Sunday, August 30, 2009

Another Robbery Arrest

While I'm certainly glad arrests were made in Houston City Councilman M.J. Khan's robbery case there was another robbery arrest. A 14-year old boy was walking home from school when a 16-year old walks up to him. The 16-year old asks what time it is. As the 14-year old looks up at his watch the 16-year old tried to swipe his cell phone out of his hand. When that didn't work he pounced and hit the 14-year old in the head and stole his glasses. He was found at a nearby school and earned himself a charge of robbery.

Monday, August 24, 2009

If At First You Don't Succeed

I heard this one from a Metro buddy of mine. Two officers were checking train fares when a small group of black ladies attempt to walk right by without paying the fare. The first officer, who is white stopped them and informed them they needed to pay the fare.

"You're stopping us only because we're black!"

The second officer, who is black, steps up to the women and informs them they needed to pay the fare.

"You're stopping us only because we're dykes!"

They ended up paying the fare.

Sunday, August 23, 2009

A Story I Heard

Got a call about a suspicious vehicle sitting in a driveway for the past five hours. Either the slowest burglar in history, or someone on a stake out. We get there and I shine my light because I can't see the person as I'm walking up to them. I instantly shut it off when I see the shoulder patch. I apologize in case I screwed up something but I lucked out, he was working an extra job house sitting. He gets out and we get to chatting. We get to talking about the Pasadena Officer that was killed that day and he tells me the story of his shooting.

He was running with narcotic units on a drug raid. He was in uniform and helping with the outer perimeter. In narcotic raids, the team goes in. Anyone who comes out is a bad guy for obvious reasons. My new friend was on the other side of a fence when someone came climbing it. As he was climbing it, he had a .32 caliber pistol and began shooting at the officer. He said he remembers is three bullets going into his leg. He did not remember drawing his .45 caliber pistol and firing one shot, killing his shooter. That was learned later from all the evidence (i.e. the single bullet in the suspect, the missing bullet from the officer's gun, the angle of the shot, etc.). Unfortunately he had some difficulty afterward because the whole shooting was witnessed by a woman. It was a typical racist scenario, black suspect, white cop. The woman gave a sworn statement saying the officer stood over the suspect and "assassinated" him by firing "several" shots. Fortunately all the evidence refuted the woman's ridiculous claim. However the officer is still annoyed that no charges on her were ever filed which is the same story. Anyone can swear to a false statement against an officer but the police administration and the DA's office will not file charges because they are afraid of the ACLU. Regardless, this officer is alive and working a cushy extra job and the crook from the drug house is long dead, never to shoot another officer. It was nice to meet him. I wished him well and cleared the call.

Friday, August 21, 2009

A Classy Family

That whole family drove me nuts. A young woman living her ex in-laws called us saying her ex-father in law pulled a shot gun on her. I'm the second one there and the first officer is talking to the alleged suspect and his wife. I then go to the house and see a young girl come out of the house. She only heard the argument, but claims she didn't see the incident where her father walked out with the shotgun. However she says her parents are crazy. She begs me to take her somewhere. I ask if she is being abused or harmed and she says no. Then she tells me she is 16 and they are her parents. I can see the desperation in her eyes, but I cannot help her. She is going to have to tough it out for two more years. The argument erupted between the parents and their ex-daughter in law who was living there with her kid (their grand daughter) and her new boyfriend who is a meth head. They argued over money when the old man walked out with a shotgun, didn't aim it or threaten to use it, just held it. The ex daughter in law calls the police while sending her boyfriend away with her kids. The old man said he was threatened by the meth head boyfriend. We want to talk to him, but he's gone so we run him and find the child support warrant. That's why she sent him away. Then they argue back and forth about stolen merchandise in the house from the meth head couple. I ask the old man how long has this scam of stealing merchandise been going on and he says a while. So I get it. It's okay for them to steal stuff until they fall behind in rent payments and we come out there now everyone is discrediting everyone else. I can see why that teenage girl wants out of that house. Nothing but trashy people!

Friday, August 14, 2009

One Of Many Reasons It's Good Women Are In Law Enforcement

She called up to the office where me and one of my partners were shifting through paperwork. She had spent the last 24 hours chasing a bad hombre. This guy has violent tendencies towards women which really pisses me off. This is the kind of guy the evil part of me wants to resist arrest. If he likes to hit women I'd like to see him go against a man who will knock his ass out. Anyway, she has a lead on him but can't find anyone to back her up because every officer in that district is tied up on a report call or a disturbance. So partner and I tell the watch commander we're going to help her out and we meet her outside a convenience store. We gather up and she starts to brief us. I listen to about the first two words when someone catches my sharp, cop-eye. A woman in super tight jeans and what is clearly an enhanced chest comes walking out of the store and right past us. I watch her go by and get to her car. I then stop the officer "I'm sorry what were you saying?" She notices what distracted me, sighs, rolls her eyes, and shakes her head and starts over. As she is running it down again, a Hooters girl drives up and catches my, and the partner's gaze as she walks into the store. He then cuts her off "I'm sorry what were you saying?" She turns and spots the Hooters girl. Again she sighs, shakes her head, and rolls her eyes. "***damn men!"

Good thing this guy wasn't hiding in the Playboy Mansion right?

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Murderer Tries Race Card

The informant called and said he was in a local Walmart. So a small squad of officers converge on it looking for a man wanted in a 2-year old homicide. The informant gives a general description, black male, certain clothing. Problem is that description fits about 100 people inside the Walmart. As officers are fanning out new information comes in. The suspect is with a woman wearing certain clothing and two kids. One sharp officer spots a man in the checkout line next to a woman (with those clothes) and two kids. Although he isn't wearing the clothes originally described he sees the officer looking at him, picks up a kid, and walks towards the other exit. The officer's alarm bells are ringing and he goes to confront the man. Immediately the man shouts "you're only stopping me because I'm black!" (Can it be that this tactic has been so overplayed that it's finally starting to lose any merit?) He gets detained and keeps playing the race card. He gives a name and sticks to his race card until someone brings a portable fingerprint reader. Once he sees that, he changes his tune to "baby I love you, they got me!" He was their wanted murderer.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Some People Can't Help Themselves

It's hard to want to help or cut someone a break when they act stupid and won't quit running their mouths. We had a young man realize an officer was going to stop him for his expired tags when he hit the gas and started weaving in between cars and making a sudden turn down a side street. Now, my wife refuses to believe that anyone can figure out an officer is going to stop them before the lights actually come on. However, as anyone who has worked the streets know when you make eye contact with a passing car, then make that u-turn the game is up. The officer catches up to the guy as he's pulling into his driveway and tries to get out and make it into his house. Another clue that something is up. The officer orders him back into the car and surprisingly he complies yet refuses to get out for the officer until a bigger officer shows up and gives him one chance. When the guy's license is run it shows two traffic warrants for his arrest. Then, it shows a hit where he's been the victim of identity theft. His brother (a registered sex offender and all around bad, bad man) had used his identity. Now this places us in a dilemma. The guy is running his mouth how it's not him (yet it's all his information in the warrant) and how we shouldn't be harassing him like this. The officer gets more information about the warrant and even calls the sex offender brother who (not surprisingly) denies he got any traffic tickets. So we have a guy with two traffic warrants who is also flagged as a victim of identity theft. He claims he never got any traffic tickets and says it's his no good brother who did it. The no good brother says it's not him either. The guy did try to duck and dodge the officer when she tried to stop him. Plus, he will not shut the hell up! I know he's frustrated but lashing out at us when he has two warrants for him is not going to help his situation. He keeps alluding that he's been stopped before, but won't say if he was warned about the traffic warrants for him and given a break but he blew it! I think he was fully aware and given a break last time and is trying to bully us into letting him go this time. After some consultation we decide to arrest him for the warrants. The only way he's going to resolve the issue is to demand a trial and force the officer who issued the original citations to look at him and say yay or nay. Understandably the guy's wife is upset. He's fussing at her which pisses me off. I tell him not to fuss at her, I'll explain what she can do to bond him out. He then goes into me trying to argue the merits of the stop and arrest. I quote Ice Cube "tell it to the judge" leaving out the whole line "tell that bullsh** to the judge!" I take his wife aside and explain her options. I also tell her how I think he knew he had those warrants and had been given a chance to fix it before and he blew it. That explains why he tried to avoid the officer and why he's acting a fool now. She seems to understand (my philosophy is to explain to people why things happen, I find it draws people to our side more often than not). Her little girl is looking out the window and the woman starts crying. She doesn't want to see her daughter watching her father going to jail. I suggest she tell the little girl that daddy had to come with us to help us out and he will be home later. I find that works with very young children. So ends that ugly little episode. I imagine the guy was given time served and is now home.

On a side note, my argument was proven when my wife got stopped by a DPS trooper. I knew when he made that u-turn he was coming after her. When I pointed this out she said it proves nothing, I knew but she didn't. Well, that just proved another point. She doesn't pay attention. She didn't notice the trooper nor her speed! However that was another argument, er, I mean debate.

Victim of 200 Crimes Goes To Jail

It was a major accident at a busy intersection. So naturally the officers have their work cut out for them securing the scene, getting medical help for injured people, controlling traffic, and trying not to get run over themselves. One officer parked half-in half-out of a driveway due to the placement of other vehicles, including ambulances. As the officer is doing his job, some nut rides his bicycle on the sidewalk and comes up to the police car. He then starts screaming at the officers to move their "fu***** cars" and they shouldn't block his "fu***** sidewalk!" At first they ignored him but he came onto the scene screaming and cursing. After about a minute of this the officer couldn't focus on the scene and have this guy screaming at him. So he confronts the man and tells him to leave which he doesn't. The man wound up being arrested for interfering and when asked why he acted like that. He said he's been a victim of 200 crimes in his lifetime and was frustrated. Hmmm, okay!

Monday, August 10, 2009

Ewwwwwwww Yuck!!!!

I wound up behind a truck swerving all over the narrow neighborhood street. Fortunately there was no other traffic. I followed a couple of blocks watching the truck drift. I got a little excited thinking I had a drunk driver. I decide it's time to stop him. I walk up to the driver to find a kid who couldn't have been more than 17 years old. I don't smell alcohol nor are his eyes red, the first two signs I look for. However he has this 'deer in the headlight' look about him. Still something isn't right here. I tell him why I stopped him then I notice something disturbing! His pants are unzipped! I then ask him what the hell he was doing. He says he was jerkin it (surely you can figure out what 'it' is) and that's why he was all over the road! Oh dear lord! I advise him to beat it at the house, not in the street and walk away. I don't feel like asking him for his license after where his hands have been!

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Victim Attitude Almost Helps Robbers

While the news buzz about the racist, jackass Harvard professor dies down the mentality that fuels that kind of nonsense still persists. It reared it's ugly head the other night. I'm talking about a racist mentality. A mentality of a segment of the black population against cops who are not black. I have to massage my temples when I hear the term 'racial profiling' and bla bla bla. How about the problem of some blacks getting confrontational with cops who are not black? How many times have these people demanded a black officer because they refused to deal with a white/Hispanic/Asian officer? How come these so-called 'ministers' don't ever call on their own people to be open minded and tolerant of others?





Anyway...this is what happened. Two guys robbed an older couple. As this was going on there is a group of party having a party a few houses down. It's a black family that lives there and having their friends over. Officers get there and start asking the crowd if they've seen the robbers. A teenage girl had seen them run off. An officer talks to her to get information. The girl's mother (who did not see anything) shuts her daughter up and gets in the officer's face shouting at her. Now, why would a woman take on an officer who is looking for two robbers in her own neighborhood? I honestly feel it's because the officer was white and the woman has that 'black victim' mentality. Why else would the woman want challenge an officer instead of letting her go look for robbers? The officer cuffs up the woman and puts her in a patrol car. I decide to ask the woman a simple question. Why is she acting like we're the bad guys when two criminals with guns are running around her neighborhood robbing people? How are we supposed to keep her and her family safe when she wants to prevent us from catching criminals. Yes, I was laying it on a little thick but I was wanting to get my point across. She seemed to understand my point, that or she realized her big mouth has gotten her in trouble plus her crew (whom she was showing off for) wasn't around and was trying to placate me. About that time other officers found the suspects so we cut her loose and went to join the party. They fit the description perfectly and even had guns to match! Of course the G mobile network is in full effect and the fu***** family starts showing up. They think they have the right to know what's going on. However I know how this game works. They are expecting the mean white cops to force them to leave and they start whining even louder and playing that victim card. So I try to throw a monkey wrench. I flat out tell them their relatives are out robbing people and show them the guns we recovered. Only one mouthy girl wasn't going to hear it, but the rest of the family shut up and moved her away. I was amazed it worked. The best way to sink the race victim strategy is to show you have them dead to rights and they can't say sh**! I tell an officer to go get the victim so we can get an identification. This officer is brand new, a kid, very polite, but sharp as a noodle. He returns with whom I guessed was our victim. However when the crowd starting coming back along with the shouting I realized he brought back that same damn woman from earlier! I couldn't fu***** believe this! I pull him aside and express my extreme displeasure with him. Again I lay it on thick for the woman explaining that since he saw her talking to us earlier he simply thought she got robbed and thought she was going to identify our bad guys. I think she bought it. We get our victim out there who identifies the robbers and they go to jail.

Saturday, August 1, 2009

Dumb Luck Helps Out

The gangbangers, for some reason, decided to stop in an intersection and shoot a gun out the window hootin' and hollering. I'm guessing in that petty street mentality they thought it would get them 'respect.' Amongst their peers it may have gotten them 'street cred' but to the rest of civilized society it got them some 911 calls from people who got the vehicle description and their license plate. A few minutes later, by dumb luck, an officer who just came on duty (and heard the broadcast) looked up and there they were! He gets his back up and the van takes off. These guys weren't trying to get away, they were trying to get far enough ahead to throw out the gun (which was recovered and later found to be stolen). They eventually stop and get arrested. So a kudos out to that officer and dumb luck.

"I Thought You Paid!"

The other day my partner and I stopped into a BBQ joint. We got our orders and came up to the register. Usually they give us half off which is nice of them. My partner went first and I came up to the register with my wallet out. The manager waved me on. How nice, my partner got me today. At the end we got up and left. We got on the freeway heading out west when I thanked him for dinner.

"Thanks for dinner!"

"Oh you're welcome...wait a minute! I didn't pay for dinner!"

"Well I didn't pay for dinner, I thought you did!"

"I thought you did!"

"The manager waved me through!"

"Oh sh**! I hope someone paid for it!"