Heroin is bad

Pretty good night the other night. The highlight was around 3 am. I was driving by this one particular neighborhood. There was not much going on in the city. I passed a guy that just looked out of place. I stopped and got out of my car to talk to him. He had this huge backpack on and he was sweating....I mean drenched with it.....so I'm thinking he just ran from somewhere something's up. He said he was just hangin out waiting for a cab...as to the sweat question...oh my back hurts he says. I get his ID and run him. Bam he's got a felony warrant for escape!!!! Awesome...usually that means he has gone AWOL with his probation/parole officer. Had a violent offender hit with it as well. Sweet catch. So I hook him up and search him incident to arrest. TOTALLY SICK...first off the guy is gross...imagine 50 years old and 25 of that has been heavy drug use.....I find probably 12 hypodermic needles on him...thank god he had them capped. He had 6 grams of black tar heroin on him and a bit of cocaine....also a hodge podge of various drug paraphernalia like cooked spoons, water, alcohol rubs, lighters, cotton balls, copper scrubbing and syrgical tubing just to name a few. what a scuz ball. Would have been a pretty quick case but the dude was in bad shape I dont know if was just having a bad trip or what but I got to go baby sit him at the hospital for about 3 hours. The cool thing was that I was able to catch up with a friend who just started working at our local hospital....always good to see a friend at the hospital. Then I got back to the station and did about 2 hours of paperwork processing, evidence entering etc. Totally sweet our drug K9 was just signing into service and I was like hey does your dog want to find the dope? Our dope dog is amazing....he let him in the back door and here comes this happy lil pup into the squad room and he b-lines it for the paperbags I had on the counter...he sat down immediately and looked up at his handler (thats his trained sign when he finds drugs) and looked at him like yeah dad I found it give me my ball (the coveted ball....every trainer developes one particular reward whether its a snack but mostly its one particular tennis ball that the dog has had since he was a puppy that only comes out when the dog finds dope). The trainer looked at him and said "show me" and the dog pawed at the bags then sat down......."show me" again he said and the dog leaps up on the table and sits down very obediently!!!! GOOD BOY and out came the ball.....man you would think that ball was a 20 oz sirloin.......never seen a dog so happy! It was nice cause I've never really processed drugs before so he showed me how to do a NIC TEST...basically its kind of an elaborate home pregnancy type test where you put a particular type of drug in a particular kind of test kit and the chemicals will turn bright blue or red or red and green etc depending on the drug. way cool!

A Night on Patrol

1736 log onto car computer, check seat, lights, equipment, shotgun, wash car, fill with gas.
1800 shift briefing
1830 traffic stop, verbal warning
1836 animal complaint 2 loose horses wandering in the city...rascaled them up and returned to the owners.
1911 at station paperwork
1954 traffic stop, verbal warning
1959 verbal domestic, dude in a car called 911 cause girlfriend wouldnt let him out of the car....gone on arrival
2006 traffic stop verbal warning
2018 traffic stop, verbal warning
2027 traffic stop, citation issued
2035 disturbance...11 year old foster kid "out of control"...dumb call if you cant get control of your 11 year old you shouldnt be a parent especially if he is being a little shit.
2104 traffic stop, citation issued
2115 traffic stop, citation issued
2135 coffee break
2141 coffee break interupted stupid fireworks complaint...gone on arrival
2218 driving in different part of city and hear fireworks myself
locate fireworkers...kids being drunk and dumb.
2223 station for a pitstop..contractions 2 minutes apart..prob from the coffee
2232 find a suspicious vehicle...in a park at night 2 kids in the backseat "just talking.....yeah right...movin along now ya here..
2244 traffic stop, citation issued
2257 traffic stop, verbal warning
2308 traffic stop, citation issued
2322 Fellow officer stops to help a disabled vehicle...seems ok but shortly calls a code requesting immediate backup. Respond to assist. Officer had been stopping to check on this female who was stranded, husband drives up in a different car presumably she had called him to come get there...he rolls up gets out of the car and without saying anything else to the officer that was there to help his wife yells "FUCK OFF" to the officer..nice guy...I show up, guy is ordered to stand by his truck (someone yelling fuck off is usually one of many pre attack indicators) guy starts giving me the gangster glare and he was like 58 years old too....what are you looking at guy I say.....what are you looking at he says back....he tries being mr toughguy verbally.....we like that game...we made him shut...we can bark louder.
2335 fight call....get a nice code run (lights n sirens) get on scene, can hear girl screaming........false alarm it was just a party...no problems
0029 traffic stop...driver has a warrant, arrest they guy.
0035 transport prisoner to county jail...paperwok
0203 disturbance at a bar....male and his wife arguing in parking lot...he pushed wife down to the ground after she was yelling at him and berating him.
0330 man screaming for help call.....it was in a part of the city that I did not even know existed.......turns out guy was doing the drunk stumble home from the bar...takes a shortcut through the woods and it was pitchblack...he fails to see a steel cable running across an access road....broke his leg. yikes.

The Neighboring City Night

Tonight was wierd. It started out painfully slow. I was trying to dig up a bunch of stuff....seems like I ran every plate on the road but just couldn't find anything interesting to stop. I was driving down the road and this punk looking kid gives me the bird for no reason other than I was just a cop and driving by. I didn't even slow down and give him my gangster glare he just told me I was number one immediately unprovoked......now granted its in his full legal right to do that but I dont think that sort of thing should go unchecked.....so I turned around and talked to him....what an idiot.....total jackass.

Car with expired tabs.....wrote a ticket for them...hey if I have to sit dow at a DOL then he shouldnt be so lazy as to not renew his tabs.

Seemed like I spent half the night in another neighboring city that was apparently getting their ass slammed. Went over there for a couple calls last night. ONe was an attempt to contact the suspect of an assault. Funny because we went all sneakyand set up incase the guy ran which he was known for doing. We get all stacked up at the door and have the outside surrounded with two k9's. We just said before getting to the apartment...what are we gonna do if they dont come to the door and we got up there and just as we were about to knock the dude's other younger brother just so happened to try and go out the door right as we were standing there so we just walked right in! lol

Then I got dispatched to a suicidal gal with a knife in the same neighboring city so I cruised up there.....here is the readers digest version...male vs female...boyfriend girlffriend who are in there 60's. She wanted to snuggle and he didn't want to and tried braking up with her and she got real mad and started cutting herself with a knife.

Another call was a tropper that had got into a foot pursuit and lost the guy....we had good containment in the area and got the dogs out but were unable locate the guy....sucker!

DV call ...sister vs sister...one sister gets locked into her bedroom by the other...they then escalate into a physical confrontatoin...mutual pushing and choking...law says someone has to go to jail so we so the person that called 911 ended up going to jail....look up primary aggressor crazy night.

My Taser works!

So I'm pretty tired and didn't want to post but I figure thats a lame excuse cause I can sleep when I'm dead right? Started out the day by going down to the cop shop...I won't name names here but its the only one in the area...the dept went to a new gun a few months back the new Glock 21 slim frame....great gun..I was worried about transitioning to the new style holster we are carrying so I ordered our old style....a few months back I got a whole set of nylon gear for myself...advantages and disadvantages to leather vs nylon but ultimately I decided I just like my leather gear...somethin about that squeek sound it makes...makes me all warm inside...ha. So I had this nylon holster of the old style.

I was worried about the transition because I'd only ever used the old style for all my firearms training and I had nightmares about switching to the new style and getting in a gun fight trying to draw my old holster with negative results....high stress equals using your lizard brain....muscle memory. Long story short I exchanged my old holster for the new style one and I think I'm gonna love it...it will take some getting used to but all n all I think its a better system....to boot they actually had one in stock which is just short of a miracle in and of itself.

Shift started out pretty normal but right out the gate I got a dui call...citizen called in a dui regarding a truck that was all over the roadway....I was way out of position so I just cleared the call.....it was heading into a neighboring city so advised that city of the situation and they found the truck.

The officer actually knew the suspect and knew this guy was trouble from previous contacts so he asked for backup so I headed over there....I got on scene and the guy was a major adam henry as they say...short for a.h....or asshole. Called me every name in the book and the other Officer too....said that I worked for such and such agency cause its bottom of the barrell and apparenltly the guy has seen my penis cause he thinks its small and he also apparentley thinks I go home and beat my wife. Yeah i know nice guy. Well the officer goes to put him into cuffs and he isnt having any of it.

The guy had a cut on his hand that was bleeding from work he said. He tried smearing his blood on the arresting officer and tensed up...he turned around and got in a fighting stance and started clenching his fists and continued to mouth off...get your fuckin hands off of me etc etc.....well we tried cuffin him again and he just wasnt having it so BLAM I hit him with my taser that I had drew from its holster while he had been mouthing off......that seemed to do the trick cause he stiffened up like a board and well the electricity assisted him to the ground....he got to ride the lightning for the full 5 second cycle. Then he started to fight again so he got 2 more rides...apparentley liked it that much. Well we got him into cuffs and my sarge showed up......the dude immediately ripped into sarge threatening him "YOUR MINE" HE SAID.....he didn't look to bad ass with cuffs on and dirt in his face etc......continued to be mouthy all the way to the jail spitting at us and just generally didn't get the program......I called the jail ahead of time for a welcome home party as they say...thats when about 10 gigantic corrections guards meet us at the door to welcome their new resident.....he kind of shut up after that.

The crazy old dude and a gun: Went to a disturbance at a casino....2 guys fighting...one guy took off. Got on scene and the suspect was goa. Victim said that he had double parked his car behind this old guy so he could run in and try and find his lost cell phone....well other dude was like 75 years old rightfully didn't like being blocked in by this guy. They argue..then old dude goes to his car and reaches underneth the seat and holds something behind his leg.....guy never actually saw a gun but the guy was inplying that he had one......well old guy gets back in his car and basically runs the guy over backing up.......went out to the old guys house...got his address from a license plate.....I go there and the guy is naked minus a shirt. I put him in cuffs and he freaked a little in the car saying he was clausterphobic....so I let him stand outside..he was very thankful...due to his old age though and medical problems we knew we would have a hard time geting him cleared for jail so we ended up catch and releasing him and we will let the prosecutor try and charge him.

Pipe bomb: no 911 calls about any loud explosions or anything...came out that security needed a malicious mischief report cause a firework had damaged the property.....I get on scene and that was no firecracker...it was a huge good quality IED pipe bomb type explosive...had alsmot destroyed the huge metal exterior security door.....crazy. Lots of evidence and paperwork with that one.

The rest of the night was spent filling out paperwork on those 3 things basically.

plodding on

Ok one more post before the experiment....

OK my previous post talked about...is anyone ever reading this thing anymore? I guess the reason why is when I used to email everyone sometimes I'd get feedback etc but since I went to this blog style online I never get any feedback at all. I must say I like how it looks better than just sending a plain email out....so I typed that last post and thought to myself...dont cop out (no punn intended). I guess I've been a little lazy with this thing lately....partly because the last few weeks have been a bit boring. I think that comes with the territory though. Not that I'm a salty veteran by any means but I remember that being similar when I worked up at dispatch.....when I first started every single call was exciting and different etc but as the years went on it seemed like all the calls meshed together and you would quickly forget one call from call to call........and the process became the same.....

You get the same information whether you had a critical incident or a barking dog....well maybe not that extreme but I'm finding that its very similar in police work....a rape report can seem totally complicated but the basic investigation is same as far as the process you go through.

TRAINING DAY: Again I appologize....and I say this often but its embarassing sometimes.......I rarely will spell check this or bother with gramar because this is my way of just using stream of conciousness and I type about 100 words a minute trying to get all this stuff out of my head sometimes and often times it takes upwards of an hour on big posts after pausing and then thinking of what I want to type...so if i took the damn time to edit it too this would turn into a chore which is counter productive to its purpose. That being said...again sorry for the grammar sticklars out ther but the other problem is...I used to be a dispatcher and you would use wierd abreviations and spellings like....

nabor...neighbor
blk....black
wm 32 yoa 505 180 bro blu, white chev lic/123abc fled wb nvi
..white male about 32 years of age 5 foot 5 inches 180
pounds, brown hair, blue eyes, driving a white chevy
pickup with the license plate 123abc fled westbound
no victim information

stuff like that.

OK off my soap box about grammar and spelling. Training day today. I've decided under the advise of one of my past trainers that I want to start developing myself via training...there is lots of training for Police Officers out there but unfortunately you have to be a little self starting and initiating and go after it yourself...cause like anything else in the world it costs money...and although my department is pretty good about paying for training they wont be proactive about seeking it out for you.....its no problem..you just have to be the initiater.....so I found this training a few weeks back and it was down south about 70 miles but it was put on by a fellow named Dave Grossman......

The man teaches at Westpoint....he was a Lt Colonel in the Army and well has a resume about as long as my arm. He wrote a book called "on combat" and "on killing" one was nominated for a pulitzer prize. No one else has looked at kind of the killology if you will as he describes it...the psychological effect on having to kill someone else whether it be in combat....being a police officer etc etc. Pretty interesting stuff really.

I have long debated about carrying my sidearm off duty....sometimes I do but I've been finding myself carying much more often off duty. Am I paranoid? I dont think so.....I think the old saying goes.....I'd rather have it and not need it then need it and not have it......alot of the 8 hour class was on that kind of attitude....he talked about how the worst guilt in the world is survivor guilt....or god forbid something happens in front of you like a robbery, homicide etc and you had the means to do something about it but it was sitting in your safe at home. How bad would you feel about that.

He talked alot about school shootings like columbine and Virginia tech...probably spent about 2 hours on that and the psychology of these killers.....and how law enforcement has changed over the years in light of recent events....its very much gone from a wait for the swat team philosophy to a ...proactive active shooter go in and take them out immediately kind of an attitude cause there just is no time....9 minutes was about the total time that virginia tech people had and killed like 40 people...ridiculous.

He was a really good talker...by the end of it I was ready to go buy a couple grenades to carry off duty as well.....he brings up some really good points though....he did a really good analogy about fire fighters and the fire fighting industry.......he went around the room and talked about all the things that go into getting an industrial building up to fire code...from the flame retardant walls, the cement floors, the sprinkler system, fire exit signs, fire lighting, smoke detectors etc etc......and then he started comparing the danger of fire and how we fight it to what we have available concerning school security....sickening really.

He has basically been called in for a tactical debrief for most of the recent school shootings like the Amish masacre a few years ago. He told us some things that dont make the media like kids getting raped etc....no one wants to hear about those kinds of things but the fact of the matter is that stuff happens...and there is some real evil in this world, true very real evil and the people that do its work. I dont like to sound like a politician with words like evildoers but some of the things he was talking about today scared the living shit out of me. I will spare you guys the details but some horor stories of school incidents around the globe.

Point being is it really made me become re-energized about being proactive and thinking about what it is I really do. Its easy to get complacent and you just can't be. Because the bottom line is.....when people here gunfire they run away from it and I'm the one that has to run toward it. All and all it was a very good training....very inspiring. This is turning into a novel like I always make it so I'll leave it at that

Does anyone read this thing?

hi guys....been doing a little test. took a couple weeks off to see if this thing even gets read anymore....testing testing. please email me if you anyone still reads/enjoys this....need some feedback as well...let me know if you like this blog stuff or my old way of doing things by just sending out an email etc.


b

Blacked out

Sorry I haven't posted in a little bit my loyal followers....been kinda busy and nothing noteworthy has happened. Just been little calls here and there. Last night was kinda interesting. I had a car pass by me. It was the only car on the road and I turned around on it after it had passed me for a few blocks. It took a quick turn and when I caught up to about a block away from it. It turned north on a side street then turned its headlights off or "blacked out" then went flying zig zagging down side roads. It was probably doing around 60 mph in residential areas. I was haulling booty to try and catch up to it but I just couldnt justify any kind of pursuit since I didn't really have anything on the car...I definitely knew it was up to no good when it darted like that but if I were to wreck my car at those speeds without a great reason Im pretty sure I'd be canned so i had backed off alot. The car was going so fast that i was actually following dust that kicked up in the air about 2 blocks behind the car.......cool thing is that another ofc found it this morning dumped in someone's yard....could mean a few things that the driver had warrants or he was very drunk. Even though I didn't catch him at least his car is now impounded!!!!