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| Last Night's Shift 1-1-99 Where do I begin? Last night was a very busy, long, eventful night. It really started out for me as very slow. From 2100 till 2300 I only took two small calls, a telephone harassment and a reckless driver call. Neither took more than a few seconds. My wife was riding along tonight and she was beginning to think that her curse of it always being slow when she came out was coming true again. Boy was she mistaken. Now after 2300 (11:00 pm), all heck seemed to break loose. We got a call of a fight in progress. I was the first to arrive in the area and I watched several juveniles file into an apartment. I waited for back-up, when he arrived he approached the front door and we made contact. While we were there I could see nearly 20-30 juveniles inside. There was alcohol everywhere. I then went to the rear of the apartment as 7 or 8 kids took off acrossed the yard and into the darkness. I knew that there was no way two officers would be able to keep a good lid on things if I took after the kids that ran, so I just asked all of the kids remaining in the backyard to come on inside. All of them agreed. I stepped inside and listened while the other officer, our alcohol officer gathered some information. Already though, there was several other calls pending and some were more urgent than a bunch of kids drinking. Just then I looked out and saw some more kids sneaking out of a bathroom window. I then asked one of the kids to go tell them to step out of the bathroom. Well, some of the kids came out of the bathroom but not all. I then went over to tell them to come on out. Basically at that time we were just going to make sure that the party was over, we were just making sure that everyone who was drinking should get a sober driver. Just then I saw someone sneak out the back door. I stepped out and asked that she come on back into the apartment. She looked at me and took off. Well, I thought, now things have escalated. I chased her and told her that she was under arrest. She was severely intoxicated and appeared to be only 16-17 years old. Well she resisted and fought with me for a minute but I was able to easily detail her and bring her back to my patrol car. I put her in the rear and closed the door. I then went back inside to tell the other officer that I would be taking this girl to the station and see if he was ready to clear the scene. Just then I HEAR MY WIFE'S PANICKED VOICE ON THE RADIO!!! She yelled "344 there is a major problem out here!!!" When I ran out of the apartment at first I thought that my car was gone, but then I remembered that I had parked down the street. I saw the car and my wife came over the air a second time. This time she said "she kicked out your rear window and took off". I looked up and saw the girl running down the street AGAIN!!! This time I was a little hotter under the collar. I gave chase and boy was I flying, I knew that there was no way I could let her get away. Just as I caught up to her she dove inside an unlocked vehicle and locked all of the doors. I was just about to break the window when I had better thoughts of just trying the door of the residence where the car was parked. Luckily the owner was there and had a key. He came out and as soon as the door opened the fight was on again. She was like a Tasmanian Devil. It took three of us to restrain her in order to get her cuffed. She was totally uncooperative and still out of control. I charged her with several things. What really y sucked about the whole thing was that I am forced to go borrow another officers car for the next four days, because there is no mechanics at the shops to do repairs until at least Monday. The other thing that was bad was that my wife was somewhat shaken up. I think that it was more of the fact that she had a decision to make about using the radio for the first time in her life. She did really good though. She did the absolute best thing that she could have done in this situation. I am really happy that it all turned out the way it did. I am really glad that I was able to catch the girl because I don't think that I ever would have lived it down if she got away. After that I responded to several, I do mean several fights in progress. The jail filled up very quickly. Every officer brought in several offenders tonight. A normal weekend night we might make 4 or so arrests and that is considered busy. I think that tonight was made four an hour. I think that alcohol was involved in every arrest tonight. One family fight I responded to a husband and wife were got into it so badly that both went to jail. She had bitten him several times. The bites all broke the skin and looked very painful. At one time he began to choke her, so badly that both sides of her neck is bruised. The tragedy was that the couple was fighting in front of their child and the wife actually struck the child in the head. She claims that it was when she was trying to get away from being choked. My feelings is that if they were not fighting it would never have happened. Both were arrested and charged. I usually try to stay middle of the road on all calls but it was really hard to stay calm when the child gets hit when the parents are so out of control. You should have seen this kid. He was a little guy about 2 years old and just the cutest thing. He was all dressed up and looked like a little man. I am sure that it broke his little heart to see mommy and daddy going to jail. Come to find out, the whole fight started over the fact that he surprised her with dinner and he messed up her order. She then poured a glass of water on his food. On the way to my car I asked her if she could hear her child crying. I asked how that made her feel. She just got mad at me and made me out to be the bad guy. That does not bother me, I just want her to remember how that child felt. Luckily the child's grandmother lives next door and was able to take the child for the night. On the way to the jail she was swearing at me and going on and on......I just looked back and told her HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! After that call I took tree accidents, the roads were very slick because it had been snowing lightly all night. I am sure that alcohol played a part in the accidents as well. Two were hit and run and the third was gal that hit a parked car. It was so busy at one time that we needed to call out additional officers. They were all instantly busy too. At one time we had some family fights in progress and we were all too busy on other calls to respond. It was a real doozy out there. I just have three words to say, Happy New Year. Russell Last Night's Shift 1-2-99 Last Night was very slow. Its hard to believe that one night can be as busy as it was and then the next night be so slow. Mostly, I just checked all of the businesses. I drove around all of the higher crime areas and stayed visible for all of the businesses that were still open. This night started out with a Drunk Driving accident. I guy pulled out of a local business and the he began to drive the wrong way down a busy street. A lady saw him coming right at her so she completely stopped her vehicle. He just slammed right into it. Luckily nobody was injured. I arrived as a back-up officer. I went up to the car and spoke to the suspect. He was SO drunk. I just cannot imagine a person getting behind the wheel of a car being that drunk. The effect of the alcohol had relaxed his face muscles so much that his bottom lip was actually hanging out. His eyelids was drooping so much he could hardly see out of them. When he stepped out of the car, he fell flat on ground. We had to call the ambulance to transport him to the hospital because he was in such bad shape. They did a blood draw and told us that the alcohol level was .269. Basically that means this guy was PLOWED!!! After that call there honestly was not a whole lot going on. That was my last night shift for the next two months. Now I am going to day shift. I start on Sunday. The next two months will be a nice change but, I am really not looking forward to it. I really like nights the best. I guess that many of you are hoping to see the "real" aspects of being a police officer so it will be good for me to also describe a day shift. Since there are so many new subscribers lately I would like to remind you all that if you have a home page I would be happy to add a link on my page. All you have to do is email me the link and a short description of the page. Please visit my home page and sign the guest book, if you have not already. http://www.lifeonthebeat.com Thanks, Russell Last Night's Shift 1-3-99 Hello I guess that from now on I should be politically correct and say ---Today's Shift. This is becaus I am working days instead of nights for the next 2 months. Well, today was a scary thing, we had only four officers covering about 100,000 people in the city. Now, to me that is absurd. I hate to complain and I am not one to stir the waters, but when there is an officer safety issue (like this) I need to be more vocal. It was my first day shift in quite some time. I don't really look forward to working days near as much as I do nights. I, however, decided to make the most of it. I pulled out the WARRANTS list and decided to grab another officer and knock on some doors. The first few did not answer, but we struck it rich when I located a pair of brothers with several warrants each. Most were simple traffic warrants but one brother had a $2,000 warrant. I hooked them both up. After that I was checking warrants on several other people but was not having a whole lot of luck when a guy drove past that I know is always in trouble. I quickly ran his name and it showed 5 warrants and a suspended drivers license. By the time I had the info he had jumped out of his truck and ran into the house. I got back-up, and knocked on the door. It was no suprise that he did not answer. The problem for him is that now I know everything about him. Where he works and where he lives. Also, I know all of his vehicles and even where is parents live. The warrants are all pretty good too, one is for bail jumping. I know that it a good warrant because the bail bondsman see that as a money issue for them. But, he got away today. He hid inside the house. I know that he was worried tough and I also know that I will run into him when the time is worse for him. It just gave me those feelings like he was playing a game and now I am going to play too. Kinda like Cat and Mouse. I got a lot of praise from the Sgt. today, as he likes to see these warrants get handled. I like to do them as well, because ontop of an arrest, the paperwork for a warrant is minimal. Always a plus. One responsibility unique for day shift is that we feed the prisoners. While I am warming up thier TV dinners in the Microwave, I like to chat with them. Kinda get a background, where they are from, and why they are here. I guess that its like a whose who of the bad guys. Although most are not "bad", most are on drugs, or abuse alcohol, plain and simple that's the root of 99% of thier problems. Its refreshing to see the life they lead and the values that they have. Then I never feel sorry for my self. Some are pretty bad off. I usually try to be as kind as possible while they are in jail, because I know that in the next 20 years I WILL run into most of them when they have an advantage over me. I guess that I am also simpathetic too because, as bad as it sounds, many of the people I grew up with are just like these people. I remember a lot of people with the Exact same personalities as many of the inmates and I must admit, I was never treated badly when growing up. Whew, enough of the real-life stuff. Back to the police stuff. For the most part today went by rather quickly. I stayed busy and out of trouble. I guess that we will see how Monday after a long weekend goes. There is sure to be a lot of paperwork type of calls. Stay in touch, Russell http://www.lifeonthebeat.com Second Try Last Night's Shift 1-4-99 A quick note to all new subscribers. I would love to her your "police stories". Please email them to me and if it is ok I will post them on the Police Stories page on my website. Also anyone with a personal website.......send me the URL and a brief description and I will add it to mt subscribers links page. What a fun day. I think that you all know that I am not big into working days, but since I have come to days I have had a ton of fun. There is a lot of things Unique to days that you cannot do at night. For example, during the day you can see the bad guys driving blocks away. Then you know who is out and about. At night its too dark to see anyone unless you are right on top of them. Also on weekend days most people are home and you can knock on their doors so that you can serve a warrant. At night they shy away from hauling someone to jail on a warrant, unless you stop them out on the street somewhere. As for today, if you all remember, yesterday I was following a guy and calling in for dispatch to check his warrants. Well, just as they read them to me over the air, this guy stopped and runs into his house and locks the door. When I knocked, he would not come out. So, today, I drove past his house several times. Suddenly, I saw him. He bolted into the garage. I called out for back-up but chased after him any way. I could not tell if he went into the house but, I thought that he went out the back of the garage. I was extra cautious, because this guy is somewhat unpredictable. I looked out into the backyard and saw him hiding behind the brick that jets out of the rear of the house for the chimney. I calmly walked up to him and started talking ot him until my buddy arrived. We got him into cuffs and bingo ---3 large warrants now served. He bailed out of jail about an hour later. I want to give him a nickname so that if I run into -------wait------so that WHEN I run into him again, you'll all know. Lets call this guy T.J. After this I took a stolen car report from a local car dealership. Heck, they are so huge, the guy was not entirely sure that the car was stolen or not. It was a joke , but I took the report for him. Just as I was clearing this call, a plain clothes officer did a traffic stop on a car. The driver of the car ran into some yards. I was 10 seconds out. We looked and looked but could not find the guy. (Boy, would a K9 have been nice.) Well, as I was getting ready to go I stopped and talked to this lady and her teenage kids who had been watching all of the activity. I explained what we were looking for and she seemed interested. She thanked me for letting her know why there was a bunch of cops running through the area. I left there and was headed back to the office to do reports when I stopped off at a good friend of mine's workplace. We were chatting for a minute when the call came out that the lady I had talked to saw the suspect. Her kids snuck behind him giving details of where he was going. I was the first one there. Luckily he did not see me. I hid behind the car wash and watched as he was making phone calls. Back-up arrived and the guy went into the bathroom. This was perfect, because we were able to set up and pounce on him as he came out of the bathroom. We cuffed him up and took him to the "greybar motel". Uh.....Jail. I was meeting another officer at a local quickie mart when I looked up and guess who I saw driving his car home!!!! It was T.J.--I told you that I would run into him again. I flagged him over and chewed him for driving on a Suspended Drivers License. I just did not have it in my heart to hammer him and take him to jail for driving on suspension, so I let him park it and walk home. I guess that I finally got the last laugh. What a day. I had a ton of fun.......I am actually hoping for a slow one tuesday.....Its finally my friday after 5 out of the last 6 days. Russell Today's Shift 1-09-99 First things first, today is my moms birthday.....I think that she must be about 29 or so..........:-) This morning was quite the same as last weekend. Most of the morning was spent knocking on doors and tracking people down. This is just one thing that is fun to do on day shift. When I worked graves there is no way a Sgt. would let you get away with knocking on a persons door looking for a warrant. The weekend days are usually pretty mellow. The traffic is light and there are less businesses open, thus less problems there. One thing that it seems that there is an increase in is family fights. I guess that it stands to reason that because people are all at home they are naturally going to fight and argue. Today I was able to track a guy down that I had looked for last week. He had two warrants. What was funny was the fact that last monday I was able to contact him on the telephone. I told him that Sat. morning I was going to come pick him up of the warrants had not been paid. So, this morning I knocked on his door (I never thought in a million years that he would answer, I wouldn't have). I was probably more surprised than he was when he opened the door. He went to jail and later bailed out. Case closed. (With a giggle all the way to the station, to myself of course). I responded to a family fight between brothers. Now, this one was very interesting because there is a lesson to be learned. As I arrive a guy flags me over and says that his brother has changed the locked to the apartment where they both live and both pay rent. In this state if both are paying rent then both have the same right to stay in the apartment. Explained that and several other legal issues that he had. He then said that his brother knows several cops. His brother had threatened to have these cops come over and arrest him. Well, this kinds got me interested.....I asked how he knew the "cops". He explained that his brother works at the local GYM and several officer routinely go in to workout there. I just laughed, this time out loud. You see, that is the gym where I occasionally go to workout. I know his brother, because he offered all law enforcement a certain percentage off on supplements. What was interesting was the fact that in effect he thinks that WE now owe him something. I then went directly up to the apartment and first set the guy straight on the apartment situation and then asked about his "cop" friends. He quickly stated, "Hey, I know you. You come into the gym all the time". (Now, I know he is sucking up--because I only wish that I was in the gym 'all the time') Anyway, I was able to clear up any misunderstanding and I added that it was critical that he never confuse his generosity to the officers for and kind of favoritism. He agreed and was nice about it, but it is a very touchy situation when it comes to thing like this. Many departments have strict policies forbidding an officer to accept any kind of discount or freebie, because of similar situations. One other call that came in today was a repeat of several weeks ago. If you remember, I responded to a call of a female who claimed that her husband had punched her in the face. When I arrived, he barricaded himself and a baby in the apartment. Well, this afternoon the exact same thing happened. It is a joke. This guy is a real problem. I just pray that one of these times he does not decide to change the way these situations have been turning out. Today, he again let officers inside after some tense moments, but this time there was evidence that he had struck her--He went to jail. I hate to make it personal, but I was happy to see him finally go to jail. The bad part of the situation was that I guarantee that this is not the last time we will deal with this guy. Russell Today's Shift 1-10-98 Today was a very slow day. In briefing they talked about a traffic accident that occurred. A 21 year old girl fell asleep on the freeway. She ran off the roadway and hit a barricade. She died instantly. I guess that it was a terrible site, some of the officers were in a somber mood because of it. I guess that things like that are hard on everybody involved. As for my day I knocked on several doors. I had a warrant list and went out looking again. I was lucky enough to be able to serve 4 warrants. I think that its quite fun to serve warrants. Some of them are outstanding for thousands of dollars. The only thing that I did today that is really note worthy is a medical call that I responded to at a local church. Some guy was having chest pains. I was right in front of the church when the call came out. He thought that he was having a heart attack. I just tried to get him some space (isn't that what they do on TV?----"Give the guy some air!!"). So that's what I said too. I thought that it sounded good, and the people all moved back several feel. I was quite proud. :-) After that I kinda asked a few questions, I mean the guy was fully functional. Breathing well and talking just fine. He said that he had pain in his arm. His color was fine as well. Just as I was starting to run out of questions, the paramedics arrived. Whew. Can you tell that I am a COP and not a doctor........That was a choice. I am just not the doctor type. I guess that my problem is that as a Cop I get lied to so much I just feel like the patient is lying----for attention or something. I dunno. Needless to say, the guy lived. Although the paramedics felt Ok about letting his wife drive him to the E.R. to get checked out, he still insisted that they take him in the ambulance. I am afraid that for the next several weeks it is going to be slow like this, maybe something more exciting will happen tomorrow. See ya. Russell Life on the beat 1-18-99 I am back. About a week ago the company that I do email through CRASHED!! They lost all of the information of several thousand accounts. I told them that my whole life is tied into my email. I told them how important it was that I get working email again.....Well its finally going. I have been out of service for about a week now. It's funny how much I missed sending you all daily updates. Every call I went on I thought..."This would be a great addition to Last Night's Shift..." then I'd remember that I had no email. I called them everyday to complain, they re-added all of the email information in alphabetical order. Meaning that I was near the end. Ok, enough rejoicing.....I AM BACK!!!! All email that was sent to me over the last week is LOST in cyberspace, please re-mail anything that you sent. I work on Tuesday and then have 3 days off, then back to work on Sat. I will be sending Last Night's Shift starting tomarrow. Russell Today's Shift 1-19-99 It's good to be back online. I was going crazy not being to read new emails. Today started off slow but ended up with a bang. During briefing a call came out of a 92 year old female not breathing. I responded along with the paramedics. They started CPR and then the nurse told them that the family advised not to revive. Now, this places all of us in a bad situation, because there is a question of life and death. The liability of letting her die and then the nurse being wrong is enormous, even if she is 92. Just as it became a problem, the patients son arrived and confirmed what the nurse had said. The paramedics transported the lady to the hospital. I heard later that she was revived and was doing fine. Go figure. After that I made a few traffic stops. I was in one of those moods and gave mostly all warnings. There was a call of a truck on fire!!! I was called to respond. (Like I could do anything) But, I still went. The vehicle owner had doused the fire when we got there. It smelled bad and after I made sure the fire guys did not need anything, I left. I said that the day ended with a bang, so here goes. About 2:30 dispatch called and radioed that I had a visitor at the station. This is real common and so it was not a big deal. I asked for the visitor's last name and there was a long pause. Finally a voice replied that there was not a last name. We have 2 new dispatchers so I thought something is up but no big deal. As I went into the station I stopped and assisted another officer on a traffic stop and then casually went in. All along I had a feeling something was wrong. I asked on the computer what was up and they said that they could not advise. This was real strange because they never send us somewhere without telling all that they know. When I got to the station they advised to go downstairs to dispatch. Everybody was looking at me so now I knew that something was wrong. I got into dispatch and they all said that I was in big trouble. Since, I KNEW that I had not done anything I looked for flowers or balloons from my wife. None. Just then I saw my wife, mom and step dad standing in the corner. I was so surprised. I have not seen my mom for nearly 2 years!!!!! She moved away to Texas and has been there ever since. I was surpised!!!!!!! Wow, what a treat. Anyway she has not seen my new house and is coming over right now. So, I have got to go. Russell :-) Today's Shift 1-23-99 Today was quite slow--for me. It seemed that there was a lot of calls out on the radio but not a whole lot going on. I did a few traffic stops in the morning. Mainly I was practicing my officers safety. I would make sure that I pulled up correctly behind a suspect car. Call out the stop location and plate munber of the car ahead of time--so that I would be able to get right out of the patrol car when they stopped. I was careful on my vehicle positioning. All of these thing are things that are easy to relax on as an officer, but all are critical officer safety points. There are a lot more----even after the approach, and I tried to use as much caution as possible. I got a call of a problem between some roommates. It seems that we (police) were at the home sometime during the night on a call of a fight between the same two roommates. They were in a fist fight over one of their radio's being too loud. Officers got it all calmed doun last night, but when one of the roommates went out this morning--his tires had been slashed. It was pretty obvious who the suspect was. That is when I was called. The suspect was not there at the time so I took the report. A few hours later, the suspect calls for us to stand by and keep the peace while he picks up his belongings. We did, and I questioned him about the tires. Obviously he denied any involvement and cannot believe that I would think that he was a suspect. Ya, right. After that there was a call of a huge fight in progress in the parking lot of a shopping complex. Several officers raced down to help out, but there was not a disturbance at all at the location. Now, this kind of call scares me. Because as officers we are somewhat shorthanded as it is, but when officers are respondeing out of area to a bogus call, who knows if we are being set up for a bank robbery at the other end of town. That concerns me. There was a few more small calls, but nothing very interesting. I guess that this a tipical DAY on day shift. A lot of traffic problems and very little "action". That's just fine I guess, I go back to grave's in a month and a half. :-) Russell Today's Shift 1-24-99 Just a few items of business. First of all I want to tell everyone that I read EVERY single email that I receive. The problem that I am having is TIME. I am sorry that I am unable to reply to everyone who writes. I want to make it clear that it is important that you reply, because it is your responses and input that keeps me motivated to keep writing. Right now my life is very busy. I work ten hour shifts, then come home to be a husband and a father. Now to business. Work had really gotten hairy. In the last several weeks we have had some very tense situations. For example, one Sergeant, who I feel pretty close to, responded to a call of a forgery in progress and when he arrived the guy pulled a guy out and committed suicide. There was some tense moments in that whole ordeal. Then another Sergeant responded on a guy threatening to kill his family. That lead to a high speed chase and a foot chase. As officers neared the subject, he turned and pointed a weapon at 2 officers. They were forced to shoot and kill the subject. Then one of my close friends responded on a suicidal subject, when he arrived the subject threatened the officer (who arrived before his back-up and was forced to confront the subject), with a huge kitchen knife. This officer, very new to the streets, did everything correct, but by all rights was justified in using deadly force. At one time it appeared as if the subject had actually fatally stabbed his own mother. Three officers risked their lives to disarm the subject. The bad part was that the father was upset that they were too rough taking the subject into custody. The new officer, I'll call him, R.O., still goes over that in his mind. Stating that he cannot believe how close he was to shooting that guy. Then this week while I was off duty, an officer responded to a "routine" alarm. When he arrived he saw a suspect inside the business. The suspect rammed a police car with the getaway car and an high speed chase followed. The suspect then fired several shots at the pursuing officers. After he crashed he car jacked a lady at gunpoint and got away. The detectives and major crimes taskforce were able to apprehend the suspect only a few hours later. I guess that the point of going over these stories has brought a lot of feelings to the surface. I wonder about shooting a suspect. I know that if the time came I could do it. I know that I would be able to handle the fact that I did something that devastating, eventually. But, at the same time, as a police officer I know the ramifications of a justified shooting. First of all, the police officer almost always is made out to be the bad guy by the media. He is the one risking his life, yet papers are not sold by telling stories about good guys and hero's. Papers are sold by finding controversy and scandal. The media is quick to hop on the RACISM topic as well. Never are stories like the following example published: Yesterday, I met another officer after work for a quick bite to eat, two other officers happened to arrive at the same time. While standing in line a small boy--4 years old or so comes up and starts to stare at all of us. We all smile and start talking to the kid. One officer E.E., pulls out a sticker that looks like a badge and gives it to the boy. Another officer, W.C., talks to the boy and answers several questions, like "what's that" (as the kid points to the officers badge) "and that" (this time the kid points to the officers gun magazines on his belt). "That's where he keeps extra bullets" says the third officer, R.C. The kid seemed to glow. Just then I looked up and saw a person with a video camera. The kids family was so impressed at the interaction that he felt the need to grab a video camera. The whole thing was caught on tape. We all seemed to scatter from the view of the camera, smiling, of course. We ate and left. I am sure that the boy will remember that. On the same token, that kind of interaction will go overlooked by the media. You'll never read about stuff like this in a newspaper and the father will never make money selling that tape to Channel 4 news. I apologize for getting on a "soapbox", but I wanted to get some of the thoughts and emotions that a police officer feels, in the REAL world. The purpose of this email list is to give others a chance to see inside the life of a police officer. Next order of business. On the "message board" at my site http://www.lifeonthebeat.com a female wrote a message titled HELP "Umm, I really am looking forward to being a cop one day. I know I can handle it. But I want to know what I am going to be getting myself into. Good, bad?............." I was saddened by a response that one gal replied. The reply stated: "Hi, All I can say is if this is was you choose for your future realize its very hard on the family. My soon to be ex received officer of the year last week, but he lost his family in the process......Divorce final next month." I am sure that the reply is genuine, but it is yet another tough reality of police work. I must admit I have a long way to go before I win any kind of officer of the year awards, but at the same time I will say that my marriage is a good and strong as it has ever been. I think that police work is hard on families but, with commitment and dedication there is no reason that a cops marriage should be any more tough that anyone else's. Now on to today's shift. It was a Sunday, day shift, need I say more. Ya, it was slow. I started out the shift driving around looking for anything suspicious or out of place. It began to snow and all that did was make very little amount of traffic on the roadway even less. The snow was a wet cold snow. I really did not have a whole lot of desire to get out of the car, stand in that crap and write a citation. So I just made my presence known by flashing the overheads at speeding motorists. :-) One interesting call I received was on a complaint of a vehicle playing loud music. Normally this is a rather boring call but in police work nothing is routine. The reporting party called to report that an S10 pick up has been driving by his house and it slows down and the driver turns up the radio to extreme levels. I arrived and did not hear anything nor did I see the suspect vehicle. I decided to sit for a few minutes and do my other reports while waiting to see if the pick up returned. Just as I looked over at the laptop a vehicle drove by---it was the suspect. He looked straight ahead at the complainants house and did not even see me sitting there. Just then he slowed down and I could see the passenger window coming down and then back up. The truck then sped off. I stopped the truck and asked the driver to step out. He stated that he was hot and that is why his friend rolled down the window. I gave him a line asking how stupid did he think that I was. Then I chewed his butt for a few minutes. He apologized and pleaded not to give him a ticket. He said that he had already gotten a disturbing the peace ticket for his radio and so on and so forth. I gave him the benefit of the doubt. No ticket. He promised to keep the music down. After that I went back and talked to the complainant. He came acrossed to me as a head hunter. Every car that he can hear from inside, he writes the plate number down. If he hears the same car again, he calls the police. I began to realize that he had probably gone out and yelled at these vehicle until it they are so annoyed by the guy that they purposely come by and turned up their music. I was a kid once and I would probably have done the same thing if some guy came out screaming at me all the time........hehehehhe I am just glad that I did not give a citation until I hear the whole story from the complainant. It all worked out for the best because the kid got the point that needed to be made. After that the day ended with a bang. Literally. Like I say there was a light snowfall all day. A female was driving east on a fairly wide road and she attempted to "time" the light turning green. The problem was, she arrived about 1 second too soon. A car was traveling north through a yellow light and she hit the other vehicle with full force. Luckily all involved were buckled. The only injury was a bloody nose. Both cars was towed away. The interesting point of this story is that female at fault was not insured. I am not sure if she realized that she is going to be responsible for paying for both vehicles. And the ambulance that responded and attended to the injured. :-() Whew, I know that if you read all of this you are glad that I shut up...........but I guess that it beats no email at all. hehehe. Russell Today's Shift(s) 1-2-99 Yes, as the subject line implies, I worked two shifts today. First at the City PD I worked 0700 until 1900 then I raced over to the college PD and worked from 1900 until 2300. My day was quite eventful. The first call of the morning was a traffic accident. One car broad sided a woman who had pulled out of a private driveway. It was a very devastating accident. The woman's car looked bad!!!!! She went to the hospital with head and neck injuries. It was a sight. Then just as we cleared to go grab a drink and wake up......another accident a few blocks away occurred. It was also a broadside collision. A vehicle ran a stop sign because she was late for work. ( I am not trying to pick on female drivers, hehehe, but the last three accidents I have been on have been females). Again this gal went tot he emergency room. I just directed traffic at both accidents so I am not sure of the details any further than I have already explained. Sorry, no blood and guts today. After this the young officer, R.O., got a call of an ungovernable juvenile. I backed him up. This 13 year old kid refused to do anything. He had a real attitude. I tried to be soo nice to the kid but even that did not work. I left the room to talk to mom and all of the sudden the kid popped out of the room and said Ok I am going to school. Surprised, Mom and I looked at each other. She then loaded the kid in her car and drove him to school. Later I asked R.O. what he had told the kid, but I don't think that I ever got a straight answer. R.O. did say that he had been involved on a case with the mother as a suspect and she told him at the time that she did not care for him. I laughed. It is a typical case of a person hating the cops when they are caught doing something wrong, but the first one to call when they need help. R.O had absolutely no problem helping her, but he knew that the paradox was there. I am still smiling about that. Mostly throughout the day I was busy unlocking car doors. I took about 6 or eight of these calls. Personally I like the challenge of getting into a locked vehicle. I guess that is the "Crook" coming out in me. I also like dealing with people in a positive manner. Very few times do we actually have a chance to effect people positively. There was a vandalism call and a found bike, but other than that there was not a whole lot going on. I did go on a family fight that turned out to be more of a custody arguing match. Too bad for the kids to have such ------ (insert your own adjective) for parents. At the college I pulled over a few cars and mostly listened to the veteran officer there talk about his job. He is a good guy and a very smart cop. I try to go there and learn from him. I think that he see's me on the "BIG" department and thinks that I don't respect him as much as I do........but I still listen to the lessons, and I learn too. I watched him do a couple of traffic stops. I was surprised how much officer safety he used. He was sharp, even though it is a slow place to work, he was still very safety conscious. I must admit that I am VERY tired and I get up in less than 6 hours to hit it all again. By the way, thanks for all of the responses from the last email I sent. I know that it was long winded but once and a while I get on that soapbox. By the way, I was listening to radio traffic tonight while working at the college and there was another ARMED robbery in our "SAFE" little town. No suspects in custody that I know of. Russell Today's Shift 1-31-99 Today was a long day. I started out peeling myself out of bed. I swear to myself each morning that I am going to go to bed early that night. It never happens and I doubt it will tonight. I am not a morning person AT ALL. I keep thinking that its only 1 more month until I go back to graves. Then I can sleep all day!! Nothing better than that. Anyway, I went into morning breifing and listened to what the grave shift had to pass on to us. They had a few fights and picked up a few people on warrants. Nothing big, thank goodness. Its time for a few nights in a row without a high speed chase or an armed robbery. I hate to say thing like the following sentence, but here goes. Today was a typical "day" shift. Lots of business alarms and even more 10-46's (keys locked in cars). Ya, we still open them for people. No biggie though, I like the challenge. I did respond on one family fight. I was the first officer at the scene. I waited outside and heard the male screaming at the top of his lungs. I was surely on my toes. It sounded as if the guy had really flipped out. As soon as back-up arrived a Sgt., we knocked on the door. Instant silence came from the inside of the home. For the next couple seconds I wondered what would happen next. finally the door opened. It was the male. He looked tense and was shaking. The Sgt. asked the female to step acrossed the room so that we could get a picture on if there was physical violence or if she and the kids were in danger. I stayed with the male. I asked him to take a breath and calm down. He said "I hate Cops, I hate 'em all" I told him that this is the first time that we had met and I promised to treat him excactly how he treated me. Normally this calms people down and they will try to show some patience instead of pure hatred. Luckily this guy was the same way. He began to calm down, however he was still trembling. I got all of his information. He then said that he had a cousin down the street and stated that he would go over to his house. That was a good idea. There was no physical violence (today) so we let him go. After we left I stayed nearby, because I figured that he would wait until we left and then return and be even more mad at her. He circled the block. When he saw me, he looked down an acted as if he hadn't. He turned around. Then I got another call so I left. I listened to the radio, waiting for him to return. We did not get called back there, although I thought that we would for sure. That call makes you realize that police officers put it all on the line EVERY day. That guy could have easily flipped out and changed the whole outcome of that call. Who knows what a person will do in that state of mind? Not him....Not me..... The call I took was a little fender bender, no problem. Girl saw all of the other cars begin to move after a red light so she went too. The problem was that the car in from of her stayed in the same place. After she hit it, she looked up----oops. No injuries though, so as far as I am concerned, no problem. The final call of the day turned out to be somewhat HAIRY. The family of a 20 year old male called to report him missing. I took the report and began to explain that we can look for him, but its not illegal for him to be missing. Then they told me about some "notes". When I read the 7 notes, they all referred to suicide. They were telling friends and family goodbye and apoligizing. Well, I have taken a lot of missing person reports and they always come back within a few days. I have not taken any reports though where there was detained goodbye notes left to all the family members. It took a while to check out several small leads but unfortunately for the family, we can't do much more than keep an eye out for the guy. I put out all of the attempt to locate information to other agencies, but after that I am pretty much stuck. With him being an adult all we can do is get lucky enough to find him, then ask him if he wants to call home. That case took a while because he had a journal with tons of references to depression and suicide. I hoped that there would be some clue to where he might be. My guess is that he is at one of two places. A friends house, or in the mountains. I'll keep you in touch. My gut feeling is that he will return by Mon. morning and there will be much rejoicing at his house. On paper it looks as if some poor cop is going to check on a suspicious vehicle and find a dead 20 year old male. Its weird too, reading that journal gives some insight into his life, but at the same time its kinda like he was planning on others reading it. More of a cry for help than anything. We'll see I guess. I promised myself to be in bed by 900 tonight--------ya right!!! Russell Today's Shift 2-1-99 I am a bit short on time again today...... I have been running to get into shape again. Several of the guys on the department are very big in marathon's. I don't know if I will ever make it up to that level, but we'll see. Today I ran seven miles with two of the guys after work. Today was very slow. I did not take many calls at all. There is one call that I do want to talk about. If you remember, on Sat. I took a missing person report on a 20 year old suicidal male. I explained how he left several notes to his family and friends. I was concerned because of the fact that he did not take extra clothes or money. This morning his sister called. She was very concerned. I spoke to her and explained that I was also concerned because I felt that if he was out trying to clear his head I think that he would have called by now. I felt that it was likely that he could return but, there is a growing chance that he may have done something terrible. A few hours later the father of the missing person called and wanted to talk to me. It seems that he and his wife flew back from a vacation out of the country. They were very concerned also because this is VERY out of the ordinary for this boy. We talked for a while and his mom cried. I felt bad for the parents. Well, this afternoon I got a call from the county sheriff. It seems that they located this guys truck. It was abandoned up in one of the canyons. There was no one around it and it appeared to have been there for several days. The county search and rescue responded along with several dogs. They even talked about getting an airplane up in the air to scour the hillsides. As soon as I heard that news I figured that there was little hope left. The family showed up at the scene and I wished them luck, but in all honesty I had NO IDEA what to say. I will check on the status of the search and update you tonight when I get home. At this point I think that there is virtually no chance that they will find him alive. Russell Today's Shift 2-3-99 What a night. Tragic, to say the least. I was called in tonight to work for another officer. Several officers are out on a State Police Officers Association Convention. Another officer called in sick too, so I was called in for overtime. I do not mind the over time, first of all because of the money and secondly, I want the higher ups to know that I am dedicated and willing to pull my own weight when it is needed. I came in to work a 3pm to 9pm shift. For all of the new subscribers and those that might not remember the details of the last couple emails. Here is a case that I have been involved in. On Sat. during day shift I got a call of a missing person. I responded and spoke the the sister of the missing adult male. I told that because he is 20, there has not been a criminal act that we can investigate, but I will put the work out for other agencies to at least look out for him and his vehicle. But, since he is an adult he has the right to take off with out the police looking for him. Saturday the sister was very concerned. She then told me about several "suicide" letters that the boy had written. When I saw these I became a bit more concerned about the case. They were pretty basic, no details just apologies for what he was about to do. There was also a journal with several entries. I read most of it. It was VERY dreary and depressing. It gave me a sick feeling---and I deal with stuff like this more that most people do. There was a few more small details about the case that I looked into that made me think that suicide was a serious possibility. Out of respect for the family and the missing person several details have been left out of this email. Two days later I received a message to call the sister. When I called she told me that he had not been seen or heard from since Thurs. and she was even more worried. I told her that I would make sure that the detective that was handling the case knew all of the details. I tried to make her feel a bit better. But, at the same time I explained that I was afraid that the odds of him returning were lessening. I told her that I still hoped that he was just out driving somewhere getting his thoughts straight. Just as soon as I hung-up, I received another message. This one was from his father and mother. They just flew in from out of the country. Instead of calling them I went to the home and spoke to them directly. The were concerned but still help out hope that all would work out. They asked about the letters and the journal. I told them that I did not mind if they read the letters at all. But, the journal, I suggested that they not read it. I told them that there was no good reason to read it. I told them that the person that wrote that was very confused and depressed. They agreed that they would not read the entries. That afternoon the father located the missing son's truck. It was up a local canyon, abandoned with snow covering it from the last couple of days snowstorms. Obvious that is was had been there since Saturday. (2 days before). A deputy from the local sheriff's department was in the area getting ready to check the truck because she had seen it there the night before. There was evidence in the vehicle that indicated that he was intending suicide by taking pills. Search and rescue responded and deployed, along with several dogs. The snow, however, made it difficult for a productive search. They searched all day Mon and Tue. Today, wednesday, I decided that I would drive past the parents home and see if there was any news or anything that we could do more. As I pulled up to the house a delivery van was out front. A young man was delivering flowers to the mother. Right away I knew. I walked up the sidewalk trying not to make eye contact. When I did look into her eyes I did not know what to say. I played dumb and said that I was there to "see if there was any new developments". My heart sank hard when she said that they had just informed her that her son's body had been found. I could see many family members sitting at a table, it was very quiet for so many people. The mother wept and I help out a hand. She squeezed it and said how thankful she was that I came by. She offered for me to join the family for a few minutes. The sister that I had spoken to was also standing with us. I looked at her. She looked heartbroken. Her eyes filled with tears. She said nothing. I told her that I was sorry. I looked at the mom and told her that I was glad that we at least knew where he was. At least we did not have to wonder anymore. She still wept. I asked about services and they said, "this Saturday. I them told them that I was really bust and needed to go. I lied. Then I left and got into my car and drove around the corner. I stopped the car and took a deep breath. The "COP" in me said "Quit it, your not supposed to get your feelings involved. Heck, the kid did it to himself, there was nothing anybody could have done". Then the husband, father, son, and brother, in me wanted to cry. I felt so bad for the family. I was mad at myself that I did not know what to say to the mom and sister. Everything I thought of sounded all wrong. I am glad that I said very little. After that I took a few calls. None seemed nearly as important as sitting there with the family to grieve. But, I am sure that I did the right thing. As I mentioned, I was scheduled to get off work tonight at 9pm. Just after nine I was getting sandwich, before heading to do my reports. About a block away there was a report of an auto pedestrian accident. I responded because I was close. I yelled at the clerk to just wrap that sandwich up and I would get it later. I dashed out and was the first one on the scene. There was a man on the roadway. His head was facing the curb and his legs were out into the lane of travel. He was on his side and his neck was bent in a strange position. A large group of by-standers was forming. I checked for breathing. He was obviously breathing. It was loud and heavy, it sounded as if he was really straining to breath. There was a trail of blood coming from his head running into the gutter. His friend was yelling at him to wake up, "DON'T DIE" the friend yelled. Then I was another person on the ground. It was an adult female. She was hysterical. Very hysterical. She was laying on the sidewalk and there was people trying to calm her down. I radioed the rescue units---paramedics---and updated them "major head injury, not conscious, however he is breathing" Damn I forgot to check for a pulse, oh well what if he had none. Would I have moved him? Uh, Ya? Yes I would have risked further injury to get a pulse. Ok, not the paramedics arrived. I called for another ambulance for the female. She was showing signs of shock------ok she was in shock, no question. Knowing that there was nothing that I could to help the guy in the street, I decided to make sure that the female driver could be helped. The paramedics began to work on the man and I got the female into the rear of my car. I just tried to get her talking. I told her that I needed her to calm down so that I could help the man further. I asked if there was family I could call for her. She was calming down when another officer came over and said her name. It seems that he knew her. She looked at him and went hysterical again. She was blaming herself for hitting the man. It seems that he and another man was running acrossed the street together. She saw the movement and slammed on her brakes. It was too late. She struck one of them directly. His head hit her windshield. He then flew through the air landing on the pavement. I gave the friend of the victim a ride to the hospital. On the way to the hospital, he was crying. He said, "officer, do you believe in God", I said "Ya"., He said "say a prayer for my friend". He begged me. I never answered. He was able to contact friends and the victims family. I talked to the victims brother. I told him "I am not going to lie to you. It does not look good". His face was STONE. I wished him and his family luck. "I hope that it all works out". I know that the chances are very slim. When I was leaving the hospital, I asked one doctor what he thought. He said that if he was a betting man, he'd bet that the victim is not going to make it. I finished my reports at midnight. So, much for 3-9. Russell Today's Shift 2-6-99 Today was my monday, and it started off like one too. I woke up on time and was out the door early. But my personal car that I drive to work had a flat tire. Luckily, my wife had the day off so she was able to give me a ride to work. There would never have been time to change a tire and clean up in time. I arrived about a half hour early and got caught up on the past three days of crime in the city. In the squad room there is a summary of all of the notable calls. In briefing the night Sergeant passed on the information from his shift. The biggest thing he reported was a road rage incident that involved three vehicles and about 15 people. There was a physical fight that ensued. Several people were interviewed and some arrested. My first call was a traffic accident. A truck was attempting to cross a busy street when his foot slipped off the clutch. He stalled right in front of a car traveling at about 45 mph. Luckily, the driver of the car saw the truck and swerved. the problem was that the car slammed right into a cement wall. The driver was fine, but his car sustained some major damage. After that the day was really slow. I was called on several times to unlock car doors and such. It seems that every door gave me trouble. Normally it only takes a few seconds, today, however was a different story. I made a few traffic stops. I wrote one guy for no insurance. That is one of my pet peeves. I just hate to investigate injury accidents and find out that the person at fault has no insurance. So, I don't give a lot of leeway. Another ticket that I wrote was to a gal that was speeding. She was 47 mph in a 25 mph. 22 over. There was several kids nearby and a jogger that I pointed out to her when I stopped her. She began to cry. I gave her a ticket anyway. One funny (to me) call I took was a Stand-by-keep-the-peace civil dispute between a husband and wife. The husband called to report that his wife had taken his check and put it in her purse then went to work. He wanted me to go get it from her. I kinda lowered my eyebrows and looked at him with that "Are you kidding me look". I think that he got the picture, but I could be wrong. I did go ask her about the check. Then she started crying. I could not believe it. It must be the alignment of the stars or something. Anyway, she said that she hid the check at home so she could pay bills. I told him that and off he went. Case solved. Reminds me of a couple of 6 year olds going to Mommy to solve a dispute. That was about it. One heck of a slow day. That OK I guess, you need these type of days to make the other days even out. Russell Today's Shift 2-8-99 Today was a lot of fun. It seemed like every call I took was very interesting. Each morning at briefing we are assigned our area's (beat), for the day. The most senior officer picks an area, then the next most semior guy and so on until the rookie gets the last area available. It seems that Center area is the "rookies" area. Most veteran's take the North area because it is a bit slower up there for the most part. We usually have 3 area cars and 2-3 cover or back-up cars. I am usually allways an area car, but I have enough seniority not to be stuck with center. The disadvantage in Center area is that whenever a person reporting a crime wants phone contact, Center car makes that call and takes the report. This usually means more paperwork. Today, however, I was in a very ambitious mood. When it came my turn to choose an area I took center. My good friend, R.O. looked at me, I smiled. That meant that he was the south car. The look he gave me was priceless, it was as though I was asking for trouble taking center. You see, I said I was ambitious, but thats not the whole truth. I knew that today was monday and there is an officer recovering from an injury. I knew that he would get all of the phone contacts because he is kinda the office boy while recovering. Shhhhhhh. As it turned out, I took very few calls. Good planning huh? What I decided to do was patrol some area's where we get higher crime. Also I ran radar in area's where citizens complain about speeders. When I got a bit bored, waiting for a speeding vehicle to come along I looked up some warrants on my laptop. For those long time subscribers you'll remember a subject that I seem to run into frequently. I call him, T.J. A few weeks back I was following T.J and ran his drivers license---it showed suspended and also showed several warrants. By the time I recieved all the information he pulled into his driveway and ran into the house. I knocked on the door, but he refused to come out. The next day I arrested him. I explained that he should not hide from me, but he should take care of his tickets so that they do not go to warrant. He gave me a hard time and called me a few choice names. I booked him in jail anyway. I warned him about his suspended drivers license. He just laughed and did not think much of it. A few hours later he bailed out of jail. I just happened to be meeting with another officer in a parking lot when I saw TJ drive by. This was the very same day. I stopped him and took mercy on him, no citation and I did not arrest him. Well, the point of this story was that today I checked warrants in TJ and guess what--2 of them. One warrant for $500 and one non-bailable. I dove by his house and saw his vehicle. I figured that there was no chance he would open the door butI thought that I would give it a shot anyway. I called for back-up. R.O. responded and I knocked on the door. I was shocked when TJ answered the door. To be honest, he was shocked too. To make a long story (filled with profanities from TJ) short.....I booked him in jail again. Again I told him that I had seen him driving around time 3 different times and his drivers license is still suspended. This time he did not laugh, although I think I did, quietly. Another call I took was a civil matter between a husband and wife. This is THE WORST divorce that I have ever seen. These two are at each others throats, literally. Several weeks ago we responded on a family fight. Since that time they have split and are now going through divorce. The problen is that they keep agrivating each other. They live at different locations but, that does not seem to help. Last week I took a call where she said that he was stealing mail and items from her business, then she reported the fax machine gone. Then her house was mysteriously burgarized. Then Yesterday he called after reportedly seeing her flee from his vehicle with an armload of items. Then today he came in to file auto-burglary charges. To tell you the truth, they are both playing games---the problem is that I personally--and I am sure other officers too---are getting tired of being the pawns for these two. We continue to take the reports, but in this state they are still married and all of the property is joint property. That means that there is not a criminal matter if they take things from each other. They both have restraining orders and protective orders, but they both violate the orders so much that we cannot decide who should be arrested for the violation. I think that we should arrest them both, then stick them in the same cell for a week. When they get it all worked out, then we let them out. Just kidding of course. I keep thinking, only 3 weeks left till I go back for 4 months of graves. I cannot wait. Graves seems to get more calls in progress and more interesting calls. It sure seems easier for me to write these emails to you when I am on graves. Talking about a no insurance ticket does'nt peak my interest either. By the way, I have been working on a few graphics for the web site. The whole site should be revamped slowly this month. Russell 2-10-99 Injured! I hope I got your attention. Hehehe, calm down its not what you think. :-( I am totally depressed. Tuesday, when I last worked, I was having a great day. I was in a great mood. I took a lot of interesting calls and write several citations (for a change) and then bang. I am injured. I suppose that it sounds worse that it actually is, but it is still a bad situation. It was the end of my shift. I contacted two other officers and said to meet for a quick bite to eat. (because it was busy we did not have a chance to stop for lunch) One of these officers called out on a "10-46" (motorist assist) I told him that I was nearby and I'd come help him out. It was a stalled car in the roadway. When I arrived we both hopped out of our cars and began to push the car out of the intersection and into a gas station. While pushing the car I felt a twinge in my left knee. It hurt but was not extremely painful. I did not give it a whole lot of thought at the time so I went and ate with the to officers. Afterwards I finished up my reports and went home. That night I noticed that it was beginning to get more and more painful. Still, I thought that it was no big deal. Then this morning when my alarm went off, (for a shift at the college) I could not even move my leg. It hurt SOOOO bad. I could not believe it. I called for my son to come in an at least shut off the alarm for me because I honestly could not straighten me leg. I called my wife at work and she helped set a Dr's appointment. He looked at it and explained that I probably had torn cartilage in my knee. I seriously could not believe it. I mean I watch sports all the time. And I see these knee injuries and I think--"what a baby, he makes millions of dollars. He should tough it out." I am here to say that it won't happen. The pain when I bend my leg shoots all the way into me foot. Anyway he set me up with an orthopedic surgeon. I then went in to talk to the risk manager. She was furious with me. (We are friends and I think that she was mad because I screwed up and I should have known better, because she had personally explained what to do when I get injured) You see, because the injury was job related I am supposed to go see her---BEFORE I go to the doctor. Anyway she calmed down and set me up with the cities doctors. I am glad that we are friends though, because technically the city is no longer liable if I don't report the injury correctly. I think that it will all work out though. Now I am scheduled to go to her surgeon tomorrow to find out what is next. Probably, though I will have my knee scoped. Same day surgery and then several days of light duty. That's where the problem lies----light duty SUCKS. I am not sure how else to out it. All I get to do now is take telephone reports. If I am very lucky I will get to help out the detectives, but I am not sure about that. I am not sure what I will be able to report to you all for the next couple of weeks. I'll try to write again tomorrow after I see the surgeon. I think that the biggest problem out of this is the fact that we were already VERY shorthanded before this happened. Well, that's it for today's update. I am sooooo frustrated. Does this mean that I am getting old or what? (Injured pushing a car, its just not right) Now I have court in 5 hours, I had better try to get a wink or two in. Some of you may remember this case too. Let me give a few details of the case. I was called to a hit and run that had just occurred. Someone had struck a parked vehicle and then drove off. I responded and spoke to the owner of the parked vehicle. He was upset that someone would do this and not stay at take responsibility for the accident. I took the report and gathered the evidence from pieces of the suspect car that were left behind. As I was getting ready to leave to guys came over and told me that they know who did it. They gave a name and an exact description of the driver. They then said that they would show me where she lived. As I arrived at the home of the suspect, there was an officers already there. He said that she called in and reported that her vehicle had been hit. I asked her what had happened and she lied to me also. Finally I showed her the pieces of her car that I gathered at the other accident scene several blocks away. She still lied. Then I asked her a question. I said "Do you know if there was a baby inside that car when you struck it and drive away". She broke down, she stated how sorry she was and wanted to know if anyone was injured. I explained that no one was injured. She was given several small citations. Now it seems that she pleaded "not guilty". This is a slam dunk case as far as I am concerned. We have evidence, two eyewitnesses, and a confession. What else is there? We'll see at 0900 in the morning I guess. I am still bummed out, Russell Today's Shift 2-15-99 Light duty-----day one. Friday I had my knee "scoped". Everything went well and I basically walked out of recovery on my own when it was all over with. The doctor said that I had torn a ligament and bruised the inside of my knee. He said that there was also some old scar tissue floating around that he was able to clean out. All in all though he said that the surgery went as planned. I spent the weekend lying around and then went into work today, Monday. I kept a radio with me so that I could hear the calls that officers were being dispatched. It was hard to sit there in the office and not call out that I would be enroute for back-up. I wanted to be out there much more than stuck in the office. As far as the duty I had at the office, I took all of the calls where the complainant wanted telephone contact instead of an officer to come out. My calls consisted of two stolen bike reports, several people requesting fingerprints for background checks and a couple of found property reports. I was able to finish all of the follow-up and contact all of the necessary people involved, which is sometime hard when on patrol because of how busy an officer gets. So in that regard it was satisfying. The hardest part of the day is hearing it from all of the officers. Everyone has to give you their two cents. They all need to tell you how funny it is to them how you are stuck in the office. The name "hop-along" becomes familiar. But, all in all its not that bad. I guess that in a career most officers will spend some time in the office on light duty. I am just glad that I am in here for such a minor injury. It would be worse if I knew that I woul.d be here for sever months instead of several days. I did take one call from a teenager that said the another kid stole his $250 pair of roller blades. I was able to do some follow-up and if all goes right I will be able to charge the second teenager in the morning. It seems that the suspect has a habit of taking items from other people and never having suffer the consequences. I was able to contact a the parent of the suspect. She told me that she will bring her son in so that I can talk to him in the morning. I will definitely consider that a success if I am able to make an arrest while stuck in the office. As far as the knee, I am sure that I will be ready to go back on the road in 10 days. I am looking forward to that day, but at the same time I know that there is no reason to rush out there and risk further injury, something that will effect me in the future. Sorry for such a boring email, but I guess injury is part of the reality of police work. Thanks for all of the get well wishes and thoughts. I do really appreciate your thoughts. Russell Today's Shift 2/22/99 I thought that I would drop everyone a quick note. I have not written in a while because I did not want to sound like a broken record when I explained that nothing exciting happened today. All last week I was on light duty. I was limping around the station, taking whatever busy work they had. I took several walk in calls but whenever a call looked like it might amount to some fun, I had to refer it to another officer to follow up on. I want to thank everyone for their "get well" wishes. I read them all and tried to reply as well. Thanks a lot. I am getting ready to head to the Dr. this morning to see how much longer I will be on light duty. I had my knee "scoped" on the 12th. He said that it was quite bruised and there was a small tear on a tendon , along with some old scar tissue that he cleaned out. I could tell the next day that my knee felt better than it did the day of the surgery. Today is a check-up, I am not sure how extensive though. I have been practicing all weekend to get a full range of motion, so that I don't have a limp when I go in. I guess that there are three possibilities that can happen. First, he will sign my waiver and I can run home and throw on my duty belt. Second, he will sign the waiver for me to return next Sat. for full duty, or he may possibly ask me to do some physical therapy for a week or so, then return to full duty. Either way, he needs to sign a waiver for me to return to full duty. I am very hopeful that I can get back out on the street ASAP!!!! I will send an update as soon as I get off duty today. Again, thanks for all of the advice and support. Russell Today's Shift, part 2 2-22-99 As I explained this morning I had a doctor's appointment. I did not think that the doctor would release me because after the surgery he stated that he thought I would be out 2-4 weeks. It has only been ten days. Well, I went in and sat on the little table and waited for him to come in. All the time I was waiting I was trying to only think of positive things to say. I know that I am not 100% but I just cannot stand being stuck in the office. It is so boring. When he came in he asked, "How are you doing?", I just smiled and said "Great". He asked about my knee and I told him that I thought that it was doing really well. Then he tweaked and bent, pushed and pulled. He asked if there was any pain and I said "No". I then explained how badly I wanted to get back to work. I explained how bad it is in the office all day and how shorthanded they are on the street. He talked about physical therapy and I told him that I thought that I was coming along just fine. He said that I seemed pretty active and PT might not be too much more than I was already doing. Then I popped the question, I asked if he would sign the ever important release. He did!!! Period. I tried to hide the little bit of a limp that I had left while going out to my car. I was so happy. I knew that once I had the release I was home free. I then contacted the SGT. and told him that I was released and would run home and get the duty gear on. Once on duty I gave copies of the release to all the appropriate people and checked 10-8 (available for calls). Boy, that was a great sound. I did not know how much I missed saying it. My day started of quite easy. Several calls to unlock cars doors. I like doing these type of calls because it is one of the rare times in my job where everyone is happy to see me arrive and do my job. Most cars are quite easy to get into as well, so most people thank me when I leave. I guess that I feel like I saved them $50 from a locksmith and did not charge them $50 for some type of traffic violation. My patrol car was having some small problems. I think that the steering pump is going out. The soonest that the shop can work on it is Wednesday. Which, actually works out because it my next day off. I did not stop many violators today, I am not sure why. I guess that I felt that I did not want to ruin anybody else's day when mine was so bright. Late in the day another officer told me about a guy with two warrants out for his arrest. I knew the guy and know where he lives. The problem is that he is kind of a friend of the family. At first I thought that I would drive by his place and call another officer to do the dirty work. What happened was different. As I drove up the street where he is staying, he was right there. I looked up the warrants and they totaled $1700. I stopped and talked to him. Unfortunately, he recognized me and called me by name. I had already explained that I was going to be out with him so back up was on the way. I talked to him for a minute and then explained the reason that I was there. He said that the warrants were not valid and so on. I explained that if they are on the state system that we use, then they are valid. I arrested him and took him into jail. The warrants were obviously too much for him to pay for today, so he will stay in till court in the morning. I felt somewhat bad because of the family thing, but at the same time I felt more that justified because this guy was always causing trouble. He is known as a common thief around the PD. Having been picked up several times for theft of everything from guns to cars. I guess that the biggest problem is that my daughter goes to the baby-sitter right near where he is now living. He even mentioned her when we were talking before I arrested him. That makes me very nervous. I have to take my daughter back to the sitter in the morning. Luckily, I am going to graves in two weeks and she will not have to go there after that because of the schedule that my wife has. Until I go back to graves though I am somewhat concerned for her safety. When I got home tonight I explained to my daughter, the best that I possibly could. What the situation was. She cried because I told her who I had taken to jail. She has talked to him before and is so trusting. I finally downplayed it so that she thinks that he only has to fill out some papers before he returns home. This is a tough position for me to be in. I keep thinking that I probably should have handled this differently. Well, so much for a great return to duty. Russell Today's Shift 3-1-99 I guess that most of you have noticed that I have slacked off a bit. Well, I worked several hours recently on my second job and I have not had time to write every day. I will try to catch you all up on the last three days. I am currently working Day Shift. :-( It is really tough for m to write the message after a day shift because there are so many other husband and father duties that come at 5 pm when I normally get home. So without further adue---------(If thats how you say it, hehehe) Today, Monday was abnormally slow. I personally do not like to work Monday day shift. I feel like it is clean up detail after the weekend. Mondays are the day that people drive thier cars that have been idle all weekend, and find out that thier $2000 stereo system is missing. And business owners come in to find that thier front window has been shattered and the business ram-sacked. But, today was not the typical Monday. I started out the day by taking an abandoned vehicle report. Early in the morning hours it stared raining. Let me tell you something-----its a secret-----Cops hate to be rained on---I am no different. Unless, it is a major mistake by a driver, I tend to look the other way. Most of the day in the rain I just cruise through business parking lots. Letting business owners see my presence. About 1100 or so R.O. and I stopped for a burger. We talked about how slow it was and how tomorrow starts his weekend. He just bought a new house so he is busy moving in and unpacking. One call today was very interesting. Dispatch recieved a call of a young male threatening suicide. His mother called saying that he now had a knife. She told dispatch that he wanted the police to shoot him when he threatened them with a knife. (Ya, just what we need to hear. Not only does he want to end his life, but he wants to mess with a cop too. I think that is discusting. Most people don't realize that when a cop is involved in a serious incident, it messes many of them up for a career.) The call was in the north end of town and I was the "Primary North Officer", so I was unable to head towards the call. RO was center so he started that way. The day SGT started that way along with several other officers. It seems that the kid was very serious and disturbed. The mother explained to dispatch that he ran out of the house with the knife. The kid kinda disapeared for a while in some backyards. All of the officers looked through the area until, the SGT located the kid running up the street with the knife. I am not sure what happened at this point. The SGT called on the radio his location and the fact that the kid still had the knife. The radio was silent as all the officers in the area raced to the location. At this point you should always stay off the radio in case the officer at the scene needs to update the situation. Several seconds went by.........the the SGT said "I have him at gunpoint!" Sure it sounds fun to think about, but there is always a lot of stress in this situation. Entire lives can change in 1 split second. Finally he said "10-82"------prisoner in custody. Whew, back to reality. The rest of today was very slow, I took a family fight, but the female victim left the area before we arrived. The husband had hit her several times and reportedly cut her face. The witnesses said that she took off just as we arrived. I will follow up and send charges through the city attorney. I am just upset that this guy did not go to jail for such a terrible act. Ok, I am gettting yelled at. I will update you on SAT and SUN's events tomarrow. Russell Last Night's Shift 3-8-99 Today I updated the web site. I added several police stories. Also, I added more of the subscribers links to the "subscribers site" page. If you have a personal web site that you would like me to add as a link, please email me at Visit my page at http://www.lifeonthebeat.com Ohhhh...... I am so happy to be back on the night shift. The worst thing about coming back to nights from days is trying to stay awake and alert. Tonight, I think that I was so happy to be back that it was actually not a problem staying awake. Like a normal shift the night started of in briefing. The Lt. goes over all of the big calls of the previous shift. Tonight he talked about a family fight and a couple of stolen vehicles that we need to be on the look out for. Then came the part that made us all chuckle. It seems that one of the "regulars" to our jail is TJ I have had many dealings with TJ and some I have even described in previous mailings. I guess that earlier in the evening TJ was arrested for miscellaneous charges, which he quickly bailed out on. (Like normal) Then a few hours later, an officer attempts a traffic stop on a vehicle. The car took off and the chase was on. The officer called out that he was 10-80 (in Pursuit) of the vehicle. The car went east and then south into a residential area where there is a lot of new development. The bad thing (for the suspect) was that the road was now a dead end because of the recent construction. When he got to the end of the road a baggy of "meth" came flying out the window and he was then taken into custody. Over the radio the officer explained that the suspect---TJ---was in custody. I laughed because now there would be at least 2 felony charges on him and it is not possible for him to bail out on these charges. I think that he might get some serious time over this one. We'll see. After briefing I was assigned North area. I went out and got the ole laptop logged on and started out by checking businesses. Just then, about 15 minutes into the shift an armed robbery occurred. It was in the south end.......Oh, how I wanted to get in on a call like this. But, I knew that I needed to stay in the north to cover the calls up here. Also, there is a chance that this guy might hope we are all down south and run up here to do a second robbery. I listened as a perimeter was set up and the dogs were called in. Unfortunately, the dogs were not able to locate anybody. After a while another officer and I decided to meet in a parking lot behind a school to talk about how things just went down. We wanted to get on the same page and discuss if there was anything that we could do to catch the guy if he came into our area. As we arrived I spotted two males in the park area. They matched the description of the suspect EXACTLY. I did not think that they were involved (they were about 12 blocks away). But, they did seem very nervous. For officer safety purposes I patted down the subject that came towards me. He was more than willing to submit to the pat down after I explained my concerns. He said that he was 16 and was not doing anything. But, both of us could smell marijuana. The other officer patted down the other subject and a marijuana pipe was located. Both juveniles were immediately "sorry". I explained that we needed for them to be honest so that we could work with them and not against them. Both stated that they had been smoking "pot" at a party and were just walking home when they decided to stop at the park for a while. Both had obvious signs of being "high". Then both kids started at us with an attitude. They were being real lippy. I was surprised because both of us officers were going out of our way to explain that we were going to go as easy as possible. After they got mouthy though it was easy to just cuff them both and call mommy and daddy. Both sets of parents were just unbelievably mad at their respective sons. Both families were very religious and proper. The other officer handled the charges and parents, he told me not to worry about it and I could take the next case. That's kind of how it works when you both come up on something like this. After that the night was fairly slow. I went to get a central location on a group of businesses when I wandered up on another officer hiding where I was going to sit. It was a SGT. He has 20++ years in police work, although we never really have talked much. Tonight, however, we talked for a while. He stated that he worked in a city outside of Houston and there was 3 robberies a night where he worked. He said that there is a definite difference between Some of the other cities that he worked in and here. I explained that I liked the fact that here we are not LA nor are we some "hick town" in the country. At least we have our share of exciting calls and also our share of downtime. He agreed but warned me not to get lulled to sleep by the infrequency of major calls. I love to listen to the "wiser" guys in police work. It is my opinion that a new officer can learn more over a cup of coffee with a veteran officer then he does in a month of pounding the pavement. The experienced guys have done it all. They are not surprised by what goes on at all. Its kinda that old tortoise and the hare story. That hare is racing around and running so hard, but that tortoise keeps on plugging away, being very productive and calculating. After I talked with the SGT. for a while I took a report of a runaway 15 year old. My least favorite call to take. On this call Dad said that the 15 year old son had been gone 10 minutes. WHAT TEN MINUTES!!!!!! I just looked at the paper that I was filling out so that I did not give any disgusted looks to the father. Anyway I took the report and explained that WHEN the son returned home, they should call. About 2 hours later they called. This is after about 30 minutes of paperwork on my part. ARG.......... for absolutely nothing. I am reminding myself how happy I am to be back on nights. Russell Last Night's Shift 3-9-99 Unfortunately (for you) there are night's like last night. It was very slow out there. Really the only exciting thing was to see if the weather man would be right in predicting snow. (He wasn't) I did a few traffic stops, but I was very lenient. I mostly explained to people that they were driving to fast or that they really needed to get their plates registered. Nothing big came of the stops I did. Early in the evening I spend a lot of the time watching businesses. Lately, we have had a guy robbing convenience stores and fast food restaurants. Luckily, no one has been hurt, but the guy is getting very brave. The last couple of robberies he has come into a business with customers standing right there. So, tonight I made a huge effort to stay near the businesses that would be targets. He did not hit. So far I think that he has hit 9 or 10 businesses in town. Later in the night I started to check the industrial areas. I came up on this old VW van with someone inside. I lit it all up and made contact with the guy inside. He stated that he was 20 years old and had been kicked out of his home. He was down on his luck and was living in the van for a while. I probably could have harassed him, but I kinda felt for the guy. I told him not to bother anyone and stay away from the businesses in the area. He looked and acted like trouble, but after I was cool with him he realized that I was not the "average" cop trying to bust his butt. I thought about his situation told him that he'd be smart to live with mom and dad for a while longer and safe a few bucks. He just laughed and said that he had burned that bridge. I laughed and let his try to go back to sleep. Well, I am off to sleep for a few minutes. I had court yesterday on a hit and run case and today I have court on a DUI that I assisted on several months back. Russell Last Night's Shift 3-10-99 As I mentioned recently, I have updated my site. I changed a few things and added some subscribers links. I also added several "police" stories that you all have sent in. I would love to hear more "ride-along" stories. Also I know that there are several dispatchers who subscribe to the list, I would like the added insight that dispatchers could add to the "stories" page. I also need some additional help on the "Ask a Cop" portion of the page. If anyone see's a question that you feel you can answer, feel free to add your opinion. I have found that in most cases responses from several different people works out great for the person asking the question. Just for your information there is now over 333 people on this list. I want to take a second and thank you all for your interest. I also appreciate all of the feedback and comments that I get from all of you, even if I am not able to respond everything. Now for the good stuff............. I am sad (for you)---AGAIN-----that it was another slow night. The weather here is cold. Most of the night there was a light rain that later turned to snow. It seems that most criminals are fair weather fans, because as soon as the wind and rain kicked up, everything got real quiet around town. My night started out in briefing. They passed on some information on a murder suspect that may be in the area. I heard that they did a profile on the guy on America's Most Wanted, although I did not see the episode. Also in briefing there was a few family fights and a stolen car that they wanted us to be aware of. When they assigned area's I got up and headed out to my car. They then dispatched the one call that I have been dreading. Dispatch advised of a stalled car blocking an intersection. The first thing that I thought of was how good my knee has felt the last two days. Driving up to the location of the car I hoped that it would have been moved. When I got there I found that the car was sitting there and the young female driver was sitting in the driver's seat wondering what to do. I explained that we needed to get the car out of traffic and then I would let her call for a ride on my cell phone. Luckily, there was an other driver waiting for me to arrive. He had been using his hazard lights to warn other traffic of the obstruction. I hesitated, but then asked if he would mind helping me push this car out of the road. He agreed but I was still not thrilled that I was going to test my newly repaired knee. After we pushed the car I felt the knee tighten up a bit, but there was no major pain. I was relieved. I guess that it will be a mental challenge for the first few times that I do anything stressful the my knee. My next call was a weird one. A lady came into the station to report that he had been assaulted. (this is a very common call) She stated that she was going through a divorce. Today, she and her attorney met with her soon to be EX and his attorney. I guess that things got a bit heated and the female and her attorney decided to leave. As she was walking out her husbands attorney shoved her in the back!! I was surprised when she said an attorney assaulted her. I am interested to hear his side of the story on this case. It would also interesting to see how he would handle the legal side of being charged criminally. I will probably have to do some follow up on my days off because I do not go back into work until Sat. night. Another call I took was from an adult female. She stated that she and her 20 year old brother were arguing and he left the house on foot. She wanted to report him as a missing person. I asked how long he had been missing. I expected her to say that he had been gone 3 days at the most, or at least several hours. When she said that he had been missing about 10 minutes I was glad that I was on the phone with her. I am sure that my body language would have given away the fact that I did not take the call real serious. However, she wanted a report made so I made one. I think that it was kind of funny reading for the SGT. when he read it later in the evening. I explained that I would make a report (because I have to after talking to her anyway), but I was not going to list him as a missing person and I was not going to broadcast an attempt to locate at this time. The rest of the evening was filled with business alarms. All were false tonight. I think that the wind sets most of them off. Others are common alarms that seem to go off on a regular basis. In fact there are some alarms that we could almost set our watches to. Those are the things that make the job frustrating, because as a police officer you need to approach every alarm with the utmost caution. Tonight is my Friday. Because I work 4 ten hour shifts I would next normally work on Sat. night, however I have some friends coming in from out of state to so I will be taking a vacation day on Sat. Night. The next email from me will come after the Sunday night shift. Stay in touch. Russell Last Night's Shift March 16, 1999 Another slow night. Sorry that I did not write yesterday. The night was very slow and uneventful, except for one call. And I am trying to get over a cold. Its a funny thing...... You know when you are on vacation and you have to sleep in a very uncomfortable bed, or you are camping---sleeping on the hard frozen ground, miles from civilization? Or what about the time that you are driving home VERY late at night and all you can think about is that that hot shower and the soft sheets pulled up to your neck..............OK I THINK THAT YOU GET THE PICTURE.......right? Well, I am just trying to give you an idea how it feels driving home from work after a grave shift. As soon as I hit the door, I go check on the kids and wife and make sure that they are all sleeping safely. Then, I peel off the shirt, the belt and the bulletproof jacket........hit the shower......then stumble over and log onto the computer and check my email. Sometimes that attraction of the soft smooth sheets is too strong........Sometimes I fall to temptation. Sometimes I might miss an email to you all, I hope you understand why I missed yesterdays email. . :-) Now on to LAST NIGHT'S SHIFT. Boy are those sheets calling out for me.........oh, ok I am back......hehehehe I snuck downstairs a few minutes ago to catch some TV before writing. I wanted to catch a bit of history. I know it sounds silly but, I like tidbits of history making news. Today I wanted to see the DOW top 10,000. I am glad that I saw it.......even if it is more or less unrelated to me. It was funny, as soon as it hit ten grand....whoooshhhh........Back down into the 9900's. I shut it off and came to write this. I am satisfied that I saw history. While watching the Dow thing, I saw clips of the train wreck in the mid-west. I saw Emergency personnel working and carrying people out of the wreckage. I even heard that there was some firemen that were running into burning cars to rescue people, placing their lives on the line for people that they have never met and may never see again. I thought about how hard it will be on the rescue personnel there at the scene. I know that there is lot of prayers for the victims, but I hope that there is at least some thought to the emergency personnel at the scene. I know that some of the things that they all saw this morning was gruesome and awful. Last night we started out in briefing. Most of the talk was about the guy robbing the local fast food joints and the convenience stores around the city. The M.O. is the same in most of the ten robberies in the last several weeks. We all want this guy real bad. I guess that it is like a blemish on us as long as this guy is out there. Luckily, no one has been injured in any of the robberies. He hit last Sunday and we feel that he is not done. One call I took was a trespass in progress. It turns out that two rival gang members were flashing signs at each other and getting ready to fight. One guy left and got three of his "homies". Together he and the three buddies were going to beat up the other kid. A lady called and kept us updated as things progresses. I got there as the guy and his tree pals were just leaving, so I stopped him. He made it sound like there was no problem at all. He was a saint. Then a caller reported to dispatch that there was a gun in the car. Another officer and I got all four of the kids out. I then got verbal consent to search everyone and the vehicle. There was no gun. I got all of the information and went back to the incident location. It seems that the suspect was causing quite a scene to get the other kid out of the house. He even threatened to "shoot up the place" if the kid did not come out. There was then an altercation. I ended up charging the suspect with two thing. He will get a mandatory court date and have to answer to our judge. Our city judge, by the way, is pro police. He will hammer this kid for causing trouble and making these threats. I looked into previous cases and learned that the suspect has been warned to stay away from that house. Also I was able to "gang enhance" the charges. That means that because it is a gang related the charges go from a Class C misdemeanor to a Class B. Making the punishment more severe. After that I took another 5-minute delayed runaway report. ARGGGgggggg.......I hate taking these reports. 99% of the runaway reports I have taken, the kid comes home within 24 hours. This is especially true on a 5-minute delay. Tonight I responded and took the report. They called about 2 hours later to say the kid had returned. The parents asked me several questions about their options and what they should do. They ask what I would do and ask if they are doing the right things. I always just laugh to myself, "Here is this perfect family, (kinda), they have money, a nice house, a strong religious structure, 2 parents, dad is some prominent professor, yadda, yadda...........and they are asking me for advise. Heck, I am just a normal dude. I am not even close to being a GREAT parent. I have frustrations and problems with my own kids. And here is these people asking me what to do?" I think about how 2 years ago I was installing furniture in office buildings and the people saw our crew as a bunch of thugs, they would not look us in the eyes for fear of getting mugged. The corporate people---"suits"----would take the candies off their desks and lock all of the drawers for fear that we would steal their stuff. Then, I put on a uniform and they are telling me their deepest problems and asking for advice on how to raise a family. Boy is this a strange world or what? I usually tell people straight up.......I wish that I knew how to make your kid have more respect for you, and I which that I could make it all better and give you the perfect advise, but I can' t. I sometime joke that I am writing a book with all those answers and I can't reveal the answers before I make my millions. Usually there is a laugh and we talk for a while about how tough life is. I then tell them to get some sleep and I will call if I happen to find him. I tell them that odds are that the kids ran to a buddies house and it is only a matter of time before the buddies parents catch on and sent him home. Then I leave and a few hours later dispatch tells me that the runaway returned home. Now I don't feel guilty running to the soft sheets. I think that I will try to sleep 10 HOURS!!!!!!! YA!!!!!! Russell Last night's Shift 3-17-99 Last night was interesting to say the least. I s is still very cold out there and so it is also very slow. I am sure that it will all pick up here very shortly. We still have a guy going around doing armed robberies at all of the local convenience stores and fast food joints. I think that because this guy is such a problem, we are all concentrating on keeping an eye on the businesses and not doing some of the other things like traffic stops and such. I know that this is true for me personally. The first call that I received last night was a delayed shoplifting. I responded and spoke to the security officer. He stated that he watched as a female entered the store and walked into the school supply aisle. He began to record her actions as she selected an "exacto knife". The female then walked to the end of the aisle and opened the packaging and removed the knife. She then concealed the knife and eventually exited the store. Once outside, the female met up with three males and they all got into a vehicle. Store security identified himself and asked that she return inside the store. She refused and began to yell at the driver to leave the area. The driver got scared and did not dare to leave so the female and to of the males ran from the area. When I arrived the driver gave me a line of "B.S." and I just listened. I got the full story from the security officer and then went back to the driver. He stated that he did not know any of the people. Again I listened. After he fed me full of crap for the second time I informed him that if I found out that he was lying to me I would seek charges of obstructing justice. I told him that I would find her and I was going to charge her with a class B misdemeanor for retail theft, but if he refused to give any information I would also charge him with a class B for obstruction of justice. Finally he gave a name and some other tidbits of information but claimed that was all that he knew. I explained that he would be hearing from me very soon. I told him that he could leave. He stayed and asked me to look in the truck. I asked why he would want me to do that. He seemed real suspicious in his intentions, but I looked anyway. Then I discovered the exacto knife under the seat where the suspect would have been sitting. I then realized that was why he wanted me to search the truck. I then went inside the store and viewed the video tape. The tape was very clear. There was no doubt that she intended to steal the knife. She seemed very suspicious. I then took the tape as evidence. After leaving the store I went to the station to try too follow up on the identity of the female. I looked in the phone book and tried a couple of other things, but it was a dead end. Another officer suggested to check our city files. BINGO!!! One of our detectives arrested this girl for Forgery less than six months ago. I now had some leads. I then checked the state computer and found that she had a $2050 warrant!!! (That is why she panicked) I followed up and found out that she may be staying in a motel in a nearby city. I called they city and asked if an officer could help me follow up on trying to catch her. The officer laughed.........He then gave me a lot of information about the suspect. He said that he has arrested her several times and knows exactly who she is. He then looked but was unable to locate her tonight but was sure that he would run into her within a few days. I then was satisfied that I could charge her with the crime of retail theft and returned to do the report. Once at the station I decided to look into the old case of the forgery that our Detective had charged her with. I began to read it and after about the first paragraph I burst out in laughter. I could not believe what I just read. I read it again just to confirm what I was reading. It seems that this girl, who lives 2 cities away was video taped during a forgery of several stolen checks You will never guess where she was caught doing the forgeries!!!!!! It was the SAME STORE!!!! This has got to be a case of Americas Dumbest Criminals. I could not believe that six months ago she was caught at the same store. I guess that is job security for me, huh? The next call I took was a domestic assault. A female stated that her husband had struck her, pushed her down and bruised her arms by pulling her out of the building. She was telling me about the incident and also a long history of details. That is always a tough thing to do as an officer. You need to be patient and listen to a whole bunch of details that are not relevant to the matter at hand. Several times I stopped her and said "Tell me about today's incident" She would start telling me what happened, but then feel the need to explain a history of the relationship. Again I stopped her and said that I needed to know what happened today. After I got the story out of her she explained that she wanted to divorce him and wanted my advice. I talked to her for a while but never really said my real feelings. (Heck ya, get away from this guy!!!!!!!) After about 20 minutes of listening to all of the problems and trying to offer as much help as possible, she said "I just want a report made, I don't want you to charge him......" (As a police officer you see this all the time and you just have to accept it, even though it is very frustrating) I talked to her about it and suggested that she go to our victim's assistance person from the station. She liked the idea. I told her that this gal at the station has a lot of insight and training into this exact kind of case. She agreed and I referred the case to her. As I was driving away I just laughed at how sad this situation is. It is so typical. To me it makes so much sense that this gal needs to pack up and go. Years of abuse and she still sticks around? I believe in the commitment of marriage very strongly, but in abuse situations I think that people she GET OUT! Early in the morning hours there was a couple of calls of a window peeker. We all canvassed the area but were not able to locate the suspect. Then there was a few business alarm and such. Russell Fri Mar 19, 1999 Some of you are new to the list and never had a chance to read this email from 2-3-99. Read this and below is an update. 2-3-99 As I mentioned, I was scheduled to get off work tonight at 9pm. Just after nine I was getting sandwich, before heading to do my reports. About a block away there was a report of an auto pedestrian accident. I responded because I was close. I yelled at the clerk to just wrap that sandwich up and I would get it later. I dashed out and was the first one on the scene. There was a man on the roadway. His head was facing the curb and his legs were out into the lane of travel. He was on his side and his neck was bent in a strange position. A large group of by-standers was forming. I checked for breathing. He was obviously breathing. It was loud and heavy, it sounded as if he was really straining to breath. There was a trail of blood coming from his head running into the gutter. His friend was yelling at him to wake up, "DON'T DIE" the friend yelled. Then I saw another person on the ground. It was an adult female. She was hysterical. Very hysterical. She was laying on the sidewalk and there was people trying to calm her down. I radioed the rescue units---paramedics---and updated them "major head injury, not conscious, however he is breathing" Damn I forgot to check for a pulse, oh well what if he had none. Would I have moved him? Uh, Ya? Yes I would have risked further injury to get a pulse. Ok, not the paramedics arrived. I called for another ambulance for the female. She was showing signs of shock------ok she was in shock, no question. Knowing that there was nothing that I could to help the guy in the street, I decided to make sure that the female driver could be helped. The paramedics began to work on the man and I got the female into the rear of my car. I just tried to get her talking. I told her that I needed her to calm down so that I could help the man further. I asked if there was family I could call for her. She was calming down when another officer came over and said her name. It seems that he knew her. She looked at him and went hysterical again. She was blaming herself for hitting the man. It seems that he and another man was running acrossed the street together. She saw the movement and slammed on her brakes. It was too late. She struck one of them directly. His head hit her windshield. He then flew through the air landing on the pavement. I gave the friend of the victim a ride to the hospital. On the way to the hospital, he was crying. He said, "officer, do you believe in God", I said "Ya"., He said "say a prayer for my friend". He begged me. I never answered. He was able to contact friends and the victims family. I talked to the victims brother. I told him "I am not going to lie to you. It does not look good". His face was STONE. I wished him and his family luck. "I hope that it all works out". I know that the chances are very slim. When I was leaving the hospital, I asked one doctor what he thought. He said that if he was a betting man, he'd bet that the victim is not going to make it. I finished my reports at midnight. So, much for 3-9. Russell ******UPDATE***** In briefing I was told that the man involved in the accident passed away earlier this week. He had been kept alive on machines since the accident. It also turns out that the victim was diagnosed with hepatitis (I am nor sure what strain). I found out later that the victim was very intoxicated and had also taken narcotics. Since the accident I learned that the driver of the van has been checked into a "phsyc" ward. With no disrespect to the victim in this REAL LIFE CASE, next time you hear someone say "My drug use only effects me........", think about all of the Paramedics, Police officers, innocent bystanders, doctors, nurses and family members that this guy effected. Include youself as one of the people effected. Russell Last Night's Shift 3-21-99 Finally. I finally had a night that is worth talking about. It seems that summer is here. The night started out in briefing again. There was a report of a stolen car and a few family fight situations that we needed to be aware of that was passed on to us. Once I got out of briefing I went out to my patrol car. I took a call of theft of a license plate. I informed the gal how to get a new plate and then gave the information to dispatch so that they could add the plate as stolen into the computer. The next thing I did was answer a call to unlock a vehicle where the driver had locked his keys inside. 9 times out of 10 I can walk right up and pop the door right open. On this night things were going to be different. As I stuck the "slim jim" between the door and the window it caught on something inside. I pulled up slightly and it slipped out of my hand. The slim jim then slid into the door. I heard it as it bounced of the inside, bottom of the door. "DOH!!!!!" I just stood there. What the heck do I do now. I called another officer and used his slim jim to open the door. It took me about 10 seconds. I just ducked my head, gave the kid my card and left. I was just thinking, "how the heck did I do that, I have never, ever heard of that happening". Oh well. Just as I cleared this call I recieved a call of a hit and run that had just occurred. I responded and spoke to a lady that was near tears. She was working at a gas station when a lady backed into her car. The lady then left with out giving any information. A witness came inside to report the accident. The witness also gave the vitim a plate number. I was able to run the plate and get an address on the vehcicle. I took a look at the damage to the car, looked for paint transfer and checked the height of the damage. The whole rear fender was crushed in. When I got to the suspects house, I saw the blazer that the witnesses had described. I then looked at the front bumber and noticed white paint on it. The paint was exactly like the victims vehicle color. I then noted the height of the paint transfer, it was exactly the same height. At that time I knocked on the door and asked the guy who answered ifI could speak to the female that was driving the blazer about 20 minutes earlier. When she came out she denied that she had done anything wrong. I then explained that I already knew the entire story but I needed a statement from her for my report. She then confessed that she did bump the white car. I asked her if she left the area because she was in a hurry or if she was just scared. I felt that this type of question served two parts. First, it would be a confession and second it gave her an easy way out if she just said she was scared. She told me that she left because she was scared. I then walked around her vehicle and showed her the paint transfer. I asked her for all of the necessary information and then I filled out an accident report. I then issued a citation for leaving the scene of an accident. I hated to do that, but this type of behavior is definatlely a problem with today's society. She actually appoligized and said "thank you" as I was leaving. I then drove back over to talk to the victim. She was very relieved, I explained how to take care of getting her vehicle fixed. The next call I got was a family fight. The address was all too familiar. Officers have responded to this address several times. In fact at least 9 times this year. We are normally called on the report of a runaway 15 year old girl that always goes there. We usually respond to the address and they tell us that she is not there. Lately we have caught on to thier excuses and foun |