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#1 From: "Russell" <russ@lifeonthebeat.com>
Date: Wed Feb 23, 2000 8:21 pm
Subject: Welcome to Last Night's Shift russ@lifeonthebeat.com



Hi,

Do you like police stories? Do you want to know what Cops really do? Do you want
to know what it's REALLY like to be a police officer? Join this list and receive
frequent emails detailing my "Life on the Beat".

Cheers,

Russell



#2 From: Russell <russ@lifeonthebeat.com>
Date: Fri Feb 25, 2000 4:52 pm
Subject: Last Night's Shift 2-25-00 russ@lifeonthebeat.com



As many of you may have noticed I changed email services. "We" are now
with egroups. A friend of mine referred me and said that he has not had
any troubles with his group.

I also have been adding tons of new stuff to the website. I will make
another addition tonight.

I will begin regular emails starting Saturday evening when I get home.
There has been a few exciting things lately that I want to talk about so
I'll get you all caught up on the juicy stuff.

Russell



#3 From: Russell <russ@lifeonthebeat.com>
Date: Sun Feb 27, 2000 3:41 am
Subject: Last Night's Shift 2-27-00 russ@lifeonthebeat.com
 


Last night was a crazy shift.

It started out when dispatch advised of an officer from a nearby agency
attempting to stop a vehicle in our city. They advised that the officer
attempted to stop the car but it took off. It was described only as a
black camero with no plates. They gave a location. I was not too
concerned at the time because I was on the opposite end of the city.
Suddenly one of our officers gave an updated location and direction of
travel. I thought about it and had a gut feeling of where the vehicle
was going to appear next. I decided to head to a certain corner where
two major streets merge. Just as I arrived in the area and began to get
set, the suspect car appeared. I was traveling eastbound and he was
headed west. Traffic was heavy, the roads were dry and the weather was
clear--these are all things that must be considered when deciding
whether or not to pursue a vehicle. As the vehicle approached I looked
hard. I wanted to see something that stood out so that I could Identify
the vehicle later. There was nothing. I looked hard for a front plate,
none. Then as I passed I looked at the driver, he looked at me and
seemed quite calm, he did not seem surprised to see me looking at him.
Then I looked for a rear plate, again there was none. Like I mentioned,
the traffic was heavy. I instantly began to make a U-turn. Cars just
kept going I basically timed it just right and got turned around. As I
turned I made sure that I kept an eye on the suspect vehicle. He GUNNED
IT!! There was a car between us and I flipped on the lights, but that
car between us would not move. I finally got around it and headed after
the suspect. He made a right turn onto the next main road and he was off
to the races. He was absolutely crazy. He began to pass cars on the
right hand side of the roadway. I went to the middle "merge" lane and
started after him. By that point he had a huge lead on me and my biggest
thought was "just see where he is headed". He headed out of our city and
into the next city. I advised dispatch to call them and advise the
situation. I then saw the vehicle traveling at about 100+ miles per
hour. I knew that at that time I had better back off so that I would not
be responsible for his actions. The other city followed him for about as
long as I did, but at those speeds there is no use pursuing.

Ya, it sucks. It sucks to lose. It hurts your pride. It honestly makes a
cop mad. But, in reality I know that I just turn around, relax and go
about my business. That guy may have won today, but I know that I will
have my day in the sun. I know that I got a good look at him and he
knows that too. I am quiet certain that he will be looking over his
shoulder every time a cop passes. At this point I am just happy that no
one got hurt. The vehicle was most likely stolen, but other than that,
there was no reason to jeopardize the public any more than I did. In
fact, after thinking the situation over, I probably went a bit too far.
I was lucky that no one got hurt, because I would have been 2nd guessed
1000 times, then sued and then sued again. I know that we will catch
that guy another day.

After that I tried to stop a few cars for miscellaneous violations, but
could not get into it.

We got a call of a fight in progress and dispatch advised the address of
the reporting person. The fight was in the roadway near that house. As I
arrived in the area I looked for a fight, but saw nothing. I then
wondered if dispatch misunderstood. I wondered if the fight was inside
the house where the reporting party was calling from. I knock on the
door. When the lady opened the door she began to yell at me. Boy oh boy
she went off!!! She was yelling how stupid I was and how we screwed up.
I asked her quite calmly what the heck she was talking about. She said
that I should not have knocked on her door, I was about to explain my
actions when she blew up again. I then turned and walked out. (If she
says I slammed the door---I plea the 5th). I was waiting for the Sgt. to
call me so he could tell me that I was in trouble. I know she called the
station because she was dialing before I got out the door. What a crock.
Here I am looking to help her and she turns on me. Who is the bad guy
here? Who cares? Well after a few minutes I calmed down and thought
that it was actually rather funny. HAHAHA, She was sooooo mad. It was
really comical to think about. About 30 minutes later she called into
the station---no not to complain, but to say she was sorry. WOW, that
has never happened before. HEHEHE, again------who cares. I was past
that point tonight. I had too much on my mind to care.

Near then end of my shift there was another strange call. A water main
broke under the street and hollow out the ground under the roadway. The
water was seeping out, but it did not seem too bad. It was not that bad,
until a car drove over the area and fell into the hole that opened up.
It was quite a sight. The front end of the car was down inside the hole
and water was boiling out. There was several homes in the area that were
damaged. It took 30 minutes to an hour before the water was shut off.
One house had over 2 feet of water in the basement. That poor guy was a
wreck. His basement was destroyed. I thought to myself "Here goes my
christmas bonus from the city". ;-)

When we cleared that scene and became available for other calls another
huge call came out. It was a house fire. The garage was fully engulfed.
Flames and smoke could be seen from a miles around. By this time I was
about an hour over my shift, but I knew that they might need help. When
I got there it became obvious that the fire was an act of ARSON. Then
one guy who was in the house when the fire started, began to freak out.
He was yelling at officers, bystanders, and firemen. When he started
swinging his arms I helped to jump in the middle of things. We finally
got him cuffed up and placed in the back of a patrol car. It was not
that he was under arrest as much as it was a safety issue for the people
working the scene. I helped to transport 2 suspects to the station.

As I was sneaking out of the parking lot of the station, the graveyard
Sgt. stopped and thanked me for staying out. Ah, there is no need for
thanks. This kind of stuff is pure fun for me.

Russell



#4 From: Russell <russ@lifeonthebeat.com>
Date: Tue Feb 29, 2000 12:25 pm
Subject: Last Night's Shift 2-29-00 russ@lifeonthebeat.com
 


I have been very busy this week.

The night was quite boring and I was able to keep all of the reports
caught up and out of the way. I then got a message from dispatch. She
said that a guy was calling to report that his roommate has some
warrants and will be home in about an hour. Well, I checked the warrants
and sure enough there was a felony warrant and an NCIC hit on the guy.
NCIC is a national criminal database that police departments use
cooperatively. If a person commits a crime in Florida and they want him
real bad, then they will enter him NCI. Then if an officer in Nevada
stops this guy, checks NCI, the Nevada officer will know that he is
wanted. The database is used for fugitives, stolen articles-- like guns,
car stereo's, ect., and also for runaway's.

As I mentioned this guy was listed NCI so it made things more
interesting. I went to the address and began to scope things out before
he was ever to return. As I sat there in the parking lot, I looked at
the address I was given. It was an apartment complex. The address given
was 226. I looked at all of the numbers and finally found the one that I
was looking for. Just as I saw the number 226, the door opened, two men
walked out and saw me. Their eyes lit up and then they turned and
quickly scurried back inside. I walked up to the apartment door and
knocked. Much to my surprise someone opened the door. I asked if the
suspect was there and the guy froze. He did not say anything. I asked it
he was "so and so". He just shook his head as if to say no. I felt like
I needed to know sign language, but then got one more idea. I said "Ok,
if he is here, nod your head". HAHAHAHA, the guy slowly and deliberately
nodded his head up and down. I then said "point to where so and so is
at". The guy pointed at a closed bedroom door. He allowed me into the
house and I knocked on the closed door. There was no answer. I then
identified myself, called for backup on my radio and told him that I
need to talk to him. Again to my surprise, the door opened. I was
surprised because he did not go out the window. If he had I was at a
disadvantage. Normally, when I knock on the front door of a home, the
back is covered by one of more officers. In this case things did not do
exactly as planned. Nonetheless, I immediately told him of the warrant
and that he needed to turn around. Luckily for me (and him, hehehehe) he
cooperated. I then explained that I had a felony arrest warrant and
explained the charges on the warrant. In his wallet was an out of state
drivers license, that had been covered with white out and the numbers
altered. Then there was a local drivers license that looked a little
fishy. Upon looking at it closer, I could tell that it was a fake, he
quickly stated that a friend made it for him. He seemed proud, until I
reminded him how bad it looked. There was also a credit card in the
wallet with another person's name on it, I asked about it and he stated
that it was his girlfriends card. At that time a back-up officer
arrived. Then something very crucial happened, I did not plan it to
happened, but thats how things work in this business. The anonymous
caller reported to me that there was a couple of guns in the room. I
got consent to look around the bedroom from the suspect even though in
my mind I did not need it. My understanding of the case law is that when
you arrest someone in their own home, you have the right to search the
immediate area. You have the right to look for weapons or contraband
where ever the suspect has access to "lunge and grab". I asked the
back-up officer to quickly check the room for me, because of the
information that the caller informed me about. I whispered that we
received consent and also had a right and duty to search. I then walked
the suspect out of the room. As we walked out, he leaned over and said,
"I did not give you consent." That statement proved to be a tough
statement, even tough at the time, it was not a big deal in my mind.

I placed the suspect in my patrol car and waited for the officer to come
out of the apartment. When he exited, he said that there was no weapon,
but there was some bullets. I thanked him and drove off to the jail.

At the jail I booked him in on the warrant. I told him that I was going
to research the credit card and decide what the additional charges would
be. He acted surprised that I would charge him with the fake ID cards, I
smiled and told him that it was no big deal.

I returned to the station and began reports. At this time it was about
an hour after I was scheduled to get off work. I did a the report,
logged and booked the evidence and then began to check on the credit
card. It turns out that this guy stole the card from an ex-fiance and
then charged $7000 worth of stuff on the card. I then looked for other
similar reports. Again I was shocked to see what I found. This guy has
been the main suspect in several burglaries, forgeries and other crimes.
In each case he was questioned but, the case had fallen through the
cracks. I noticed that each case had been assigned to separate
detectives and only small amounts of follow-up had been done. I printed
all of the cases off and started to read through them. I found that this
guy had a real problem on his hands. It seemed that he got to the point
where he was forging checks and doing burglaries on a regular basis
because he knew that no one would follow-up on the cases. I then called
the ex-fiance, she told me of several forgeries that he has done and
bragged about for the total of several thousand dollars. Then the
roommate told me something very interesting. When I asked about the gun
that he mentioned, he stated that the suspect showed up with this gun
about a month ago and bragged that it was stolen.

I then checked the reports in the last 30 days. I found that the guy I
arrested was the main suspect. I then read out loud all of the items
that were stolen, they included a gun, bullets and several other items.
At that time the officer who backed my up at the arrest scene perked up.
He said "guess what" when he was looking through the room I noticed
several of those items that are listed as stolen in that report.

I knew that at this time we needed to get a search warrant for that
suspects room before he has a chance to get out of jail. While reviewing
all of the information with the Sgt. he pointed out a problem.

I told him how we had consent to search and then the guy said no. And
then I explained the law as I knew it pertaining to the search of the
area incident to arrest. He said that a Judge would not like the fact
that we searched after we arrested the suspect. So, even though we knew
that there was stolen items in that room, we could not go back inside to
get them. I know that the roommate would allow us into the apartment,
but I knew that he did not have the legal right to allow us into the
suspects living area.

What I decided to do was pass all of the information on to the
detectives. Then I called and followed up with them so that they knew
how much I wanted to nail this stolen property on this guy. I know that
there is a stolen gun in that room and I wanted to make sure that they
did every thing that they could so that we could retrieve it, before he
got out of jail.

At this point I was about 4 hours late from getting off work. I was
tired and ready to go home. I sure love it when a bit of digging gets
you somewhere.

Russell


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#5 From: Russell <russ@lifeonthebeat.com>
Date: Tue Feb 29, 2000 1:28 pm
Subject: Last Night's Shift 2-29-00 russ@lifeonthebeat.com
 


The first email you received today was suposed to be dated 2-28-00. This
email is the real "leap day", "leap year", "leap email". Ok whatever
you call it.

It seems that this month has been strange. Every call I went on and
every car I stopped lead to something more than the stop. I have been
very lucky and thing have been a lot of fun lately.

Aside from a couple of loose dog calls there was not a lot going on in
my area of town. I took a call from a lady telling me that it appeared
her locks had been damaged on her house. She was certain that someone
was after her. She went on and on about how the key would not fit in the
locks because they were damaged. I listened to what she had to say and
then took her personal information. Before I left I looked at the locks.
I did not see anything wrong. I asked for the key. It went right in and
worked perfectly. At that point I was wondering why I was wasting my
time. She continued to talk and point at certain houses in the area that
she though had people who might try this sort of thing. It all seemed
like she was a bit paranoid. I told her that I would do a bit of extra
patrol for her. Just as I was leaving her husband stepped out on the
front porch. He wanted to add something to the report. He said that
someone kicked his front door and left a dent in it. He then turned and
pointed a the door. I looked at it. There was no dent. There was not
even a scuff mark. I shined my flashlight at in on several different
angles. I am telling you that there was no dent. About that time he
started telling me of more damage elsewhere. I basically turned and ran.
HEHEHEHE These people are nuts. I got in my car and sped around the
corner. I then stopped, looked to see if they were following me and then
looked for cameras. Those people were so strange and paranoid that I was
sure I was on the twilight zone or candid camera. I am still not sure
which it was. ;-)

After that I stopped a truck for several small traffic and equipment
violations. Upon speaking with him I was certain that he was drunk. He
admitted to drinking alcohol a couple of hours ago, but I could not
really smell it. His eyes were blood shot and glassy. His speech was
slow and deliberate, so I knew that something was wrong. I asked for a
backup officer and ran the driver through field sobriety tests. He
failed miserably. There is one test that works great every time. Its
called HGN or Horizontal Gaze Nystagnus. It's the test everyone see's
where the officer is having the suspect follow the pen with his eyes. On
an intoxicated person there are obvious uncontrolled "twitches" in the
eyes as they track the pen from side to side. When I checked this guys
eyes there was no involuntary movements (or twitches). I then had him
blow into a portable breath tester. It showed .000. I was stumped for a
second. How could this guy hardly stand up, but no alcohol be present.
Then the answer was obvious. I was looking for the wrong thing. I was so
used to looking only for alcohol that I overlooked the obvious. He was
on drugs. I looked at the back of his tongue, sure enough it was totally
covered with a thick green film. I then noticed his pupils. All signed
pointed to marijuana. When I asked him about it, he denied smoking any.
I then explained that I already knew, without a doubt in my mind that he
had been smoking. He broke down and admitted to smoking "a bowl or two"
about an hour ago. I explained to the guy that he was DUI (or DWI in
some states). I explained that the only thing I needed to prove was that
he was impaired and that he was driving. I explained that he did not
need to be "drunk" on beer or whiskey to be DUI, he only needed to be
under the influence of anything to make him impaired. He confessed to
everything. That was a fun stop, because I stumped myself. I felt silly
that I missed easy signs of impairment because I was looking for
something that was not there.

One other interesting thing happened while I was on the above traffic
stop. The location was a residential area on a street lined with
apartment complexes. When I stopped the driver, it took a while for him
to pull over. He eventually stopped. But when I pulled in behind him, I
was forced to block part of someone's driveway with my patrol car. I did
not plan it that way, but that's how it worked out. Well, several
minutes into the traffic stop, when I was questioning the guy about
being impaired, some guy pulls up, turns his signal to indicate that he
wanted in the driveway that I was blocking. I figured that he could see
that things were important so I concentrated on my traffic stop. A few
seconds later he honked at me and rolled down his window. I looked
directly at him and said "I am busy, you are going to have to wait for a
minute". Right away I knew that he was upset with me, but what did he
expect. I know that in cities like LA, the cops park in the middle of
the road and people don't say a dang thing. Here if my lights flash into
a bedroom window they want a Sgt. to complain about the officers in this
town. Needless to say, the guy promptly marched into his house and
called dispatch to complain. They then informed me that the guy was so
upset that he was coming out to yell at me. I think that stopped dead in
his tracks when he saw this stumbling drunk, step out of his truck. Just
another example where people do not understand the whole picture.

After that I did the report and got back out on the road. As I mentioned
earlier, I have been on a hot streak this month. The next car I stopped
was for a minor equipment violation and I arrested the driver for a
warrant, driving on suspended drivers license, no insurance and some
other things. As a result of the search of his vehicle, I located some
marijuana and a pipe. This stop occurred about 30 minutes before I was
scheduled to go home, so needless to say I stayed late for the 3rd time
in the last 3 nights. Initially the suspect was bragging about how his
rich father was going to pay to get him out of jail tonight and he had a
great lawyer to fight the charges. By the time we got to the jail and he
was all booked in, his story had changed. Bail was over $5000 and he
made himself comfortable in the GRAY BAR MOTEL.

Russell


Reply | Forward | Messages in this Topic (2)
#6 From: Russell <russ@lifeonthebeat.com>
Date: Wed Mar 1, 2000 4:24 am
Subject: Last Night's Shift 3-1-00 russ@lifeonthebeat.com
 

I must say, I am sure loving the job right now. I cannot wait until work to start and I feel like I am frustrated when its time to go 10-42. (Off Duty).

There is a few things I want to mention before last nights shift.

First of all I got a GREAT email today. I think that all 1000 members should email this guy to thank him. Here is his email address and the message.

Tralpham@aol.com

russell, you're an idiot. You're obviously not a cop, why don't you do something a bit more constructive with your writing abilities ... you've obviously got some talent but no one wants to read blatant lies, you saw that sh*t on "Cops"!

At first I thought it was a joke, but I'll take it as a compliment. I am still laughing, HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Let's all thank him. I think that if I was making these things up, I would have caught the black car (still a sore spot, hehehe), saved the dad's life on Jan. 10th, then arrested 3 DUI's yesterday instead of 1 and recovered that stolen gun all by myself.

The next item of business is this. I have been making several updates to the web page.
http://www.lifeonthebeat.com
I will be adding banners that pay (a little) very shortly and would love the extra genuine hits from you all. Please refer your friends to the page and help me boost up the membership so that I can make a few bucks off this hobby. ;-) I also need some help answering the questions on Ask-a-cop. The best thing about the Ask-a-cop message board is that cops and non-cops from all over the world answer regular ole peoples questions. I would like to give some credit to the regulars who post questions and answers at this time. Its the most successful Ask A Cop message board that I know of.

As for tonight, I was not nearly as busy as the last few nights. Whew, huh.

In briefing there was a couple of the officers harassing me about letting a guy off easy yesterday. I did not mention to you all what I did, but I cut a guy a huge break. They were really getting on my case for not being the "hammer". I stand by my decision. I know that this job is all about discretion. It makes me feel good though that I am important enough for them to make fun of. hehehehe. That really means a lot. Fitting into a department makes the job better that a job.

After briefing, I was called to open a car door, then another and another. I was beginning to feel like I was on day shift again, when I got a traffic accident call. NOW I KNOW THAT I AM ON DAYS. Thankfully another officer was nice enough to take that call, because a few seconds later another officer called my number on the radio. He told me that he had checked the license plate and noticed that the registered owner had a large warrant. The officer told me that he was stuck in traffic and could not get to the suspect vehicle. I explained that I was in perfect position to nab the vehicle as they drove past. Just then the suspect vehicle came by. I did a traffic stop and sure enough the registered owner had a warrant. I offered to let the that officer have the arrest and the stats, but he insisted. I was happy. I love making arrests. Even if they are given to me.

After that I stopped a few cars, but nothing of note.

The best call I got of the night was from a little old lady. I arrived at her house and asked her "what is the problem?" she said "Do you know why I called", I said "No, what seems to be the problem?". She then raised her voice (as if I had a the hearing problem), and she said "I SAID, DO YOU KNOW WHY YOU ARE HERE?" She then clarified herself by saying "I CANNOT HEAR IN THIS HEAR SON, TALK TO ME ON THIS SIDE". I was beginning to lose my patience because I was not sure if she was talking down to me or if this was some sort of game or what. I tried one more time "WHAT DID YOU CALL FOR?" She then went on about how her husband left many years ago. She clarified that later mentioning that he had passed away. She went on to tell me that some pervert has been calling her harassing her on the telephone. She said that she listened to all of the derogatory things that he said. He threatened to come get her after she went to bed and have fun with her. She looked at me and said plainly "What fun could he have with an old lady?" I explained to her that he was calling to scare her. I was certain that he had no idea who she was and that this guy was a sicko.

She then told me how scared she was. She was convinced that he knew everything about her. I could see the concern on her face. I tried for several minutes to make her understand that this guy is not coming into her house to get her. I am certain that he guessed her number and is now calling because she listens to him. I explained that she should hang up the instant he ever calls.

Just then the phone rang. She was so scared. I felt bad for her. I told her to answer and say hello, then I took the phone. The second he began to talk I took the phone and said, "hello this is Officer 'Russell'" (come on, that's what I said, Russell) He said nothing, then my radio went off in the background. I said, "dispatch, did you get a trace on that number yet" Instantly he hung up.

With that she let out a giggle. She was so happy that he was scared of her. She was in a jolly mood after that. I then was ready to leave so I got her personal information for my report. I then pointed out the fact that she had a lot of "knickknacks" She was so proud of them that she started pointing them out. She said this is so and so and that one is a such and such. Then she showed me some porcelain dolls. I saw one that I recognized. The doll was the same as the one my daughter had in her room. I said "This doll is Holly" She was grateful that I even thought to stay and talk to her, and she bubbled up and said, "YES, that is HOLLY" She told me all of her dolls names. Then I explained that I had better get going.

On the way out she talked about religion and told me that she was not of the dominant religion in the area. She said she loved those people but "southern baptist" was the way to go. I learned a bit about John the baptist and then reminded her that I needed to go.

As I was leaving she started thinking about the caller again. What if he calls? Don't talk to him. What if he comes here? Call 911. I though 911 was for paramedics, I said na, they just borrow that number. 911 is for, get the cops here FAST!

At that point she asked if I knew officer DC. She said "he is a great guy. Very helpful. He is the nicest officer I have ever met. He came here when someone tried to break into my house. Do you know he shaves his head?" I said "Yes ma'am I know that, he usually has some bad razor cuts on it during briefing." I said "I am proud to know DC. He is a great officer and a great guy." Then she said "Even though he shaves his head, it does not take away from his great looks........Do you know that my youngest child is older that DC?" I laughed and said "I did not know that, good looks huh?" Quickly then in an effort to save my friend I said. "Ya, his wife and my wife get along real well". Without missing a beat she said "If he was not married, I might ask him in". I snickered to myself, knowing that DC is going to catch a lot of crap from me over this one. OH, YEAH. I am going to let him have it. With that comment I said good-bye, added a few safety tips and left.

I am glad that I did not lose my patience on such a sweet, lonely woman.

Just an update on the stolen gun situation. I want to clarify a few things. I guess that I was so caught up in getting you all the details that I made the email confusing.

Initially I had a great arrest and consent to search the room. I lost that consent, (in my mind) when he made a certain comment that he made. I asked Woody to do a search of the room and he did a GREAT job, because he mentally noticed property that was stolen, even though at the time we did not know it was stolen. The property Woody saw was stolen at the same time a 9 mm hand gun was stolen in a burglary. This morning the detectives working the case went to the jail and interviewed the suspect. He played hardball for about 10 seconds, then spilled his guts. The gun is in a pawn shop (so we would have gotten it anyway). And several forgeries and theft calls were solved when he started talking. He then told the detectives, Ya, I told that officer to look in my room. Apparently in his mind he did not take his consent to search "back". I feel better doing it all "ethically" I did not want to use a search that I did not feel 100% comfortable with. I am glad it all worked out. The sad thing (not) was that he somehow missed his arraignment today because he was talking to the detectives. HAHAHAHAHAHA

Off ta bed.

Russell


#7 From: Russell <russ@lifeonthebeat.com>
Date: Thu Mar 2, 2000 3:29 am
Subject: Last Night's Shift (A friends Story) russ@lifeonthebeat.com
 


Here is a story from a friend of mine. I heard all about it in breifing,
however I think that the best place for it is on a Dumbest Criminals
Show.

Thank you Bill for taking the time to write this message.

Russell

Russell, here is the email you asked me to write about the incident I
had the other night.

I work the night shift for the small agency that is near Russell. My
shifts usually end up in a lot of traffic details, on this particular
night it was a typical night with not much happening. I was a hour from
ending my shift when a neighboring agency put an ATL (Attempt To Locate)
out on a vehicle that was involved in a Retail Theft. Now we get a lot
of ATL's but ever
find them because of the remoteness of my area, so it was to my
surprise, when I was driving through an apartment complex, I noticed the
vehicle parked there. I informed my dispatch to advise the neighboring
agency that I had found the vehicle and the apartment that it was in
front of still had lights on. I was met by an officer from this agency
who informed me that 3 male suspects had stolen some items from a
convenience store and the way they did it almost made it a aggravated
crime. I asked the officer what was stolen and he chuckled and told me,
One 99 cent Lighter, an Ice-cream sandwich, and a Chicken sandwich. I
guess these suspects didn't realize that for about 5 dollars worth of
food they were going to go to jail on some serious charges. I stayed
as a backup while this particular officer went and made contact with the
residents of the apartment. As we were waiting for an answer on the door
the other officer went to the kitchen window and saw the suspects run
into the back bedroom then come back out in there underwear, they acting
as if they had been asleep, (If they had only known that we had
watched them hehehe). One suspect answered the door and we asked him if
he owned the vehicle in question, and like the smart criminal he was he
told us that he did own it. We then asked if we could come in and talk
to him about what had happened and he openly invited us in. The suspect
closed the door behind us and as he did I smelled a strong smell of
Burnt Marijuana in the apartment. I didn't say anything at the time
because the other officer was conducting interviews with the suspects.
There were 3 renters in this apartment and 2 were involved in the Theft.
The 3rd renter (we'll call him dave) was a
student at the local college and seemed to be very upset at his roomies.
After the other officer was done with his questioning he decided to
arrest one of the suspects and cite the other, this is were I chimed in
"Where is the weed that you have been smoking", both the theft suspects
told me that they don't smoke weed. Dave looked at me after I said that
and motioned for
me to follow him into his room. When we got there he got a pen and paper
and wrote me a little note saying "there growing marijuana in there
closet", I read the note and didn't know what to say (I wasn't expecting
a cultivation project to be going on). Well, needless to say I got a
couple of other officers on the way to back us up just in case things
went wrong. I asked
the main suspect, who rented the bedroom, if he wouldn't mind if I took
a quick look around the place to make sure there was no illegal drugs.
This kid told me go ahead, but you can't tear anything apart. The
suspect followed me to his bedroom and I asked him again to make sure he
understood that he was consenting to a search, and the suspect said that
I could still look around his room. I went straight to his closet and
opened it up, I turned and looked at the suspect and asked him if there
was marijuana growing in the boxes in his closet, and like the brilliant
criminal he is, he stated "Ya its a pretty cool setup" and proceeded to
show me and the other officers how the contraption worked. In all I had
to chuckle, because for 5 dollars of food they had stole just turned
into numerous other charges. It's ironic how smart these criminals think
marijuana makes them. hehehehe.



#8 From: Russell <russ@lifeonthebeat.com>
Date: Sun Mar 5, 2000 5:55 pm
Subject: Last Night's Shift 3-5-00 russ@lifeonthebeat.com
 


It's shift change time. I will be going back where I belong, hehehe,
GRAVES!!! Tonight will be my first night back and I am quite excited
about it. I usually am able dig some good stuff up graves. We are not
usually quite as busy taking calls so we get out and be more proactive.

Last night was "the great Pokemon theft". I got a call to the local mall
on a call of three juvenile male shoplifters in custody. The mall
security officers were detaining three boys after a shop owner caught
them stealing Pokemon cards.

The mall security officers explained to me that the kids had stolen
Pokemon items from at least 5 different stores. What a nightmare. After
I talked to the boys, they admitted what they had done, so we began the
task of returning the items to the individual store. At each store a we
needed to get information including the price of the item, the store
number, telephone number, managers name and other pertinent information.

After about an hour of walking the mall, we added up the final total. It
was over $350 worth of Pokemon items!!!!!

I then transported the kids to the station, where the parents were
already waiting. The parents explained that the kids were supposed to be
going fishing, but must have taken the bus to the mall instead. I had a
good chat with the parents, but it was one of those times, when a I
know, from the attitude of the parents that I will deal with these kids
again.

When I arrested the kids, they thought it was funny. They thought that
this was just a bump in the road of the day. There was no apologies, no
offers to pay the stores back, there was not any remorse at all. In
fact, when I brought the kids out to be released to the parents, two of
them laughed at the parents.

The report on one of these cases it such a pain. There are so many items
to be entered into evidence and then each item needs to be listed, with
value and location stolen, etc. It took longer to do the report than it
took the kids to steal all of the items.

After this case there was not a lot going on out there. I responded to a
loud party with 100's of people crammed into a small house with music so
loud that the entire block was shaking. The owners of the house were
very cooperative and shit down the party without incident.

I am looking forward to the new cases that I will have during the next 2
months of grave shifts.

Russell



#9 From: Russell <russ@lifeonthebeat.com>
Date: Mon Mar 6, 2000 7:34 pm
Subject: Last Night's Shift 3-6-00 russ@lifeonthebeat.com
 


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know it sounds like a gimmick but my friend has been making good money,
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When you sign up, please use my member ID (XXXXXX) when asked if you
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Now, let me apologize for the typo in my last e-mail. If you missed it,
don't worry it's not worth re-reading. If you saw it, all i can say is
oops.

Last night was a lot of fun. I am glad to be back on grave shift. I just
love the action and the type of calls that we get on graves.

As I was headed into the station for briefing, dispatch advised of a
possible DUI driver. He had been at the hospital and received a shot of
Demerol and another medication. The hospital advised him not to drive,
however as soon as he received the shot he began to drive away. I was in
the area, but did not see the suspect vehicle.

The night was quite cold and wet, so there was not a lot of calls. This
is a good thing usually, because it gives us a chance to go look for
things as they happen, rather than take the report the next day.

As I was driving around at about 2 am I noticed a person in the shadows
near a trailer park on the west side of town. I knew that the person had
turned and looked at me, then ducked into the darkness so I tried to act
as though I did not see anything. I circled around and blacked out and
cruised up to the area quietly. I then got out of my car and quickly
walked to the area where I noticed the person. I then realized that it
was a juvenile female and not a professional auto burglar that I was
hoping to find.

I snuck up on her. She was looking into the area where I was before I
circled around to her blind side. When I got up near her I startled her
by asking what she is hiding from. She denied that she was hiding, so I
pursued with further questioning. She stated that she was on her way
home. I pointed out that she was only 13 and it was well after curfew.
At that time I called dispatch to advise them who I was out with and
where. Another officer called out to tell me some information. I stepped
back so that the female could not hear. He then advised me that she was
a runaway and probably in possession of marijuana. I stepped back over
and started talking to her. I immediately noticed all the signs of a
"pot smoker". Her eyes were red and glassy, she had a green hue on the
back of her tongue and the Nystagnus tests that I performed on her eyes
(by asking her to follow my pen) all showed that she was "high".
Initially she denied that she had smoked marijuana. Then she said she
had been around it--earlier. When I demanded to know where, she lied
again and said that she had smoked it alone in a nearby field. When I
asked how she smoked it she told me that she made a "tin foil" pipe. She
went on to add that she had buried the tin foil under the dirt. I
pointed out the fact that her nails were awfully clean for a person that
had just been digging in the mud.

After all the lies, I checked and sure enough she was listed NCIC as a
runaway. I transported her home, where there was a lengthy conversation
with her mother. The mother was interested in how I knew that her
daughter was "high". I showed her all the tests that I performed and she
quickly agreed. The daughter had absolutely no respect for her mother.
Every comment was rude and out of line. I piped up telling her "that was
no way to speak to an adult". She did not care one bit. I issued a
citation for curfew and gave her a court date. The mother then advised
that her oldest daughter was also listed as a runaway, but she had just
returned.

I advised dispatch of the outcome and they took both juveniles off of
the NCIC database.

After this call the emergency tones came over the radio. The tones are a
series of loud beeps. Dispatch then advised of an explosion at a nearby
industrial plant. They advised that there are several casualties.
Several officers and all three fire stations, and 3 rescue/paramedic
units responded to the scene. Initially it was a confusing scene. The
plant is so large that we were advised to wait at the front gate so that
a worker could respond and lead us through the maze of roads to where
the victims were. My thoughts were racing. You never really know what to
expect going into this situation. I have had some classes on hazardous
materials (HAZ MAT) spills and I knew that there could potentially be a
very dangerous situation that we were heading into. Luckily some of the
personnel on the rescue units were familiar with the plant. They lead
everyone to where the victims were located. The scene was handled well
be the fire personnel and the paramedics. Several people had suffered
severe burns.

I stood back as a paramedic friend of mine took charge of the situation.
He made the decision to call for "life flight" (helicopters) to take at
least two of the victims to burn centers. My Sgt. spoke with some of the
officials of the plant. It seems that everything was under control at
this point. All of the victims were eventually accounted for, so there
was no need for the police to be involved. We left the scene about as
quickly a we had arrived. I then watched the news today and learned
further details. They stated that only one of the patients was still in
the hospital. He was in stable condition with some severe burns, but he
is supposed to be doing well.

Out side the plant I looked at my Sgt. and said "welcome to
graves".....he laughed because he knows how much I like this shift and
said "yup, welcome back".

Another officer then received a call from dispatch about a possible DUI
driver. The caller stated that he was following a small gray car that
was swerving in the roadway. When we arrived and located the vehicle
dispatch remembered that this was the same guy that the hospital called
about at the beginning of the shift. He failed field sobriety tests and
admitted to having a hard time driving so he was arrested. In this state
it is mandatory that the vehicle being driven is impounded. I offered to
do the impound of the vehicle. Part of the impound process is to
inventory the contents of the vehicle. During the inventory, I found
every officers nightmare!!! There was 8-10 used syringes. Luckily they
all had caps on the needles but, upon closer examination, one of them
was "loaded". The contents appeared to be a mixture of blood and an
unknown narcotic. I have heard that drug users will inject the drug into
their body, then withdraw some blood back into the needle for later use.
I am not sure how it works, and how it is done so I called another, more
experienced officer to assist. The contents inside the syringe tested
positive for methamphetamines.

I went to the jail and spoke to the suspect about what I located. He
invoked his miranda rights and refused to speak to me. That was not a
problem, because the syringes were located in a bag that contained only
his possessions. The needles were definitely his.

I am just glad that I did not get stuck by one of them. I guess I live
to tell another story.

Russell

P.S. Don't forget to take a look at this site:
http://www.alladvantage.com/go.asp?refid=KRI-399



#10 From: Russell <russ@lifeonthebeat.com>
Date: Tue Mar 14, 2000 8:34 pm
Subject: Last Night's Shift Last night's shift 3/14/2000 russ@lifeonthebeat.com
 


This week I took off a couple of nights. I got together with several
friends from out of state and went skiing. It was a blast and a nice
break. We had a lot of fun and a lot of laughs.

Last night started out quite slow at work. There was a few small calls,
but nothing to get excited about. I stopped a few cars, heard some of
the latest excuses for speeding and running red lights. I wrote a few
tickets and gave a few warnings too.

I was meeting with a Sgt. in the parking lot of the police department
when we got a call of a family fight. I told him that I would finish the
meeting later and I began rolling toward the family fight. Just then
dispatch advised that the woman now has a knife and both are still
fighting. I stepped up the pace, activated my overheads and cruised
westbound toward the address. The traffic was light and the few cars on
the road seemed to clear the way quite nicely. "Cuz" arrived at about
the same time that I did, so he called "10-23" for both of us. A third
officer arrived just as I started toward the back of the house. We all
worked great together. There was no conversation between any of the
officers and we all knew exactly what to do. As I got to the back of the
house I took cover where I could see partially into the rear portion of
the home. At that time Cuz advised that everything was calm in the house
and I could enter through the front door. As I entered the house, the
Sgt. arrived to assist. I know that four officers seems extreme, but
whenever there is a weapon, such as a knife involved, there cannot be
too much help.

Cuz went into the kitchen area with the husband and a small baby and I
went upstairs where second officer was with the female. She no longer
had the knife, but she was very hysterical. She could hardly talk
because she was sobbing so much.

The officer with the female was attempting to make conversation with her
so I took that time to look for other weapons or dangers to us. I
scanned other rooms in case there was a suspect that we did not know
about. It turns out that the couple live in the home alone with the
baby.

They had been fighting about an old video tape that the husband made.
She explained that there was some type of bachelor party on the tape and
her husband said and did thinks that made her mad. We talked about the
reason for the fight and then what when on during the fight. She
admitted to grabbing the knife and holding it while they fought, but she
said she "never intended to use it".

Meanwhile the husband explained to Cuz and the Sgt. that when she
grabbed the knife, she was threatening suicide. When I asked her if she
had any suicidal thoughts, she said that she sometimes does. She
initially denied that she threatened suicide tonight, but never gave a
good reason for holding the knife.

After talking over, we decided that the best thing to do is transport
the female to the local mental health facility. Our main concern was
making sure that she was not going to be a danger to herself of others
at the home. She understood and was very cooperative.

I then spent about an hour and a half in the emergency room of the
hospital getting clearance to take her upstairs to the mental health
section. It's a real joke how things are worked at the hospital. There
is no order or concept for Officers time. There are too many rules and
procedures.

Anyway, I checked her in and they called a crisis worker to come and
talk to her. I think that she was relieved that she had someone to talk
to about her problems.

I then responded back to the city and began to write the report for the
family fight. Just as I got into the narrative dispatch advised of a
"SILENT INTRUDER ALARM" at a local veterinary clinic. I knew that they
generally have controlled drugs inside and know that other clinics in
the country have been targets for burglars. I was not far out and was
the first one on scene. I saw a vehicle in the parking lot so I gave the
vehicle information to dispatch. Just then I looked inside the business
and saw a male walking around. I said on the radio "There is someone
inside". Just then CUZ arrived. I got out of my car and snuck up to the
side of the business. When I looked inside I saw a sight that shocked
me. There was a man pacing around nervously inside holding a GUN. He was
holding his in his right hand and it was down to the side of his right
thigh. It looked as if he was looking for something, because he was
walking around almost frantically. I called out that there was a man
inside the business with a gun. Other officers began to respond from
other areas of the city to assist. I was quite shocked when I saw the
gun and he was walking rather quickly from room to room so I decided to
take another quick peek inside. Someone asked if I really saw a gun, I
said "I think I saw a gun????" I then looked inside and verified what I
saw. I told the officer it was a revolver. He then said that he saw the
man also and he added that he saw a revolver.

I then looked back to the street, where officers were coming to assist.
Seconds later I heard shotguns beginning to rack shells into the
chambers. I saw officers take cover behind cars and structures.

As if my heart was not already beating a mile a minute, seeing all these
officers arrive and take position, my heart nearly leapt out of my
chest.

I could see a female inside the business and I thought that I saw
another person, although I was not able to get a good look. I tried to
pass all of the information that I had to other officers, but in all of
the excitement I admit that I fell short in that area.

Just then the man with the revolver walked into the room that I was
peering into. A back-up officer, "Woody", had me covered. He had a
shotgun pointed directly at the suspects upper body. I knew a then that
I was only seconds from shooting a suspect. I knew that if he raised the
gun, if he made any attempt to aim and fire at me....I just knew that I
might have to shoot him. My training kicked in. I was not scared,
however I was pleading mentally with the suspect not to put me in that
position.

Woody and I watched as the man set down the gun on top a counter in the
entryway. He then walked toward me. Tapped on the glass and began
issuing demands. I pleaded that he not move. I identified myself and
told him not to move. He then turned and looked at Woody. He saw that
shotgun about 3 feet from his head. The suspect froze. He then began to
tell me that the female had the key to the door. She came over and began
to open the door. I told him over and over that when the door opens, he
was to get on the ground. The split second that the door opened, I
grabbed him and pulled him toward a waiting officer who assisted in
taking the suspect into custody. I then turned to the female and ordered
her down.

I was shocked when she leaned back into the business and grabbed a small
black item from just inside the door. She then turned quickly toward me
and.......LUCKILY I noticed that it was a cell phone.

I assisted her to the ground, the male was telling me to be gentle
because she was pregnant. I used care but then placed her in handcuffs.
The male was also in handcuffs.

A thorough search of the business was done at that time. No other
suspects were located.

We then spoke to the suspects. They advised that they live in the
basement and we called be the alarm company at the same time we were
called. They did not know that we were coming to the alarm, so they
began to search the business for suspects. That is when I arrived and
saw the man with the gun.

It turns out that the gun was a Smith and Wesson .45 caliber. It was
loaded too.

Afterwards the Sgt. pulled us all into the squad room. We went over all
of the problem area's and then he commended us all on a job well done.
We all talked about things that we liked about the situation and then we
gave opinions on how things could have went better. It was a great
training episode. I am just glad that no one got hurt.

Russell

P.S. I want to thank all of you who signed up for AllAdvantage. I am
already starting to accrue a decent little check. If you have not yet
checked it out, follow this link to learn how you can get paid to surf
the web.
http://www.alladvantage.com/go.asp?refid=KRI-399



#11 From: Russell <russ@lifeonthebeat.com>
Date: Wed Mar 15, 2000 10:02 pm
Subject: Last Night's Shift 3/15/2000 russ@lifeonthebeat.com
 


Last night was very slow. The only calls from dispatch were to assist a
couple of people that were locked out of their cars.

I stopped several vehicles and then stopped a Ford Explorer for a
headlight out. I could smell alcohol on the driver and when the
passenger started talking I could hear how slurred her speech was.

I checked the driver for impairment. He performed the tests and I
determined that he had been drinking, but it was not enough for a DUI
charge. He blew a .04 on a portable breath test (PBT).

The 18 year old passenger was very drunk. She Blew a .101 on the PBT but
was not able to hold her liquor like some people can. She said "I just
got a tattoo", Officer Woody was there and he laughed. He said "I hope
you got that Tattoo BEFORE you started drinking". Unfortunately I think
that she will wake up with a pounding headache and an unwanted tattoo.

Both were issued citations and released with a court date for a
mandatory appearance. Luckily, for them, they lived only a few doors
down the block. I offered a ride, but they decided to walk and retrieve
the vehicle in the morning.

After that the Sgt. called a meeting to talk about some new policies and
such. During that meeting he announced something that surpassed the heck
out of me.

He explained that I was named officer of the month of the police
department. I was shocked and excited. What an honor!! I have been
working hard and its so nice to be recognized by the administration.

What a great way to end the work week.

Russell



#12 From: Russell <russ@lifeonthebeat.com>
Date: Sun Mar 19, 2000 7:18 pm
Subject: Last Night's Shift 3/19/2000 russ@lifeonthebeat.com
 


Last Night's Shift was fun. My first call was a family fight. When
officers arrived things had calmed down so we just talked to the parties
involved. The caller was the owner of the home. She said that her adult
son had fallen on hard times so she allowed him to move back into the
house. She said that they had agreed that he would only stay there for
about 2 weeks and it had now been almost a month. "This evening", the
mother explained "I could smell gasoline coming from the basement." She
said that he had "huffed gas" in the past so she knew exactly what he
was doing with the gasoline. When she confronted him about it a verbal
argument broke out. She ended up slapping him on the arm several times.
Then the police got called. After talking to him about the incident he
said that there was no problem and that everything was fine. She was
still very upset and demanded that we kick him out. I explained that
because she had allowed him to come to the house and allowed him to
"rent" the room in the basement that we would not be able to force him
out. I added to that the fact that it was very cold outside and he had a
wife and a baby to think about. She agreed, and then said that she would
give him three days to find a place. I then chewed the son out for his
actions and then explained that he should get another place as soon as
possible.

After that I began to look for some traffic violations. There was not a
lot out considering that it was a saturday night. Finally I stopped a
little blue pick-up up truck with two occupants. When I approached the
vehicle I could immediately smell a strong odor of cologne. I was hoping
to smell alcohol so I was disappointed (at first) that the cologne was
so strong. I asked the driver for his license, registration and
insurance information. He said that he does not have a license and after
looking, was not able to provide the vehicle information either. While
he was looking around the vehicle and trying to convince me that there
was no problem, I found all of the clues that I was looking for. I first
noticed how bloodshot and glassy his eyes seemed to be. Then I could
hear that his speech was thick and slurred. Every thing was coming
together.

I then went back to my patrol car and checked for his information on the
State computer. He gave a name and date of birth, and with the help of
the passenger he came up with an address and telephone number. I was not
able to find one shred of information on this guy. Meanwhile I called
for a back-up officer and explained that I would need another officer
present while doing field sobriety tests. I always try to have another
officer present fir several reasons. First of all I need to concentrate
on the subject doing the tests, so I am not able to see all of the
surroundings, like the passenger or other pedestrians in the area, so
its a safety issue. Another reason for a back-up officer is because
intoxicated people change moods quickly and frequently. They commonly go
from "YES SIR, NO SIR" to "I am going to kill you" to crying, sobbing
and begging for forgiveness.

The back-up officer that said he was enroute was my close friend "Big
O". Well, as Big O was about 2 blocks from my location he came over the
radio. He said, very loudly and excitedly "Dispatch I am as such and
such, there has been an accident, send me some back-up". The Sgt.
responded to his location. I then called another officer to respond.

After my back-up officer arrived I asked the driver to step out and talk
to me. When he stepped out I saw some more of the clues that I was
looking for. He swayed immediately after getting both feet set into the
ground. He raised both arms above waist level and even used the bed of
the truck for balance as he walked to the rear of the vehicle. Once at
the rear of the vehicle I explained that I needed to pat him down for
weapons. He agreed and I was not able to locate anything that I
considered dangerous.

Then I began to explain that I wanted him to do a few field sobriety
tests. The first test was the HGN test. That's the test where I move the
tip of my pen from side to side. I am looking to see if his eyes track
the movement of my pen smoothly or not. His eyes were definitely not
tracking the movement of my pen smoothly. I then looked for a few other
things in the eyes. His eyes told me at that point that he was past the
legal limit of alcohol.

I then had him do a few more tests, all of which he failed. I arrested
him and took him to jail. On the way I talked to him about why I
arrested him and what was going to happen from here. He said that there
was no way he could be drunk because he had only consumed "1" beer. I
joke with him and said "it must have been one
EXTRA-SUPER-LARGE-GRANDE-KING SIZE beer. He laughed, but said it was
only "one bud light".

At the jail I was as kind as possible to him. There are a couple of
reasons for this. First, of all I was alone in the jail because we were
shorthanded on the street. Secondly, I wanted to make sure that he did
not get upset and refuse to blow in the intoxolizer for a breath sample.
He was quiet cordial and told me that he was not a criminal, that he had
just made a mistake tonight. I agreed, even though I knew the
seriousness of drunk drivers and to be honest did not have any remorse
for locking this guy up and knowing that he was going to be dealing with
this mistake for a long time to come.

He blew a .14, which is well over the legal limit. I did fingerprints
and got a booking photo, then placed him in a cell.

At that time Big O was entering the jail with his "prisoner". Big O
looked at me and said "Dammit, as I was almost to your area I watched
this guy cross all lanes of travel, slam through a fence, through a
front yard and then come to rest in another yard. I laughed and told him
good job. I was glad that I was able to joke about it, because that
drunk could have killed my friend if things were only a few seconds
different.

Needless to say, the two drunks shared a cell together. Both will likely
be in jail until monday morning when a judge is available for a hearing.

After I finished up all of the DUI charges and paperwork, the law
requires that I physically hand my suspect a copy of the DUI citation.
When I handed it to him and asked him to sign it, I noticed something
strange. The name he signed on the citation was COMPLETELY different
from the name he gave when he was arrested. I just made sure that he
knew, whoever picked him up from jail would need to bring a valid ID so
we could prove who he was.

Russell
http://www.lifeonthebeat.com



#13 From: Russell <russ@lifeonthebeat.com>
Date: Sun Mar 26, 2000 6:55 pm
Subject: Last Night's Shift 3/26/2000 russ@lifeonthebeat.com
 

The last few nights have not been exactly slow, but there has not been anything very exciting to pass on.

I was assigned a ride along in briefing. I went out to the lobby, introduced myself and the evaluated the situation. Whenever an officer gets a ride along assigned we wonder what's in store for us probably more that the rider wonders what is going to happen that night.

After we exchanged greetings I decided that this guy was on the ball. He seemed like a pretty good guy. He was in his forty's and works with explosives at a local plant. This background---believe it or not proved to be helpful on the shift. I'll get to that in a minute.

Our first call was a 10-46. Keys locked in a vehicle. About 9 out of 10 times I can pop the door open in under 10 seconds. This vehicle was an exception. I worked on it for about 10 minutes without luck. I felt bad, but I could not get it open. I could tell that she was upset with me, but I figured that it was really her fault that she locked the keys in the car anyway. I offered to give her a ride to get another set of keys, but she explained that this was the only set of keys she owned for the car.

After that I stopped a few cars. This is always something that ride alongs like. People always want to know what the criteria is for an officer to stop a car. I explained to him my opinions and thoughts about when and why a vehicle needs to be stopped, then I talked about my thoughts on giving a citation instead of a warning or vice versa.

I looked for something exciting but just was not able to get into anything. As soon as I dropped him off, I stopped an older model International Scout for several equipment violations. As soon as I approached the driver I asked the same question I always try to ask. "license, registration, and insurance please". The driver seemed very nice, but I could tell that something he was not being totally honest with me. After he handed his information, I looked it over and noticed that his insurance was expired about 6 months ago. When I asked him about it, he said that he just got new insurance yesterday and accidentally left that information at home. As I walked back to my patrol car I noticed him lean out of the drivers side window. He then said "officer I have a warrant for my arrest, can you please not take me to jail." I just told him to relax for a minute and I would see what we could do.

When I checked his information, it showed that his drivers license was denied, he had no insurance and he also had a $700 warrant out of an nearby agency. I then called "Cuz" to back me while I arrested the driver. When he arrived explained that I was going to arrest him and asked him to step out of the vehicle. Immediately he started crying, he was crying like a little kid...sobbing and gasping. I explained that this was not that big of deal and that he could probably be out of jail within a few hours. I then caught a whiff of alcohol. When I asked about it, he said that he had one beer. I was not certain so I had him perform a few field sobriety tests. He passed the tests so I placed him the handcuffs and took him to the station. One the way he gave a couple of different sad stories to explain why I should not arrest him. I explained again that this was not that big of deal and he could be out quite soon.

During the booking process I located a credit card that did not belong to him. He gave 2 or 3 stories about why he had someone else's credit card. I contacted the owner of the card and he explained that the card was lost. I explained where I located it and then explained that I would like to charge the suspect with possession of lost or mislaid property. The owner then surprised me. He said that in his life he just found a new religion. In that religion, he explained, "If a man steals your cloak, you find the man.....and then give him the cloak". I was speechless for a minute, but then clarified. Does that mean that you do not want me to charge him with this. He said that if I did not charge the suspect, he was sure to never steal again. "Uh, ok", I told him. "You can pick up your card from the property room on Monday". The guy thanked me and we finished our conversation.

I then went and informed the suspect of the situation and explained what the card owner had told me. The suspect thanked me and then said to thank the card owner.

While I can see the good intentions of the card owner, my experience tells me that this suspect will not change his actions because someone forgave him. I am quite sure that I will see this suspect again.

Russell
http://www.lifeonthebeat.com
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#14 From: Russell <russ@lifeonthebeat.com>
Date: Mon Mar 27, 2000 7:34 pm
Subject: Last Night's Shift 3/27/2000 russ@lifeonthebeat.com
 


On my last email I mentioned that the ride along had used his background
in explosives to assist on a traffic stop then I forgot to include how
he helped. It was interesting because I stopped a girl from Canada for
running a red light. When I started to write out the citation I noticed
that her driver's license showed the physical description in centimeters
and her weight kilograms. My ride along instantly converted her height
and weight into the inches and pounds. HAHAHA. He explained that he uses
the metric system for measuring out explosives. That was a nice touch.

Last night was an interesting shift.

My first traffic stop resulted in a citation for driving on a revoked
drivers license and no insurance. The very next traffic stop resulted in
the arrest of the driver for a warrant.

On the second traffic stop the driver spoke very little English, so I
used that to my benefit. I was quite social with him, telling him that
it was no big deal and that he could easily be out of jail tonight. By
the time we arrived at the jail he was teaching me some much needed
Spanish words. When we got to the jail I noticed that he was wearing a
shirt with a large "13" on the front. His belt buckle also had a "13"
and he had 3 dots on the web area of his left hand. I asked him who he
was "down" with and he just laughed. He tried to avoid the question so I
asked again. I told him about all of the "gang" signs that he had. I
told him that I knew he was in a gang and asked why he was not proud to
tell me what gang he hung with. He shuffled around a lot and never did
answer my question. Around here there is a hispanic gang called
"Serenios 13". I am not a gang expert by any means, but for the most
part I think that they are non-violent. They seem to be mostly involved
in vandalism's and thefts. Luckily we don't seem to have a lot of gang
problems. I searched this guys person and vehicle quite well and there
was no guns. Luckily. He ended up bailing out of jail within a few
hours.

After that arrest, "Cuz" was giving me a hard time because the last 5 or
6 traffic stops I did were in his area and they all resulted in
something fun. I just laughed at him and said I must be lucky.

About an hour later I was traveling north on a main road through town
when I saw a vehicle that I wanted to stop for minor traffic
violations. I flipped around on the vehicle and ran the plate on my
computer. It showed expired and no insurance. Just as I was getting
ready to hit the overhead lights, "Cuz" sent me a message on the
computer. He said "that's my truck, I was going to stop it". I laughed
because I did not see "Cuz" anywhere. About the time I got ready to hit
the lights again, ole' Cuz flew up from behind me, cut me off and pulled
that truck over. It turned out that all three passengers had been
drinking and all three had suspended drivers licenses. Cuz wrote the
driver a citation for several violations and asked them if they wanted a
ride, because none of them were allowed to drive and the two passengers
were so intoxicated that we did not want them walking down the street.
They said that they could call a friend.

I then jumped Cuz's case. I growled at him pretty good, then I told him
that if I stopped that truck I would have found warrants on all three
and drugs under the seat. He laughed and said, "the way things are going
for you, that's is probably true". I figure that after a stunt like
that, he owes me.

In all reality it's no big deal. I like being the back-up officer as
much as I like being the initial officer. I just think that its really
good that I am at the point where I am totally comfortable with my job.
I used to be quite nervous about making a legal mistake that would ruin
the case. Or make error in judgment of miss a warning sign and get into
a bad situation.

Every night, on every call, and every single traffic stop, I try to
remember all of the officer safety rules that I have been taught. Its
important to pat down every suspect and stay totally alert in all
situations. So far in my career I have followed my own rules and
everything has worked out just fine.

Russell
http://www.lifeonthebeat.com
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#15 From: Russell <russ@lifeonthebeat.com>
Date: Mon Apr 3, 2000 8:30 pm
Subject: Last Night's Shift 4-2-00 russ@lifeonthebeat.com
 


The last few nights have been strange. Last week was very slow. There
was not really anything interesting that I could pass on. This week,
however, was a different story.

Saturday night started off quite busy. There was a lot of traffic out
and about and several calls being dispatched. After a traffic stop
dispatch advised of a medical call, code 3. They said, 27 year old man
down, not conscious and not breathing. Another officer was dispatched as
the primary officer, but because I was so close I said that I would
respond and handle the case.

I was the first officer to arrive on scene. The house was an older
style, a but run down and in a tough area of town. There was a man on
the front porch motioning us into the house. Just as I got out of the
car dispatch added that the body was cold to the touch. I knew that I
was in for another tough call.

I went inside the house just as the paramedics were entering. I followed
them down a switch back stairwell and then into a tiny bedroom on the
south side of the basement.

What I saw next was something that I pray most people never see. The
scene was so bad that most movies never show something so terrible.

The man was laying on his right side on a pool of blood. The blood was
very thick. The color was a deep, dark, red---it was almost black. It
looked almost fresh as it was still wet.

The first paramedic into the room touched the body and explained that
some "rigor mortis" was setting in. I then ask the paramedics to clear
out of the room. I explained that I needed to set of a crime scene. They
were all interested in seeing the life-less body of that man. It's just
a sight that is seen everyday. As they slowly exited the room, my Sgt.
came into the room. As he entered, he said in a deep powerful voice,
"OK, EVERYONE OUT, THIS IS MY CRIME SCENE". Before I knew it, they were
all up the stairs and exiting the house. Heck, his voice was so
commanding that I almost left the room. (kidding)

He explained that this was my case and gave me some tips on where to
start. I looked at the body and determined that it was probably a
gunshot wound to the right side of the head.

Another officer then arrive, Officer Dunes. He was also helpful, telling
me that he would take photo's and help out in anyway he could.

At that point I went upstairs and spoke to the family members. All
stated the same thing. The victim was 27 years old and was always kind
of a loner. He had made some plans to go to school, but did not have a
job at the time. They said that he always seemed a bit withdrawn, but
never talked about suicide.

I interviewed several of the family members, called a medical examiner,
a detective, and called for a victims advocate officer to respond to
help the family better deal with the trauma.

After that the medical examiner arrived and asked a million questions.

Then the Sgt., myself, Dunes, the M.E. and the detective picked the
crime scene apart. There was no suicide note and no other physical
evidence. We had not moved the body yet and hoped that the gun would be
located underneath.

The detective located and empty bullet casing to a .32 auto, near the
body. After dozens of photographs and other details we decided that it
was time to move the body. As we turned him over, the smell became
horrid. I saw Dunes exit the room for a few minutes. My stomach turned
as I looked at the bullet wound to the right side of the head. The blood
was real bad. Again, the smell was even worse.

As we suspected, the gun was underneath the body. The Sgt. disarmed the
gun and counted bullets and such.

It turned out to be what we suspect as a suicide. It was a
self-inflicted, single, shot to the head.

I was responsible for letting the family know our findings. When I went
up to speak to them they mentioned that they hoped that he had only
tripped and struck his head on accident. While talking to them I stopped
and considered that it would make everything so much easier for me if I
could lie and tell them that it was all an accident. I wished that I
could tell them that their son, brother and friend had not done such a
selfish act.

Some of the family was very well composed, but some others were sobbing
and weeping uncontrollably. It was a tough call. It was a tough night. I
was glad to have veteran officers, like Dunes and the Sgt., help guide
me through the process of such a difficult case.

When I came home, I got into the shower until the hot water ran out. I
still had the smell of that body stuck in my nostrils. I still had the
thought of that family in my head. I heard the father blaming himself
over and over.

It was a tough call.

Russell
http://www.lifeonthebeat.com

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#16 From: Russell <russ@lifeonthebeat.com>
Date: Sun Apr 9, 2000 6:02 pm
Subject: Last Night's Shift 4/9/00 russ@lifeonthebeat.com
 

I guess it must be summer time again. Last night was the busiest night that I have worked in a very long time.

The first call that I responded to was at an apartment complex. The caller was reporting that there were sounds coming from the apartment above them that sounded like explosions. I was quite concerned about the call because there are a lot of "meth" labs around and we have been educated on how explosive they can be.

When I arrived I went to the top floor of the apartment complex and stood near the closed door of the apartment where the noises were said to have come from. All I could hear was giggling and outbursts of laughter. As I waited for a back-up officer three teenage males came past me and into the apartment. I could see inside, there was a group of teenage girl in the living room. As the door began to close I leaned in and announced myself. They were all very nice and said come in. I explained what an anonymous caller had reported. They all seemed shocked. I then gave the common speech about living in an apartment and paper thin walls, yadda, yadda, yadda. They all agreed to never make another peep, so I left.

I was interested in the so called "explosions" that the caller had reported. I remembered dispatch said that the caller was saying the noise was one apartment above his. When I knocked on that door a couple invited me into their apartment. I asked what the problem was and explained what I had done to resolve the problem. They began to tell me that they have called several times without results so this time the told dispatch that the noises sounded like explosions. I explained that when they call to make a police report, it is important not to exaggerate. Then I exaggerated, hehehehe. I told them that we had every cop in the city on the way, because of reported "explosions"!!!! I am pretty sure that if they were not all tied up on other things, they might have came toward this call. I wanted them to know the seriousness of over exaggerating the details of the call. I then explained that the best relief for them would be to go to a manager and complain. If they complained enough then the manager of the complex would be forced to make some changes.

After that I went on a few general calls, one LT. says they are "Cat in the tree" calls. Actually, I think he thinks a call is a "cat in the tree call" if no one goes to jail. He has had so much military, swat, and police training that not much gets him excited. He is great to have on duty when things hit the fan.

At about 0300, we were all getting a but worn down, because of call after call for the last 6 hours. Normally by this time we are able to type out a few reports from the shift. I met with Cuz for a minute and said that I was going to head in and get a jump start on my reports. He said that he wanted to go dig something up.

As I left his area and started to the station, dispatch announced a family fight in progress. They then stated that the suspect had left the area and gave the vehicle description. The caller reported that the suspect was probably DUI. Then, as three officers were arriving in the area, dispatch announced that the suspect had returned. I was the last of the three to get into the area. The first officer that had arrived was out with the suspect and was already placing him into handcuffs. The suspect was a short stocky guy with long, thick, tangled, burly, black hair. The officer had a huge smile on his face. I was a bit puzzled by that so I said "what's up?". He said, take a look on the floor of the car. There was a LARGE baggie of what looked like meth. I looked back at the arresting officer and winked, I knew that he had stumbled onto something good.

There was a man and a woman standing by the front door of the home so I went over to see if they could explain the situation. While the case officer was dealing with the suspect, I got three written statements from the residents at the home. They were all helpful, saying that this guy had come over to the house all "tweaked out". The suspects girlfriend had been staying there at the home for the past several days and he came there tonight and began yelling at her. A fight then broke out between the suspect and the male homeowner when the suspect refused to leave.

The suspect was charged with several things, including one 1st degree felony. Hopefully that means some sort of serious jail time.

As I was leaving that call, I heard another officer stop a vehicle. I began to roll that way in case he needed some assistance. I was nearly there when I noticed the car in front of me driving very slowly and weaving from lane to lane. I shook my head, because it seemed quite obvious what was going on. I activated my overhead lights and attempted to stop the car. He slowed down to about 5 mph in a 40 zone and continued driving. I called out my situation on the radio and asked for another officer. The suspect finally stopped. As I approached, he opened the door and exited the car. He was so drunk that he actually fell back into the drivers seat. I noticed that his car was now in reverse and headed directly at my car!!!! I yelled at him to stop the car. He fumbled around for a second and finally placed his foot on the brake. I told him to shut off the engine and step out. I calmed down when he finally got out. He was very drunk, he failed every test badly and I took him to jail. He blew a .218 on the breath machine at the station, which is more that 2 times the legal limit.

It was a long night, but I loved it.

Russell
http://www.lifeonthebeat.com

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#17 From: Russell <russ@lifeonthebeat.com>
Date: Sun Apr 16, 2000 8:26 am
Subject: Last night's shift 4/16/2000 russ@lifeonthebeat.com
 


Like I have said before. It's strange how things don't seem nearly as
exciting to me as they did when I first hired on. I remember getting a
thrill out of writing a speeding ticket or a simple warrant arrest.
Lately none of the "regular ole stuff" seems to make get me pumped.
Don't get me wrong I still love doing all the "regular ole stuff", and I
think I have the worlds best job.

Tonight I finally did something that got me quite pumped.

I was in the area of the local bar when a vehicle pulled out. The lights
were not on so I activated my overheads and wig wags. The vehicle
refused to stop, so I told dispatch my location, direction of travel and
such. The vehicle finally stopped in the driveway of a house. The driver
began to exit the vehicle. I was sure that something was up, so I waited
for back-up to arrive. I called out to the driver that he needed to
remain in the vehicle for a few minutes. He then got back into the
truck. I could see that both the driver and the passenger were large
guys. Both had shaved heads and tattoos. After a few seconds the
passenger seemed as though he did not want to sit any longer.

The passenger got out of the truck with his hands on his head and walked
toward the house, he was sporting a major attitude. Then the driver got
out of the truck, he looked a little pissed off too.

Both of these guys were HUGE. They were obviously VERY drunk, and
neither would obey directions. I later learned that the driver was 371
lbs and the passenger was about 250 lbs.

I could hear people talking in the background of my radio, but backup
was no where to be seen. I got on the radio and again requested
assistance.

I did not want either one to make it into the house, because of the
possibility of weapons or allies in the home. I tried to stall them but
there was no use. When the passenger refused to obey my requests I
warned him of what I was about to do. When I looked and they both were
approaching me, I followed up on my warning. I sprayed the closest one,
the passenger directly in the eyes. He did not seem phased. then
decided that I would eliminate one of the threats. That's when I shoved
the passenger away from me. At the time, we were on a porch at the front
of the house. When I pushed him, all 250 lbs of him went air born. There
was a patch of bushes that he fell into. It was strange how it happened
because I felt as if the bushes would hold him up, but they didn't he
crashed all the way to the bottom. About that time the pepper spray took
hold. He did not move, which was good because I needed to focus on the
driver.

I then yelled with all I had to the driver to stop and get on the
ground. I thought for a second that things were going to get very ugly.
He was quite upset for what I did to his buddy.

I guess that he had some about of brain matter in his head because he
decided to get onto the ground and give me distance that I was asking
for.

When he decided to get down, I quickly yelled into the mike "DISPATCH,
GET ME SOME BACK-UP, I SPRAYED ONE!!!!!!!"

About that time, backup arrived and placed the driver in handcuffs.
Another officer arrived and helped me pull the passenger out of the
bushes. We cuffed him and charged him with a couple of things.

The driver blew more than double the legal limit on the breath machine.

When I look back on it I feel fortunate that neither of these Goliath's
got a old of me. The only explanation for the surge of energy I got was
pure adrenaline. When I shoved him away from me his feet left the
ground.

Afterwards I had a huge report to do. Whenever an officer uses force,
reports get quite long and hairy.

The duty Sgt. arrived and told me that I did a fine job. I think that he
was more mad at the bad guys than I was. Of course by this time of the
night the shift had arrested several drunks and been to 10 alcohol
parties trying to let people understand that they need to be quiet.

At the jail I tried to fingerprint the driver. He nearly fell over once.
His emotions were unbelievable. He went from Mr. nice guy, to poor pity
me, to I am being framed, to sobbing crying drunk, to.........well when
he slammed his huge fist into the countertop, I got a little nervous.
When he started the mean drunk routine, I decided to try this whole
booking process at a later time.

Another fun night.

Russell



#18 From: Russell <russ@lifeonthebeat.com>
Date: Mon Apr 17, 2000 8:20 pm
Subject: Last Night's Shift 4/17/2000 russ@lifeonthebeat.com
 


Gotto make this message a quick one I am running late to work.

Last night was a busy shift. My first call was a family fight. The wife
was calling to report that her husband had choked her, thrown her over
some furniture and broke two telephones when she was attempting to call
for help.

He was not there when I arrived, so I took all of the information and
referred her to a victims advocate provided by the city for victims such
as her. The victims advocate is able to refer people in the right
direction to make their lives better. In this case the female stated
that she wanted a divorce and a protective order so that he would not
hurt her again.

As I was leaving I saw the suspect/husband in the area, I called for a
backup officer and then I stopped and talked with him. He admitted
everything and was very compliant. Soon after I began talking to him two
backup officers arrived. He was somewhat upset that there was a total of
3 patrol cars in front of his house. I could understand that he was
embarrassed, but sarcastically said---"if you didn't choke your wife
and break the telephones then there would not be any cops here". He
quickly shut up.

I booked him into jail without saying much. He wife was a very nice
lady, with a lot of manners. I just cannot see why some people think
that they can beat the crap out of other people for little or no reason.

After this call I stopped a car for an equipment violation. The adult
driver was driving with a suspended drivers license, had several arrest
warrants and had a teenage girlfriend in the car, well after her curfew.

I could see that he was upset that I stopped him. From the second I
walked up to the car he was very belligerent. I just shrugged off his
attitude and told him to calm down because every thing would be alright.
When I began to cuff him up I had a back up officer. He started to
struggle, but settled down as soon as the cuffs were on.

On the way to the jail he made several sarcastic comments. I retaliated
by turning up the local country music station (which I really enjoy). He
obviously did not like it.

At the jail I explained that if he cooperated during booking, I could
get the telephone to him immediately. He was very cordial because he
wanted to use the phone to try to make bail.

After that I worked on the reports and took a few run of the mill calls.

Russell



#19 From: Russell <russ@lifeonthebeat.com>
Date: Sun Apr 23, 2000 8:10 pm
Subject: Last night's shift 4/23/00 russ@lifeonthebeat.com
 


Well, the most exciting thing that happened last night was the thunder
and lightning produced by mother nature. hehehehe

Actually, yesterday afternoon I talked to Cuz on the telephone. We have
decided that we are getting better and better at finding and making good
arrests. We both agree that we motivate each other too. Since the
beginning of this year he and I have both made several good arrests.

Last night, was very slow. It was raining cats and dogs most of the
evening. I took a few calls, but after getting waterlogged I decided to
slow down until the rain cleared.

About 0300 I noticed vehicle coming up pretty fast from behind me. When
he noticed me he quickly slowed, well below the speed limit and refused
to pass me, no matter how slow I went. I had that gut feeling that
something was up. I finally just pulled over, watched him pass and
noticed that he had a tail-light out. When I pulled him over, I noticed
that he was very nervous. I asked for his DL, registration and insurance
information. He fumbled around for a few minutes and then stopped, look
straight ahead and thought of a lie to tell me. "My wallet got stolen,
last week." I knew that by the way he was talking and avoiding eye
contact that he was being untruthful. The eyes tell so much. I asked him
a few simple questions, some he lied to and some he told the truth.

When all was said and done I charged him with driving with a suspended
drivers license, curfew violation and a couple small things. I then had
a parent respond to pick him up. The parent explained that they had been
looking for him and they were glad that I stopped him.

After that I stopped another vehicle. The driver was issued a couple of
citations, and then I arrested the passenger for illegal consumption of
alcohol, and curfew violation. His mother was also quite upset.
Apparently he was supposed to be at some other friends house for the
night and not out on the town. His excuse to me was "Dude, it's spring
break". I said "dude, you are only 16 years old, and your are drunk as a
skunk". He was quiet after that.

Just before I was to get off duty, dispatch advised of a caller
reporting a rollover on the freeway. They explained that a passenger was
still trapped inside the vehicle. I responded down, but by the time I
got there, some troopers had already arrived. It appeared to me that
they had it all take care of. Besides, its not worth getting in the way
just to see someone all messed up because of a car accident. Those
scenes only collect in a persons head. They never seem to go away. Just
like that suicide that I went on at the beginning of this month, I see
that scene all the time.

On my day off I happened to drive down the very street where the suicide
took place. It made me remember all of the details. I told my wife about
it and showed her the window to the room where the man was at. I feel
like that room changed my life. I don't like changes like that.

Russell



#20 From: "Russell" <russ@lifeonthebeat.com>
Date: Sun Apr 30, 2000 7:51 pm
Subject: Last Night's Shift 4/30/00 russ@lifeonthebeat.com
 

The last few shifts have been very fun, I have been making a lot of arrests. I feel great about my productiveness, however an incident happenend last night that messed with my mind.

The night started off very busy. I was assigned as a back-up car. The officer that I was backing was my good friend "Big O". I really like covering his area, because he hustles to all of his calls. He takes pride in getting to the call and taking care of things in a timely manner so that he can catch the next call.

The first call that we took was a call of kids throwing eggs and shooting paintballs at vehicles on a very busy roadway. We searched an orchard where we figured that the kids were hiding, but we could not locate them. I plan on checking that area frequently to see if they get sloppy and try again. The biggest problem was the fact that it is so dangerous to do what they were doing. Vehicles are travelling 45-50 mph, and then get struck with a large thump. It would not take much to scare a driver enough to make them crash.

After that we got a call of a strange object in someone's driveway. It appeared that someone had placed a "dry ice bomb" in the middle of the callers driveway. We approached it with caution because the ice was inside a glass jar. I would hate to see what would happen if that thing blew up near a person. After waiting it out for a while we took a closer look and decided that it was not what we first thought. I agreed that it was better to error on the side of caution.

Around midnight calls slowed down, so I went out looking for someone doing something wrong. I saw a vehicle coming my direction with a headlight out so I decided to make a traffic stop. When the driver pulled over, he went up onto the sidewalk and then back onto the roadway. I approached the guy knowing that he was probably drunk. As soon as I looked into his eyes, I could see how red, glassy and bloodshot they were. Immediately I listened carefully to his speech, YEP, it was slow and slurred. He had to pause and think about everything that he was saying before he made a comment. I called out for another officer to assist while I did field sobriety tests on the subject. While I was awaiting back-up I kept a close eye on the subject, making detailed mental notes of his characteristics. I leaned near him so that I could smell the odor of alcohol. I asked a few simple questions, trying to build my case.

He failed all of the field sobriety tests badly. It was classic. When I placed him in handcuffs and walked him to the rear of my patrol car he became beligerant. Initially he refused to get into my car, but I talked him into it.

After he was secure, the bach-up officer, my Sgt. gave me that disapointed look. I walked up to him and listened to what he had to say. He said did you see that rifle on the back seat? I went back to where I was standing when I was questioning the driver and looked into the back seat. Sure enough there was the back end of a rifle sticking up though some clothing. It looked so obvious now, I was not sure how I missed it. My heart sunk. I tried to think of all the times he could have shot me. I thought of all my mistakes. It made me sick. I always try to be so cautious. I try so hard to see all of the little details that make me a better officer. I felt as though I failed in a big way. I just could not believe that I missed a gun that big and in plain view.

I then transported the guy to jail and talked to the Sgt. He still had that concerned look on his face and I could hear it in his voice also. What he told me next shocked me even more. He said, come look at what I found just behind the drivers seat. It was a FULLY loaded revolver. I did not say much. I felt stupid. I also felt lucky. The Sgt. did not have to chew me out.

The guy I arrested ended up getting quit beligerant at the jail and refused to be booked. I realized that not only did he have the means to do harm to an officer, he had the personality to back those guns up.

As I think about the stop I think that I was cautous and I was thinking about safety, but I think that I was looking to much at this guy as a simple drunk, than I was keeping an open mind for all possibilities. I am very happy that I can take the time to think about what I did wrong to prevent anything like that from ever happening again.

Russell



#21 From: "Russell" <russ@lifeonthebeat.com>
Date: Tue May 9, 2000 2:17 pm
Subject: Last Night's Shift 5-09-00 russ@lifeonthebeat.com
 

The last few nights have been quite busy.

There has been a lot going on in my life also. First of all I got a bit crazy and shaved my head. Me and "big O" also bought motorcycles. He got a Harley and I settled on a "Harley wannabe". I love my bike and am happy because I got a great deal, he loves his and is happy because his bike is so loud that he wakes up all of the neighbors when he rides.

Tonight started out with a SGT, grouching at the swing shift for not being as productive as we should. He mentioned that the night shift was getting a reputation of kicking a## and taking names, while swing officers have been slacking off. I guess that I took it wrong, because I know that me, "CUZ", and "Big O" are a big reason why the night shift has such a great reputation lately. As a result I was a bit frustrated with work.

My first call was a traffic accident and then there was a neighborhood problem. One neighbor called to complain that the boys next door keep hitting her car with a basketball. When I spoke with the boys, they stated that the lady parks as close as possible to their basketball stand. Calls like this are tough, because there are some neighborhoods where people just do not get along. I tell people that I am only a temporary fix, I am not going to be able to solve YEARS of problems in 5 minutes. Both parties need to learn to get along, or neither is going be happy.

Then there was another neighborhood problem. I have been to this neighborhood on several other issues, so I was fortunate to know some of the history surrounding the situation. I guess that on couple who lived in the area got into a very messy, court battled, divorce. The wife ended up moving and the husband staying. The problem came when some of the neighbors testified for the husband and another neighbor testified for the wife. After the wife left, the neighbor that testified for her has been getting harassed.

During the last few days an unknown person has been throwing eggs at the house of the neighbor who helped the wife. It happened again today while one of the daughters was home alone. It scared her pretty badly, so when mom got home she called to report the problem. While I was talking with the mother, I noticed two boys out playing basketball in the driveway acrossed the street. When they saw me, they talked for a second and then quickly left my view. While the mother was explaining the long history (most of which I was already familiar with) I kept my eye out for the two kids acrossed the street. I noticed them again and asked the gal if she thought those boys would have thrown all of the eggs. She nodded.

With that I went acrossed the street and asked one of the boys to talk to me. I looked at the house, it was covered with dried yellow goop and white eggshells covered the roof, yard and front of the house. As I talked to the first boy, he denied knowing any thing about the eggs. I asked again. This time he pleaded that he knew nothing. I then bluffed him. I asked "Is there any reason that your fingerprints would be on the eggshells acrossed the street." He paused, looked at me, looked at the house with all the eggshells and then admitted everything. He and his friend were mad at the mother over there so they decided to pelt the house with eggs. He then began crying.

I then walked over to the other boy and asked simply "Do you have something to tell me?" Immediately he admitted that he threw several eggs at the house. Both boys added that a third boy assisted in throwing the eggs.

At this time I started to talk to the parent of the first boy. I remembered her from a previous case so I knew what her action was going to be. She blew up at me. She said I cannot believe that you would even respond to investigate something like this. I described all of the damage and goop that covered that ladies house. I added that its more than some eggs on a house, and its closer to a witness tampering situation. She went off the deep end, yelling and carrying on about how I was the bad guy. Then her 17 year old daughter started in on me. I then reminded the daughter about a drug paraphernalia charge that I let slide about 6 months ago. She disappeared so fast that I almost laughed.

After this some of the other parents started to gather outside. They were all getting very upset at me. I finally raised my voice and made it clear what I was going to do. By the time I was done giving a lecture to the whole group, one guy offered to pay a professional cleaning service to clean up the mess. Slowly all of the other parents came to realize that they were barking at me for nothing. I then said that we could see if the boys would apologize and offer to clean up the mess. All of the parents agreed that this would be a good course of action.

The victim agreed to the apology and clean-up. This is just another chapter in a long, continuous neighborhood battle. I guarantee that this one is not over.

The rest of the shift was very busy. There was a beer theft from a gas station. I listened to the details and recognized the juvenile suspect and his vehicle. I went over to his house and sure enough his vehicle was gone. I circled the block and then noticed the vehicle was at the house. I called for another officer. It was funny because the suspect invited us in. There was all of the evidence at the house. Just as the witness described. The suspect lied and lied. I asked if he would blow into an portable breath test. Obviously he showed a positive result. He continued to deny the theft, even though we pointed out all of the evidence. It was almost comical.
While I was working on this call, other officers responded to a drive-by shooting. As soon as I heard that call we issued a citation and a mandatory court date, gathered the evidence and left him there with his mother to think about the charges.

Russell



#22 From: "Russell" <russ@lifeonthebeat.com>
Date: Wed May 17, 2000 3:12 am
Subject: Last Night's Shift 5-16-00 russ@lifeonthebeat.com
 

We had another high speed pursuit two nights ago. I am learning very quickly (contrary to popular belief), high speed pursuits are not all that they are cracked up to be. The stress, the liability, the paperwork, and (yes) the fear, all total more than the adrenaline rush that you get.

An officer attempted to stop a speeding bullet-bike (you can laugh now), but the driver of the motorcycle refused to stop for the officer. The officer called out on the radio that he was following a black bullet bike and gave his location. Just then he said that the bike had stopped. He noticed that the passenger on the bike, got off and stood there on the sidewalk. As the officer got out of his car, the bike took off at an extremely high rate of speed. Well, the officer, being smarter than the average "dirtbag". Quickly arrests the "former" passenger for possession of drug paraphernalia. The funny thing is that the guy on the bike thought that if he dropped off the passenger, the officer would pursue the bike and leave the passenger alone, thus both getting away.

The story gets really funny in a hurry, because now the passenger gets all pissed off at his friend for dumping him on the side of the road like a "sack o' taters". So the friend immediately gives up the friend, his name, address, pager number, EVERYTHING.

Well, I hear what is going on and I slowly drift to the area. I missed a lot of the initial radio traffic, so I stopped and spoke to the original officer involved. He was giving me all of the details and explained what direction he saw the suspect, and even gave a plate number. Several officers were combing the area, when all of the sudden one of the senior officers, whom I look up to a great deal, sniffs out the driver on the bulletbike. Not surprisingly the bike was only a block away in a business area.

And, once again the chase is on. Luckily for me (I guess), I was right behind this senior officer when I see his lights activate. I gunned it and tried to keep up. The bike made a quick right and started westbound down a residential area. He came up quickly on some traffic at a red light that was in the process of turning green. The traffic is slowly gaining momentum, but it was not enough. The guy on the bike began to swerve and fishtail. As he went from side to side, I am sure that his heart was in his throat. As he cleared the intersection, all of the cars began to move over for our lights and sirens. As the bike got into the open area on a straight-away, he left us like we were sitting still. As we attempted to keep a visual on the suspect, we shut off lights and sirens, and slowed. Just then we noticed that the suspect, made a stupid move. He pulled into a residential area that has one way in and only one way out. The first officer took and covered the first entrance and I radioed that I was going to cover the outlet. The road went through this area in sort of a horseshoe shape. Just as I reached the location that I wanted to be, I saw the black Yamaha, with double headlights headed right at me. I slowed and waited for the fast moving bike to make impact on my hood. I was not all that concerned, because I figured that he the way he was driving, if things did not stop quickly, someone was about to get killed. As he neared, I radioed an update, just then he swerved and passed on my passenger side. WHEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!! The, bike screamed past. I figure that it was 50+ mph, as he cleared my right side with only inches to spare.

After this he went back out into the open roadway, down a hill and then right on another open straight away. Another officer friend of mine, lets call him "Letterman", was sitting, waiting for the bike to come down the street. The officer positioned his vehicle to be very visible in the roadway, overhead lights pulsating. Letterman told me later that his heart started to pound as he saw the bike, headed directly at him. He said that as the bike neared, it slowed. He saw the driver take his feet off of the foot pegs. As, Letterman noticed this he exited the car and crouched behind the door frame, getting ready to effect a "high-risk" traffic stop and arrest.

But, just as the suspects, feet hit the ground, they jolted back onto the pegs. The throttle opened up and the bike screamed by at about a million miles an hour. Letterman explained how he felt the air whoooosh by as the bike rushed past.

The only thing that ole' Letterman could say was that there was double headlights on the bike. He hoped to get a good look at the suspect, but the sight of that bike flying past, limited his vision to only the "double headlights"

At that point the Sgt. made a tough decision. He said, "Call it off, it's too dangerous". Immediately, I pulled over and got out of my car. I did not realize how much adrenaline I had pumping through my veins. I knew deep down that we would never catch this guy, unless he wrecked, so I am not sure why I was so pumped up. It was amazing. I looked at my hands and they were shaking. I just laughed. Then, the Sgt pulled up. I was glad to see him, there was no question that I had stopped the pursuit when he asked. I walked over to him and spoke about what had gone on. He just smiled at me. I know that he was laughing at my "adrenaline high". No biggie, I was laughing too.

After we returned to the station, the former passenger from the bike was able to call the suspect. The original officer spoke to the suspect, who demanded that if he came in, we would drop some of the charges. The officer stood his ground and told the guy that he lost that chance when he ran and put officers and the publics life at risk.

Well, the next day the suspect was picked up at a friends house in a nearby city. He quickly admitted to the evading us and said that he was just scared to stop. Ya, right.

When he came into the jail, I was booking another prisoner for assaulting his mother. So, I listened to the suspect. He was saying that he originally wrecked the bike just after dropping off the passenger. He said that he pushed it up behind some businesses and tried to get it started. He explained how the bike was leaking all of its oil all over the ground. When it started, he jumped on it and accidentally drove out in front of the veteran officer. And that's where the chase started again.

I looked at him, his pantlegs were all wet. I asked what he had been up to and he explained that the wetness was oil from the bike. He said that it was spraying out as he rode. I am so surprised that the engine did no seize during the pursuit. That would have been cool.

At the station I began a supplement report. I talked to another officer who was not involved. I joked "where were you", he laughed and said. I was listening. But he explained how much liability there is if this suspect hits a citizen. He reminded me that its not worth it to pursue these knot heads. I giggled and told him how much fun it had been. He just looked at me and said, "Who is the one doing a huge supplemental report right now, and who is the administration looking at on this pursuit investigation?" I quickly got his point.

When I talked to my wife, she explained how my oldest son and her had been listening on the scanner to the chase. She asked how I was and said that she was happy that everything turned out alright.

I was happy that everything turned out alright too.

Russell


#23 From: "Russell" <russ@lifeonthebeat.com>
Date: Sun May 21, 2000 12:17 pm
Subject: Last night's shift 5-21-00 russ@lifeonthebeat.com
 

I had a couple of interesting calls last night.

I went to a call of a family fight called in by the neighbors.

When I knocked on the door no one answered so I rang the doorbell I noticed that the lights inside the house flickered on an off. I began to get worried that something was wrong inside so I peeked through a window in the top of the door. I then noticed an older gentleman walking to the door. When he opened it up I he motioned that he was deaf and asked me to follow him inside.

I found later that both parents are deaf and they have four children living at home. All of the children have perfect hearing.

A 14 year old son had been out after curfew last evening, so tonight the parents decided not to allow the him to go out again. The 14 year old became upset at this. Then he began to yell at his parents, which made no sense at all to me, but he did. Then they began to yell back at him with broken, but understandable English.

With all of the yelling, neighbors decided to call.

I spoke with the son for a while.I explained that I understood that he was living in some special conditions and I agreed that things were tough for him. On the other hand, I explained, there are many kids who live with parents that use drugs and are addicted to alcohol. I explained that there are many abusive families out there. I was able to show him that even though things are though, things are not all that bad. While we talked, he gave multiple excuses for being late the night before.......no of which showed him as the person responsible for being late.

After I left this house I parked and began to type up the report for the last call. I then noticed a vehicle that I stopped just last week. I remember issuing a citation for driving on a revoked drivers license. As the vehicle approached from behind, I realized that it was the same driver. As he passed, he looked away---towards a brick wall. As soon as he passed I noticed that he immediately looked up to the rear view mirror, to see if I had noticed him. This poor car that he drove though, sticks out like a sore thumb. I put my patrol car into gear and began to ease behind him. I smiled at his reaction. He just ducked his head in shame. I followed for a few seconds without activating the lights. When he looked back up I pointed to the side of the road. He eased through traffic and began to slow, I then turned on the lights and pulled in behind him.

As I approached the car he turned in the drivers seat and said "I am sorry, I got in fight with my ole lady and had to get out of there. I am only going right there---(pointing). I said, "last time I stopped you, you said that you were only going for milk for the kids." What was it night before last when another officer told me that he saw you on the west side of town. He just looked at me for a second and then he began to make excuses. When I read his name over the air, my Sgt, said "WAS HE DRIVING AGAIN?". I replied that he was and added that I cited him last week for the same thing. The Sgt. then said, "If citations are not working, book him into jail every time he is stopped while driving.

With that I arrested him and took him to jail. While booking him in, we talked. He had multiple slips in his wallet. All of the slips were bail releases where he had been arrested by other agencies for driving on a revoked drivers license. (If I forgot to mention, his DL was revoked for countless DUI convictions). While I booked him in, I asked where he worked. He explained that he does concrete for a local company. I laughed and said, I need some concrete done........oops.......Now he began to beg and plead that If I let him out, he would do my concrete and not charge labor. I smiled at him and said.....that sounds like a bribe. He did not care, he just did not want to be booked into jail again.

After the booking process, he asked for a phone call. I heard as he called his girlfriend and asked for some bail money. They talked for a minute then he hung up. Without hesitation he began to plead for another phone call. I laughed and said who are you calling now? He said, "I am calling the wife". I said, so your called your girlfriend first and then called your wife?" He looked at me plainly and said, "My wife doesn't care." "Ok" I said. I listened while he called "the wife". He admitted to her that he had already called the girlfriend and now he was calling her to see if she could help him make bail. I just laughed at the whole situation. I laughed again as I placed him in his cell. He was serious when he asked if he could get my phone number and address so that he could come over and pour my concrete. I didn't answer him......except with a smile.

Russell


#24 From: "Russell" <russ@lifeonthebeat.com>
Date: Tue Jul 4, 2000 9:41 am
Subject: Last Night's Shift 7-4-00 russ@lifeonthebeat.com
 

Back by popular demand!!!!!!

I am not making any excuses, I just needed a break. I was glad to hear from you all asking when I would resume things and how life was going. So, THANK YOU.

I was on Swing shift for the last two months, boy that's just a tough shift to have a family, hobbies, and continue to write daily. Grave shift works out so much better for me.

Enough of that, here's the juice.

Last night was a Monday but because it is an extended holiday weekend, people were out like a normal Friday or sat. Needless to say it was extremely busy. All of us ran from call to call all night long. I love it when its like that, however, it sure takes a while to unwind at the end of the shift. I usually come home watch a little TV and write, I am not sure how other guys do it.

Like always, we checked on duty and headed to briefing. After getting updated on recent arrests and big calls, they assigned area's. As soon as I got my area I headed out.

The first few calls were "cat in the tree calls". (Not, literally). I took a fireworks violation call, a parking problem, and then a barking dog call.

After things slowed down a bit around 0100 we got a loud party call. Officer "Woody" and myself went to the area of the party, but could not locate a problem. While we were in the area we chatted about things. Woody, is one officer that is really growing on me. When I first started I was not sure what to think of him, however, now I would go into any barfight, gunfight or catfight, knowing that without a doubt he would cover my a**. It's a good feeling. I am not sure if there are many other careers (outside the military) when people get that feeling.

While we were yacking about current events in life and the department I looked down the street. The bar was closing and tons of cars were pouring out of the parking lot. I winked at Woody and told him, I am gonna get a drunk. He looked at me and didn't say anything, but it was that look of "go get one, I'll back ya".

As I pulled away I saw another truck pull out of the bar. He got to the intersection there just east of the bar and saw me. He had a green light, but when his eyes saw me they locked on. He stopped at the green light. I was kinda pulled over on the side of the roadway looking at every detail, wondering if he was really drunk or a designated driver like he should be.

As the light changed from green to yellow he slowly eased into the intersection and turned left. Oops, he turned wide, crossed the line and jerked it back into his lane. I pulled out and checked the plate. As I watched him he swerved quickly from line to line a few times. I did not want him crossing into oncoming traffic so I activated the overhead lights, wig wags, and takedowns. He braked and slowed to a crawl. He then changed one lane to the right, then another and finally to the right side of the roadway. Then he coasted for a block or so and drove into a parking lot. Just about the time I thought that he was going to stop, he drove on further through this business parking lot and into another business area.

On the radio I called out details of the drivers actions. Without hesitation, Woody called out with me. Cool. I approached the driver and spoke to him. Wheeeeeeewww. An odor of alcohol emanated from the vehicle heavily. I asked for his license, registration, and insurance. As he fumbled for is drivers license, he dropped his credit cards onto his lap. He dug some more and finally produced his license. At that point it seemed likely that this guy was too impaired to be driving.

I walked back to my patrol car and looked at Woody. Ten-Five-Five I mouthed to him (indicating the ten code for DUI ------ 10-55). He said good job. I then admitted that we had a long way to go before knowing if I was right.

I checked his license, it was valid, no warrants. The computer showed multiple protective orders (commonly mis-called restraining orders). My thought process said that if this guy has multiple protective orders, several people feel that he is a threat to them. In my mind this raised my already high level of awareness of safety toward the suspect.

I returned to the drivers window and asked him to step out and make sure he was okay to be driving. He said "Oh man I am fine to drive". I explained that because he had a poor driving pattern, red bloodshot eyes, slurred speech and fumbled when looking for his drivers license I needed to check for impairment.

He balked at bit, but I was very kind and persuasive that he needed to do the right thing. After looking back at it, I was probably too nice. Nonetheless, he came back and started the test. The first test usually tells the entire story. The HGN test. This is the test where he follows my pen with his eyes. Immediately I was able to see that he was severely impaired. A persons involuntary moments in their eyes are enough to tell a complete story. He went on to fail miserably all of the other field tests. It got to the point that when I asked him to walk the line and return, he looked at me and said, "I cannot to that?" He even refused to attempt the test.

As soon as I arrested him he switched personalities (a very common thing drunks tend to do). Immediately he got belligerent. He yelled profanities and began to carry on.

He screamed a few personal attacks at me, my family and my mother, then he yelled "take these cuffs off I will kick your a** right now!!" for some reason that clicked, my thought were not clear. I turned, looked at him and ...............Just then Woody grabbed my arm, about at the inner elbow, "Not worth it" he said. Instantly I knew he was ri