Life...in the Line of Duty

All White People Look Alike.

2012-01-26T19:48:00.000-05:00

I am involved in changing the traffic flow for a particular location and we are about to put the new traffic flow into effect on Monday January 30, 2011.
In preparation I have been handing out the new pattern on a flyer. I would stop everyone that pulls into the particular location, hand them the sheet of paper and explain the new pattern to them. I give you all this back story to tell you about this one driver.
This driver pulls up and I stopped her. She didn't speak great english. I explained the new traffic pattern and she says, "Ok so I come in this way and go around and exit the other way."
I said, "No, you come in over there and you exit out right where you are right now."
She shook her head like she understood and drove away. As she drove away I walked to a different area and was stopping traffic and handing out more forms.
Surprisingly I ran into the same woman, but I didn't recognize her until I stopped her. I asked, "Did you get a form with the new traffic pattern, that starts Monday."
She said, "Yes, but I am a little confused because you are telling me I have to come in this way and exit over there. The other officer over there told me to enter over there and exit here. I am so confused."
I explained the traffic pattern again and she drove off. She never even recognized that the other officer was me. She was soo confused.

The Man that tried to kill me

2012-01-19T21:05:00.001-05:00

I can finally fill you in on the horrible incident that I was involved in that put me out of work for exactly two months. Today is the first anniversary of the event and I am happy to say that I am still working and feeling good. I still have a constant pain in my lower back and I also continue to have troubles with my shoulders and base of my neck; other than those issues I am doing well.

On to the incident.

I came into work on January 18, 2011 ready to Police the streets. As I walked into the station I stopped to talk to the officer I was relieving to see if anything happened that I needed to be aware of. The officer advised me they responded to a house for a family dispute. Two brothers got into an argument over something. One brother chased the other brother outside and into his truck. One guy started to beat on the truck as the other one was sitting in the truck. The guy in the truck called the police and when the police arrived the guy fled the scene. So they took a report and had been looking for him. The officer asked me to go by the address and check to see if he had returned and check on his well being.

Around six o'clock in the morning my SGT called me and asked me to go by the address one more time and see if the subject was there. So my partner and I went to the address to see if he had returned.

As we pulled down the drive way (my partner was in his car in front of me) a man matching the description was walking out of the house. I radioed to my partner that I believe that was him. The subject jumped into the truck and took off into his back yard. We had a lot of rain in the couple days leading up to this, so I thought he would get stuck in his backyard. My partner and I ran around the front of the house towards the other side of the back yard in an attempt to cut him off. As we came around the house he came around the house driving the truck. He tried to turn the truck to his left but ran into a bush. He backed the truck up towards my partner and I. I pulled my gun and pointed it at him through the passenger side window. He looked me dead in the eye and gave me the middle finger. He then gassed the truck and he was headed straight for a tree. Unfortunately he was able to stop before hitting the tree. He then backed the truck up trying to hit my partner and I, but fortunately for us we were able to get out of the way.

He took off towards my partners car at a high rate of speed and slammed into the side of the patrol car (partner was not in the vehicle). He then took off towards the main road in A manner that led us to believe he was fleeing the area. My partner ran towards his vehicle and I ran towards my vehicle. I yelled to my partner to get into my vehicle and lets go after this guy. As he came around the front of my car I heard a loud acceleration of another vehicle. I looked back and noticed the truck was coming down the driveway at a high rate of speed. The truck slammed into the rear left side of my patrol car. He pushed my vehicle at an angle approximately 40 feet. This caused my vehicle to slam into my partner (who was on the front side of my car) throwing him into the air and he landed next to his patrol vehicle.

The subject backed his vehicle up and then took off again towards the main street. My partner and I both got up and gave chase on foot, but quickly realized we were both injured. I did the best I could to get the description of the subject and truck out on the air. As the truck fled the scene there was another officer parked on the side of the road ahead watching for this guy.

The subject passed this officer and then turned around and at full speed rammed into the side of the officer's vehicle. The subject then backed up again and started towards the officer again. About this time another officer was pulling up and he slammed his vehicle into the side of the subjects vehicle preventing him from striking the officer again.

The subject continued to drive down the street attempting to get away. He eventually bailed out of the truck and ran into a house, where we was arrested. We later found out this was his Aunt's House.

Out of the whole incident there was four patrol cars damaged and three officers injured. All the patrol cars are back on the road and two out of the three officers are back to work, but still dealing with the aches and pains of this horrible tragedy.

As far as the subject that did all this damage. He was sentenced to 25 years per count of first degree assault. There were three accounts of assault. For those mathematically challenged (like me) that's is a total of 75 years. The judge the suspended all but 13 years for each count, but he will serve all those concurrently. All this means is he will serve 13 years total in jail.

I am very satisfied with this sentence because it means this guy will be in jail until I am eligible for retirement.

You just can't turn off being a Police Officer

2012-01-16T18:37:00.001-05:00

My wife and I were running errands today. We went to our local Home Depot to pick up a new storm door canister.

I walked up to the counter for special order doors and asked an employee where I could find the door canister and he politely pointed me in the direction. As my wife and I walked towards the area I heard an alarm go off and I immediately recognized the door alarm. It was the alarm that sounds when you go out a fire door. I immediately looked in the direction of the door and notice a rather tall white male walk away from the door carrying something. (My initial thought was he was trying to exit and didn't realize it was an alarmed door) I looked down the isle and noticed the man was no longer carrying anything and he was headed towards the front of the store.

So before I even realized it or had the chance to tell me wife what I was doing I sprang into action. I quickly jogged down the isle and noticed he dumped a Makita Drill on a cart. I grabbed the item and ran towards the front door and as I came around the corner I noticed the gentlemen that helped me. I handed them the drill and told him this is what he was trying to steal. He took it and I went out the door to see where the thief was headed. As I was exiting the door I felt for my gun and remembered I didn't bring it with me, so my mind set immediately went from apprehension to identification (this means I stopped running so fast and kept a safe distance). As I exited the door I looked to my right and noticed the guy walking but he was at the corner of the building. As I got to the corner of the building he looked back and noticed I was still following him. He ran to a Dodge Pickup truck and jumped into the passenger side of the vehicle. I was able to get the tag number and I passed it on to the Manager of the Home Depot.

I walked back into the store and was reunited with my slightly confused wife. We continued our shopping and made our purchases and left.

I learned two lessons in this incident:

Lesson One: Make sure you communicate with your wife before you leap into action.

Lesson Two: Stop leaving your American Express (this is the name of my off duty weapon, cause I usually don't leave home with out it) at Home.

A Little History Lesson

2011-10-31T22:36:00.001-04:00

There is a really neat history lesson.

Via: Criminal Justice Degrees Blog

Update on my line of duty Injury

2011-09-30T08:01:00.000-04:00

For those of you waiting to hear the story about how I got injured I have news for you.

Your wait is almost over. I am headed to court the first part of October for the sentencing, this is where we find out what the punishment will be for the suspect. As soon as that is over I will be able to share the incident with you.

SO STAY TUNED.

Old Writings.

2011-09-30T05:49:00.000-04:00

The other day my wife was sorting through papers and found a one page piece of paper that I had written. I don't know when it was written but it was about police officers. I thought it would be neat to share it with me readers. This is exactly how it is written on the paper.

Many of you have heard the expression Police Officers bleed blue. This may not make much since to you after all a Police Officer is just a human being, but few people view Police Officers as simple human beings for most they become some how mythical, Demons to some angels to others. In the world of the Police Officer the ability to make the right choices over life and death, over good and evil must be made in a split second, but in that split second they decide not only their own fate, but the fate of others. It's true they often enjoy the rewards of being a strong contributing member of their community, but contrasting those rewards are bouts of isolation, and exclusion. They are forced to risk their lives protecting the rest of us day after day for a salary the good lord himself would undoubtedly consider spartan. I would imagine many people wonder why they do it at all and I'm sure their are some officers that wish they didn't, but they do it because we need them to, they do it because it's their job. They do it because their blood is blue.

As I was typing this I wanted to make corrections to this writing, but I fought the urge and left it in its original state. I am guessing based on the writing and the thoughts it had to be written when I was in high school, or at least before I became a police officer.

My favorite line is as follows: They are forced to risk their lives protecting the rest of us day after day for a salary the good lord himself would undoubtedly consider spartan.

Well I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I did sharing it.

AHHHHHMAZING

2011-09-28T05:55:00.000-04:00

I was off this weekend and even though I was off I got the opportunity to experience something truly Ahhhhmazing.

My wife and I were headed to Lowe's to do some shopping. As I was driving down the street I noticed this vehicle (I say it was an SUV and the wife says it was a car) traveling in the opposite direction flashing its headlights. I looked at the vehicle and then looked back at my dashboard making sure I had my headlights on, then I looked back up at the vehicle in front of me just in time to see it hit something.  Then my wife said, "babe I think that car just ran over a person."

I quickly stopped my car and put it in park. I told my wife to dial 911 and I got out an ran up to the driver's side of the car. I told the driver to stop and not move the car because he ran over someone. I ran to the front of the vehicle to check on the subject but he wasn't at the front of the car. I ran back to the driver's side and looked under the vehicle and there the subject was. Completely under the vehicle, none of his body was out from under the vehicle. I stood up and told the driver to pop his trunk. I was going to retrieve the jack for the vehicle, so I could lift the car and pull this guy out.

As I was retrieving the jack form the trunk another guy ran up to me and said, "We can lift this car off of this guy." I said, "We can't lift this car."   Then out of nowhere five other guys showed up and grabbed the vehicle and lifted it up off the ground. I looked under the vehicle and was able to grab the guy by his shirt and pull him out from under the car. I then helped the guys set the car back on the ground.

I spent several minutes talking with the subject trying to keep him calm and awake until the paramedics arrived. He kept trying to move around and wasn't real sure what had happened to him. Finally the paramedics arrived on scene and took over treating him. He was transported to the hospital, but the paramedics considered his injuries non life threatening. I think the fact he was drunk contributed to him not sustaining more damage to his body then he did. Being intoxicated usually helps you to stay loose and "roll with the punches."

Through the investigation we were able to determine the guy was crossing the street from the liquor store and he stopped in the middle of the street to wait for on coming traffic to clear.  While he was standing in the street he lost his balance (cause he was drunk) and fell over into traffic just as the car that hit him was approaching.  The driver tried to stop, but wasn't able to.

Looking back on the incident it was truly amazing. I was amazed at how well my wife performed in the incident. I was amazed at how quickly I was able to snap into action and get citizens to help. I was amazed we were able to lift this car (Toyota Corolla) up off the ground (that's what I call teamwork). I was amazed this guy wasn't dead when I got to him.

Then I was amazed how quickly everyone went back to normal. Shortly after the guy went to the hospital, all the firetrucks left and the road was opened up people were again crossing the road. They weren't walking down to the crosswalk, which was no farther then 50 yards down the road.  They were running across the road, just like the guy that got hit was doing. YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME.

This is the Generation we are rasing.

2011-09-18T17:02:00.004-04:00

I was riding along in my automobile with no particular place to go, when all of a sudden this vehicle came out of nowhere. The vehicle failed to stop at a stop sign and ran straight across a main road. Thank God in my no particular place to go mode I wasn't traveling as fast as I usually do because I would have probably been right at the intersection when this person crossed. (that would have been ugly).

I stopped the vehicle and the driver smelled like an alcoholic beverage. I had the driver get out of the vehicle and had them perform field sobriety exercises. They failed so I arrested them and put them in the patrol vehicle.

Here is where the title of my post comes from. The driver was all upset and started to yell at me, "You have ruined my life, now I won't be able to get a good job and I will have to flip burgers for the rest of my life."

I said, "Hold on a minute, I don't remember hanging out with you tonight."

The driver looked at me dumb founded and said, "What."

I said, "You are blaming me for getting arrested and I don't remember pouring drinks down your throat and then making you get into the vehicle, drive, and run a stop sign." "All I did is do my job and see you run a stop sign, pull you over and arrest you because YOU are driving drunk."

The driver says, "Well I will give you it was my fault that I ran the stop sign."

I just shook my head and shut the car door.

This is one of the reasons the world is as screwed up as it is. This is not the first person that I have arrested that has blamed me for ruining their life. I don't understand how because I come to work everyday and do my job the best I can do it, this means it is my fault your life is ruined.

Where is the ownership? I didn't come to work today and randomly pick an address and that is the house I went to to arrest someone. Nope odds are you or some concerned citizen called me to you.

Thanks for playing and here is your matching bracelets. Grow Up and Take some Ownership.

Ask a Cop

2011-08-14T05:11:00.000-04:00

I had a buddy of mine ask a question the other day and I was surprised he didn't know the answer, so I have decided to start a new segment on my blog. I am going to title it Ask a Cop. If you have a question about the job you have always wanted to ask a Police Officer, then email me your question to nleomfplate@gmail.com. I will take the questions and answer them in a blog post. Please keep the questions about the Job.

Here is the first question. Do you get a lunch break?

The short answer to this question is NO. The shift I work is an 8.5 hour shift and we do not get an actually lunch break. I have heard of departments that do, but the two departments I have worked for we did not have lunch breaks.

The follow-up question to this was, Then how do you eat?

We have to find a slow time in our day to sit down and eat. While we are eating if we get a call then the lunch goes into the trash and we respond to handle the call. I have thrown away more lunches in my career than I care to think about.

This is why (in my opinion) Police enjoy going to places that provide our meals half off or sometimes free, because there are more times that I throw my lunch away then I get to finish my lunch. Oddly enough today I walked in to get my lunch and before I could get it I got a call, so today I didn't eat lunch.

This is also the reason Officers get privately upset when a citizen comes up to them and asks a question. The question usually starts off with, "Excuse me officer I hate to disturb your lunch but.........."

I always say in my mind, "If you hate to disturb me then don't and go away."

I then put on my Officer Friendly face and say, "Don't worry about it what can I do for you."

I hope this sheds a little light into the job of being a Police Officer. Here is your opportunity to get your questions answered without disturbing an Officer trying to get a bite to eat in between calls for service.

Ready
Set
Go.

A Call to Action

2011-08-09T00:11:00.000-04:00

I was sent this letter written by Chelsea Spencer. Chelsea Spencer is part of a website entitled Wives Behind the Badge. This website is a network for Police Officer's Wives and I wanted to share this letter with you. It is long but worth the time to read it.

A Call to Action – by Melissa Littles & Chelsea Spencer

August 8, 2011 By Chelsea_Spencer
Who are we? We are police wives. We’re members of a sisterhood unlike any other. Every day, we send our husbands to work with a vest, a gun, and a badge. We stand firm together when we lose a member of our law enforcement family. We are the ever-present strength behind each officer. But we are tired. We are tired of the trend in this country. We are tired of the lack of respect for our law enforcement officers. And we are tired of watching in horror as more and more officers are brutally murdered while upholding their duty to protect and serve. It’s time for you to listen to what we have to say.

When a government official is shot and killed, execution style, it is considered an assassination. An assassination is globally recognized, nationally mourned and is considered a historical event. Assassinations make our history books and are considered one of the most heinous acts against the leaders of our country.

Today is Monday, August 8, 2011. Since July 3, 2011 nine Police Officers have been assassinated on American soil. Nine officers gunned down, executed, assassinated in a mere thirty five days. That is one officer being murdered every 37 hours. Forty-six officers have been gunned down since January, an increase of 18% above 2010’s own significant increase of 37% from 2009. There is no disputing these numbers, and there is no denying they continue to climb. Since 2009, increasingly our officers have become targets. The Lakewood Four, assassinated while sitting in a coffee shop. Officers inside their own precinct in Detroit were gunned down while simply sitting at their desks. Continually, we are seeing officers sought out by repeat offenders and convicted felons on a mission, a spoken mission of hatred towards our Peacekeepers, determined to hunt them down and assassinate them.

Our officers are being murdered while sitting at traffic lights, while sitting in parking lots simply completing their paperwork, yet there is no outcry for the protection of our officers. There is no global recognition, nor is there national mourning. Nor is the loss of an officer every 37 hours considered worthy of the acknowledgement that the assassination of our officers has become an epidemic. A criminal’s answer to avoiding arrest is now to murder an officer. It is time for America to wake up. It is time for our Government to wake up. It is time for action. When will our Country recognize the reality that has become the death of the American police officer?

You can never begin a plea for awareness involving Law Enforcement Officers without immediately being confronted with those who have no regard for our officers. There will always be the masses who have no respect for our officers, or what they do to protect our streets and communities, or where society would be without them. There is no disputing that there are corrupt officers in this country, those with no respect for their badge, those who abuse their power. Those who abuse the badge should be punished accordingly. However, statistics prove those officers are minuscule in number compared to the mass majority of honorable officers who have dedicated their lives to protecting and serving their communities regardless of the hatred they face from the public, regardless of the dangers they are subjected to each and every shift.

There is a sense of complacency across this country at the death of our police officers. Somewhere along the way the value of a human life has been diminished. When an officer falls, those who hate them rejoice, those who are average citizens look up at the news briefly, feel sorrow momentarily, and express the commonality which needs to change – the death of an officer is merely part of the job, a risk which every officer knowingly, willingly and expectedly signs up for when they take the badge. The truth is, our officers did not sign up for what is taking their lives on average at the rate of one officer every three days.

There must be an awakening in America as a whole, within its communities and cities, and all levels of government. America needs to be awakened as to the value of our officers and their worth, not only as the officers we rely upon and hold to a level of expectation to perform those duties they knowingly, willingly and eagerly signed up for, but their worth as human beings. Human beings who make the daily sacrifices expected of them, sacrifices only they make as no one else will.

Officer jobs are being cut across the country. Officers are scrutinized for not being on scene quickly enough when there are far less officers than just three years ago. At the same time, more and more criminals are being repeatedly released back onto our streets. Officers can no longer enforce the laws they did not create without fear of being murdered for performing their duties.

Our officers deserve to be held to a higher level of protection. They should be revered, just as our troops are revered. Our government acts swiftly with a mighty hand when someone attacks our troops. Why not our officers? Our government, with conviction, will immediately and permanently remove anyone from society who injures or murders a government official. Why not our officers? As a citizen of this country – a country built on freedom, a country so dedicated to keeping its citizens safe – why aren’t you more concerned with the well-being of those who ensure those rights? Where would we be without our police officers? Ask yourself right now – what is an officer’s worth?

Our officers are mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers. Our officers did not choose the badge as a source of income, the badge chose our officers. They are called to their duty, it is who they are. They protect and serve their communities regardless of risk, regardless of scrutiny, regardless of the hate and dangers aimed at them.

Our officers already have the odds stacked against them. Their numbers have been cut, but their work has been doubled. When will we accept that the blatant execution style assassination of our peacekeepers is much more costly than reforming our prison system? When will America and our Government awaken to the fact that burying an officer is not cheaper than housing a prisoner? When will America realize where they would be if an Officer did not take a bullet for them? What is that worth?

Words are nothing without action. Acknowledging our officers will not save them. Supporting our officers will not spare their lives. Change is needed and it is needed now. We must all work toward changes to protect our officers. We must change the way we interact with our officers. We must raise our children to respect our officers and the protection they provide. Instead of thinking of an officer as someone who enforces laws that might annoy you, remember there is a human being in that uniform. Remember that person could be a father who has worked back to back twelve hour shifts, alone, in that uncomfortable uniform, hoping and praying to make it home to his wife and family. Remember that person could be a mother, working hard to make a difference for her family and her community, continuously sacrificing herself for the betterment of others.

In 2011, 112 officers have lost their lives protecting the lives and communities of Americans, and over 175 children have been left heartbroken. For every officer who has been assassinated and for every child left without a mother or a father, there is a criminal. For each criminal who still has the luxury which was provided to them by this country, there is an officer who stood the Thin Blue Line – the line that is drawn between the good and the bad. For each officer taken by a criminal, one less stands to protect you from the next assassination. When will enough be enough? When will we recognize an officer’s worth?

The numbers are depressing. But they are facts. Think of your own family, now think of your family being ripped apart because someone forgot the value of your life. Put yourselves in the shoes of the officers who daily risk their all for you. Now do something about it. Change your attitude, speak up, stand up for what is right. Pass this article on. Respect your officers. Teach your children to do the same.

This is your wake up call, what are you going to do with it?

What is SWD (Shift Work Disorder)?

2011-08-07T21:00:00.001-04:00

If you got past the title, then you must be interested in knowing more about this disorder. Several months ago I received an email from a fellow named Brad. He found my blog and invited me to participate in a round table discussion about a disorder that I've never heard of......SWD; Shift Work Disorder.

I thought to myself Shift Work Disorder....they call everything a disorder now days. So immediately I put negative connotations on this disorder, but I gave Brad a chance to explain himself and he sent me a video to watch. You can view the video here http://www.youtube.com/user/TheWakeUpSquad?=press

After watching this video I knew I wanted to be apart of this round table, so I told Brad I was in. Unfortunately, I was unable to participate in the round table discussion because I was already scheduled to go to El Salvador. Brad was gracious enough to pass my name onto his colleague Jennifer. Shortly after returning from El Salvador I received an email from Jennifer inviting me to attend the next round table. By now I was so excited that I got a second opportunity to participate I cleared my schedule for that day.

You might be asking yourself....Why is he so excited to participate in this round table? Let me answer that question for you.

You see I have been working Shift work for about ten years now and I have always had a hard time with it. My sleep pattern is not a pattern, it is more like I sleep when and where I can to re-energize and move on to the next thing I have to do. My social life is planed around my work schedule and when I can get a couple hours of shut eye. My family life has to be planned around my work/sleep schedule. When I was asked by friends to do things and I told them I couldn't because of my schedule they never really understood. Most people work a normal Monday thru Friday 9 to 5 job and they don't understand the difficulties faced by people that work shift work. So I knew with this round table I was going to be on the ground floor of getting the word out to the world that shift work is hard on every aspect of life. I love educating people about my job and the struggles that come with it. I knew that this was my opportunity.

Well on Tuesday, July 26, 2011 I got the opportunity to participate in the round table discussion. The discussion went very well and I was educated on a lot of information. Here is some of the information I learned:

Shift work disorder is a recognized medical condition that can be diagnosed and treated by a doctor.1 It occurs when your body's internal clock, or circadian rhythm, is out of sync with your work schedule.2 The circadian rhythm helps regulate different functions, including sleeping and waking—also called the sleep-wake cycle.

What Are the Potential Consequences of Shift Work Disorder?
Shift Work Disorder Can Lead to Other Issues:

Trouble focusing
Sleep-related accidents
Reduced work performance
Missed family and social activities
Increased irritability
Worsening of heart and stomach disorders

SWD Is Common:

As many as 20% of US workers are involved in some form of shift work, including permanent or intermittent night work, early morning work, or rotating schedules.1,2
Approximately 10% to 25% of night-workers and rotating-shift workers have shift work disorder
This means that up to 1 out of every 4 night- or rotating-shift workers may be suffering from shift work disorder1-4
Over 15 million Americans work odd hours or non-traditional shifts, and are "at risk" for SWD.
Of these, 3.75 million Americans are estimated to have SWD

These are just a few of the facts that I learned while doing this roundtable discussion. If you would like to learn more about Shift Work Disorder please go to The Wake Up Squad's website and read all about it.

I will also post more about the program as I get involved with it. If you feel you might suffer from this order please talk to your doctor. You don't have to suffer through this disorder.

Day 6, July 1, 2011

2011-08-06T17:00:00.001-04:00

Today was a free day. We went zip lining on a 14 tier zip line. It was an absolute blast and the view from the zip line was breath taking. After spending the morning on the zip line we left and went to eat lunch at a restaurant.

The restaurant was very nice. It was a restaurant that would probably be considered a four start restaurant here in the states. It had a beautiful ambiance and a beautiful outside garden. I considered the restaurant to be an open air type restaurant. We had chicken, rice, tomato salsa, and corn on the cob and a soda. The meal in the states would have easily cost around 40 or 50 dollars, but we only paid 7.00 a plate. Amazing.

After we got done eating they took us souvenir shopping. They took us to four little shops and one mall. I didn't buy anything but I did enjoy walking around the little town looking at all the items. I made the mistake of saying hola to one of the locals and he came up to me talking a mile a minute in Spanish. Well I don't speak Spanish, but I do know enough to say hi, bye and I don't speak Spanish. lol

So I told the guy I didn't speak Spanish, but he insisted on talking to me. So instead of listening to him I just turned away from him.....then I thought to myself...Oh great just turn away from this guy like a rude American and now while you aren't looking he is going to shank you. So I turned back around to make sure this El Salvadorian wasn't going to kill me right there in this little village. Thank God he got the hint that I couldn't talk to him instead of offended cause I was rude and he walked away. So we continued our walk through the little village and then we came around the corner to where our vehicle was and that same guy was walking down the street. He noticed me and made a B-line straight for me. Well I saw him coming towards me so I hurried to the van and jumped in. I didn't want to confront this guy again. I had come to far to die in this Country. ha ha.

After shopping for awhile we went back to the house and spent the evening hanging out and relaxing.

Tomorrow we GET TO GO HOME. We spent the night talking about all the places we wanted to eat when we got home.

I asked each person what comfort they missed at home. It had to be a thing not people.
Being able to brush their teeth without getting water in a cup.
Being able to leave and do what they wanted to do.
They missed their bed.
The comforts of their stuff ie, bedroom, clothes.
Just having their own room to go to and get away.

OVERALL GREAT TRIP.

Day 5, June 30, 2011

2011-08-06T08:00:00.001-04:00

Today was the final day in the village. We went to the village to dedicate the well and officially turn it over to the village. They had a little preaching with puppets and did a little skit with our people about taking care of the well.

We then all gathered around the well and took pictures and pictures, and more pictures. Then the festivities were over an we said our Goodbyes and left the village.

The neatest moment for me was driving past where we put the well. The first day we arrived there was nothing there and four days later we left with a well and clean water for the village.

We stopped by another well site to fix the well because the Pastor said it tasted like lead. We tested the water and it was fine. The reason it tasted like lead was because after the water sits in the galvanized pipes for awhile you have to pump that out, then the water will taste fine.

We then went back to the house for the rest of the day/night.

Day 4, June 29, 2011

2011-08-06T04:27:00.000-04:00

Today was a momentous day.

We went to the village and put the finishing touches on the well. We put the pump on and we actually pumped out clean water. It was awesome and something that I will never forget.

I played ball with a little boy and the only thing he wanted me to do was to kick the ball really high in the air. Over, over, over, and over again. I kicked the ball once and it hit the roof and went over where the adults were. The little boy went to get the ball and he came back without the ball. He kept yelling something at me, so I got someone to translate. Basically he was telling me I had to go get the ball.

When I walked over with him to get the ball it appeared to me that he got in trouble because the ball came over and the adults took it away from him. OOPS. I was able to get it back and we continued our game.

Day 3, June 28, 2011

2011-08-04T04:25:00.001-04:00

We woke up today to a beautiful blue sky. We quickly got our day started by loading up and heading to the village. We arrived at the village and they were equally excited to see us again.

After waiting around a little bit we got to work. We started by putting the pipes back down into the well, so we could force air into the well and clean it out. That was a long and boring process, but it was great to see clean water blowing (literally) out of the well.

When that was finished we had to move the drilling equipment and the compressor. They didn't have a four wheel drive truck, so we had to move this equipment the old school way with pure Man Power. Remember we are digging a WATER well, so that means the ground was muddy. I think that is the most work we have done all week.

We got all that moved and we prepared the ground to pour the concrete slab. We laid the form out and poured the concrete. After getting all the concrete poured and prepared they laid the plaque in the concrete. That was an awesome moment to know Our Church had accomplished this. That was the end of our day in the village, so we went back to the house.

When we arrived at the house we got into the pool for awhile, until we were challenged to a game of Futbol (Soccer). It was the El Salvadorians VS The United States. We quickly sprung out to a 2 to 0 lead, but we ended up defeated 5 to 3. It was a lot of fun and a great bonding moment between two groups of people.

Day 2 June 27, 2011

2011-07-19T20:10:00.000-04:00

We finally went to the location where we are drilling the Well. The name of the church is La Hermosa (which translates into The Beautiful). The villagers were so happy to see us. The greeted us at the church with signs, smiles and hand shakes. I really felt welcomed by them.

We spent the first half of the day walking through the village visiting the people and inviting them to the church. It was amazing to see how they live. They live in such horrible conditions, but it was really crazy to see a working television in a house. No running water, but they could catch the latest episode of Oprah. lol

We walked along the river that they use for everything i.e. wash clothes, fish, and take a bath. Then we saw the natural spring where they get their water. It was no bigger than the lid of a trash can. It rained the previous couple days so it was very dirty water.

We made our way back to the church and hung out for awhile. After hanging out with the kids and someone of the adults, we finally started the drilling process.

As we started to drill it was amazing to see the amount of people just standing and watching us work. They stayed there the whole day.

The process was slow, but we accomplished so much. It was cool to see the dirt coming out of the hole. Then we eventually had water coming out, it was extremely muddy, but water non the less. The the clean water came and it was AMAZING. I have never been more satisfied to have dirt, mud, and clean water cover me from head to toe. I was truly touched.

We ate lunch in the village and it took the villagers all day to cook it. It was truly a labor of love. I was so thankful that they blessed us with their food.

The drilling went so well today that we are actually a day ahead of schedule. We were able to drill the well, put the PVC pipe in the hole, and put the gravel around the pipe. The accomplishment was an answer to prayer.

That is all for today, see you tomorrow.

Day 1 June 26, 2011

2011-07-18T12:28:00.000-04:00

Today started very early, 4:30 am to be exact. Our first flight was to Houston, Texas and that flight was about 2 1/2 hours. We didn't have a very long layover before we boarded our next flight, which took us into San Salvador, El Salvador. That flight was roughly 2 hours.

We arrived in El Salvador and got off the plane and were immediately hit with the vast difference between American airports and El Salvador airports. This airport on had the bare minimum needed to be classified as an "Airport." Nothing fancy. We navigated our way through the airport the best we could trying to read the signs which were in Spanish of course. We were able to eventually find the customs line. The line was very long and it appeared that the Customs Officers were not in a hurry to get through the line. We were definitely officially on "Central American Time."

Dealing with the Customs Officers was interesting. They would ask you a question and I would answer it honestly, but they had this uncanny way of making you question weather you answered the question truthfully or not. Now they didn't even have to say anything to make you feel this way, they just looked at you. My customs guy just stared at my paperwork and I started to get nervous (i don't know why because I had nothing to be nervous about). Finally he gave my passport back to me and told me I was good, I was so happy to leave a left an important document sitting on the counter. Thankfully the customs guy got my attention and brought it to me. (I am glad he didn't chase me down, cause then I think I might have soiled my pants.) We made it through customs with no problems and we headed out to the curb to find our ride.

Finding our ride was very easy because a couple of our people went down several days earlier for some meetings, so they were at the airport to meet us. We located them and loaded all our luggage on top of the van and started on our drive to the house where we would be staying the week. The drive lasted about 1 1/2 hours. It was amazing to drive through this country. Parts of the country seemed very developed and other parts weren't developed at all. The main roads were paved and paved well I might add and there was a lot of vehicle traffic. As we got further and further away from San Salvador you could see the development going down and before long you could see where the poverty level was at its lowest.

As we drove through the country I was talking to our "Guide" Carlos and he was Great. He was very accommodating and willing to answer all my questions. The company that we were working with/for is called Living Water International.

The craziest thing my eye was drawn to was the random "Check point" type things set up. The Police (3 or 4 officers) set up a cone pattern in the road and you have to drive around the cones. If you hit a cone they pull you over, or if they feel like pulling you over (talk about profiling) then they pull you over. They were very intimidating as they stood there with the MP-5's. They don't have a speed limit in El Salvador (your see more about this towards the end of the week).

We drove by the "White House" and it was heavily fortified. I would say it is a little more fortified then our White House because they have concrete walls all around it, unlike ours which only has fences. The biggest difference that I found out about was their president is guarded by the Military as ours is guarded by a police force. Carlos said they can't trust the Police department and the Military are the only enforcement you can trust.

Well that is all I have for you today. Tomorrow we get to go to the site to start building the Well. I am looking forward to getting to work.

Where I have been.

2011-07-18T11:54:00.000-04:00

I have been away from the office for the past several weeks. The week of June 20th I was in training for a new position I am applying for within my department. More on that in a later post. Then the week of June 27th I went on a mission trip with my church. The trip was awesome and I wanted to take the opportunity to add a little something different to this blog.

The next several posts are going to be non-police related, but I hope that you will enjoy them. I am going to share with you the daily activities of my missions trip. This is something I am very passionate about and I hope that you enjoy hearing a little about my adventure outside of Police Work.

Enjoy.

Makes me want to work at McDonald's!

2011-06-13T18:09:00.000-04:00

I meet up with my Sgt and I am told I need to go to an address and do a death notification. I say, "Great just what I wanted to do today."

We pull up to the address at approximately 4:00 A.M. The house is dark and clearly everyone is sleeping. We knock on the door and finally someone opens the door. We asked if we can come in to talk with this person and they oblige and invite us in. We ask a few probing questions and then we finally break the news to this parent. We proceed to tell them their child was involved in a vehicle crash and the vehicle caught fire and there weren't able to get out of the vehicle.

All the parent could say was, "No this isn't happening, this isn't happening." They ask a few more questions and we answer them the best way we possibly can. We ask a few more questions and they answer them the best they can. Then the parent demands that we leave the house. "I don't want to talk about this anymore, get out of my house." We try to offer some assistance, but they insist that we leave, so we left. They shut the door behind us and we walked away to our cars.

I get back into my car knowing I just delivered information that totally rocked this family's life.

There are days I absolutely LOVE my career, but then there are days like this one when I wish I was flipping burgers at McDonald's.

This is a learning process

2011-06-06T04:49:00.000-04:00

The wonderful Mrs. Fuzz over at A Police Wife wrote a wonderful blog titled two years on the job and after reading it I wanted to see what I learned after being on the job for ten years. I also asked my wife to compile a list of things she has learned while being married to me for 8 of those 10 years. So jump over to A Police Wife and read hers and then enjoy reading mine.

I have to sit facing the crowd/door when in public.

I constantly scan the room when sitting in large crowds.

I don't shut my eyes during prayer, so there are no surprises.

My off duty weapon has become my American Express, "I don't leave home without it."

Having a routine has become very important. If I don't have a routine something gets forgotten and that is dangerous.

What I have learned in 8 years of marriage to my Officer.

I know I will always sit with my back to the door, or the biggest grouping of people, so my officer can always see the entrance, or that group of people.

I have learned to be ok with the fact that he doesn't close his eyes when he prays.

He is cynical, and I am positive. It's a surprisingly good balance.

Some days he is just too tired to do anything, so I have gotten pretty good at just being chill and sometimes by myself. Especially with him on Midnights.

Sometimes I think he over reacts about situations, but I know his experience and knowledge opens up a whole new side of things that I can't even begin to imagine.

It would be nothing for him to pull the car over and bail out without saying a word to me. I just look around and can normally see what's taking place.

I've learned not to ask him to "try" and not pull people over or yell at the other drivers when we are driving. He gets aggravated at morons and it's like the only way for him to diffuse that bomb.

I still get nervous when I get pulled over by another officer, and I have the hardest time telling them I am the spouse of an officer.

I can pass an officer pulled over on the road, or one driving beside or in front of me....apparently no other driver in our state is capable of this without being paralyzed with fear.

Her face was priceless.

2011-05-28T07:24:00.000-04:00

The other night I was responding to a call and I was pulling up to a light that was red. I pulled into the turn lane and pulled up next to a car. I looked over at the car and noticed the male passenger was leaning over and making out with the female driver.

As a cop I am very nosey, so I continued to watch these two individuals make out while the light was red, knowing they were going to be embarrassed when they noticed the cops were next to them. Then the light turned green and they continued for a couple seconds, until the driver recognized the light was green.

I watched the male sit back in his seat and the female looked over and noticed I was looking at them. Her face immediately turned from enjoyment into total embarrassment. As the embarrassment over took her face I noticed her hands move to the top of her tube top and start to pull it up. This is when I recognized the male wasn't only making out with her he was also coping a feel of her boobs.

NO WONDER SHE WAS SO EMBARRASSED.

How do people do this?

2011-05-17T05:09:00.000-04:00

The other day I received a call for a stolen auto. I responded to the residence and spoke to the victim. They parked their vehicle at the corner of somewhere and nowhere and went fishing for the day.  When the victim returned from fishing they went to the intersection to get back into the vehicle, but the vehicle was not there.  So the victim walked home and called the police.

I took all the information down and filed the report.  Something about this call wasn't sitting right with me especially since stolen autos are not a problem in the area where I work. I can count on one hand how many legit stolen auto reports I have taken in my area. Because of this feeling I decided I was going to check all the locations where people park to go fishing in the area.

In between other calls I drove around checking areas and believe it or not I found the vehicle. It wasn't at the corner of somewhere and nowhere, it was parked in a parking lot across from a restaurant. I checked the vehicle out to make sure it wasn't stolen from one location and dumped at this location and it appeared like it was parked here by the owner.

I drove to the victims house, which was only a couple miles from where the vehicle was located and picked them up and took them back to the vehicle. The victim checked the vehicle out and advised me that nothing was missing from the vehicle and it didn't appear to be tampered with.  The only explanation the victim gave was, "Well I either park my vehicle at the corner of somewhere and nowhere or I park it in this parking lot. I was going to walk over and check this parking lot when I couldn't find my vehicle, but I remember parking at the corner of somewhere and nowhere so I didn't."

All I could think is well I sure wish you would have told me that when I asked you all the questions because that would have prevented a lot of work.

I just don't understand how you park you car in one location and 14 hours later when you go back to get it you don't remember where you parked it.  This person was only in their mid thirties too. WOW.

People constantly amaze me.

2011-05-11T04:19:00.000-04:00

Usually my schedule looks like this:

I work midnights which is 11 p.m. until 7 a.m.

I get home around 8ish and go to sleep until around 4ish.

I get up and spend the evening with my wife doing whatever is on the schedule.

Then I shower and head off to work for the night.

Well the other day was a little different because I took a day off right in the middle of the week, which messed up my schedule. When I take a day off I get back into a normal human routine, which means I sleep at night. Well this particular day off I slept through the night and then got up early to go to the gym and did some things around the house and went to lunch with my wife. Well I didn't get a nap during the day so I decided to go to bed a couple hours before I had to get ready for work. So I laid down to get some shut eye.

When I woke up my wife shared a very interesting story with me. She heard a knock on the door, so she went to the door and answered it. First mistake she didn't look through the peep hole to see who it was and the Second mistake she opened the door.

There was a lady standing at the door with a piece of paper in her hand. She asked my wife if I was home and my wife told her that I was unavailable. That wasn't good enough for this woman, so here is how my wife explained the conversation:

Lady: Well you are married to a police officer, maybe you can help.

Wife: (Too shocked to say anything, so the lady starts in with her question.)

Lady: Can you look at this piece of paper and tell me if this warrant is still active?

Wife: Ah maam I don't know anything about that stuff and my husband is unavailable.

Lady: Oh ok well I just thought I would stop by and see if your husband could tell me if this warrant is still active.

Wife: Well he is sleeping and I am not going to wake him for this.

The lady finally gets the point and leaves. My wife is just left shaking her head trying to figure out why she even opened the door.

This is not the first time I have had someone stop in front of my house and try to get police officer advice. I don't understand why people think they can bother officers at there homes. Would they like me to find out what they do for a living and when I need someone with there skills just walk up to their house and knock on the door? No they probably would get upset, but I guess they can do it to the police because they pay our salary... MAN THE NERVE OF PEOPLE.

Needless to say I think the Wife will be using the peep hole a little more. lol

I knew this would happen eventually.

2011-05-09T04:31:00.000-04:00

Have you ever wondered what police officers wear under their uniforms in the winter to keep warm?

Well I am about to answer that question. Don't worry I am not going to share any information that will make you blush, but it will make you laugh.

One of the toughest things to do in this career is find a way to keep warm on those cold winter nights. This job isn't like any other job because you wear a belt with important equipment on it that you have to get to in a hurry. You can only wear so many layers on the outside before you start covering up this important belt, so most of the layers that you wear are under the uniform.

A lot of guys wear long underwear of some type under there uniform, but I have never found a comfortable pair of long underwear to wear. The only thing I have found to wear are these two pair of pajama bottoms. I have one pair that is thin and I have another pair that are a little thicker for those really cold nights. The funniest part about these pajama's are they aren't very fashionable.

My wife and I have always talked about how if I was ever to get into an accident or have to go to the hospital for some reason the nurses/doctors were going to get a good laugh out of my pajamas. I would always tell her that I didn't care because I was warm and that is all that matters.

Well the day finally arrived about four months ago. When I got into my accident in January (see story here) I was transported to the hospital via Ambulance. When I got to the hospital the nurse came up to me and asked me all the important questions. Then the doctor came up and did all his doctor stuff and told me I was gonna be ok and he would release me soon. I thought to myself, "Ok I am gonna get out of here before anyone sees my pajamas." I called my wife and I was explaining to her what was going on and then it happened.

As I was talking to my wife a nurse came up and she was looking at things and she asked me if I was hurting anywhere else and I said No. She told me she just had to visually check all my limbs to make sure nothing else was injured. As she started to roll up my pants leg to look at my legs I noticed her take a double look and then she turned her back to me. I knew exactly what she was doing so i said, "You don't have to turn your back to laugh, you can laugh in front of me because I knew you were going to laugh." and she said, "I am sorry I was not expecting that, I was expecting long underwear or something, but not pajamas." We both got a good laugh about it.

I am glad that my pajamas were able to lighten the mood. Here is a picture of the said pajamas that I wear under my uniform. The ones I had on that particular day are on the left side of the picture.

My first recognition

2011-05-07T04:14:00.000-04:00

I received an email in March from the Executive Editor of Criminal Justice Degree Schools. In the email Mr. Sipe told me my blog was named to there Top 50 Law Enforcement Blogs list because they believed my blog has great content and provides great information for aspiring police officers.

I am truly honored to be named to this list. When I started this blog is was meant to be a place for me to document the crazy things that happen on the job. Well it has turned out to be so much more and it is providing so many opportunities for me and I consider it a blessing.

Thank you to the readers who come to my blog and read my writing. If it wasn't for you then none of this would be possible. Please take a minute and go by the list of Top 50 Law Enforcement Blogs and check out some of the other great blogs.

Update on my Line of Duty injury.

2011-05-05T15:54:00.000-04:00

Before I give you an update on my recovery I want to apologize for my lack of blog posts. I have had difficulties coming up with subjects and difficulties blocking out time to post. I am making efforts to correct this issue. Now onto the update.

Fortunately I have recovered from my injuries enough to get back into a patrol car and get back onto the street. I still have good days and bad days, but fortunately my good days out measure my bad days.

Unfortunately I am still unable to divulge what happened in the incident because the case has not seen its day in court. As soon as the case is closed I will provide you with the story.

Thank you for all your well wishes and prayers. Look forward to more blogs.

Cops in other Countries.

2011-02-10T20:52:00.001-05:00

I have a friend that just moved to Cambodia to be a missionary and he had a run in with the Cambodian Police. The following post is written by him over at his blog at C-Ways Blog.

My first encounter with Cambodian Police…

So I have been making fun of a stupid law here in Cambodia since before I left. The law being that it is illegal to have headlights on during the day. Amazingly, it is not illegal to have them off at night.

But, this morning on the way to church, I had them on. What happened? I got stopped by the police who just sit on the side of the road. I ignored the first set of police that tried to stop me (as I was advised, because all they want is money) but they called ahead to the next patrol ahead of me and the 300lbs+ guy jumped in front of my moto to make sure that I stopped. Well the Laurel and Hardy team grabbed ahold of the bike to make sure I was not going anywhere.

After about 3-4 mins of them trying to explain in Khmer (non-English) that my headlight was on, they then tried to get money out of me. I acted stupid and acted like I did not understand them when they clearly knew how to say “Money for me and my friend” (go figure, the only English they know). After about another 5 mins and clearly the Hardy of the group was not going to let me go without some cash.

I finally gave in and said “Ohhh, Money….ok”. They started asking for $10 each. That was not going to fly, because I only had about $40 to my name until the middle of the week. I started saying….No, too much! Hardy settled for $2 and Laurel was up next. Hardy started saying “my friend, my friend”. Then he see’s the $5 bill, he says “That one, $5″ I only had one more single and was thanking God he did not see the $20. So Laurel got $5.

I hope that is my last run in with the law! I guess I should not make fun of any other dumb laws around here! haha

Trials and Tribulations, count them joy!!!

Joe Cway

This Video is Ahhhh-mazing.

2011-02-09T16:48:00.000-05:00

I saw this video on Facebook and I wanted to pass it on because I think it is a great message. Please don't text while you are driving a car. There is nothing you need to say that is worth risking your life.

The story behind the Reader Participation Question

2011-02-01T21:24:00.000-05:00

On January 13 I posted the Reader Participation Questions and there was an overwhelming response from all of you. Thank you so much because it made me realize that I wasn't alone in the way I thought. Now that i have heard from all of you I will share the story that spurred on the questions.

During the summer time Three Officers who worked the midnight shift the night before decided they were going to go get something to eat for breakfast at one of the local fast food places before they went to court. While they were sitting in the restaurant enjoying some much needed down time and conversation they noticed a Lieutenant walk in the door and approach their table. The Lieutenant told the officers they were to report to the Captains office immediately. The officers were young officers, so of course they quickly finished up their meals and immediately responded to the Captains office.

The Captain yelled at these young officers about how they were sitting in a restaurant with three officers. He told them this is a horrible thing and the public doesn't pay them to sit in a restaurant while traffic is backing up on the highway. They politely told him they were off and waiting to go to court and he told them he didn't care. He also told them if he saw it again he would go to the particular restaurant and tell the owner to not serve them. (I found this out and I happen to know the owner, so I made sure I had a conversation with the owner and told him this story....He laughed so hard and was hoping the Captain came in to talk to him, but he never did).

Several weeks after this incident Myself and two of my side partners were inside a local establishment just catching up on what had happened on the last several days (it was my first night back to work). All of a sudden my Sgt walked into the establishment and said, "You guys need to get outside, the Captain wants to see you." We all walked outside and the Captain lined us up on the wall and proceeded to YELL and I mean YELL at us. He stated, "You guys are pulled up in this establishment like you own it, and you guys need to be out on the street doing your jobs."

He was doing all of this while customers are walking up and trying to purchase things from the establishment. They were looking over at us and trying to figure out why officers are getting screamed at by someone. It was so embarrassing and made our department look like a bunch of fools. We looked like kids who just got in trouble by their parents. It was ridiculous to say the least. He ended our conversation by say, "Now get on the road and do YOUR job."

So we all left the parking lot and went to another parking lot to discuss and put our heads around what just occurred. Way to motivate us Captain.

ATTENTION ATTENTION....Your Attention Please.

2011-02-01T00:00:00.000-05:00

I have an announcement to make and I am very excited about it. I was recently contacted by a representative of a company. This company was interested in advertising on my blog. At first I was very skeptical because I didn't think my blog was big enough to be wanted. After a couple emails back and forth I realized this was a true request. So we worked out all the logistics and it is time to announce this new company. The new company that I am working with is called Toughweld Workwear.

Toughweld has agreed to allow me to review some of the items they sell, so you can look forward to some reviews and possibly even some giveaways.

Based out of Fayetteville, Arkansas, Toughweld prides themselves in an ever-growing product offering, so if you don't see what you're looking for, let them know and they can get it quickly! Their outstanding customer service is ready to assist you.They offer many great products, especially for those of us in the Tactical Industry. Products like:

Plus, they offer FREE shipping on all orders over $100

Stay tuned and while you are waiting click on the link above or on the picture in my advertisement section to see all of the great stuff Toughweld Workwear has to offer.

News I hate to share......

2011-01-31T21:15:00.000-05:00

Unfortunately I was involved in an incident at work and was injured. It is still under investigation and it is considered a crime, so I can't divulge anymore. As soon as the case gets closed then I will tell you the story.

The good news about all this is I will be able to blog more. Look forward to a great announcement on February 1, 2011.

Until then Peace, Love and Hair Grease.

You Can't Make This Stuff Up.

2011-01-14T08:30:00.001-05:00

I am patrolling the streets and it is a quite, but very cold night. The silence is broken by the crackle of the radio. The dispatcher calls my number and my side partners number and dispatches us to a call.

Dispatcher: Start to this address for an assist with a Entry lockout. Be advised the caller is stating that he is locked in his vehicle and can't get out.

Me: Radio did you say he is locked IN his vehicle?

Dispatcher: 10-4 I don't know how that is possible but he is stating he is locked in his vehicle.

Me:10-4 Ill be in route.

Short time later I arrive at the specific location and sure enough this subject is sitting in his vehicle with the windows all frosted over and he can't get out of his vehicle. I walk over to the passenger side door and try the handle. No luck. I try to tell the guy to try an unlock the door by pulling up the lock on the door. There is a language barrier, so this is getting better as we go. I finally get across to him what I want him to do with several hand motions and yelling (cause we all know if you yell to someone that speaks a different language they magically can understand you.) He unlocks the door or at least it looked like he unlocked the door, but the door wouldn't open. I walked around the whole car doing this, but no luck. Some doors had the locks and some doors didn't have the locks.

The vehicle had the hazard lights on, but the vehicle wouldn't start and the automatic door locks or windows wouldn't work. My side partner had the idea to use jumper cables to start the car and maybe that would unlock the doors. So we raised the hood on the car looking for the battery, but we were unable to locate a battery.

I decided I was going to break the news to this gentleman that I was going to have to break the window (I have to admit I was looking forward to this part. Police are so destructive sometimes.) As I was talking to the gentleman about breaking his window I noticed the window was pulled away from the door enough that he could push his key out the window and I would unlock the car from the outside.

He pushed the key through the window and I placed it in the key hole and unlocked the door and EUREKA. The door opened and the man was free. I of course checked the Man's identification against the registration and he was the owner. (Don't laugh we have had an officer help a guy break into a vehicle and we have also had a Lieutenant give a robbery suspect a ride home.) Always better safe then the butt of a Police Officer Joke.

I was a true hero today.

Reader Participation Please....

2011-01-13T04:36:00.005-05:00

I have a couple questions for you readers and after I get your answers I will explain why I ask the question.

When you walk into a convenience store and you see 2-4 officers standing in the store talking to each other.

1. What is your first thought?

2. Do you have a problem with this?

3. If you don't have a problem with it why?

4. If you have a problem with it why? and how many officers is too many?

I look forward to your answers.

A Random First

2011-01-11T05:43:00.002-05:00

I am driving into work and my Cellphone rings. I look at the phone and see it is my supervisor calling. I look at the clock thinking maybe I am late and don't know it....Nope not late. This should be interesting.

I answer the phone:

Me: Hey Sgt whats up?

Sgt: I need you to come into the station right away and see the on-duty Lieutenant (not my Lt, which I explain later why it is weird).

Me:Ok?

Sgt: Ok, see you when you get here. (Hangs Up)

Me. (Reluctantly Hanging Up).

So I immediately go into the Uh-Oh mode.

I hate when supervisors call you into the station and don't give you a heads up to what you are coming in for. Especially when you are going to see a supervisor of another shift. As far as I am concerned you only go to see a Lieutenant from another shift for one reason and that reason is you have an internal investigation against you. (Which means a citizen filed a complaint against you and they are investigating it.)

So now I am replaying every call I have been on in the last month or so to see if I handled myself appropriately and where I could have gone wrong. Then I do some of my deep breathing exercises that help me calm my nerves so I don't get too worked up. By this point I am turning into the station. I park my car and start walking into the station when I am greeted by my buddy.

Buddy: I thought you were going to be tied up on something for about an hour?

Me: I have no idea. All I know is Sgt called me and told me I have to see the Lieutenant.

Buddy:What?

Me: That is what I am saying. I guess I will find out in a second.

I walk down the hallway and knock on the Lieutenants door.

Lt: Come in

Me: Hey Lt you wanted to see me?

Lt: The Officer right?

Me: Yes Sir

Lt. Have you ever had to do this before?

Me: What is this?

Lt: A Random Drug Screening?

Me: (after a deep sigh of relief) No

Lt: Me neither so I guess we will be learning together.

Me: Yes we will

I get my paper work and off to the medical facility I go. The crazy thing is as I am driving to the facility I am still nervous. I have never done an illegal drug in my entire life. The first drink of alcohol I had was on my honeymoon and I got married at 24 years old. Still I was nervous going to take my test. Really weird but I know it is normal.

I arrived at the medical facility and gave my urine sample and drove all the way back to the station to turn in my paperwork. They never did tell me my results, which is kind of interesting because if I was dirty would they let me go back on the road to patrol with a badge and gun? hmmmm who knows well I know I am not dirty so I guess it is a mute point.

Now I can't say I have never been "Randomly" drug screened.

Police do the Craziest Things Chapter 2

2011-01-04T04:43:00.003-05:00

The other day my side partners and I were sitting around shooting the breeze. One guy says, "Hey I think that Liquor store gets hit every year on this date, I better call Officer Jones and Officer Smith and remind them." So he calls Officer Jones and Officer Smith and reminds them. We get done shooting the breeze and we all went merry way.

An hour or two later Officer Jones keys up the radio and says, "Officer Smith start my way I have a guy looking in the window of the liquor store. The radio goes dead for about 30 seconds. Then Officer Smith keys up and states, "I am already at the back of the store and the cleaning crew just showed up, it is them." That was the end of that, but what I didn't know was all the things that were going on at the scene that you couldn't get from listening to the radio.

About 15 minutes later my cell phone rings and it is Officer Smith calling me. I answer the phone:

Me: What's up?

Officer Smith: Dude I just got Officer Jones good. Did you hear on the radio about the guy at the front of the liquor store?

Me: Yeah

Officer Smith: That was me. Officer Jones is sitting across the street from the Liquor store and I pulled around back where he didn't see me pull in. I got out of my car and put on a black hat, jacket, and black gloves and walked around the building. I started looking in the windows and the next thing I heard was Officer Jones calling me to assist him. I didn't want to answer the radio where he could see me so I tried to quickly walk out of site. Then I got to thinking Uh Oh you guys were going to come lights and sirens and I would hate if someone got into an accident, so I had to pick up the mic and clear it out before you guys started. I got him good though.

Me: Dude that is awesome. You are definitely the man. What did Officer Jones say to you.

Officer Smith: He just said, "Screw you Officer Smith, this ain't over."

This is what Officers do to each other when it is an extremely slow night. This is what makes us so close and we know that we can always count on each other. Bonds that can't be broken are made in times like this. All in good fun.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

2011-01-03T06:00:00.001-05:00

I wanted to wish all me readers a Happy New Year. (sorry it is on January 3, 2011 that I finally get around to it, but better late than never).

I rang in the New Year at work.

The start of the shift was rather slow, with a call here and a call there. The closer it got to midnight the more the calls started to come in. I actually thought I was going to be able to call my wife and say Happy New Year at the stroke of midnight.

WRONG.

The radio rang out with my call sign (the unit number that I am known by) and dispatched me to an accident. I arrived on scene and was able to ring in the New Year helping two people exchange information and writing an accident report.

HAPPY NEW YEAR.

I hope everyone had a great and safe New Year. One of my New Year Resolutions is to blog more, so I am going to go into my attic and pull out some old case files. So look forward to more frequent blog posts.

Until Next time. Peace, Love, and Hair Grease.

Police Do the Craziest Things.

2010-12-14T04:19:00.002-05:00

I was talking to my buddy the other day and he was sharing a couple funny stories about things he has done while patrolling the streets.

He was patrolling around during the winter and decided to stop at a 7-11 in his post to get a cup of coffee. After getting his cup of Joe he got back into his vehicle and pulled off the parking lot. As he was driving down the street the dispatcher called his number and advised him to respond to a hot call (respond lights and sirens). So he threw on his lights and sirens and placed his cup of coffee in between his legs (the car didn't have any cup holders) and drove to his call at break neck speeds. While responding a citizen decide it would be a great idea to pull out in front of him. He reacted quickly slamming on the brakes and attempting to maneuver around this idiot. He was able to steer clear of them, but in the excitement and quick maneuvering he squeezed his legs. This caused the cup to break and all the HOT liquid to pour out on his crotch. He was eventually canceled from the call and he rushed home to change his pants and found that his crotch had suffered a 2 degree burn. OUCH.

About Six months later he was patrolling his post again and by this time it was summer time. He stopped into the same 7-11 store to purchase a Slurpee to cool him down. After getting his drink he got into his car and started patrolling his area. Once again the dispatcher called his number and advised him to respond to another hot call. My buddy being very smart learned from his hot coffee incident, so this time as he responded lights and sirens to the call he rolled down his window and chucked the drink out the window. Just as he chucked the drink out the window he noticed a homeless guy was walking down the street. The drink struck the guy walking down the street knocking him to the ground. He continued to respond to the call. After handling the incident he responded back to the area where he hit the homeless guy with the drink to check on him and make sure he was OK. When he arrived at the location the guy and the cup were gone. The only thing left was the outline in Slurpee of where the homeless guy fell.

The next day my buddy went out and spent a couple bucks and purchased a cup holder, which hangs on the door.

A Shout Out to a Real HERO

2010-11-18T04:24:00.002-05:00

On November 16, 2010 at approximately 2:00 pm a real HERO named Staff Sgt. Salvatore Giunta was presented the Medal of Honor. He is the first living HERO to earn this Medal since the Vietnam War.

The following story was taken from The Pentagons Official Blog TPCBlog

Salvatore Augustine Giunta was born on January 21, 1985 in Clinton, Iowa.

He is the oldest of three children born to Steve and Rose. “He was born on a very cold day; I think we hit 40 below. We couldn’t get the car started, and Steve kind of went into oh my gosh the car won’t start and you’re in labor,” said Rose. The car did eventually start, and Sal was born without complications at the hospital.

Growing up Sal always had a lot of energy and was very athletic. He played football and was known to be a fast runner. His brother Mario said, “You wanted him on your side because that was usually the winning side, he saw things through until they are finished.” Katie, Sal’s sister, remembers, “He was always really popular, he always had a lot of friends, he was always doing school activities. He was Charlie Brown in the play. He was always really caring and really protective of me, a really good guy.”

Sal graduated high school and joined the Army. He said his inspiration came one night when he was working at Subway and a recruiter appeared on television and said they were giving away free t-shirts. Sal said, “I’m a sucker for a free t-shirt.”Steve, Sal’s father said the Army was a good fit for his son, “Adventurous and that’s where the military comes in because airborne that adventure it filled his need, to live life adventurous, in an adventurous fashion, and it focus him up. I just cannot say enough about that. He had such a zest for life and he found a place for it as a Soldier.”

While on deployment in 2007 in Afghanistan, Sgt. Giunta’s team, the 173rd Airborne Brigade, ran into trouble. “We were on a large battalion operation, we were the main effort in an operation to disrupt the enemy called Rock Avalanche,” said Major Dan Kearney. The team was in the village Landigal, and the goal was to find equipment that was stolen from them on a raid the enemy previously conducted. Sgt. William Burns recalls, “The terrain was in such a case where we had to walk pretty much ducks in a row down the top of this mountain.” Major Kearney says the soldiers were going to engage the local elders to find information about who conducted the raid. In no time at all, the platoon leader called out a “TICK” also known as, “Troops in Contact.”

Sgt. William Burns, another team member said, “It didn’t seem like any time had passed… basically all hell broke loose pretty much on both sides. I just remember Sgt. Perry was in front of me, I remember both of us running up to the next basically cover position with a brim on both sides. I remember our squad leader he had taken a bullet right through his helmet and it just barley grazed his skin, he was pretty lucky.” “I got shot in the stomach, and I also heard my team leader, Sgt. Brennan says he got hit. I got down and started engaging the area with my squad automatic weapon,” said team member Sgt. Frank Eckrode.

When the team looked up, they saw Sgt. Brennan being dragged away by the enemy. That’s when multiple team members say Sgt. Giunta sprang into action and darted across enemy lines. Sgt. Eckrode remembers specifically, “At that point it was a wall of lead… the first thing I think was Sgt. Giunta was probably going to get killed up there.” Major Kearney said Sgt. Giunta bolted through the ambush and engaged the men who were dragging Sgt. Brennan away.
Sgt. Giunta shot the enemies, and saved Sgt. Brennan, bringing him back to safety and then helping to assess and treat his wounds. Sgt. Giunta said, “I saw two people carrying one person kind by the hands and by the feet, but as I ran closer I kind realized more of what was going on, and it was two ACM carrying Sgt. Brennan, so I just started shooting, that’s what we do, and I grabbed Sgt. Brennan and dragged him back a little bit, but he was still alive and he was talking about how his face hurt, he was shot in his face and in his arms. (I) just tried to reassure him you know that everything was going to be okay, everything is fine.”

Sgt. Brennan was flown out along with the teams Captain who was hit, but sadly, Sgt. Brennan didn’t make it.

“It started sounding like some story I heard about or read about in World War I or World War II, you don’t hear about single individuals taking on the responsibility to lead their squad when they are a specialist, treat their squad leader after they’ve been shot three times, and third, go repatriate their best friend from behind enemy lines that’s being dragged away by the enemy and then to run back into the kill zone to start treating his men,” said Major Kearney.

Sgt. Giunta told the Pentagon Channel, “I didn’t run on to do anything heroic, I ran on to go fight next to my brother, to go fight next to my friend who I already served one tour in Afghanistan with who we live in the same barracks building for the last four years.”

Sgt. Giunta was nominated for the Medal of Honor, and the President of the United States called him to congratulate him on this award and to invite him to the formal White House ceremony.

THANK YOU SGT. GIUNTA FOR YOUR BRAVE SERVICE.

Another Officer paying the Ultimate Sacrifice.

2010-11-11T04:12:00.004-05:00

A friend of mine John Shanks wrote this about a San Diego Police Officer who paid the ultimate sacrifice.

I posted this in response to people criticizing the police presence at a funeral for San Diego Police officer Chris Wilson. This is how I feel, this is true...

A Part of the City Died Today,

I never met San Diego Police Officer Christopher A. Wilson, but from what I have heard about him I sure would have like to. Officer Wilson, like so many law enforcement professionals are so much more to their community than just a police officer, a person driving a patrol car, someone we would rather not have to deal with.

When we lose an officer in the line of duty, we lose so much more than just an officer, we lose a part of our community, a resident of our neighborhood and community leader. See most of us come to police work because of a strong sense of duty and public service; a willingness and desire to give back. I believe that is what brought Officer Wilson and over 890,000 other police officers, sheriff’s deputies, state and federal law enforcement officers to public service. Public service is not just a job, it is a calling, it is who we are as people, it makes up our persona… and it does not stop at the end of the shift.

When an officer dies, so does a piece of the community, the neighborhood and our city. When we lose an officer, we lose so much more than a person. The reality is when an officer dies we lose a friend, a neighbor, a loved one and a sibling. The community loses a mentor, a teacher, a coach, a scout leader and parents lose a son, and most tragic a spouse and/or a parent. There is no greater loss to our community, our state or our country than the loss of a defender of the people, yes this includes our military who also keep us safe. The call to public service is so much stronger than just a job, it is a call to be a part of the community to dedicate oneself to others, without regard to personal danger, risk or loss, yes even loss of life.

A part of the city died today, we lost a police officer…

Christopher A. Wilson, rest in peace, you were a good man and so much more than just a police officer. I never knew Officer Wilson, but I sure would have liked to…

John Shanks, Director
National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial
Washington, D.C.
San Diego Native
Patrick Henry Class of 1978

This Has Got to be a First.....

2010-09-16T05:43:00.002-04:00

I was running radar and I had a vehicle come through doing 66 mph in a posted 40 mph zone. I pulled over the vehicle and the conversation went like this

Me: Good morning Sir, Driver's license and registration please.

Driver: Here you go Officer.

Me: Sir I pulled you over for speeding.. you were doing 66 in a 40 mph zone.

Driver: Oh really I am sorry.

Me: Are you headed to work Sir?

Driver: Yes sir and I am running a little late today.

Me: Ok sit tight and I will be right with you and get you outta here.

Driver: Ok

I went back to my vehicle and did the paperwork. I issued him a coupon because the speed was above my limit for a speeding ticket, which is 20 mph over the posted speed limit.

Me: Sir I am going to issue you a citation for speeding, your speed was just to great.

Driver: Ok Sir I understand

Me: Sir you have a right to go to court or you can pay the fine....your options are on this side of the form. You need to monitor your speed a little better. Have a good day and drive safe.

Driver: Ok Sir Thank you and have a good day.

That has to be the first time I have ever had someone tell me they understood why I was giving them a ticket. After he said that I literally wanted to grab the coupon back from him and tell him, "sir I was just kidding, get out of here and have a great day." I didn't do that but I did feel very guilty for giving this nice man a ticket. If more people were like this the world would be a better place.

Lady are you kidding me?

2010-08-05T10:37:00.005-04:00

This morning I am riding along in my automobile with a specific place to be. That place was HOME. As I am driving down the road I notice a car flying down the road and I hadn't turned off my moving radar just yet. I looked down at the radar unit and it was reading 55 mph and that was the car flying down the road.

So I did what any good police officer would do...... I quickly turned my patrol car around and went after the vehicle. My initial thought was it was another police officer coming into work because it was about that time and I was around the corner from the station. As I approached the vehicle I was preparing myself to talk to another officer, but as I got close I noticed it wasn't a police officer. It was a citizen obviously in a hurry to get to somewhere.

I asked her for her driver's license and registration and told her why I pulled her over. The conversation went like this:

Officer: Ma'am, do you know why I pulled you over?

Lady: No

Officer: I pulled you over for speeding, do you know how fast you were going?

Lady: No, I was in a hurry because I have to drop my car off in 15 minutes.

Officer: Well I think you are going to be late. I pulled you over for going 55 mph in a 30 mph zone.

Lady: I didn't think I was going that fast, please don't give me a ticket.

Officer: Ma'am I will be right back with you.

I went back to my patrol vehicle and ran her information through my handy-dandy little computer. The information that came back wasn't very surprising. She had been pulled over 3 times in the last year. All of them were for some type of speeding or accident infraction. I printed out her coupon (ticket) and approached the vehicle. (The reason I call them coupons is because with a ticket you get one trip to district court if you choose.)

Officer: Ma'am I am going to issue you a citation for speeding. It is a $160 fine and you have a right to go to court or pay the fine. (interrupted by the lady)

Lady: Are you kidding me? You can't give me a break (interrupted by the Officer)

Officer: No I am serious ma'am. I am giving you a break.... I only gave you one citation instead of writing you everything I could, which could have gotten expensive. (if I would have thought quick enough I would have told the lady....Hold on ma'am you talked me into giving you a break. Then I would have went back to my car and wrote her the other citations, but I was slow on my feet.)

Lady: Oh man I really wish you would have given me a break

Officer: Ma'am I work midnights and I have never had anyone going 55 mph down that road and you were doing it when it was extremely busy. You are lucky you didn't hit anyone.

Lady: I didn't even see where you were, how did you catch me?

Officer: That is because you were going so fast you didn't even see me pass you. I was going the opposite way you were going.

Lady: Oh

Officer: Have a nice day ma'am

I got into my car and I couldn't believe this lady. I have never had anyone beg me so much to not give them a ticket.

For those of you that read this blog that aren't cops, lets review the different actions of people and what the results would be:

Begging for a ticket = Ticket and aggravated cop

Crying = Ticket

Flirting= Flattering to the Officer, but may result in a ticket because it looks bad.

Angry and aggressive= Getting tazed and locked up

Apologetic and Respectful= Lenient and more inclined to get a warning

Are there any parents that can be trusted?

2010-07-24T05:18:00.004-04:00

This is going to be a soap box blog post. You have been warned.

The other day I got a call for an overdose. The initial information was a juvenile overdosed on alcohol and wasn't breathing. As I responded the dispatcher gave us updated information that stated the juvenile was now breathing, but still unresponsive.

As I arrived on location an adult was standing at the front door waiting on our arrival. When I approached the door the adult took me into the house and to a bedroom. Just as I came around the corner I noticed in my peripheral vision there was a person sitting in front of a toilet puking their guts out (worshipping the thrown God).

I walked into the bedroom and initially saw a subject lying on the bed and I thought that was the juvenile we were coming for. WRONG. The Juvenile that I was responding for was lying on the floor between the bed and the dresser. The juvenile was completely naked, but i could tell that they were breathing because I could see the chest rising and falling. Just as I attempted to see if they would respond to pain they started to spit up a little. So I rolled the juvenile over onto their side in what is called the recovering position, so they wouldn't choke on their own vomit. Just as I did that the medics arrived on scene and took over treatment.

When I stood up I looked over at the person lying on the bed and noticed the bed was full of puke. The juvenile in the bed had thrown up all over the bed and was so drunk they didn't even wake up. I asked the adult who that was and they stated, "That is my kid, but don't worry about them, they can lay in their puke that will teach them to drink this much." (nice stay classy parent, stay classy)

As the paramedics are working on the patient I start doing my investigation. I find out the 4 intoxicated subjects are either 16 or 17, Not adults and nowhere close to drinking age (21). I am talking to the parent and all they can say is I can't believe they drank that much. Are you kidding me "drank that much" how about drank at all. They are 16 and 17.

The juvenile went to the hospital and is going to be fine. The parents arrived and I was able to talk to them. They were great parents, who just made a bad decision on trusting other parents to take care of their child.

I have now placed my soap box on the ground and I have stepped on it.

The thing that bothers me the most is the fact that the parents were home and had no clue what the kids in the house were doing. Isn't that a parents role to know what the kids are doing? I know when I send my kids to a house I am trusting the parents will take care of my kids like they were their own. I guess that is dangerous in itself because not all parents parent alike.

Now I understand why my parents very rarely let me got to friends houses. I was always allowed to bring friends to my house and my parents always knew what we were doing. It is sad you can't even trust other parents now days.

Stinky Situations (Literally)

2010-07-17T04:14:00.003-04:00

I have had a crazy week this week, but I am going to only share two events.

The first event was very sad and uncomfortable. I got a call to a residence for a check the well being of an individual (those don't usually turn out well). This wasn't an exception to the rule either. I arrived on scene and located a subject that was dead. The subject was dead for awhile too.

All the fingers on both hands were black to the first knuckle. There were maggots crawling in the mouth. When the funeral home came to move the body the skin started to slide off the body. That is where they lost me. I hate dead bodies period, but I really hate dead bodies that have been there awhile.

That was basically the whole day and I forgot to mention this was my first day back to work after my days off. I knew this was not going to be my week when it started off like this.

The second day of my shift I got a call for a subject having a heart attack. I arrived on scene and located the subject, which was conscious and alert. I attempted to find out what was going on with the subject, but they didn't want to talk with me.

Shortly after I arrived the medics arrived and immediately went to work on the subject. While working on the subject the medics were able to obtain that the subject got a bad dose of heroin. They continued to do their work-up on the subject and all of a sudden the subject decided they needed to poop. The subject continued to ask to go poop, but we kept telling them to wait.

Eventually they got tired of waiting and decided to pull their pants down and just let all of their bowels go. They went poop right in the living room on the carpet. I was not expecting that and for some reason the smell just got to me.

I immediately exited stage right and went outside for some fresh air. Evidently Heroin does some damage to you bowels because I would have rather been in the company of the deceased subject then be in the company of this subjects bowel movement.

Needless to say after these two days I wanted to quit. I even told my side-partner, "I quit, I am not handling another call." Well of course I had to handle the calls as they came in, but Thankfully I haven't had to handle anything else horrible.

Am I Sleeping or Working? Maybe its both.

2010-05-23T05:39:00.003-04:00

I have this sleeping issue and I am not sure I can do anything about it. I am looking for some advice from fellow officers. Do you have the same problem? If you do is there something that helps you or do you just deal with it and move on?

On occasion I will go to sleep and the whole time I am asleep I will be dreaming. Not fun dreams, sweet dreams or even scary dreams. These dreams are exactly like being at work. I am answering calls and responding to the calls. I handle the calls and clear them out on the radio (I don't know if I actually clear them out in my sleep) and move on to the next call. It is really weird.

There is no rhyme or reason to when I have these dreams. I don't have these type dreams after I have had a horrible call the night before or a stressful call. I don't handle the same type calls in my dreams as I handled the night before. They are just the regular type calls.

The only reason this is frustrating me is because when I wake up after a nights sleep like this I am terribly exhausted. I sleep fine the whole time, but when I wake up I feel like I worked a whole shift, of course theoretically I did work a whole shift. I just did it while laying down in bed (kind of like the fire department does their job. lol Just kidding).

So if you are an officer, please tell me if I am normal and if you have a remedy please feel free to share it with me. If you are married to an officer please ask if they deal with this.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Adrenaline Rush is why I got into Police Work.

2010-05-22T05:30:00.002-04:00

I don't know if I have ever said this, but one of the reasons I got into Police work was because of the adrenaline rush I get from doing this job. Several nights ago that adrenaline rush was exactly what I got.

I was actively patrolling my area of the world and it was a rather slow night. Just as I started to get absolutely mind numbing bored, my unit number was called. I was dispatched to a check subject call.

A caller called in and stated they received a phone call from a loved one. They proceeded to tell us their love one said they had a gun pointed to their head. We arrived at the residence and proceeded to check out this residence.

There was a lot of unknowns about this call. Was the subject actually at home, was the subject really armed with a gun, was the subject really ready to kill himself or was the subject luring the police to the house so he could harm us. All of these things ran through my mind.

As we walked around the house paying close attention to the windows I could feel the adrenaline steadily flow through my body. I just kept thinking to myself keep your eyes peeled, be as quite as you possibly can, and for the love of God don't trip over something and fall down.

Luckily everything turned out ok. The subject didn't hurt himself, the subject made the wise decision to not bring the gun to the door with him.

The incident came to a safe end and all I could think was that could of turned out ugly, but this adrenaline rush was exactly what I got into this job for.

I think this blog post shows you why this career is a calling and not for the faint of heart.

Lame Excuse But an Excuse.

2010-05-22T05:27:00.001-04:00

Unfortunately I don't have pictures to share with you from the Candlelight Vigil because I didn't attend this year.

My Wife had to go out of town for a funeral, which left me home alone and several other people bailed on me. So instead of attending the Vigil I went into work. I am sorry for my failure.

Police Week 2010 has arrived

2010-05-11T05:04:00.003-04:00

Police Week 2010 is finally here. I am attending the Candlelight vigil on Thursday May 13, 2010 and I will do a blog post with pictures after the event.

If you dont know what Police Week is check out this website http://www.nleomf.org/

Please take the time to THANK those Men and Women that stand on the Thin Blue Line between good and evil. Also take the time to remember those that paid the ultimate sacrifice and left loved ones here on earth.

Humans.......I will never understand

2010-03-23T06:15:00.005-04:00

The other day I was turned on to a new blog. I was interested in this blog just because of the name. The name of the blog is a little pink in a world of camo. Please take a minute to check out this blog and send your respects.

I had a little down time at work so I pulled the blog up and I read some of the old blog posts and tried to get caught up on what the blog was all about. As I read I found out the blog was written by a young lady that is married to a Marine and has recently given birth to their first daughter. The writer is a very good writer and I found her blog posts very easy to read. I continued to read blog after blog and I learned that her Marine was away fighting for our freedom in Afghanistan.

One day her blog post was about how she was tired from taking care of her new 7 month old bundle of joy and how she was putting together a care package for her Marine. The very next blog post just totally hit me between the eyes. She went from pure Joy and looking forward, to her whole world crashing down around her. She was notified that her Marine was killed in action and now she was having to plan his funeral. I found my mouth dropping wide open and I stared at the computer screen totally shocked and saddened.

I couldn't believe that in one day this young ladies world has crumbled, but that wasn't the most amazing thing to me. The most amazing thing to me was the strength this 23 year old lady was showing. She was continuing to blog and I was so excited and honored that I was able to see into the mind of these young lady. I was so effected by this that I immediately stopped and said a prayer for her and her family.

My thoughts and prayers for this family were abruptly interrupted by my police radio. The horrible tone came over the radio. This horrible tone means radio is about to dispatch a priority 1 call, which could be anything from a shooting to a robbery to a cardiac incident. Whenever this tone goes off every officer hearing it stops breathing for a second until the call comes out. So I stoped breathing for a second and then the call came out. It was a call for a suicide in progress, so I had to quickly shut the computer and bam I was off running lights and sirens driving warp speed to this call.

I arrived on the call and found out the individual had committed suicide in the car. They had been deceased for awhile by the time we arrived on the scene, so there was nothing we could do to save this individual. After I handled all my requirements and left the scene my mind immediately went back to the Marine Family.

This time I was blown away by the emotional roller coaster I just experienced. I just went from reading a blog where a young man paid the ultimate sacrifice to defend his countries freedoms to an individual that killed themselves.

I DON'T UNDERSTAND HUMANS AT ALL

Why do some of us choose to do jobs that put our lives at risk everyday and why do some of us take the cowards way out and commit suicide. I will never understand the act of committing suicide. I have been on several calls where individuals have committed suicide and I have come to the conclusion that it is a cowardly way to handle your problems.

The reason I say this is because committing suicide doesn't solve the situation. All it does is make your families life that much harder. Your family has to try to understand it. Your family has to take care of your affairs. Your family has to figure out how to move on without you. Yeah you are dead but at what cost?

This is going to be one of those days that I will not forget. I will never forget the price that Cpl Jonathan D. Porto paid for my Freedom. I will always be greatly indebted to him and his family. I will never forget the strength his wife is showing through this difficult stage in his life. I will thank God Daily for the men and women that choose to leave their families here and go abroad to fight for our freedom.

As a Police Officer I promise all military personnel that I will do my best to protect your family as you protect my family and me abroad.

A little Bragging

2010-03-18T04:31:00.002-04:00

I want to take a minute and brag on my wife, so bare with me as I am a little sappy.

This job is extremely difficult and when you add your life outside of the job it becomes extremely difficult to concentrate at work. Concentration is essential while at work because at any given moment this job can become deadly.

My Wife and I have always talked about this and my wife does a great job trying to shield me from as much minutia as possible, while still keeping me informed. She is also extremely understanding about my sometimes annoying habits. I have a whole schedule I must follow before going to work. I get in the shower at the exact same time (if I am late it throws everything off), I then go into the bedroom and get dressed the exact same way (if I don't i will forget something, like the other day I drove all the way to work without my gun.... might need that), then I get all my stuff, kiss the wife goodbye and go to work. This drives her nuts, but she realizes it has to be done.

That is just one thing of many that she puts up with and doesn't complain (very loudly at least). Lately she has done a couple things that have been very special in helping me start my work day off right and helping me to relax at home.

One day she came home and showed me a cut out of a shamrock. She told me she hid several of them around the house in places that I routinely go to. She then gave me a piece of paper that was like a price sheet. Some of the things on their were 1 shamrock for a kiss and several other things, but the best ones were 12 shamrocks for a bubble bath drawn by her and 14 shamrocks for a 20 minute message. So I spent several weeks looking and running into these shamrocks. I found one in my wallet one day when I went to pay for something at the store. It immediately brought I smile to my face. It was so nice to have her draw the bubble bath for me to take 30 minutes by myself relaxing.

The final thing she came up with has been a highlight of starting my day and it benefits her too I think. She bought these crayons that are erasable and she put them in a cup and they sit in the shower. The first day she put them in there I took a shower to get ready for work and I was surprised with a picture and several different things written on the wall in these erasable crayons. So every night when my wife showers before bed she will write some encouraging, lovey dovey words on the wall for me to see when I shower. I have started to write her love notes back, so when she showers before bed she will feel loved like I have felt.

What a great way for me to start of my stressful work days. Thank you My Heart for thinking about me and making my day start off right.

2 wrongs don't make a right......

2010-03-11T02:32:00.003-05:00

How many times did influential people tell you this as a kid? I am sure if you are anything like me you have heard this statement hundreds of times. Well, I can't tell you how many times I have used this on the job with adults acting like kids. I got to use this phrase again last night.

I was coming into work driving down a major highway. As I was traveling down this highway I noticed a truck and a car both traveling at a pretty high speed. I caught up to the vehicles and as I passed each of them I gave them the "hello, there's a Police Officer next to you...slow down" stare. The truck was the first vehicle I passed and as I passed it I noticed the driver turned off their high beams. I thought that was odd, but I continued and got to the car and I noticed the car had those stupid halogen type lights that are actually blue. Those lights have to be the worst invention, because they are so blinding to other drivers and actually, I don't think they are very advantageous for the driver.

After both vehicles slow down I continue on my way to work and pass both vehicles. As I continued to travel down the road I looked in my rear view mirror and noticed the truck turned their high beams back on and was still following the car. I noticed the driver of the car moved over to the slow lane to let the truck go past, but the truck pulls back behind the car. At this time I realize the driver of the truck is harassing this car and is causing an aggressive driving situation.

At this point I am extremely aggravated at both vehicles, so I slam on my brakes and pull my patrol vehicle side ways blocking all travel lanes of this major highway. All the vehicles come to a stop and I direct the car and the truck to pullover to the shoulder. The car pulls over immediately, but the truck tries to go around me. I finally convinced the driver of the truck to pull over and I open the road back up.

I approached the driver of the truck and get the driver's license and registration. I ask the driver what is going on. The driver states the car has the blue bright lights and they shined in their eyes. The driver got mad so they decided to get behind the vehicle and drive with their high beams on, so the driver of the car knew what it felt like. I proceeded to explain the dangers of this action. I stated they have no idea who is driving the car. It could be 8 guys ready to beat the crap out of them, or they could be armed with a gun and shoot them. After explaining this the driver of the truck recognized the stupidity of their actions. They stated, "Wow I never even thought about it like that."

I left the driver of the truck and walked up to the car. The driver of the car said they didn't understand what the driver of the truck was doing. They stated they know their headlights are bright and they are changing them soon. I ended up giving both vehicles warnings and sent them on their way.

The thing that blew my mind was the fact the driver of the truck was 82 years old. They let their anger get the best of them and put everybody (including themselves) in danger by doing something wrong because someone did wrong to them.

C'MON PEOPLE TWO WRONGS DON'T MAKE A RIGHT.

The Crazy Bird attacking itself.

2010-03-05T06:34:00.005-05:00

There is a certain place where I sit and do my paperwork. Everytime I go to this place this same bird comes up and attacks himself in the mirror. It is crazy so I decided to take a video and share with u.

Southland.. Count down to Two Days.... Tuesday March 2, 2010 10/9c

2010-03-01T04:38:00.003-05:00

Here is my breakdown of the sneak peak I got of Southland's Season 2 Premiere.

The episode starts off with a mob scene where Officer John Cooper and Officer Ben Sherman respond and end up getting in over their heads and calling for back up. This scene is very intense and it is shot in a way that makes you feel like you are right there.

This year they also introduce a new side partner for Detective Lydia Adams. If you remember last season her partner was shot. At the start of Season 2 he is in the hospital still recovering from his injuries, but they make you think he is not coming back. They introduce her new partner, which is a very cocky person and acts like he has better things to do when their first case is to investigate an elderly man which has disappeared. The way they are setting this character up it appears it will be easy to dislike him.

This preview was only 15 minutes long, which left my mouth watering for more. Don't miss the season premiere on Tuesday March 2, 2010 10/9c. Enjoy the season and I will doing some posts on what I felt about each weeks episode. So tune in each week to TNT and then tune into my blog and lets discuss each episode.

Southland.....Coming to TNT on March 2, 2010.

2010-02-20T05:28:00.005-05:00

For those of you who don't know what Southland is, let me explain it a little to you in my own words. It is a tv show about police officer's that work for LAPD. They have several story lines of officers in all different assignments in the department.

Here is how TNT explains it. From Emmy Award winners John Wells, Ann Biderman and Chris Chulack comes a raw and authentic look at a police unit in Los Angeles. From the beaches of Malibu to the streets of East Los Angeles, "Southland" is a fast-moving drama that will take viewers inside the lives of cops, criminals, victims and their families.

Here is a little background to why I am writing about this show. I watched this show religiously last year, until it was dropped by the station. Well I was extremely excited when I heard that TNT had picked the show up and the new season was starting soon.

Then I received an email from an advertising firm named Youcast. They wanted to know if I would be willing to watch a sneak peek of the first episode of Season 2 and write blog post about it. Well I was more than happy to do this. I love giving shout-outs to great police shows.

The reason I love this show so much is because it is very accurate. I have been a police officer for 10 years in several different agencies and this is the first show that hits it on the head. I feel like it is a reality TV show, but it isn't.

I just received my copy of the Sneak Peak today February 19, 2010, so stay tuned to my blog to see what you can expect for this next year on Southland.

Snow, Snow and Some More Snow

2010-02-13T03:03:00.003-05:00

In the past week we have had more snow fall then I would ever imagine could fall in our area. During all of this snow I had the privilege....errr the miss-fortune of working through most of it. I thought I would share some funny stories, some stories of complete stupidity and some stories of what were they thinking. I will let you put the labels on them as I share them.

The first story is about me and yes during the occurrence I even laughed at myself. Snow was falling quickly and I was driving around in an un-conventional vehicle because our patrol cars were taken off of the road. Ford Crown Victoria's do not run very well in the snow because they are rear wheel drive and have low clearance. I call them police sleds in the snow. As I was patrolling I located a tree which had fallen into the roadway. It wasn't blocking the road, but would've made it difficult for the plows. I stopped my vehicle and got out to attempt to move the tree, but the tree was too heavy to move myself, so I called for another unit. As I was waiting for the second unit I decided to break off some limbs. I grabbed a limb and started to pull on it. It ripped pretty easily until that last bit, so I put a little harder pull into it. Just as I got all my weight going one way the limb decided to snap off, which sent me falling backwards into a pile of snow. I was pulling so hard that when I fell both of my legs went straight up in the air, just as a truck passed my location. All I could do was just laugh at myself. I can only imagine what the driver of the truck thought, but he didn't stop to check on me.

A couple days later I got a call for a vehicle parked in the middle of a main road and the plows couldn't get around the vehicle to plow. I headed out to the location and located the truck parked in the middle of the road running and the windshield whippers were pulled away from the windshield. I drove up the closest driveway and made contact with a resident and asked them if that was their vehicle. The individual didn't know, So I went back to the vehicle to tow it. As I am writing the paperwork a person knocks on the window. They begin to explain to me how they moved the vehicle onto the road so they could plow their driveway. They finished plowing their driveway and forget about their vehicle. Whoops. I am just glad no one stole the vehicle.

I was patrolling in a neighborhood and I located this small four door vehicle, which had a very low clearance. The vehicle appeared to be stuck and a female was standing outside, so I pulled up to see if I could assist. As I pulled up I noticed another vehicle (a 4wd vehicle) was already assisting this person. The vehicle was getting stuck because the snow was up to the grill and it was just plowing the snow instead of driving over it. We got the vehicle unstuck and after talking with the person I found out they were out to pick up the newspapers they had to deliver and instead of taking the 4wd vehicle, which was sitting in front of their house they decide to drive the car. Come on now we have to think about this. hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

This is what makes my job so much fun. People are so unpredictable.

"It's Not My Fault."

2010-02-03T01:23:00.002-05:00

This blog post is coming out of pure frustration, so bear with me as I vent.

One of my most rewarding things to do as a Police Officer is to lock up people who drive drunk. The reason this is rewarding to me is because I really feel like I make a difference. I am teaching someone that had too much to drink and made a stupid mistake by driving a lesson by arresting them. I am also saving some innocent persons life by taking this dangerous person off the streets. That is why this arrest is rewarding to me.

Lately I have been extremely lucky to locate multiple amounts of drunks in the last month and last year I actually locked up 23 drunks for the year. While arresting this many drunks I have noticed a trend in the majority of them. This trend instantly gets my blood boiling. I have had the majority of these individuals putting innocent peoples lives at risk ask me one question.

The conversation usually starts out as we are headed to the station to process them for DUI/DWI (Driving under the influence/ Driving while intoxicated). They ask what is going to happen now and I proceed to tell them the standard ways dui/dwi arrests are processed and then the question comes. "Officer why are you doing this to me?"

YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME. Why am I doing this to YOU? I proceed to tell them I am not the person that ordered the drinks and drank them. I am not the person that didn't know when to stop drinking. I am not the person that had the brilliant idea after having to much to drink that decided to drive a car. That person would be YOU. I am the person that gets the great opportunity to arrest you and save hundreds of innocent people from your stupid decision. So if you want to blame someone, you need to look in the mirror and blame the person that is looking at you in that mirror. That would be YOU. This is where the conversation usually ends.

Police ambushes in the US in 2009

2009-12-02T10:54:00.016-05:00

I am amazed at the amount of Police Officers that have been killed this year by being ambushed. Here are the stories, which were taken from the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund's Research Bulletin.

In conjunction with Conce rns of Police Survivors

A Closer Look
Oakland, CA – March 21

The tragedy began when Sergeant Mark Dunakin and Officer John Hege pulled over a vehicle and the driver opened fire. Sergeant Dunakin was killed and Officer Hege mortally wounded (he would die three days later). Two hours later, SWAT team members tracked the suspect to an apartment building a short distance from the original shooting. As officers entered a bedroom, the gunman opened fire through a closet, fatally striking Sergeant Ervin Romans and Sergeant Dan Sakai. Another SWAT officer shot and killed the suspect, a wanted parolee.

Pittsburgh, PA – April 4

Early that morning, Pittsburgh Police received a call of a domestic disturbance involving a mother and son in Stanton Heights. Officers Stephen Mayhle and Paul Sciullo II were in the last hour of their shift when dispatched to the scene. Officer Eric Kelly had just finished his shift and on his way home when he heard the call and responded in his personal vehicle. Inside the home, the 22-year-old suspect donned a bullet-resistant vest and lay in wait. Officers Sciullo and Mayhle were shot in the head as they entered the home. Officer Kelly was shot as he pulled up to the scene. During the ensuing standoff, two other officers were injured as they valiantly removed the fallen officers.

Okaloosa County, FL – April 25

Three weeks after the shooting in Pittsburgh, two Okaloosa County (FL) sheriff’s deputies were murdered while trying to make an arrest. Deputies Warren "Skip" York and Burt Lopez had gone to a gun club in Crestview to arrest a man in connection with a domestic violence incident earlier in the day. As they approached the suspect, who was standing in the parking lot next to his truck, and attempted to handcuff him, the gunman raised a concealed weapon and began firing. During the gunfight, Deputy Lopez was mortally wounded. Deputy York was shot and killed as he attempted to prevent the suspect from fleeing in his truck. After a vehicular pursuit that ended in another gunfight, the suspect was eventually shot and killed by officers.

Seattle, Washington - October 31

information courtesy of http://cnn.mv/2009/CRIME/11/07/washington.police.shooting/index.html

Officer Brenton, 39, a field training officer, was reviewing details of a traffic stop with student officer Brit Sweeney Saturday night when a vehicle rolled up next to the squad car shortly after 10 p.m., authorities said
Several shots were fired into the squad car, killing Brenton and injuring Sweeney, according to police.
Brenton was married with two children, 11 and 8.
He served on the force for nine years, police said. His father and uncle are retired Seattle police officers.

The latest, particularly heinous incident occurred just after 8 am on Sunday, November 29, when a gunman walked into a Pierce County, WA, coffee shop and opened fired on four officers of the Lakewood Police Department who were going over plans for their upcoming shift. All four officers were killed. The four were all veteran law enforcement officers, with between 8 and 14 years of experience each. All four had been members of the Lakewood Police Department since it was founded five years ago in the community outside Tacoma.

Happy Thanksgiving

2009-11-27T18:39:00.003-05:00

First off I want to apologize to all my readers because I haven't blogged lately. I have been in a temporary position and I haven't had anything to blog about.

I would like to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. With my new position I have the pleasure this year to have the whole week of Thanksgiving off. I am normally trying to plan dinner around my crazy schedule. I go to dinner and have to rush out of the house to get some sleep and then off to work.

This year I got the pleasure of going to my parents house early and help with the preparation of dinner, then eat dinner with all my family and sit around enjoying the company. What a pleasure it was to be a normal human being and enjoy a holiday. It has been a long time.

What a wonderful Thanksgiving. I hope you and your family had a great one too.

People ask the craziest things

2009-10-10T06:39:00.004-04:00

These are the crazy things I hear while working......

Phone call I received.... Sir is there something going on in my neighborhood? There is a Police Helicopter flying around. Yes ma'am we are looking for someone that was seen walking through someones yard. Oh I better lock my doors then, cause we normally don't lock our doors around here. Yes ma'am you should always lock your doors no matter where you live.

Another call about same incident.... Sir was there a helicopter stolen cause there is a helicopter flying around my neighborhood. No sir that is the police we are looking for someone. Oh OK good cause I thought someone stole a helicopter.

I pulled over a lady last night for driving the wrong way on a one way street. I asked her if she had anything to drink tonight and she stated, "No, I have only had one drink." So I said, "So you haven't had anything to drink or you have had one drink, it can't be both." She states, "Yeah."

OVERREACTION

2009-10-10T06:07:00.002-04:00

The department I work for just came out with their great idea to prevent H1N1 from spreading throughout the department.

They have done away with Roll Call.

For those readers that aren't police officers let me essplain (purposefully misspelled explain). Roll Call is the first 15 to 30 minutes of each day, when we all come into the station. We sit in a room and the SGT or LT read out any important information or incidents that occurred between the night before and the current night. This is also a great time for our shift to joke around with each other and build camaraderie.

The county has decided that getting that many police together in one confined area is a great risk to spreading H1N1, so we are not doing Roll Call.

I have several thoughts about this:

1. This is not going to stop the spread of H1N1. We work with dirty people all day long and we are still going to meet to hangout/talk.

2. I am going to miss hanging out with the whole shift and shooting the breeze.

3. This is going to be good because I will be in my patrol area for a full 8 hours instead of around 7 hours.

Overall I think it is a good idea, but a dumb reason to do it.

Attorney takes job too personal.....

2009-10-08T01:08:00.005-04:00

It has been awhile since I have blogged for several reasons. One I have had a rookie the last week and two I have been fighting off being sick. I have gotten rid of my rookie and I fought off the sickness, so I am back blogging again.

Today's blog is about a MVA Hearing I had about a week and half ago. An MVA Hearing is when an individual gets arrested for a DUI/DWI. They have to go before the MVA (Motor Vehicle Administration) to see if they are going to loose their driver's license. Normally the officer doesn't have to be there, but for some reason I had to attend this one. It didn't take long for me to realize why I was summonsed to this one.

The hearings aren't exactly like a trial. A lot of the rules for trial don't apply in these hearings. It is an administrative judge that holds the hearings, not a full fledged judge. The judge asks me to tell her what happened. I read everything from my report and then the attorney gets a chance to ask me questions.

I have always believed there is this unwritten rule as an attorney or a police officer that if you have a solid case then plead it or if you don't have a solid case then have a trial. When you have the trial you shouldn't try to humiliate either party. Also don't grasp at straws. Be able to admit when you have lost the case.

Obviously this attorney doesn't respect this unwritten rule because she couldn't admit she was grasping at straw and had a losing case. I will try to explain this the best I can.

I was sitting in a parking lot observing traffic. I noticed a vehicle make a left turn onto the road I was sitting on. As the vehicle passed me I noticed it was dragging its bumper down the street creating a horrible rooster tail of sparks. I pulled the vehicle over and made contact with the driver. As I spoke to the driver I could smell an odor of an alcoholic beverage. The driver was Hispanic, but he never said or acted like he didn't speak English. He understood everything I said and he got arrested for DUI/DWI. When we got to the station he was able to understand all the forms and still never told me he didn't speak English. So all went well and the case was done.

Then we get to this hearing. Now the individual supposedly doesn't speak a bit of English and I am sure you can guess the angle the attorney goes with. She asks me several question about whether her client understood my directions. So I made it perfectly clear that her client never told me he didn't speak English and he understood all of my directions. Well she didn't like hearing this because she continued to kick a dead horse and try every possible way to make me admit he didn't speak English. It got so bad that the administrative judge told her that was enough and to move on. She didn't have any other questions so I was excused.

I spoke to the other officer which had to testify and he said she did the exact same thing to him. I am all for doing the best you can to get your client free, but come on know when your case is a lost cause.

As we were leaving I couldn't remember if this case already went to court so I stopped this attorney to ask her if the case already was resolved in court. She wasn't sure but she believed it would be worked out because after all he wasn't a real criminal. She then proceeded to tell me a story about some guy holding a neighborhood hostage years ago and how that was a real criminal. So I told her, "Well I guess it is all in how you look at it because I believe your client driving drunk in a 3000 lb vehicle is just as bad as a guy in a house with a gun." She wasn't happy with this statement, but I used my better judgement and just walked away. I didn't feel arguing with her would get me anywhere, but in trouble.

A couple funny things.....

2009-09-22T06:04:00.003-04:00

I am suffering from a cold (not the swine flu), just a sore throat. When I got home from work yesterday morning I got right into bed. The world didn't see me again until about 2140 hours, when I got up for work. While I was laying in bed watching TV/sleeping I received a phone call from a police buddy, who works for another department. He told me a great story I wanted to share with you.

He calls and starts off with, "You are going to love this story."

I said, "Uh Oh what happened?"

He proceeded to tell me his department received a fuel delivery the other day. The guy that delivered the fuel accidentally put a full tank of Diesel fuel into the Unleaded Fuel tank. (This was the tank that feeds the pumps, not just one vehicle.) Not a big deal if this would have been caught when it happened, but it wasn't. They didn't catch it until some of the cars started to break down. Just in the area he works they have lost 10 cars. That is 10 cars that can't be used for patrol, which means they have officer's doubled up in cars. Can you say OOOOOOPPPPPPPPSSSSSSS. Someone is going to be in trouble.

My second story comes from work tonight. I didn't plan on doing too much tonight because of the before mentioned cold I am suffering from. So I was driving around doing my normal checks in neighborhoods and on businesses trying to stay under the radar. Well that lasted about 25 minutes before I pulled over a drunk driver. So I do what any good Officer would do and I lock this guy up. I transport him to the station for processing. We get to the station and the drama starts.

He starts complaining about his wrist hurting because the cuffs were too tight. He whines and complains then he utters the words all cops hate for an arrested subject to utter. I want an ambulance. You have got to be kidding me.

We call the ambulance and they come and look at him. Tell him it isn't a big deal he should be fine and he tells them he wants it x-rayed. Off we go to the hospital and because he is in custody I get to ride to the hospital in the ambulance with him and babysit him at the hospital.

We get to the hospital and he gets checked out by the Nurse Practitioner. Then it happens.... the best thing I have ever seen a Nurse Practitioner/Doctor put on discharge paperwork. Under the diagnosis section she puts Wrist Contusion.....additional instructions:

Ice your wrist as needed
Take Tylenol as Needed for pain
Don't Get Arrested Again
Follow Up with your primary care physician.

She actually put that on his discharge documents. That Nurse Practitioner just became my favorite with just four simple words. That made the whole trip to the hospital worth while.

I love it.

Is it ME or is it THEM?

2009-09-20T04:03:00.007-04:00

Last night I get a call for a loud noise party. I get to the residence and there are a bunch of people standing outside. As I pull up several of them go running inside like if they run fast enough I won't see them. Well they didn't run fast enough because I saw them, but I really didn't care. One individual decided it wasn't a good idea to run in the house and he decided to approach me. I spoke to this individual (who happened to be the resident/party host) and advised him to shut down the party. He stated he would take care of it.

He didn't take care of it very well because I had to go back several hours later and lock up a couple of the attendees, which refused to listen to my orders. This time I took care of shutting down the party and the rest of the night was quiet.

Today I come into work at is fairly quite except for a couple alarms and suspicious vehicles. Then I received a call for a loud noise party. Guess where the party was? Yep you are correct it is at the same location as last night. This time I don't have the patience to give the resident/party host the opportunity to shut down the party. I call for several more cars and I decide to shut down the party. We walk through the whole entire house and force everyone out, while the resident stands around and tries to tell me his rights and question why I am in his house. Then he decides he wants to be nice and invite me in. Too late at this point I am standing in his living room. So I force everyone out and some juvenile gets this great idea to take some of the beer outside with them. Great idea until they ran into an officer outside. Then they found themselves getting issued an alcohol citation. OOPS.

While I am standing with the officer and the juveniles, a guy comes out of the house and heads down the street. He stumbles several times (clearly intoxicated) and gets into his vehicle. At this point 3 officers fight over who is going to get the arrest if he drives away. Well he decided it wasn't a good idea to leave while 5 officers are standing around just waiting for him to drive off, so he goes back into the house. The rest of the party attendees left the area so we clear the scene.

Here is where I am confused...... if you throw a party and it gets busted up by the cops and several of your buddies go to jail, do you really go into the house and say dude that was awesome... party at my house again tomorrow. SWEET

I would love to say this is where the story ends but it doesn't.

Several hours later I am sitting in an area running radar and I have a vehicle go past me and his speed reads 72 in a posted 40 mile an hour zone. I pull out and catch up to the vehicle and pull it over. Guess who it is? If you guessed knuckle head from earlier that got into his car and thought better of it......ding ding ding you are CORRECT.

He was arrested for driving under the influence and taken off of the street. Thank God he didn't hit or kill anyone.

Wow what a couple of nights. Hopefully this guy got the point tonight, but I am sure he didn't. I bet you we are back there next weekend.

Police Work has become Second Nature

2009-09-15T05:40:00.002-04:00

I have been field training this whole shift. Field Training is when you have a rookie fresh out of the academy riding with you. They are supposed to handle everything and you supervisor them.

It is the first time I have had a rookie riding with me for a whole shift in a long time. We were lucky enough this week to get involved in a lot of stuff. We got two drunks in two days, so that put a lot of work on my rookie. The drunks weren't your normal drunks either they all had wierd things with them, which I won't go into.

What I do want to go into is what I learned through this. I was amazed how much Police work is really second nature to me. I really noticed this when I try to teach other officers how to do things I just do. After an incident I let the rookie write the report and say everything he wants to say before I correct it and get him to add things. I find this a very difficult task because after I read his writing I can't seem to get pass that and get my words on the paper.

I found myself going home with a huge headache and this is when I realized, Wow Police work has really become second nature to me. I really think the job being second nature to me is a good thing because it allows me to do my job efficiently. If it wasn't second nature then I wouldn't be on the road very much because Police work is a lot of paper work.

Are you serious.....Eleven???

2009-09-12T01:48:00.002-04:00

Several nights ago I received a call from another officer requesting assistance. He was at a residence taking a report for a missing juvenile, when the parent received a call from the juvenile. The juvenile got dropped off in an area that she was not familiar with. The area she was in happened to be my post so I responded to that area and located them.

I picked up the Juvenile and while we drove to a location to meet the other officer I engaged them in a conversation. The juvenile was telling me they were leaving NA (Narcotics Anonymous) and they decided to go with their friends to get something to eat. After getting something to eat they were headed to a friends house, but as the were driving there one of the people in the car lite up a joint. This juvenile immediately demanded to get out of the car, so the friends just dropped them right where they were.

I proceeded to engage the juvenile in questions about their drug addiction. They started with Marijuana at the age of eleven.....yes, I said eleven. The person that introduced this juvenile to Marijuana was their babysitter, which happened to be the parent's best friend. Wow, thanks best friend. The then eleven year old went from smoking Marijuana to abusing prescription drugs/pills and eventually moved on to Heroin and Cocaine. So at the young age of sixteen this particular juvenile is a recovering Heroin/Cocaine addict.

This story just floored me and I can't believe how it all unfolded. This is what amazes me about the movement to legalize Marijuana in this country. I have yet to see anyone disprove the fact that Marijuana is a gateway drug to other drugs. This juvenile even told me they bought into that lie, but after all they have been through they realize that Marijuana was truly the gateway to where they are now.

I truly believe this juvenile is going to be OK. I got the feeling they are very strong and they really desire to be sober. Good Luck young person, even though I don't know you I am behind you and rooting for you.