Search Warrants in Heat

An ICE agent calls up asking for help with a search warrant. Cool! Gives me something to do. The officer answer the calls recruits me and in the parking lot I come across another officer who is a good guy. He and I go way back and he's training a rookie. So I recruit them. We all drive out and meet the agents. They are serving a search warrant for a child pornography investigation. This is getting better and better. The plan is to call him out on the phone, if not then forced entry would be made. We get there and half the officers/agents set up on the south neighbor's house as I and the others set up on the north neighbor. The subject of the warrant is known to have at least a pistol and an SKS rifle which goes through body armor. I ponder if I should bring my shotgun, but the problem is having to keep up with it. I decide not to bring it. For the next half hour, in the 90+ degree heat the agents are trying to get the guy on the phone. I'm ready to bust through the door despite the rifle, and camera set up filming the front driveway. I was willing to risk going against a 7.62mm round as opposed to this cursed heat. I can imagine the neighbors looking out their windows and seeing us, and about 6 other people with black tactical vests saying "ICE" on it. Finally the guy walks out and we swoop down on him and then I and an ICE agent clear the house. It's a good learning experience. I've taken a class on these kinds of investigations yet have never seen one in progress. So I hang around and watch and learn. The guy had a hell of a computer set up as well as a DVD burner. So he's bootlegging stuff as well. In the upcoming weeks he's going to have problems. I imagine they will file a warrant on him and we'll be back out there again.

Another "Misdemeanor Shooting"

Two Houstone gang members were doing what they usually do, hanging out doing nothing when a vehicle drove by. Clearly a rival gang member fired on them with a shotgun hitting both of them. It didn't kill them, but they went to the hospital. Nobody was overly concerned.

Cop Bloggers

An English Police Constable is probably in hot water now that his identity has become public knowledge.



"The officer also criticised and ridiculed “a number of senior politicians” and advised members of the public under police investigation to “complain about every officer . . . show no respect to the legal system or anybody working in it”.


"Some of the blog’s best-read sections, which on occasion attracted half a million readers a week, were anecdotes about cases on which Mr Horton had worked. The people and places were made anonymous and details changed, but they could still be traced back to real prosecutions."



Public servants (i.e. police officers, clerks, etc) walk a fine line when they decide to blog. Blogs can be a great public relations tool such as Houston Police Chief's blog. They can tell positive stories about the department that the media refuse to touch and counter the image the media creates that nothing good is being done. However, these blogs usually read like press releases. The reason I started this blog is I wanted to chronicle things I've experienced, and others. I have always felt police agencies do themselves a big disservice about being tight lipped when bad news flies on the front page or on the 6 o'clock broadcast. Police agencies should either say if there is a problem they'll deal with it, if there is no problem then that should be broadcasted as well. Over the last few years cops have discovered blogging and felt the same way I did. Some just want to share their stories with the public. Some use it as a pedestal to air their grievances. Yet some go even farther and attack people by name and there lies the double edged sword. These guys see themselves as whistle blowers. Yet half the time they only tell their side of the story which casts them as the victim. Most officers will own up to their mistakes. Lord knows I've had to own up to a few over the years. Yet there are some who refuse to believe they are wrong and will argue with God himself over it.



Police agencies by their very nature aren't too fond of unauthorized bloggers. No agency likes to have their dirty laundry aired and all departments have dirty laundry. Now, some may say "the public has a right to know!" Wrong! The public doesn't need to know everything. Every business has its skeletons and if they want to know everything that goes on in a police department then they should open their closet doors and reveal their skeletons. Naturally police agencies are usually tight lipped about internal matters. The last thing they want is their closet door to be opened. My department has its skeletons but I will never reveal them. For one, it's not my business, and two I don't want them coming after me.

Overall, I think cop bloggers are great, as are prosecutor and defense lawyer bloggers. You can learn some interesting things. I like the defense lawyer blogs because I can learn how they see the world and can learn some of their tricks in court. You can also learn there is a side to life that is kept from the public eye. You can also learn there is an explanation for all our madness. What do you think?

Why I Hate UFC!!!

I don't have to look at the schedule when a UFC pay-per-view is scheduled. Half of the shift takes off and another quarter call in sick. So the shift is ran on a midget skeleton crew. I love how some officers will get "sick" the pay-per-view days and think nothing of leaving their comrades out in the field to fend for themselves! Talk about selfish and greedy!

Brand Names

I stayed up late last night only to have to get up early and work an extra job. A few hours later I came home tired. My wife made plans with her friend and her husband to go shopping. She asked me and at first I declined. Then after a few minutes of thinking I decided why the hell not! What else was I going to do? We pick them up and head to an outlet mall. I did need to get some walking shoes since I'm supposed to be walking more. The outlet mall is mostly clothing and jewelry shops. Mostly girly crap! The women go their way and J and I go walking around. We stop into a sun glass store. I'm always breaking or losing sunglasses. Once or twice a month I'm making a stop into walmart of walgreens and shelling about $20 for a pair of sunglasses that will eventually wind up broken or lost. I looked at the prices and my jaw dropped. They were going for about $130, $150, and one pair for $295. What in the hell makes these glasses so expensive? For that much they better have a GPS tracker that whistles when I lose them, and either an x-ray that lets me see through women's' clothing or lets me read their minds. I suspect you're paying more for the name than the actual product which is just stupid. I wonder if I could get a polo shit and have "George" stenciled on the front and people would pay 3 times what's it's worth. I've never gone for something just because it is popular. I have a natural tendency go against the grain. If TV, media, or stupid old pop culture tells you something is cool naturally I'll go the opposite direction. I don't want to be one of the "sheeple" or that's how I feel about trends and brand names. I eventually found a pair of walking shoes. As we were walking back to the car we spotted a discarded car window in an empty space. Either someone had their broken into, or it was stolen. Or maybe they locked their keys inside and broke into their own cars. Either way I got onto my wife for leaving her satellite and GPS in plain view. She disregards me. One day she's going to be careless and something will happen I'm afraid.

He Did What????????

The boss called in sick and my partner took off so that meant I was at the helm solo. I'm relatively lucky (so far) in that all hell hasn't broken loose and I was the only boss on. Since I'm technically the watch commander for the busiest day of the week I take my time going over reports. I read one that made me shout into the empty space. It's a good thing this guy had called in sick.

He got flagged down about an abandoned vehicle. He runs the license plate and learns it was taken in an aggravated robbery in the neighboring jurisdiction. According to the original report a man with a shotgun forced the driver out of the car and stole it. In layman's terms, a carjacking. He contacts the agency and they send a wrecker to pick up the car to take it to their print stall and process it in hopes of finding evidence. All he has to do is wait and secure the vehicle. I would have guessed he could handle that. That is until I read this in his report;

"I then inventoried the vehicle thoroughly and found the following items...."

I think I actually shouted "you did what you ignorant fu**** jackass ****head pencil di**!!!! Tell me you did not go finger fu***** that car before it could be printed!!!!" Sadly, he did. So, I have to wait until I see him again so I educate him.

Sad thing is I can speak from experience. One night, when I was new we found a car used in a kidnapping. I was so excited I practically dove in the car looking for evidence. A veteran officer pulled me out of the car and chewed my ass out. I felt like the biggest dumbass on the planet. However it never happened again. Now it's my turn to be the teacher I guess!

Misdemeanor Shooting

It's been a long time since I heard that term used. The call drops as a drive by shooting. As usual I'm the farthest away and get there dead last. A young girl got shot in the leg. When I get there, she is in the ambulance being treated. She has a look on her face, a "that's life" kind of look. I over hear one of the other officers talking about how this street is notorious for gangs, drugs, shootings, and stabbings. I noticed a tattoo on her right forearm, had a giant dollar sign and some writing. I couldn't get close enough to read the writing. I walk around with my flash light looking for any evidence and as expected, I find none. I hear officers grumbling that the people know who did this but as usual aren't going to talk to us. So naturally the officers really aren't that concerned. One girl shows up pointing to a scratch on her leg where she says a bullet grazed her. Her friends are talking about a guy who got beat up there the day before and how they saw him driving up and down the street just before the shooting. Yet nobody can say they saw him shoot. It sounds like a retaliatory shooting to me. I don't think the girl who was shot was the intended target, but she was probably near him (or her but not likely). Still nobody who was standing there who saw this mystery guy driving up and down the street repeatedly can say if that was, or wasn't the shooter. The officers who patrol this area are constantly here and sick of only getting half the story. So naturally they are not overly concerned with coming to this street unless someone is killed. I hear one guy say "there is always something going on here. This is a misdemeanor shooting." I tell him not to let anyone else hear him say that. I go ahead and leave. Despite the apparent lack of concern they do have a lead. That officer knows who got beat up the day before and will be looking for him soon.