Devota.Org

A glance into other peoples lives - Police10 hour ride along
10/24/2003

I decided on a pair of jeans yesterday to head out for my night of riding with a police officer. A tad nervous, I made my way done to the Substation for the 3:30 appointment. The sift started at 4:00 and we were told in class to get there a ½ hour early. Make sure we check in and get assigned. We were told it was up to the district whether or not we got to sit in on the shift briefing. I missed that part, there was a little confusion about my showing up to ride along, I guess the message didn’t get passed along.

I Met officer K. (not the same officer K from the BAD BOYS entry 4/1/2003 http://www.devota.org/gmblog/archives/00000044.htm ) We had an interesting night ahead of us. He is assigned to the David 6 sector, just south and west of my neighborhood. Our first stop was for a municipal court date. We stopped on the way downtown for a coffee and just to kill a little time. When we got the main police station where the court is located, there was a gathering of media trucks out front. We just blazed by them and headed up to the court. Once we got settled in, the court clerks had the officers read over the case jackets and see what the case was about. I am not sure what this ticket was truly about, something in the line of failure to identify when a passenger in a car. The defendant didn’t show up so we were able to leave with out being bogged down for the night.

We hopped back into the police hot rod and headed back down to our district. On the way, there was a priority call. A woman had called in saying there was a 5 or 6 year old child left in a car outside a big box department store. She had the plate number from the car and a description of the location. We circled the parking lot a bunch of times, couldn’t find the car, couldn’t find the kid. Mom may have just run in to pay a bill or something in the big mall and got distracted or had to wait in a line. Anyway we headed on our way after doing a thorough search of the parking lots. No chewing out that Mom, she managed to slip away. The caller was busy in the mall doing her thing so I felt she wasn’t that concerned about this kid.

Next we set up the nifty little radar gun. We were on a street I drive quite often and now know where to peek to see if the radar is on. There was a dump truck that got caught going 52 in a 35 mile zone. The driver was very nice, co-operated with the officers (there was back up by the time we were finished). The computers were running warrants, drivers license status and registration information. All came back fine so a ticket was written and the driver was on his way. I got to see and feel the new teaser guns, the backup officer had qualified for them. Neat, bright Yellow, not to heavy and they are non lethal. Neat new tool for law enforcement.

We next went on a wellness check. We were the back up car on this call so there was another officer there when we got to the apartment. The gentleman that called in was hearing things. Voices, sounds and seeing thing under the appliances. His “roommate” had left him there as he went to rent a video and he had some sort of panic attack. Both officers handled the call with an enormous amount of patience. They asked questions, asked about his medications his mental health diagnosis and his general state. He is convinced the apartment/condo was haunted. The “roommate” had arrived back at the house and took charge of the voice hearing man. It seemed to me he had been self adjusting his medications and not gotten much sleep and hopefully would go see his doctor for a medication check up. Officer K. told him that he would check on him again in a few days. They also told him that if he felt the need, go ahead and call 911. The caller, the guy hearing voices, was concerned that he shouldn’t call 911 and that the police would eventually not show up because they thought he was silly. He thought we were all “very nice” to him.

Next we went to a call where a neighbor had called in to say there was a barking dog. The dog had sounded distressed for a couple of hours. The note on the computer said the neighbor did not want to be contacted, but wanted the officers to check the situation out. We found the street, as we pulled up to the address, a car was parking. There were 3 people in it, they were just arriving back to the residence. I think we scared them a little. They said they have 2 dogs, on large and one small. They were not aware of any noise coming from the dogs. You could also tell from the street that someone was in the house. Since the dogs were not barking and the owners were home we left it at that.

Next we went to a call involving Grandma and her 17 year old grandson who was making threats against his mom, his step dad and various other people. Grandma was concerned that the child had stopped taking his medication and needed to be locked up for a bit to get him back on medication. He was threatening to stab or shoot his step dad and mom. It seems this kid has quite a history, been suspended from school a bunch, had run ins with law enforcement before and his mom just lets him get away with it. It was disturbing to see that the grandson had such control over the parents, scared the daylights out of grandma and seemed to be headed down a path of destruction. A long report had to be written about this child/young man and there should be some follow up. I just hope his mom will cooperate with the authorities instead of just letting him go. It sounded to me as if he just needed a good butt kicking.

We assisted in another traffic stop with a guy driving a classic convertible. I was across the street so I didn’t hear much of the conversations. This happened on a busy intersection and with the cross traffic and the uncertainty of the situation, I decided to hang back a little. I didn’t want to get in the way if something did not go correctly. The car was sharp, once the situation was under control, I did cross the street and found out the guy had just purchased it for $1,800.00. Sweet car, and he ended up with a warning instead of a ticket.

The last call of the night was a domestic disturbance. A neighbor had called in saying she could hear screaming coming from the house. There was a child and a couple of adults in the house. It was not know if there was alcohol drugs or weapons involved. Again we were the back up car on this call. As we were heading to the call, still driving to get there, the original officer called for the paramedics. Officer K. then hit the lights and sires and we sped down the streets. Things sounded a little dicey. Again not wanting to interfere and for the sake of safety, I stayed back a bit. One young punk was in handcuffs, bleeding on the front porch. The father was also in handcuffs on the couch. The house was a wreck. You could tell this altercation spilled from room to room. I didn’t go into the house for a while. I listened to this young punk cry, tell the officer that they just had a disagreement and his father had disciplined him and “he just wanted to stop his father”. He didn’t want to get his dad in trouble for child abuse but yes his dad had hit him. He had cut his hand when he broke the fish tank, not when hitting his father. The paramedics arrived shortly after and started to treat this young punk. He was getting agitated at the time and the officer had to control him with one handcuff off as the paramedics cleaned and bandaged his wounds.

I headed inside with Officer K. after the punk had been again placed in both handcuffs and dad had been released from the cuffs. Dad understood the original officer had done that to control the situation. He didn’t know what was going on and was waiting for Officer K. and I to arrive. I heard parts of the dads story, sounds like this kid has other anger issues. Step mom didn’t want to get involved, so she didn’t call to get assistance as the two of them tumbled on the ground room to room. Her quote of the night: “gosh, this is so white trash.“ Thank goodness the neighbor called. This thing had the makings of getting way out of control. Sad to hear the kids story, sad to hear the dads side. The kid ended up being transported to the hospital for stitches and then off to jail to cool his heals for a few days. The shock on the punks face was was priceless when Officer K. said to him that he was under arrest. I think the kid thought everything would be fine and the officers would just go away. They did go away, but they took him with them.

I learned a few things during my ride along. There are some folks that are just a bit over the edge, there are situations that keep escalating that need to be handled. I found my night with Officer K was an exciting experience. Law enforcement has a lot to do with social work. The officers I met through out the night were all professionals, they were courteous handled situations with authority. I am glad to know if I ever need them, they will be there for me. They will treat me with respect and handle the enormous amount of paperwork that comes with the job. Do I want to be a cop? Hell no, I think they can handle it much better than I can.


	back \| up \| next A glance into other peoples lives - Police10 hour ride along 10/24/2003 I decided on a pair of jeans yesterday to head out for my night of riding with a police officer. A tad nervous, I made my way done to the Substation for the 3:30 appointment. The sift started at 4:00 and we were told in class to get there a ½ hour early. Make sure we check in and get assigned. We were told it was up to the district whether or not we got to sit in on the shift briefing. I missed that part, there was a little confusion about my showing up to ride along, I guess the message didn’t get passed along. I Met officer K. (not the same officer K from the BAD BOYS entry 4/1/2003 http://www.devota.org/gmblog/archives/00000044.htm ) We had an interesting night ahead of us. He is assigned to the David 6 sector, just south and west of my neighborhood. Our first stop was for a municipal court date. We stopped on the way downtown for a coffee and just to kill a little time. When we got the main police station where the court is located, there was a gathering of media trucks out front. We just blazed by them and headed up to the court. Once we got settled in, the court clerks had the officers read over the case jackets and see what the case was about. I am not sure what this ticket was truly about, something in the line of failure to identify when a passenger in a car. The defendant didn’t show up so we were able to leave with out being bogged down for the night. We hopped back into the police hot rod and headed back down to our district. On the way, there was a priority call. A woman had called in saying there was a 5 or 6 year old child left in a car outside a big box department store. She had the plate number from the car and a description of the location. We circled the parking lot a bunch of times, couldn’t find the car, couldn’t find the kid. Mom may have just run in to pay a bill or something in the big mall and got distracted or had to wait in a line. Anyway we headed on our way after doing a thorough search of the parking lots. No chewing out that Mom, she managed to slip away. The caller was busy in the mall doing her thing so I felt she wasn’t that concerned about this kid. Next we set up the nifty little radar gun. We were on a street I drive quite often and now know where to peek to see if the radar is on. There was a dump truck that got caught going 52 in a 35 mile zone. The driver was very nice, co-operated with the officers (there was back up by the time we were finished). The computers were running warrants, drivers license status and registration information. All came back fine so a ticket was written and the driver was on his way. I got to see and feel the new teaser guns, the backup officer had qualified for them. Neat, bright Yellow, not to heavy and they are non lethal. Neat new tool for law enforcement. We next went on a wellness check. We were the back up car on this call so there was another officer there when we got to the apartment. The gentleman that called in was hearing things. Voices, sounds and seeing thing under the appliances. His “roommate” had left him there as he went to rent a video and he had some sort of panic attack. Both officers handled the call with an enormous amount of patience. They asked questions, asked about his medications his mental health diagnosis and his general state. He is convinced the apartment/condo was haunted. The “roommate” had arrived back at the house and took charge of the voice hearing man. It seemed to me he had been self adjusting his medications and not gotten much sleep and hopefully would go see his doctor for a medication check up. Officer K. told him that he would check on him again in a few days. They also told him that if he felt the need, go ahead and call 911. The caller, the guy hearing voices, was concerned that he shouldn’t call 911 and that the police would eventually not show up because they thought he was silly. He thought we were all “very nice” to him. Next we went to a call where a neighbor had called in to say there was a barking dog. The dog had sounded distressed for a couple of hours. The note on the computer said the neighbor did not want to be contacted, but wanted the officers to check the situation out. We found the street, as we pulled up to the address, a car was parking. There were 3 people in it, they were just arriving back to the residence. I think we scared them a little. They said they have 2 dogs, on large and one small. They were not aware of any noise coming from the dogs. You could also tell from the street that someone was in the house. Since the dogs were not barking and the owners were home we left it at that. Next we went to a call involving Grandma and her 17 year old grandson who was making threats against his mom, his step dad and various other people. Grandma was concerned that the child had stopped taking his medication and needed to be locked up for a bit to get him back on medication. He was threatening to stab or shoot his step dad and mom. It seems this kid has quite a history, been suspended from school a bunch, had run ins with law enforcement before and his mom just lets him get away with it. It was disturbing to see that the grandson had such control over the parents, scared the daylights out of grandma and seemed to be headed down a path of destruction. A long report had to be written about this child/young man and there should be some follow up. I just hope his mom will cooperate with the authorities instead of just letting him go. It sounded to me as if he just needed a good butt kicking. We assisted in another traffic stop with a guy driving a classic convertible. I was across the street so I didn’t hear much of the conversations. This happened on a busy intersection and with the cross traffic and the uncertainty of the situation, I decided to hang back a little. I didn’t want to get in the way if something did not go correctly. The car was sharp, once the situation was under control, I did cross the street and found out the guy had just purchased it for $1,800.00. Sweet car, and he ended up with a warning instead of a ticket. The last call of the night was a domestic disturbance. A neighbor had called in saying she could hear screaming coming from the house. There was a child and a couple of adults in the house. It was not know if there was alcohol drugs or weapons involved. Again we were the back up car on this call. As we were heading to the call, still driving to get there, the original officer called for the paramedics. Officer K. then hit the lights and sires and we sped down the streets. Things sounded a little dicey. Again not wanting to interfere and for the sake of safety, I stayed back a bit. One young punk was in handcuffs, bleeding on the front porch. The father was also in handcuffs on the couch. The house was a wreck. You could tell this altercation spilled from room to room. I didn’t go into the house for a while. I listened to this young punk cry, tell the officer that they just had a disagreement and his father had disciplined him and “he just wanted to stop his father”. He didn’t want to get his dad in trouble for child abuse but yes his dad had hit him. He had cut his hand when he broke the fish tank, not when hitting his father. The paramedics arrived shortly after and started to treat this young punk. He was getting agitated at the time and the officer had to control him with one handcuff off as the paramedics cleaned and bandaged his wounds. I headed inside with Officer K. after the punk had been again placed in both handcuffs and dad had been released from the cuffs. Dad understood the original officer had done that to control the situation. He didn’t know what was going on and was waiting for Officer K. and I to arrive. I heard parts of the dads story, sounds like this kid has other anger issues. Step mom didn’t want to get involved, so she didn’t call to get assistance as the two of them tumbled on the ground room to room. Her quote of the night: “gosh, this is so white trash.“ Thank goodness the neighbor called. This thing had the makings of getting way out of control. Sad to hear the kids story, sad to hear the dads side. The kid ended up being transported to the hospital for stitches and then off to jail to cool his heals for a few days. The shock on the punks face was was priceless when Officer K. said to him that he was under arrest. I think the kid thought everything would be fine and the officers would just go away. They did go away, but they took him with them. I learned a few things during my ride along. There are some folks that are just a bit over the edge, there are situations that keep escalating that need to be handled. I found my night with Officer K was an exciting experience. Law enforcement has a lot to do with social work. The officers I met through out the night were all professionals, they were courteous handled situations with authority. I am glad to know if I ever need them, they will be there for me. They will treat me with respect and handle the enormous amount of paperwork that comes with the job. Do I want to be a cop? Hell no, I think they can handle it much better than I can.