knife again

An illegal alien got upset with his live in girlfriend. So, he beats her up really badly. He then takes her little tiny chihuahua and slits the poor thing's throat and throws it onto the roof of her house. The sight of that poor dead dog, ohhhhh that infuriated me. We found him as his mom's house. Typical punk. He comes in kicks in the door, beats her up, kills her dog, and runs to momma's house. This guy is a coward. I guessed he wouldn't even put up a fight because he knows he can bully a woman and a small dog, but another man he knows would wipe the concrete with him. The mother lets us in the house and there he is. He has this 'deer in the headlight' look. I tell him to get on his knees. He just stares. So I repeat "de rodillas!" He immediately complies and throws his hands up. Just like I thought, a coward. He knows what will happen if he thinks he's going to pull a knife on me.

Gotta Love Lawyers!!!

Lawyers can be funny when they find themselves on the wrong side of the law. I don't know if law school instills a sense of arrogant superiority but it never ceases to amaze me how lawyers think they are in charge of everything. See, for the most part, the justice system was designed by lawyers for lawyers. This is even more so when it comes to civil law. The system is designed so lay people have to hire lawyers to argue their client's position in front of another lawyer. When anyone finds themselves in court, they are in the lawyer's house playing by his rules. The lawyer controls the discussion any way he can to sway opinion to his side. I guess this sense of control carries outside of the courtroom.

Yesterday a woman calls and says her ex-husband has assaulted her. The first officers get there and detain the ex-hubby, who is an attorney. I talk to him. I open the door and he tries to get out. I tell him "oh no no no ain't nobody told you to get out!" He's 49 years old and dressing like a 30 year old. I get the feeling this guy is going through a mid life crises. He denies anything happened. So I ask him why did she call the police. His brilliant response was "what probable cause did she have to call the police?" Now that's a strange, and dumb question. Nobody needs probable cause to call the police. I ask what kind of lawyer he is and he says he's some property lawyer. Ahhh! Those are better! The lawyers other than criminal lawyers who think because they have the title 'lawyer' they know more than we do. I can smell alcohol on his breath. In fact he is currently on probation for his second drunk driving case and has a breath interlock on his car. I ask him how much he has had to drink. I want to see how truthful he is. He says "nothing." I pounce on him like a ninja attacking his credibility. If he is lying to me on whether or not he's been drinking how can I believe anything else he says. He winds up being arrested for assaulting his ex-wife. He tries to slip another one past me. When asking us to leave him at home doesn't work. He says he takes heart medication. The name of the medication, lipitor! Oh please!

Ghosts of Thanksgiving Past

I was actually off last year on Thanksgiving and that was because it fell on my regular day off. Well the previous three Thanksgivings I managed to put someone in jail. I briefly recalled each of those arrests.

Thanksgiving 2004:

It was around 5 in the morning when I was following a jeep that had a hard time staying in a single lane. I pulled it over and found a woman driving. She was returning from a bar. Well, I was supposed to go home in two hours. We were having family over so I wasn't really looking to stay late. Plus, I really wasn't looking to put anyone in jail on Thanksgiving Day. I kept asking the woman if she had anyone who could come get her. She was drunk. Yet, she kept playing games. I feel she figured if she could stall long enough I would let her go. She wanted to drive off. After about an hour, yes an hour of merry-go-around with her I said "f*** it" and arrested her.

Thanksgiving 2005:

I was now working day shift. I came in early enough and would sit up on a cantina in my district. This cantina was notorious for allowing underage drinking (they never checked for ID about 90% of the clientele were illegal aliens. It was also notorious for cocaine using and dealing. I loved arresting drunks out of there, but even more I loved arresting drunks with cocaine on them. I set up and pounced on the first car I saw leaving. I caught him and sure enough, he was drunk, and an illegal immigrant so I arrested him. I remember him complaining about missing his "turkey dinner." I think I said something to the effect of "oh boo hoo mother ****** you shouldn't be here to start with!"

Thanksgiving 2006:

It was a slow day and nothing happening. Then a call drops. A man got into an argument with his pregnant girlfriend. Her family didn't like him because he was a little punk. She wanted to see her family without him and he got mad and hit her. So, he went to jail.

Thanksgiving Day 2008

I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving Day. My wife made a good turkey and had her family over. I ate my fill then got dressed for work. I walked into my phone booth to throw on my cape. Just kidding. I changed in the other room. When I came into the kitchen in uniform it's like someone else just arrived. Beforehand it was just 'Ole George' now in uniform people see another person. Their manner of speaking changed from casual to slightly nervous. It's natural. Most people don't know I'm very approachable, even on a bad day.

Anyway, I go to work, finish my paperwork and head out on the streets. Nobody is doing anything (other than the once-in-a-while call dropping). Sometimes I like to show the new people how it's done. I go find a few people to stop. Of course nobody gets a ticket. On Thanksgiving you really have to work hard to get a ticket out of me. At the end of the night I hear a major accident drop. I arrive to find some fool hit a light pole head on. The fool was flying down the street, lost control and went onto a sidewalk (thank God nobody was on it) and hit a light pole. The front of his utility was a nice V shape now. They carted him off to the hospital. I heard murmurs of bags of marijuana in the vehicle. If so, then oh well, I won't lose any sleep.

Whine Whine Whine

We get a call about a man passed out in a vehicle in a parking lot. That usually means one thing, a damned drunk! I've had this call probably 100 times in my career. I get there behind the primary officer. Since I can tell people what to do I 'suggest' the officer arrest him for public intoxication. The officer whines about having an extra job after work. I reply that I'm sorry, but this job comes first. Plus, there is still three hours I know that officer should be able to do all this by then. I heard the officer leave the prisoner at the jail with an hour before the extra job starts. Okay, at the most should only be a half-hour late. I remember when I worked night shift, I had an extra job at 9 in the morning, and at 7 would get a late arrest, typically a drunk driver. I had to book it to make it on time and I was only a few minutes late because I knew what to do, and what all had to be done and knew during which intervals I could accomplish certain tasks and be out of there sooner. Apparently this officer doesn't. I was reading a quiz on the officer's myspace page (we're myspace friends too) and I smirked with all of the officer's whining about missing an extra job. Can't wait until our next discussion.

I Should Write the Sheriff

The day is already starting out. There are two emergency calls working when my cell phone rings. I answer and it's my alarm company. My house alarm is going off. Just fu**** great! I call my wife and she's on her way home, so is the sheriff's dept in the adjacent county (where I live). I thought they would be there because I see them patrolling all the time. Of course I should have known, with us, we're there when we're not needed and not there when we are. My wife calls from the driveway, nobody is there and all looks okay. Well, I surely don't want her walking into the house to check. So, I ask my Lt. if I can run over to my house real quick (I don't far from work). I make it there in 20 minutes. I wonder what the neighbors thought when they saw a patrol car from the adjacent county pulling up. I check the outside, all clear. I then go inside and clear my own house. When I saw my cats running around like normal and my dog lazily sleeping, I knew all was well. We called the alarm company to cancel. However they were slow in cancelling the sheriff's dept. They arrived as I was leaving the house. Part of me wanted to chide him in coming from the next county and beating him to his own call. Maybe I should write the sheriff and make that point.

A Slight Change

I've been doing some thinking. I am just one person. Plus, I'm always hearing tales and 'war stories' from other officers. So, I decided to make George Parsons a story teller. My experiences aren't enough to fill up this blog or even make it interesting. So, from here on, 'George' will be telling the tales of other officers as well. George will appear to be a police 'jack of all trades.' So, the stories are true, just George will replace the main character to protect anonymity.

Heeeeeeeeeeeeeyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!

Three of us were in plainclothes at a bus stop. We were working a detail enforcing bus safety on the transit routes. A lot of people take public transportation and a good number of them are scum. I look up and see this 'queen' (male transvestite prostitute, there are a lot of them in this part of town) literally skipping down the sidewalk. I nudge my partners and point him out. Amazingly, the queen sashays right up to us! He starts running his mouth. We casually ask him what he is up to. He says he is off to some guy's house for a $5 handjob. We quickly glance at each other. We may have something here. We try to get more details out of him, act like we're intrigued. He then says he'd give me a blowjob for $20. I wasn't expecting this. Now he's just solicited an undercover officer. The queen looks at one of the other officers and quotes the same price. So I suggest we go behind the bus stop and queen hops along. I whip it out! No you pervert, my badge and tell him he is under arrest. He starts claiming he did nothing wrong. We later learned he has been arrested twice for the same thing and once for assaulting a public servant. What an idiot!

"Because she's a girl!"

Nobody likes to hear when a fellow officer announces they've been involved in an on-duty accident. When I heard her say she was in a crash my ears perked up. She was okay and so what the other driver. Hell, it was just a tap, but since there was damage to the patrol car it has to be worked as a regular accident anyway. One thing I noticed, as she was giving details on the radio her voice was cracking up.

"Oh God!" I thought to myself. "Please don't let her start crying on the radio!"

I made the scene and sure enough, she was crying. She wasn't hurt! The whole thing wasn't that big of a deal. She just got overly emotional. When I talked to the driver of the other car that clipped her he was sympathetic. He felt bad that the officer was crying. I kept a straight face, but inside I was thinking "dammit!" Later on someone asked me;

"Hey George, was Cyn crying on the radio?"

"Yeah, she was!"

"Was she hurt?"

"Nope, not at all!"

"Why was she crying?"

I sighed. I had to think of a way to put this delicately. I thought long and hard. I can't think of any other female officer who would have cried over a tap. Most women I know would be kicking and cursing so hard I'd be blushing. Then it came to me.

"Because she's a girl!"

He Really Didn't Want to Go to the Hospital

A guy and his girlfriend were arguing in his car in front of her house. Well, he gets mad and punches his windshield, cutting his hand open (he later claims she hit him but he didn't want to hit her back). She gets out and goes into her house. He decides to put the car in gear and do the "pissed off drive off." Well, sadly for him, he puts it in the wrong gear and drives his car straight into a tree! When we get there, we're not sure if his arm is broken or not. Yet he refuses to go to the hospital. His license in suspended so the plan is to get him to the hospital and file a warrant on him later on. Well, he refuses to go to the hospital. He's told it's either hospital or jail. He says "take me to jail!" Okay, he goes to jail. I guess he likes jailers more than he does doctors.

In another crash related story. A woman was involved in a hit & run. She claims a truck pushed her into a barrier wall from a block away. Come to find out, the woman was leaving her boyfriend's house going home to her husband. Ouch! That's got to be a nightmare for the woman. How is she going to explain being on the wrong side of town and involved in an accident?

Oops I did it again!

Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Okay enough Brittany. No, I'm not a fan, well, she is kinda cute even though she is a messed up flake. No, I mean I got to slap cuffs on another wife beater. See, the night previous we went to his house. His wife was pleading for us to get mental help for her husband. They got into an argument and he put a hole in the wall with his head and walked out of the house. Three others were responding to the call. Two of them were heading to the bar the wife said he was at. We learned that he has shoved her, and made threats to her in the past. Of course she never reported it because she loves him and only wants him to get counseling. This particular night he didn't do anything that would give us reason to pick him up. Two of the other officers went to the bar about to go in and grab him. I knew I needed to get the full story first. Last thing we need is a fight and to justify why we were going in there and grabbing him up to begin with. His wife was adamant that we go find him and get him counseling. Since all he did that night was throw a tamper we couldn't do that. She then suggested I drive her to the bar to look for her husband. I flat out said no. Because if she showed up, she would have stirred him up to the point where another disturbance would break out. I told her if I, or any other officer have to go to a bar disturbance, someone is going to jail (hint hint her husband because he'd more than likely be intoxicated). Better left him calm down and come home on his own. I don't think she liked me very much.

The next day I'm coming into the station and I talk to the guy I'm relieving. He is tagging photos from a domestic disturbance that morning. I didn't find out later on that this was the same couple. A warrant had been filed on him. We get a call that he's home. Since I like to be a part of the exciting conclusion I jumped in my car and went to his house. The wife was watching from her friend's house across the street. Apparently she still thought we were going to take him to a counselor. He answered the door and knew what was up. He surrendered which is always good. When we led him out of the house in handcuffs here comes the wife running to his aid. I knew this was coming so I asked another officer to stop her from coming over. I consider myself a pretty sympathetic person but this woman really did get on my nerves. She kept saying "he needs counseling not jail!" I said "ma'am he pulled you out of a truck and tossed you on concrete! He needs to realize there are consequences and perhaps this will be the wake up call he needs!" Again "he's not a criminal!" I just shook my head. Nothing I could say was going to satisfy this woman who wanted her ill tempered abusive husband home. Some days I just want to get in these women's' faces and shout "listen up! He just beat your ass and if you think he's gonna stop you're seriously naive!" But I know that's not the proper way to go about it.

A Ranger's Secret Revealed

Last night at dinner an old-timer revealed a Texas Ranger's secret. Years ago he was investigating the disappearance of two women. The Ranger secretly consulted a psychic. She described some landscape and saw a long haired man saying "I have to run along now!" The ranger called the old-timer (he wasn't old then) because he knew that country well. I guess the psychic said something really general like "I see a tree, a tree with leaves on it," because he had no idea what the hell she was talking about. Well, about ten years go by and a pond drains out to where a farmer sees a car roof. The car is recovered and inside it are the two decomposed bodies of women. Turns out, ten years earlier they drove off into the pond and that's where they sat. Needless to say, the psychic was wrong. The old-timer turned to look at me and said the Ranger made him swear never to tell anyone he consulted a psychic. I wonder if that Ranger is around today.

"Did ya whoop his ass?"

I hear a lot of stories from my boss. Sometimes I've heard them more than once but that is okay. I've told him he needs to write these down one day. Would be a shame to lose these to time. He was telling me about his old boss, friend, and mentor G. G had a son who drank, smoked dope, and got into trouble. From what I gathered from the story, the son didn't actually go to jail for his misdeeds. Now, before anyone says "pays to be the son of a cop," let me stop you there. For him, jail would have been safer. His dad would come pick him up, and beat the hell out of him. After the second incident G instructed my boss that if he had to pick his son up for any reason, he was to beat his son's ass before he was notified. My boss would express his reluctance because of his respect for the kid's mom, G's wife.

"But chief, the Mrs. might not love me anymore!"

"Who are you more afraid of, her or me?"

"You sir!"

A while later the son messes up again. He's drunk and he drives through a couple of yards. So the police get there and bring him to the station. My boss calls G at home and informs him. He is on his way.

"Did you whoop his ass like I told you?"

My boss sighs. "No sir!"

"Why not?"

"I'm afraid the Mrs. won't love me anymore!"

Then came a big incident. The son and a friend went home with two women from a bar. Well the women said they were divorced. Turns out, at least one was lying because her husband knocked on the door. She answered it and he put a bullet through her head. He then ended his own life. The rest ran out of the apartment leaving a baby behind. The son called my boss, who called G. In the end, the returned to give detectives a statement. In the end G asked my boss;

"So, did you whoop his ass?"

My boss hung his head and sighed.

She Was Afraid

An officer got called to the station. A woman had walked in the lobby to ask a question. Since I was upstairs doing paperwork I didn't feel it necessary to have a unit waste gas to answer a question. So I went down there expecting a simple 'question and answer' conversation. I was wrong. I met the two women. The other was a friend there for support. She said she had some questions about domestic violence. She told me about her husband who had been abusing her for the past three years. I asked if she ever reported him before and she had not. She said she had hoped it would get better on its own. A classic symptom of an abuse victim. Not one to beat around the bush I told her if he hasn't changed in three years he isn't going to change by now. I asked her when was the last incident which was the night before. A plan began forming in my head. I had her tell me about how he hit her and choked her. She comes from a culture where women are traditionally subservient to men (which isn't necessarily a bad thing-just kidding!!!!). Anyway, I took her statement. I gave her some information for victims and recommended a group that helps victims of domestic violence. This group is run by women who have been victims themselves. She was only expecting friendly advice. She was surprised, and overwhelmed when she realized I was filing charges on him. Normally we'd have to do more investigation since this is a previous occurrence. However, she showed me some really hateful text messages he had sent her (i.e. "wait till ur ass gets home"). That was enough convince me he was an abuser and all my training and experience dealing with these scenarios showed classic signs of the abuser/victim mentality. Her lip started trembling as I filed the charges on her behalf. She started making comments like "how much is this going to cost him" and "what about his family" and "he has to work." All signs of a victim taking the blame for what is about to happen. No matter how delicately I put it I couldn't convince her not to feel guilty and that was because I'm a man. Sure I have all this training and experience dealing with abuse victims. Yet still, I cannot make that one on one connection because I have not been in her shoes. That's why I recommended the organization run by women because I know they can find the right words. It's better a woman who has been down that road counsel a woman currently in a abusive relationship.

I get the warrant filed and I choose three other officers to go get him. I knocked on the door and he answered. She had told me there was a gun in the house. He invited us in. The plan was to tell him we need to talk about an incident and get up to him and grab him. However he backed up because I guess the way I was focused on him he could tell I was coming for him. Not knowing where the gun was and in case things were about to go to hell and I had to justify my actions later. I flat out told him I had a warrant for his arrest. So, I'm covered now. He tensed up, his eyes widened, he was trying to process the information and was debating "fight or flight." So we grabbed his arms and had to wrestle with him to handcuff him. He wanted to debate the issue. We got him in custody then I explained it all to him. So, he went to jail. I sure hope that woman calls the domestic violence organization for help. This is her chance to break free. I sure hope she takes it. If she does, then regardless of what the future holds, at least I made a difference in someone's life.

Some Fortune Cookie

Last week we ate dinner at a Chinese restaurant. The fortune cookie read "something unusual will happen at work next week!" Well, unusual things always happen to police officers. Normally I wouldn't worry about it except we were all pondering the upcoming election. So, I held onto the fortune and left it in the patrol car. Well, today I heard our chief abruptly resigned. Nobody expected that. I'd like to know why, but not being in the loop nobody will tell me. Perhaps someone who is in the loop will fill me in if I ask nicely.

Thursday, November 6, 2008

I heard an interesting story today. I was discussing domestic violence with my Lieutenant. He told me in the old days before Texas changed the family violence laws that the police would have to see the assault or the victim (usually the woman) would have to press charges. Of course often times the victims do not want to press charges usually because she loves him, he's the bread winner, she's afraid of what he'll do when he comes home. He told me of one couple in rural Texas where he used to work. The man would go out to a country bar, get drunk, come home and beat up his wife. She would set off the house alarm and when help arrived she never wanted to press charges. The law being what it was the police couldn't help her and were getting sick of going out there if she didn't want to help herself. So, they came up with a plan, the next time she pulled the alarm and didn't want to file charges, they were going to arrest her for false alarm. The next day, she pulls the alarm. The police go out there and the drunk husband is standing in the doorway. My Lt. walks up to the husband telling him to get out of the way. The husband talks smack and gets his foot stepped on. He shoves my Lt. and that's all he needed. The drunk husband goes down and goes to jail. I imagine in those days if you wanted to help a woman you'd have to subtly provoke the man into doing something stupid with the police and take him down.

I'm glad my Lt. has changed his mind about retiring. We didn't want to see him go.

Election Day 2008

Mad scrambles everywhere. I drove by some polling places just to check it out. I saw one of the district attorney candidates (who won). I get to work and it's a fairly quiet day. We do get a road rage call. Two vehicles' drivers get mad at each other and point stuff at each other. The other swears the other had a gun, but neither one says they had a gun. One of the guys is a drama queen and has us call an ambulance for a panic attack. We do our report and leave. Later on that night he sees a black truck drive by and freaks out and calls us back. This time he's being a real girl about this. He wants a 'restraining order' which we have nothing to do with. He then says his heart is racing again. I guess I made no effort to hide my annoyance.

I will admit I was disappointed with the election. Hey, life will go on. A lot of people are going to expect a lot of things and will be sorely disappointed.

November 01, 2008

I love finding out things at the last minute. Two weeks ago I went to a class on how our new reporting system works. I thought everyone was scheduled to go. A week later I find out we're supposed to be teaching others. Oops! Nobody told me that. So, I get to figure out how to use power point and basically talk. I like to run my mouth anyhow. Of course as with anything else I do, the first time is a dry run. The next couple of times I remember something and add it in. I feel a little bad because the previous group didn't get that instruction. Oh well, it's like when we all started writing reports. The more we use it, the more we become accustomed to it. When I went through the class I went and found a report to take so I could play with the system myself. I know I don't have to. However, how can I review and grade reports if I can't keep up with the trend and do them myself?

Then later into the evening a call comes in about three black males walking around the area looking into cars. While going to the area they call back and say they just broke into a car. The first guy gets there and finds the three males. A few minutes later I get there. Come to find out, one of them lifted the door latch on the car trying to open the door and set off the alarm. Now, that's not breaking into a car. However, why the hell is he trying to open the car door to begin with? Plus, the car belonged a captain in the fire department and all of her gear was in the back. Plus, there is a hand and forehead print on the back glass (the car was dusty) indicating someone had been peaking inside it. All in all, these little creeps were about to do something they ought not to be doing. Their mother comes by. I already knew she was looking to play the "black victim" card. I'm so sick of this mentality. This mentality says nothing is your fault, it's because of racism and other people you can't act right. It's ingrained into kids and they grow up to believe it's okay to steal, use/sell drugs, even hurt or kill people. However it's society's fault, not yours. Anyway, I pull the mother to side and let her in on everything. I want her to know why her kids are detained and what people saw them do. Fortunately this woman had sense enough to realize that we weren't making this up. We were not detaining her kids for being black in a "mostly white" neighborhood (the fire captain is Hispanic by the way). She said it was sad this happened in a "mostly white" neighborhood. I calmly told her "ma'am you know as well as I do that people make decisions that get our attention and nobody but themselves are to blame!" I wish there was someway to bust through that mentality but it will persist. As long as certain people want to follow and be lead they will hang onto whatever suits them best. I'm not trying to be controversial, but perhaps the black community ought to listen to people on the outside like this man here.

Halloween

Halloween came and went. I mostly strolled the streets, waving to trick or treaters, trying to be careful. Some of these neighborhoods don't have working street lights and families are walking in the middle of the road. If you go too fast you could hit someone. I can only shudder at that headline 'officers runs down trick-or-treaters.' As if the chief doesn't have enough notoriety already. I did goof up though. I was in a left turn lane with a red light. Well, my cell phone rings and I turn my head to read who is calling me (I have a bluetooth so I don't have to handle the phone). In my peripheral vision I see a light turn green. I go through the intersection only to realize it was the other light, not mine! Uh oh! People are watching me. I remember a story my daddy told me years ago when he missed a lane and found himself heading the wrong way on a one-way street. So, I hit my emergency lights and siren, rush through the intersection and find the first turn off. I then hide for a few minutes praying a captain or chief wasn't off duty with his family and just happened to be there. I dreaded the radio "This is the chief! What unit ran through 'such and such' intersection code traffic?" A few minutes later I feel it's safe to come out. I'm driving down the street when a kid on a bicycle comes flying out of nowhere across four lanes of traffic. I stop him and find it's a teenager whose friends were ragging on him so he got upset and took off. I gave him some friendly advice from one who has been there. I said "young man, don't get yourself run over because of dumb friends. In fact, next time they rag on you, tell them they're just mad because their mother was a man!" His eyes lit up and he said "oh I'm gonna use that!" He turns around and goes back to his friends. The voice of experience!

The night was about to wrap up when an officer calls me. He's out investigating a hit and run in a restaurant parking lot where the manager is stonewalling him. Long story short, whomever hit the car worked in that restaurant and the manager was very secretive about her staff. Obviously she's employing illegal immigrants. Then, she calls an officer from another department who comes out and while trying not to interfere starts questioning. I get highly pissed off. I go out there to confront that officer from another agency. I find out later on that officer eats in that restaurant. Okay, fine! I don't care. That officer can drag his happy ass across the street to whataburger and eat. I'll just sit back and wait for the complaint to come in.

Thursday, October 30, 2008

The day started quick enough. I was loading my patrol car when a call dropped. I jumped on it and headed that way. Well before I could get there three other officers had already arrived. Then, another call comes out. About 2 miles away there is a major accident involving a school bus unknown if there are children aboard. Well, dispatch is looking for a unit in our 'elite' division. Well the 'elite' division is the pride and joy of the department. There are some really good people in that division and there are some total morons. I wait to see if an 'elite' unit answers. Nothing. Chief gets on the radio as does an 'elite' sergeant. Still nothing. So, I answer up "give it to me until you find someone." I get impatient when I run emergency lights and siren. People freeze up, don't know what to do. I've been known to get on my PA system and say things like "get the hell out of my ***dammit!" One of my more famous (or infamous) lines I said on a PA where everyone could hear me "do I look like the mutha f**** ice cream man to you, move that piece of sh**!" Did I mention I'm impatient when I run emergency traffic? Well hopefully when they called to complain I went by so fast they didn't see me and told the supervisor "I didn't see him that well, he looked like Ogre from Revenge of the Nerds!" Anyway, I arrive, thankfully no kids on the bus. All is well. I got to thinking and realized I may have made the 'elite' division look bad.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

I came back to work today. I took some time off and gave myself a four day weekend. Problem is that I was bored to death. My wife was either out shopping most of the day or at work herself. So I was thrilled to be back at work. Made me felt like I wasn't wasting time and going something constructive with myself.

Saturday, October 25, 2008

A lot of calls today, but most are juvenile party calls. I hate those, always have. When I worked night shift on Saturday nights one could expect a party call or two. Those in far west district got them for the first half of the night. I have a low patience meter with teenagers anyway, however I aim not to be that "d***head cop" that everyone knows and hates by reputation. Basically, I use the golden rule, if you're cool with me, I'm cool with you. You act stupid then I'm gonna layeth the smack down.

One time, I got called to a teenage party. Now, when I arrived I didn't see any alcohol, but I knew it was there. So I called the kid who lived there and made a deal. They stay inside and stay quiet we wouldn't have any problems. He was happy with this agreement. As we were talking I hear someone run up to the fence and climb it. Some fool leaps over the fence and lands right next to me. I told him "hey spiderman, no need to run!" He laughed and we were cool. I had no problems the rest of the night. The very next night, same call, same house. Okay, now I'm annoyed. I felt they were taking advantage of the break I gave them the previous night. Well, as I arrive my buddy is in the front yard with spiderman shouting at him. Spiderman is shouting back. I can tell he's drunk and I know he isn't 21. With everyone watching I decide to make an example of him. I tell him to come to me, he backs into the house. I grab his arm and he punches me in the chin. Oh hell no! Now it's on like chitlins! I run after him and we to fighting. Now, keep in mind, this isn't his house. While we're fighting we're tearing up furniture, lamps, and other things. My buddy is behind me. Spiderman grabs my neck and before I can even think to get him off me my buddy whacks him with the baton so hard it goes flying from his hand. My buddy wound up spraining his hand. I manage to get a lock on spiderman as we fall onto a window sill where I make him submit. As I'm cuffing him, one of his moron friends tries to interfere. We get spiderman cuffed and we walk him to the car. I'm pretty pissed off by now and I'm shouting at him. I failed to see the flowerbed in front of me and tripped and fell flat on my face in front of everyone. Now, I'm really, really pissed off (and embarrassed). He goes in the car and his moron friend comes up. He gets cuffed and stuffed too. While I'm working on the jail forms, moron friend's mother walks up to me (someone called her) and tries to open the door to get her kid out of the car. I stop her and explain she can't do that. She doesn't believe me. I tell her to get off my scene, she refuses, mommy gets arrested, and the bi*** wants to fight too. Another wants to spray her, but I stopped him. I didn't feel right using pepper spray on a 50 year old woman if even she was an idiot. So I used a gentle wrist lock and gently guided her into the car. So, all three went to jail.

Another party call. I walk up and as others are running every which way some teen girl walks up with a beer and cigarette in her hand. I ask how old she was, she was 17. Talk about stupid. I demand to speak with the resident. Turns out, she bailed with half of the party (from what the teens who stayed behind told me). Oh, so we have a bunch of people in a house and we have no resident. So, with that as my justification, I walk in and find people hiding. I checked one closet and it was locked. Now, who the hell locks a closet? I peek under the door and see jeans kneeling. Someone is hiding in there. I use my pocket knife to walk the lock and find two teenagers hiding. I handcuffed both of them and marched them outside. I find a bedroom door locked. After bluffing my way in, the two girls and one guy get handcuffed and marched outside. I make all the handcuffed people sit down, in front of those who didn't run. I issue citations to the underage people. The resident finally comes back, she plays ignorant. I consider arresting her for evading arrest (when word spread that the cops were here they ran), but decided it wouldn't stick. All she has to say is she wasn't there to start with and I couldn't prove otherwise.

Anyway, I hate party calls. Always have, always will.

Video of Rafer Alston's Arrest

You can look at the stop leading up to the DWI arrest of Houston Rocket player Rafer Alston. Looks to me like Alston knows he is in trouble and resorting to "the attitude" trying to stall. I've met this officer. He knows what he is doing. He's a good man. I find it amusing how he turns around "take me in!" He knows a prosecution is much more difficult if he doesn't do any of the sobriety tests so he refuses. He already knows he is going to trial and play the "he was harassing me" or "he was going to take me in anyway" card. If Alston thought he was sober he would have performed the tests. Celebrities are usually told from the beginning by lawyers, do nothing. So, they play innocent, yet when they have their chance to show they are not impaired they refuse to perform the sobriety tests. In my mind, he's guilty.

Reflections

I spent a few hours at a training class. I ran into my supervisor who graduated from here back in 1978. I found him talking with one of the old instructors who instructed him 30 years ago. Yeah, they go way back. I found his old graduation photo and with the exception of the hair, he doesn't look any different. He showed me pictures of his mentor and old partner. Both of whom are long dead. I can only imagine what it is like to look at a picture of yourself 30 years ago with your old partners, friends, fellow cadets etc. Then to ponder 30 years worth of stories. Some of these people are still in law enforcement. Others are retired or working in the private sector. Some wound up on the wrong side of the law. Others are dead. I am working on my 10th year in law enforcement. I wonder where I'll be in 20 years. I get a little sad to think many of the people I look up to will be gone. Some of my mentors will be dead as I fight back a reflective tear. I'll be looking at old photographs of people I know now. I probably won't remember their names, but I'll remember my time with them. I'll wonder what happened to some. I wonder how many will still be around for me and them to have a "remember the time" discussion while new, young faces walk by starting out on their journeys.

Meet Heidi Hazrati

Dear Readers,

I would like for you to meet Heidi Hazrati and the April Five Foundation. On April 05, 2006, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Officer Kayvan Hazrati was shot in the head while trying to serve a warrant. The shooter having been to prison stated he was not going back and shot at officers who were trying to apprehend them. Sine then, the Hazrati's have had to deal with the nightmare of rehabilitation treatments, sever pain (physical and emotional), the criminal trial, and the weasels that usually work for HR/Risk Management agencies. I invite you to read Mrs. Hazrati's blog about their life since the shooting. I went to the beginning of her blog and read from post one. Her writing leaves nothing to the imagination. I can feel her pain and anger from her words and it's like I'm standing right there with her. I give a "kudos" and a "God bless" to Heidi and Kayvan. Their journey is one that only strong people can endure and very few people could.

Yes, I blushed

"Hey officer!" I heard as I exited the coffee shop. I turned to see what the blonde and her brunette wanted. They asked about all the lights up the road, they thought it was an accident. It was actually the fire department helping a semi whose brakes caught on fire. No big deal but sometimes to civilians anytime where there are a lot of flashing lights is a big deal. The blonde woman asks about a ride a long. I explain the process and she stops me;

"I mean what if we just hopped in your car now?"

"Uh, how would I explain to my boss (and my wife) why I have two women in my patrol car?"

"They wouldn't have to know!"

Oh my! Uh, are these girls flirting with me? It doesn't happen that often. Then the blonde asks;

"Does your wife have a badge?"

"She has a necklace I bought her."

"Would she sell it?"

Uh oh! If she knew about this conversation she'd probably throw it into the streets. I make a light joke about getting in the doghouse when the brunette says;

"If that happens I'd cuddle you to sleep!"

Okay, on that note, and my cheeks burning red I politely excuse myself from the conversation and get in my car and haul ass out of there. Last thing I need is the wrong impression and rumors to get started.

A Bad Call

Well since nothing exciting happened yesterday I'll tell of one of my worst calls. A man and woman live together, both disabled. Well, the man sitting on the pot taking a dump and gets stuck. He can't stand up. His wife can't get up so she calls us. We get there and find a naked man sitting on the pot. I'm pretty much annoyed now. This is a medical call, not a police call. Plus, this guy has been sitting here for about half an hour and can't flush the damn toilet knowing we're coming! So I flush the toilet, grab some thick gloves and pick this damn fool up and practically throw him on his bed. How's that for public service?

Obama's Baggage

Image Courtesy of Police Link

From left to right, Sgt. Brian V. McDonnell, Officer Waverly L. Brown, and Sgt. Edward J. O'Grady Jr.

Obama makes me sick! His mentor was one William Ayers, a co-founder of the terrorist group weather underground. These wackos are responsible for the murder of these three police officers. Sgt. McDonnell was killed by a bomb set outside his station in San Francisco back in 1970. Officer Brown and Sgt. O'Grady Jr. were manning a road block after a bank robbery in New York in 1981. A female in the vehicle got the officers to lower their weapons, and their guard while her cohorts jumped out and gunned both officers down. It sickens me that Obama, and the media try to convince us to ignore this troubling connection. I for one will not forget these officers. Since the media can't be bothered to research this, hopefully I can help spread the news and help keep terrorist sympathizer Obama out of the White House.

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Should have been a day I called in sick, but didn't. I hate to call in sick, I rarely do it. Right now my sick time is maxed out and I cannot accrue anymore. I felt my nose was in a vice grip. Every 20 minutes I had to blow my nose like a geyser (I'm sorry that is a pretty sick image isn't it). I don't understand officers who burn time once they get it. Then, when they need to take off they have no time to use. Pretty damn stupid if you ask me.

Another damn stupid thing to do is to drive under the influence. I don't mean on alcohol, I mean other medications. Some guy, built like a wrestler, using ambien, drove across two counties with one of his tires gone. I mean totally gone, the rubber, the rim, the actual wheel was gone. All that was left was the brake disk. Someone finally found him and stopped him.

Huh?

I've heard of this happening, but never actually saw it. An officer gets called to take a report where her under age son met a man online. When the officer gets there, the kid's lawyer meets him at the door. If the kid is the victim what does he need a lawyer for? On top of that, the lawyer knew of the alleged sexual assault a month ago, long before anyone called the police. I wonder which law that attorney violated. I also wonder if they are going to push the issue.

A Tip

This came up in discussion the other day. So, I felt the need to post it.

Bad News At the Start

I sign on and get a phone call. One of our guys was in a serious crash way out of town. He had to be life flighted. My usual reaction to bad news is "awww damn!" This kid is a good guy. He's really nice, professional, and eager to keep learning. I can't think of anyone who doesn't like this kid and now he's laid up in a hospital. Fortunately later in the day we heard he is expected to pull through.

My supervisor and I ate at an old Mexican restaurant in an old part of town. I used to eat here when I was brand new and didn't know what the hell I was doing. On Saturday nights, another officer and I would come in, exchange pleasantries with an old security guard with a balding head and really bad teeth. I did a quick take on how far I've come along since those days. Wow, it has been a bumpy ride.

Irony....

My supervisor is retiring this year. I can't imagine anyone in the department replacing him. In the several years I've been here, and going through three shifts, he's been my immediate supervisor practically the whole time. I am always fascinated by his stories from policing in rural Texas. To me, the man is a mentor. I hate to see him upset. He came into the office and told me someone close to him is dying. I new the name from his previous stories. He is only person I've ever seen who can hold a conversation and shed tears simultaneously without breaking down. It takes a lot of steel nerves to do that. When he leaves, doesn't matter who they promote in his place, our shift will never be the same without him.

I did get a bit of good news. A few months ago an officer drove up on a burglary in progress. The crook fled through the back yard, leaving his car there. The homeowners were out of town on vacation. So we worked it. We tossed the car and found some paperwork with a name on it. I ran the name and found he had a criminal record. I also found out that someone had broken into his house. How ironic, first time I've known of a burglar to also be a "victim of a burglary." I find a telephone number for his mother and call her. I don't tell her the whole story at first (because I felt she would lie to cover for her son and I was right). I then told her that her son's car was left at a burglary. She exploded. She accused me of "scaring" her and she didn't know who I was even though I told her from the beginning who I was. Anyway, later on in the day the son (aka suspected burglar) shows up at a substation wanting to report that he was carjacked several hours earlier. The officer who took that report calls me. According to suspected burglar, he was car jacked by a fat, white male at a particular intersection in a bad part of town about 6 hours previously. He said he had to walk from that intersection to his house (roughly 10 miles) before he could report (trying to account for the time lapse in reporting). I point out two obvious flaws in his story. First, at that particular intersection, no white person would be there car jacking people. That's like going to a redneck bar and claiming you drank wine and ate cheese with a transvestite philosophy major at Rice University. Second, you get carjacked, and cannot find a phone in the 10 miles you claimed to walk? Anyhow, I find out that the detectives did a great job, busted through his story and filed on him for burglary. I was relieved.

Awww Dammit!

It was mostly a slow night until the jogger got hit. She was running down a dark street when a vehicle hit her and took off. Fortunately she will be okay. However while we were working that scene an 18-year old girl tries to go around all the emergency vehicles and when she can't, she backs up and hits my car. I didn't even see it. This is my 4th police car wreck in the nearly 10 years I've been here. Fortunately, nobody was hurt, it wasn't much damage, and I wasn't in the car so ha ha it doesn't go on my driving record! At first I'm thinking she's going to get a ticket, but the more I talked to her I felt a ticket wasn't warranted. I even told the officer who worked the accident. She's a young girl who just wasn't paying attention. I wonder what her parents will say when they find out.

"Was he talking sh**?"

I'm waiting at a traffic light in rush hour traffic just like everyone else when a truck comes barrelling, half on the edge of the road half on the grass. He was trying to get to the right turn lane (same as I) which was a few car lengths ahead. As he goes by I remember scenes from the show Martin where he says "hold up! Hold up! Oh no you did not just...." That, and people are watching this probably thinking "well here's a cop is he going to do anything?" So I drive half into the grass to catch him. I probably would have written him a warning but he didn't have insurance. Steadfast rule, no insurance, no break. So I write him two tickets. Since cars are flying (they are supposed to slow down by law, but people are such in a hurry to get to their destination they can't be bothered to slow down for us) I can't hear his rant. All I can get is "...you're just a..." and "I can't believe..." and "this is..." I chose to believe he was saying "Sir, I understand you're just a man doing his job and I can't believe I was so stupid as to do what I did in front of such a fine policeman such as yourself. This is a lesson I'll never forget!" Yeah, that's what he was saying!

This night was the national night out that got rescheduled because August was just too damn hot. To an extent, PR is necessary. That's part of why I do this blog because I want people to see things from our point of view. However it does get old after the 10th block party, forcing a smile saying the same old tired 'small talk' lines.

As I'm heading in, I stop a vehicle driving up a busy highway with no lights on. I pull him over and can tell off the bat he has no license and no identification on him. So I go about my usual routine in these cases to separate the driver and passenger and see if I get the same name and same story. Well, I get a slightly different name, but with Hispanics they usually have 4 names and the criminal element will use several variations to avoid getting caught with warrants. After over an hour I'm convinced the woman is telling the truth. Since the driver can't prove who he is, he goes to jail. I was kind of hoping he was lying to me. I got real good at the name game back in the day. Once, I had a convict with a parole warrant in my car for two hours while playing the name game. He knew that I knew he was lying, but he also knew I had to prove it before I could arrest him. He got away from another officer by sticking to his guns, but I was determined to beat him at his own game.

"You have no right!"

A young woman was passed out in her car. The engine was running and her 4-year-old daughter was in the back seat. The people at the restaurant saw her and banged on her window but she wouldn't wake up. So they call the police. We get there. We manage to wake her up and she tries to grab her baby and dart off. We have to yank her out of the car and handcuff her because she clearly isn't in her right mind. She winds up going to the hospital where she wants to give the staff a hard time. She won't say what is wrong. All she says is "my lawyer says I don't have to do anything" and "you have no right to be here leave me alone." We end up filing charges on her. Once she got out of the hospital her sorry behind is going to jail. What parent would do that to their child? In case you're wondering the child is okay.

Old Timer Story 1

In my profession we have a few old timers. These guys were cops going back to the 1950s. I'm always interested in hearing stories from way back when. Of course police work was a lot different then than it is now. Plus, to be honest, there were a lot more shenanigans going on then than there are now. I've told them when they retire (and the statute of limitations run out) they should write them down. Otherwise many interesting stories are lost to time. Of course over the years, the retelling of a story gets exaggerated, so don't count on these posts to be 100% accurate. All I have are the words of the story teller.

In this story, a belligerent drunk gets arrested. He is talking trash all the way to the jail. When the officer brings him to jail, he finds the jailer. The jailer is a dinosaur (even back then, he probably had been policing since the 1940s). The drunk is cursing and the officer who brings him slams him against the wall. The old jailer berates the officer for slamming his prisoner. The old jailer sits the prisoner and dismisses the officer. As the officer walks out he hears the old jailer ask the drunk his name. The drunk replies "fu** you!" The old jailer clobbers the drunk out of the chair onto the floor. The old jailer then shouts at the officer "hey, what did you arrest him for?"

"You Again"

The day was passing by swimmingly when I hear that familiar address. The same fool from the previous night. This time his dad is tearing up his room. We get there and the kid comes out. He is saying he didn't do anything this time. I made him sit on the ground and he better not get up. He declares his innocence. I know he didn't do it this time, but given our history with him he's going to be sitting down and watched like a hawk. I don't trust him. Anyway, momma bailed the kid out of jail, daddy wanted to leave his butt there. Kid leaves the house goes back to the same two he was with when he got arrested. Dad tears up the kid's stereo and X-box. Okay, nobody really sees a problem except the kid and momma. The kid demands charges against his dad, obviously trying to pay him back. I tell him "it ain't happening!" The dad gets some clothes and leaves for the night. Momma makes a comment that her family is imploding. Yep it is. Mainly because she keeps trying to protect her spoiled son and ignoring the rest of the family.

"I'm a mental patient!"

Who knows why some kids turn out the way they do. The parents of a 21 year old man called wanting us to check his room for drugs. Okay, fine, we get that call a lot. However 21 is the oldest I've seen. If the parents have to call for that, it's time to kick his ass out and let him make his own way. Anyway, all we find is a pipe that reeks of marijuana. So, he gets a ticket. Well, as we're leaving, he picks up a license plate and whacks his dad upside the head for calling us to start with. What started as a ticket now winds up with junior in jail.

I feel stupid. I called to wish my father a happy birthday. When I called him he was on his way home from work. While I'm talking to him he gets involved in a crash. Fortunately he's okay, but I feel to blame. I apologized to him, but he kept telling me it wasn't my fault, he was looking straight ahead when the car suddenly stopped. First, I put a fellow officer in the hospital, and now this. You might say I have a dark cloud. I disagree, I seem to put the cloud over others.

Remember the kid who stuck a .22 rifle barrel in his mouth? Well, we dealt with him again. We get a call about two drunks fighting in the street. We get there and two of the drunks don't want charges. They are adults and a little drunk, but not sh** faced. I look at the third and recognize him. I know he isn't 21. I'm a little annoyed. After that time talking him out of eating a bullet and here he is drinking out in the street in front of his house. No, he's going to jail. So, he gets arrested for being drunk and underage. Shortly he starts banging his head and kicking the door. He's extracted and winds up kicking two officers. Now he has went from a C misdemeanor to two felonies. Now he's screaming "I'm a mental patient this will get dismissed! How can you do this to me! You're ruining my life!" His mother, again is upset and crying but this time my sympathy is lessened. He plays this game with her. She wants to protect him but I tell her (in a diplomatic way) cut the cord and let him go. He thinks he can get away with this behavior because he is bipolar. Remember, I said in a previous post that bipolar is becoming an acceptable excuse for criminal behavior by a lot of people, even some of our nit wit prosecutors are buying into this. Good grief!

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Years ago I remember hearing that being a police officer is 99% boredom and 1% "awww sh**!" Well yesterday was the proof one needs. I drove roughly 20 miles through the district without hearing any radio traffic. I kept looking at my radio to make sure it was on the right channel.

Maybe I Should Go Work For the Power Company...

Two interesting stories told in passing. We find an abandoned power truck in a neighborhood that is still without lights. While we're looking for the driver he comes walking out of the darkness. Turns out, one of the neighborhood ladies offered him sex to turn their power back on and sure as hell, he accepted. Damn!!!!!!!

One of my wife's friends did the same thing. Except the power guy declined. So, just how are men supposed to get their power back on? Just kidding.

Saturday, September 27, 2008

We ate dinner at a new BBQ place. It was pretty good. Plus it helped that the hostesses and the waitresses were HOT!!!! Anyhow, an interesting conversation popped up. One officer told of how his teenage daughter got a job. All of us drifted back to our first jobs. One officer talked about how his father was a pipe fitter and was upset that he became a cop. The reason being he had a bad experience with police a long time ago. Well, in rural east Texas, in the old days, if one mouthed off to a cop, he got his ass whooped and that is what happened. Another officer said he started off mowing lawns, then became a sacker at a grocery store. That is where I started. At 16 I got a job at local grocery store bagging groceries. It was there I developed the theory that if everybody had to spend at least two years working a job serving the public then it would make most people polite, humble, and respectful towards others. There is nothing like serving the public. You meet good people, you meet great people, and you meet people who aren't worth the air they breathe and whose parents really should have been sterilized. From the time I was 16, to the time I was 24, I worked in grocery stores either bagging groceries or tending a cash register. Then I became a cop. One hell of a resume. Later on today another officer has to arrest a fireman. He wasn't too thrilled about it, but you can't treat him different because he is a fireman. I had to call that fire department and notify a captain. That wasn't fun.

"Captain ****** I'm just notifying you we have one of your firemen under arrest."

"Aww damn!"

"I know sir, this isn't the phone call you want to get."

"Yep, but I appreciate you letting us know."

Friday, September 26, 2008

Slow day until later in the evening when calls starting coming in one after another. I ran a call at a nursing home. Turns out it was a medical call. There was a really pretty EMT there, but I kept professional and said a polite 'hello.' She ignored me. How do you like that? After that ran a call where a woman hit her husband. Okay, all the elements are here for a warrant on her. She wasn't there when I got there so I called her. She admitted she hit him and told me why. She said he used her to get into the country and become a citizen. She also tells me he would hit on her and her kids. Since she admitted to hitting him already why would she start lying now? Well, technically she did assault her husband in this case. Yet, if what she says is true then she is upset and her emotions got the best of her. Plus, with illegal immigrants, spousal abuse is very common (something La Raza or LULAC will never admit to). So, I decided to let our family violence detectives work with this one. I just didn't feel right filing a warrant on her this night.

Kudos to Mansfield PD

I read this story in the Houston chronicle about police from Mansfield helping out Houston police in their patrol duties. The officers in the picture are riding in south west Houston. I wonder if these guys have dealt with drug dealers on the scale HPD has. I wonder if they've dealt with the cross dressing prostitutes that litter that part of town. Anyway, God bless them for helping out and helping HPD patrol the streets. The city of Houston ought to be a little embarrassed about being the largest city in Texas and not having enough manpower to patrol its streets even without a hurricane.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

I was just damn tired today. Even though we're back on normal shifts I felt like a zombie. Needless to say I was also impatient although I tried to hide it. We get a call from an off duty detective to meet him a residence. He says someone is inside it. I recognize the name of the detective. We've butted heads with him before. We're told someone is in a house and we're needed to check it. Okay, fine. I get there and I recognize this house. It belongs to a woman who doesn't like us too much. She's a drunk, and a pill popper. Her husband was killed a few years back. One evening we had a call of a drunk driver. The license plate comes back to that house. In fact, I found the vehicle, but the drunk driver made it back to this house and was inside. The person who saw her driving was long gone. The woman comes running up to us yelling not to shoot her dogs. I yell at her to get the hell out of my way and to back off. In my mood, I'm not hearing it. The house turns up clean (well except for the massive turd in the toilet that was left unflushed). The detective says this is his girlfriend's house. I shake my head. So this self-absorbed detective is dating a drunk, pill popper. Oh well, it's not any of my business. Whoa be unto him if I do arrest his girl for driving drunk and he gets in my way.

HPD Officer Shoots Armed Kidnapper-Rescues Child

Houston Police Officer C. Sellers deserves huge kudos for his heroic actions. I'm sure he didn't want to have to shoot a kidnapper but he had no choice. The story is buried under an article about police making fewer arrests during power outages. Well duh! During disasters police usually only make arrests if they absolutely have to. When digging through the article we see this;

"A Houston police officer's fatal shooting of a kidnapping suspect last week also received scant public attention in the aftermath of the storm. Police on Wednesday were patrolling an apartment complex in the 5300 block of Hershe when officers heard a child screaming for help, HPD officials said.

Officer C. Sellers ran toward the sound. Turning a corner, he spotted Patrick Dante Mathis, 29, wielding a shotgun and dragging an 11-year-old boy behind him.

There was no relationship between Mathis and the boy, police said.

"He was just in the apartment complex and the guy grabbed him," said HPD officer Gabe Ortiz.

Sellers, assigned to HPD's northeast patrol division, ordered Mathis to drop the weapon and release the boy. He refused, police said, and began to raise the shotgun barrel to the child's head.

Sellers then fired, fatally striking Mathis. The child was not harmed. The case remains under investigation by Houston police and the Harris County District Attorney's Office.

Police have not determined the motive for the fatal shooting of a man in southeast Houston, hours after Hurricane Ike made landfall in Galveston."

Good job Officer Sellers. I know the media won't do it, but the public thanks you. Like my headline? That's the gist of the story. However had a hurricane not hit, it would have been something like 'officer shoots man holding child.' I hate the media.

Monday, September 22, 2008

It's an oven at the station. It's well over 90 degrees in there. Wearing a vest, oh hell no. I check up on some paperwork and I'm out of there. I imagine I'll do the same thing again today. I made another traffic stop at the same dead light. This time, a young girl almost 't-boned' an Impala. When I stopped her, she was terrified, and embarrassed. She knew what she did and she felt stupid for it. I felt it was genuine so I let her go. I saw no reason to write her a ticket. After all, nobody got hit, so it's all good.

A strange call came in. A woman picked up a guy in her neighborhood and drove him around. He masturbated in her car. She said she was scared to tell him to get out. She says she "kinda" knows him, but knows where he lived where we arrested him. He also had marijuana in his pocket. I suspect there is more to the story like she was going to buy some weed from him (or vice versa) and he decided to "crank one off."

In another call, a drunk kid was speeding through his neighborhood. He hit a truck, a parked trailer, and flew by a school bus (yes this is the early afternoon) unloading kids. Thank God he didn't hit any of them. He was a tall kid too, about 6' 07. One look at him and I said (in front of his parents too) "damn, he tore up from the floor up! It's been a long time since I've seen anyone this messed up!" I hope he sobered up on the jail floor realizing what a fool me made of himself and how much he embarrassed his parents.

Sunday, September 21, 2008

It's hotter than hell at the station. The power is back on, but the damn air conditioner is out. How is that for irony? It's mostly a slow day. I did stop one guy for blowing through an intersection with dead traffic lights. You're supposed to treat it like a 4-way stop. Yet this guy blew through almost hitting another car. When I stopped him he tries telling me he thought he saw green. There wasn't anything green around there except the trees and in no light you can't see it. He got three tickets. I see another officer stop a guy up the road from me. I check by and he has him handcuffed. It's a drunk (possibly illegal immigrant). He calls some buddies of his to handle it. They show up with a lady. Never seen these three before. The 2-man unit is two gay officers. Okay nobody has a problem with that. The officer and the lady ask me to figure out which is the 'girl' in the relationship. I'm not sure I want to walk in that minefield. I'm partly afraid of offending them but since they can hear the conversation I guess they're not too concerned. I make my selection because the other guy seems more dominant of the two. Well the lady officer wins the bet. They work on getting the drunk home. I shake my head. Some officers just get lazy. I don't tolerate drunks on the road. So, since this was their scene I leave and let them handle it. I want no part of it.

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Not a bad day. I did accidentally rolled my window up on another officer's finger sending him to the emergency room. I felt terrible. I didn't see the damn hand to start with. We still keep getting annoying generator calls. People call in saying their neighbor's generator is too loud and demand we make them turn it off. I'd like to run those calls because I wouldn't actually run them. It's reasonable to run a generator when there is no power.

Friday, September 19, 2008

My one day off this week went by quick just as I knew it would. Word came from above that we're actually going to be paid for all this overtime. Woo hoo! A nice little bonus.

Today I decided to drive around and tell the officers what a good job they are doing. They've been working their butts off with these 12 hour shifts for a week now. They need to know someone notices their hard work and appreciates it. I don't think the brass will do that. They are usually preoccupied with looking for someone to get in trouble. I kept thinking today was Monday for some odd reason. It just didn't seem like Friday and it didn't seem like just one week ago that damn storm was pounding us. I stopped one guy on traffic. I'm cruising up the road when he came out of nowhere and cut me off. I will admit, it's nice when someone does that while I'm in a patrol car because then I can do something about it. I stop him and explain to him why I stopped him. He says he didn't do it. I ask him if he didn't cut me off then how did I end up behind him. Uh huh! He can't answer that one.

Later on a call drops. A guy calls us saying he got jumped by about 20 juveniles. We get there and I see an old man in the street bleeding. He's also drunk as hell. He says he asked the kids to turn the music down and they all assaulted him. The kids, and a neighbor says the guy cussed at a girl who lived at the house and slapped her. That's when he got jumped. Just like another old, drunk fool who got into an argument with a black woman who tried to ignore him, but he was too stupid to stop. He went on and used the 'N' word and caught a beat down in the middle of Walgreens. Just like that guy, this guy deserved it. You don't slap a young girl in the middle of the street. We then discover damage to his car. We walked the road and found damage on a parked truck. So this clown drove drunk from his house to the noisy house hitting a parked truck along the way. I then learn he has problems. He is supposedly dying from AIDS. Yet he goes to the neighborhood pool and throws out kids without parents. I do feel bad for his condition, but his behavior is "straight up stank" as they say in the hood. Oh well.

Monday, September 15, 2008

Power came back on at the station today. Thank God. Was an easy day up until the evening time when a strange call came in over the radio. Someone called saying a neighbor kid fell down the stairs severing his head. We all had to do a double take on that one. Was it one of those dumb SAW movies? What the hell was going on? By the time I arrive the parents are in the front yard screaming. Obviously upset and in shock that their son is dead. Well, the mother was still in denial. She was screaming at us. She didn't need us, she needed an ambulance. One of the first responders whispered to me "he's dead! He didn't fall down any stairs neither!" I walk into the house and see a dead teenager with the top half of his head gone. Fell down the stairs my ass. We separate the family, start working like it's a homicide. Both parents deny there are any guns in the house. I go upstairs and into a bedroom where I find brain matter, a large pool of blood, and a shotgun! Just as I suspected, the kid ate a shotgun. The father blamed their power outage. I sensed I wasn't getting the whole story. I asked if his son had been acting unusual, depressed, etc. Later on the father admitted the son announced he was thinking of killing himself, but the family dismissed it as crazy talk. He also acknowledged that there was a shotgun in the house that the kid had access to. I wonder if the detective will try to do something with that. I don't think the parents were outright neglectful, I think they were ostriches. Their method of dealing with problems was to stick their heads in the sand. Good Lord!

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Still no power at the stations. Some restaurants are open, but lines are literally going out the door. Hell, Schlotzkey's is open, but people are waiting in line. It looks like there was a free concert going on or something. Again, I fuel up early. Never know when the gas pumps will go down or dry up. As the sun sets things are smooth. Then an urgent call comes in. A kid with a gun to his head. Dammit! I get there behind another officer. He points to the garage. Sitting inside is a teenager with a rifle under his chin. I was hoping this wouldn't be the case. I grab my shotgun and take up a position where I can see him, yet get out of the way should he decide the level the rifle at me. I try to talk to him. He won't even tell me his name. I had to get it from his distraught mother. I'm trying every psychological trick I know to get him to talk; "talk to me tell me what's wrong! I want to understand what you're feeling, help me! Whatever this is it can be overcome!" He kept shouting for me to talk to his parents. He would stick the barrel in his mouth and his hand go for the trigger. I mentally prepared myself for the vision of the top of his skull popping off from the bullet. Yet he did not shoot. I was wondering how long we'd be out here with him putting the barrel in his mouth and taking it out and not really talking. I started to wonder if he just wanted attention. He had plenty of chances to do it if he was serious. He then loads the rifle and fires it. He had it pointing up so the round went into the roof. I had my shotgun ready thinking "please God I really do not want to shoot this kid!" He then threw the rifle down. I charged him before he could change his mind and pick it back up and we got him. I breathed a huge sigh of relief.

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Today all the stations have lost power. Gas is a little hard to come by. I fill up my patrol car at the start of the shift. By the end of the shift officers are scrambling looking for gas. One officer gets on the radio saying he's found gas. Then he says the gas card doesn't work and everyone stops going. Then he says the readers are working again. Officers scramble back that way. Then he gets back on the radio, the damn readers aren't working again. Good Lord! No restaurants are open. My dinner that evening is coke and crackers. All the food we brought yesterday has been eaten.

Friday, September 12, 2008

The day Hurricane Ike was scheduled come crashing at our doors, and walls, and windows. I arrive with what I could scrounge up at two grocery stores. I wasn't planning for an overnight stay but I packed for it just in case. The evening started off easy enough until dinner time. As I was waiting on my food a shooting call drops. Some guy pushed his way into the wrong house and got his ass shot. Well, actually his abdomen was shot. While going to that call an officer crashes and has to go to the hospital (he's okay though). We work the shooting scene as the winds pick up and get stronger and stronger. My wife sends me a message that my house has lost power. The night is already off to a great start. Around midnight was when things started getting hairy. Some of us hunkered down in a substation watching news coverage of the storm. Outside the rain began. We could feel the wind pushing against the glass. Fortunately it died down. Come the end of the shift I decided to go home where my wife was sitting in candle light without power. That was difficult because of how we take electricity for granted. Even sleeping in boxer shorts didn't make it any easier. Fortunately we never lost water. So at least I could take a shower and not go back to work smelling like crap.

September 17, 2008

Today was a long day, but not a bad one. I had no armed disturbances which was excellent. More businesses are open and finding gas isn't such a chore anymore. My side of the world is getting back on its feet. Of course farther east and south it's a different story. Many people are still without power. My supervisor doesn't have power, poor man. I want to invite him to use my guest bedroom however my wife is antsy about guests other than people she knows. We're still on 12 hour shifts. We will get one day off. Mine is tomorrow but I'll be spending it catching up on household chores and restocking my refrigerator and freezer. On my way home I caught an oldie but goody on my radio. I had to turn the volume up loud for this one.

September 16, 2008

This is roughly day 4 of the post Hurricane schedule. I'm tired for the most part. I keep reflecting on the past two days (those stories for another post). I was hoping for a relatively quiet day today. I knew I couldn't be so lucky. A man calls saying his neighbor pointed a gun at him. Other units get there long before me. They shut off the street and surround the house because the guy had gone back inside and he has a arsenal. Great! I have an arsenal at my house, but I'm not the kind of person who gets drunk and makes an ass of himself and points guns at neighbors. Anyway, I'm thinking of a plan when I get there. Everyone is waiting on me to get there before they make a move. I arrive and get the phone number of the suspect. One officer is covering the front door with his shotgun. I left mine in the car. I figured I needed two hands. I call the suspect and simply say "hey man, we're outside. Your neighbor said you pointed a gun at him can you come out and talk?" Sure enough, he walked out with his hands up and we cuffed him. I flat out asked him if he pointed a gun at someone. He just stared at me. His eyes said 'yes.' All he would say is he was defending his house. Yet when I asked what happened with his neighbor he complained we were cutting into his beer drinking time. Okay, that told me he was guilty.

Later on that night a bipolar, 26 year old son beat up his father and broke his nose. The father didn't want to press charges. Thankfully in Texas you can still arrest someone for family violence if the victim refuses to cooperate. He went to jail. I'm sick of the bipolar excuse. Nowadays people (especially suburbanites) think bipolar is an excuse for criminal behavior.

Anyway, society is slowly coming back. East Houston, and Galveston have a lot of hurricane damage. More businesses are opening back up, gas is becoming more available. The damn lines are still long during the day. However in the late night/early morning just drive in, gas up, and drive out in under 5 minutes.

A Tenderfoot in Tombstone

George Parsons was a banker in California when he decided he was bored with his life. He wanted something different. So, he came to Tombstone, Arizona where he met and became friends with Wyatt Earp. Parsons kept a diary that has been used by historians to keep an accurate record for history. This is my encouragement. As a police officer on the Gulf Coast of Texas I decided to keep a trail for history for follow. It may not be crucial, must-learn history, but it all did happen. Don't let the name fool you. I'm no tenderfoot. I just happen to like the book title.