Long time with a tragic story

It has been a long time since I have written on here. Not because I don't have stories, cause I DO!!!! But because my life has been extremely busy with Grad school, vacation, sleep, and work. So anyways I will have to remind myself to discuss the choke slam that was straight out of WWE and other funny stories, but for now I will write about a tragic story.

Last night we had to make a run on a 20 month old that was struck and killed by a car. Apparently the child was run over as the vehicle was backing. I am not sure where the child was run over, but to see the child there was tear jerking. I won't go into the details, but it was pretty gruesome. The mother of course was hysterical, but when we gave her a chance to say goodbye to the child before the coroner to him she just laid her head on his chest crying and speaking something in spanish to the him.

I am impressed with the way our superiors handled the whole situation. First we blocked the view of the mother with the child from the media cause that is the type stuff they drool over. They also went around and asked those who were first on scene if we needed to leave, due to the circumstances of the incident with a child. In a somber and sorry experience it is good to know that the department still takes these things into account. Our department has problems like every other department but today I was glad that this was not one of them.

SWAT

I got to watch our SWAT team in action the other day. I must say it is even more impressive than I thought in person. What was really cool was seeing everyone in the neighborhood where it went down, outside looking at our caravan. We had 3 SWAT trucks, like 8 unmarked police cars, 4 marked police cars, and 2 ambulances (is it ambuli?) The size was mainly due to the fact that we had 2 different department agencies involved in the same search warrant. The swiftness and efficiency that they work with is something to see. I was scared watching them from a vantage point, I can't imagine being in the house.

Death

The loss of a local police officer makes brings to the front what this job is. Being there to enter when others won't, to respond to the needs of others regardless of what can happen. Most of the time I feel that we take this for granted that it is our duty to do so, until a moment like this brings it all back into the forefront of your mind. Though it is a tragedy and they will be missed, it is a moment that I feel pride in my job, these two men that were there did their job as they were supposed too and did not back down in the sight of danger or fear.

Take out the Trash

I am writing this because of the stereotypes that come with certain neighborhoods. I am going to be using some stereotypes and terms, but this is only to get the point across that you never can tell how someone is going to act in certain areas.

I recently went on a run for Domestic Violence (I hate this term or rather "run" because a child not listening to their parent is considered "domestic violence" to most people apparently, which is why we have to discipline their child. But that is a different story of how police are parents to not only children, but the parents as well in today's society) to a very nice neighborhood. We did the normal routine of listening to the victim, then we went up to the house to listen to the other person's side. As we did this, the step mother of the victim greeted us at the door then as we went to talk to the father, who we saw run into another room, she started going off. The father was no different, he tried to "buck up" on myself and my partner, but he wised up. We take the father out the front, while the step-mother runs out the back door and around the front of the house and starts yelling at the victim (mind you it is like 1130 at night). At this point you would expect nothing to happen, but window shades to open. Well as soon as she started her little ordeal people started coming out of their $400,000 homes like cockroaches. We easily had 30 people in their driveways watching and trying to intervene on everyone's behalf. If it wasn't for the scenery I would have thought I was back down in one of the worst neighborhoods in our city.

The point of this story is that you can take the trash out of the city, but you can't take the trash out of the people.

Shake it Out

I believe I have briefly mentioned this before, but it is extremely funny to me to see people (teenagers in particular) shaking when you pull them over. I find it humorous because when they shake you know they are never stopped by police and rarely do anything wrong. Another reason is because I can remember when I was a kid and how when I got pulled over it was the most embarrasing thing to me and in the back of my mind I'm thinking "My Dad is going to kill me." Most of the time I pull these type of people over I just give them a warning. Mainly because I don't have the heart to write them a ticket, but also because they are tax paying average day citizens that do what they are supposed to. It still makes me smile every time I go back to the car though.

Derby and Past Month

Well the Derby went smoothly for me. Other than the long hours and boredom, thing were great. I haven't been able to write due to time constraints, but I will pick out some stories and put them on here at the next available time.

2 Drunks and a Cage

I recently transported two drunk men to the jail for being intoxicated and disorderly in public. The best part of the whole trip was their conversation on the 20 minute ride downtown. Both men were rediciously drunk, had very slurred speech, and could not stand let alone sit up straight without falling over. Neither man knew each other yet this conversation took place.

Drunk1: What did I do wrong sir?
Drunk2: You F'ed Up? Just sit up straight and take it like a man. (placing his head on the other guys head so as to get his attention)
Drunk1: But what did I do?
Drunk2: Dude, don't piss off the Officer, or he'll bitch slap you, isn't that right officer?
Drunk1: I ain't mad at him (me), he's a cool son of a bitch.
Drunk2: How many have you bitched slapped Officer?
Me: I haven't bitch slapped anyone.
Drunk2: Bull Shit, come on how many?
Drunk1: What did I do?
Drunk2: Shut up and take it like a man, buddy.
Drunk2: I just realized you are not my buddy, it's cool though I will be your buddy when we get down to the jail.
Drunk1: Officer could you stay in one lane and slow it down? (I was going 65 and was in one lane)
Drunk2: Hell no speed it up let's get there fast, woo hah.

There were some other comments in there, however, they were pretty much based on the same thing. One guy not realizing or not being to comprehend that I had told 8 times why he was arrested. The other guy telling him to take it like a man, not realizing he wasn't who he thought he was.

Thunder

Thank goodness that the first stage of pergatory is over and now we have a week window to go before the final stage of hell begins.
500,000 drunk idiots all day watching fireworks, doing things they know they are not supposed to do only because they know we can't stop them.
2 Weeks to go till rest.

Anger with the Man

It is getting to be more clear to me why Cops have an attitude when dealing with others. About 99% of my job is having to shift through bull shit and find a quasi right scenario of what happened. Most of the time it is pretty easy to do. However, other times it is tough. People will flat lie to you as if you are a complete idiot. And I believe as Officer's, at least I do anyway, get a little bit of enjoyment from watching people squirm out of their lies. All I ask from a person when I have to communicate with them is to tell me the truth. If someone tells me the truth, I will do all in my job category ( I don't like to use the word power, so as to not let it seem as though I enjoy it) to not have to take them to Jail and just give them a good charge or violation.
Basically I can see now, and I am sure that it will get even more clear, how people feel that Cops are jerks. It isn't that we, well maybe I, want to be but try dealing with people who lie all the time. They then get mad at you when you have to make a decision concerning all the information given. I guess we try and find a little bit of humor in our attitudes and actions to make it easier to forget.

Death

I recently went on my 4th or 5th 10-80 (death scene) run. It always is interesting to see that people when they are dead they almost become something else. When I look at them they seem to become unhuman. That is not meant to be heartless or cold, but in my faith once you are dead there is heaven or hell. Either way your spirit, what I feel is the human part, is gone leaving only the earthly matter.

What still chokes me up everytime I get to a scene is the family and friends reactions. In someway or another I can't help but feel some type of connection to their family. Most of the time I think about how it will be when I die, or my close friends and family pass away. I hope that I can face it and be the strength for everyone else given what I believe, as does the rest of my family and friends, that I will see them again. I have been very blessed that I have not had to lose someone close to me yet. I don't fear the day, but I hope that I will be how God has it planned and that I won't become an empty hole of sadness.

Get Your Head Out of the Cloud

One of the best parts of this job, is messing with stupid kids. Depending on the age and their experience in the system they will believe almost anything. I really enjoy messing with them with my beat partners. Especially to the point that you can see them start to shake. Which leads me to this story:

I stopped these 5 kids in a park the other day. They obviously had been smoking pot, all their eyes were bloodshot and had the faint smell on them. By the time I reached them they had ditched whatever marijuana they had left on them. So I ask the questions that cops ask "What you all been doing?" This leads me to a side note. Information alert!!!!!! COPS DON"T ASK QUESTIONS WE DON"T KNOW THE ANSWERS TO ALREADY!!!!!! Back to the story. There was this one kid who was completely gone. I asked him simple questions, "where do you live?". Answer, "Dude on that street."
"What street?"
"Man, You Know"
"No I don't"
"Sir, I really don't know either anymore."
I end the evening and our conversation with:
"It is your lucky night. I know you have been smoking and pitched some on me, but I can't find it in the grass. And you (turning to the idiot with all the wrong answers), You need to stop smoking weed for 5 minutes to figure where in the hell you are and what the hell is going on."
At this point all of his little buddies started dieing laughing.
The whole scene was pretty funny from the beginning. If y'all could have seen this kid, you would understand why this story was funny. Mohawk, Lip ring, blood shot eyes, slurry speech, combat boots, and a stupid "I'm High" grin on his face is a little description.

Speeding

So I am cruising down the highway to go get something to eat, going the average cop speed of 55-60 in a 55. (Cause everyone knows that cops don't speed to set a good example.) All of a sudden this silver Toyota SUV goes flying by me. So I have to accelerate 10 mph to catch up to her. I finally get the vehicle stopped and approach. I ask "You know how fast you were going?" to which a 31 year old new born mother answers "81 or 82". I had to have a look of shock on my face at this point, she actually told me the truth in a world of liers, to cops anyways. I reply "You realize the speed limit is 55 right?". She comes back with "NO SHIT?!?, I'm sorry."

This isn't the best story I have. It caught me off guard that this woman just flat stated her speed and then came up with that answer. I found it rather humorous.

Stories

This is going to be my place to share funny, sad, and just plain stupid stories that I encounter on a daily basis. Hopefully you find enjoyment as much I have, since I will have posted them on here.

ENJOY!!!