I don't know why, but I have Bill the Cat on my mind.  Weird?!  I intentionally refrain from putting too much personal information out there in cbyer space, so I will just say this, "The trip was awesome!"

 

No it wasn't a hole in the wall in Mexico.  :)   

 

Now I have to get back in the mood of being normal.  Having a job and stuff.  I can honestly say that I didn't think of my job, during my trip, other than making an off handed comment regarding the local cops. 

 

Tomorrow, I will be back on the streets, so my next blog entry will be made shortly after.  Something is always happening at work. 

 

J

I’m outta here…

 

So I’ll be off the BLOG for a few weeks, because I am having myself a vacation.  Yahoo! 

 

It really hit me, that I was going to be somewhere nicer than the place I work, when I was in the most recent crack house.  One of the most pro-active officers in my precinct, who is probably the most veteran officer, conducted a “knock and talk” at a dealers house.  This is when you have no warrant, or probably cause for arrest, and simply knock on the door.  If they don’t open the door, there is nothing we can do.

 

Most of the time they do open the door, which is always good for a laugh, because there’s usually drugs, or other illegal items in plain view.  That gives us the authority to go in.  Idiots.  The same goes for vehicle searches, “Hey buddy?  There’s nothing illegal in this car is there?  You don’t mind if I give it a quick search do ya?”  They almost always consent. 

 

Of course, when we get into a courtroom, they deny giving us permission, and if we do get the seized items into play, then they try and convince the jurors that the police are lying.  I can’t say that I blame them.  If I was an idiot, gave permission to a couple of cops to come inside and have a “talk”, and they ended up arresting me, because I left a baggie of cocaine on the table, I’d lie in court too.

 

The problem is that most jurors can’t fathom that a felon would lie to avoid prison.  Why would he let the cops in?!  They are most often swayed to side with the felon and believe that the cops are lying.  It’s a fact though, most criminals are THAT stupid. 

 

So these two cops conduct a “knock and talk” and the bad guy opens the door.  Sure enough there’s lines of cocaine, on a mirror, on the coffee table, just 3 feet from the door.  Lot’s of drug paraphernalia too.  The bad guy tries to close the door, but the cops force their way inside.  Next thing to happen is 4 more bad guys join the fight.  5 bad guys and 2 good guys.  Not good odds.

 

The screams of “Help the Officer!” come out over the airwaves and we fly to the scene.  All 3 of us.  Yes, we are that short of police officers.  5 on 5 is much better and we end up winning the “fight”.  I’m guarding one of the suspects, a 6 month pregnant hooked, who admits to smoking crack, but tells me she stopped last week, because she is pregnant.  Wow…

 

I’m looking around, there’s stolen items everywhere, drug stuff, crack addicts, rotten/spoiled food everywhere, and the place smells like the worst armpit of the world.  I never imagined, prior to becoming a cop, being inside such a place.  I look over at another officer and say, “Ya know…It finally hit me.  I’m going to be in ##### in 5 days. <SIGH>” 

 

J

Got Speed?

 

So I was cruising through a 7-11 parking lot, and happened to notice a white panel van at the gas pumps.  It was 4am and anyone up at that time deserves a second look, so I run the license plate and pull alongside.  I make eye contact with the driver, and then I pull out of the lot.  Sure enough the registered owner of the van shows to have a suspended driver’s license, so I make a U-turn to return.

 

The van pulls out of the lot, at high speed, and the chase is on!  We’re doing 80mph, in a 30mph zone, and before I can make the decision to terminate the pursuit the van blows through 2 red lights!  The intersections were just 50 yards apart, so it all happened pretty quickly.  Luckily the van just missed the pedestrian.  (NOTE:  ALWAYS looks both ways even if you have the right of way!)

 

I come screaming around a corner, and the suspect has quickly pulled to the curb.  I dynamite my brakes and stop just a few feet shy of his rear bumper.  I’m out of the car, gun in hand, and see the driver’s door open.  I think he was hoping for the fat lazy cop?  I shout, “Turn the %^&% car off!  Toss the keys out!”  Most of the time, when they make a quick stop, they run on foot.  This guy weighed the odds and realized I would’ve hunted him down.

 

I walk up to the open driver’s door, point my gun at the two occupants, and calmly say, “Grab the $%^$ steering wheel and don’t move.  Passenger?  Grab the dash.  Anyone moves and I put a bullet in your head.”  I then ask, “So were you running because you have a suspended license?” and the driver says, “Yes.  I’m suspended.”  After the arrest I find burglary tools (29 house and car keys, bolt cutters, flashlights, pry bars, and screw drivers), two bicycles, and a ton of CD’s/DVD’s.

 

Find out that the driver, and passenger (who had warrant for Escape and Forgery), both have multiple convictions for Burglary, Eluding Police, Obstructing, Assault, Theft, Escape, and Forgery.  Go figure.  The funny part of the whole thing was that after I give the guy his Miranda Rights, he suddenly changes his story, “I didn’t run no red lights!  I never saw you!”  Uh-huh…

 

Tell me again why we let these people breathe air?

 

J

Too young

 

I use to make several drug and vice contacts, in a shift, but have lost the motivation.  Now, I just try to find the bad guys on crimes, where there is a solid victim.  It gets old responding to the guy, who was “robbed”, by a hooker.  The drug addict ripped off on a drug buy, “Strong armed robbery just occurred.  Victim reports suspect stole $20 on a drug deal gone bad…”  ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!  

 

Yes, we honestly get those calls.  Usually, the drug dealer has sold fake crack, or just grabbed the $20 and ran.  We honestly put forth no effort on those calls, but it is sad that we even have to respond. 

 

Maybe I am getting too cynical?

 

I’m even finding it hard to take the stolen auto reports from the citizens, who leave the keys in their car.  Seems to me that you willingly gave your car away. 

 

So I enjoy the burglaries, the “good” robberies, where there is an honest victim, and other such calls.  To pass time I make a few traffic stops, but seldom give tickets.  Mostly, I run license plates and stop the vehicles, where the registered owner has a suspended driving license.  I usually get about 4 suspended drivers in a shift.

 

I recently had a good traffic stop, where I was once again reminded how futile the fight is.  I stopped this girl for driving on the wrong side of the road.  No, she wasn’t DUI, just had no driving experience and thought she was on a one-way street.  She told me that she had no license on her person and gave me a false name and date of birth.

 

I knew she was lying and told her so, but she claimed she was telling the truth, so I returned to my patrol car and ran a check.  Sure enough, “No record”.  I walked up, put her in handcuffs, and told her, “Ok, so now you have one last chance to give me your real name and date of birth, before I throw you in a windowless cell for half the day.  I’ll finger print you, photograph you, eventually find out who you are, and then book you into jail…another windowless cell, so you can be punished for lying.”

 

She gave me her true name and date of birth.  I told the backing officers that the last time I had a female motorist lie about her identity, she was a 14 year old hooker.  Sure enough, this girl was also 14, and hooking to survive.  She ran away from home, because mom didn’t pay her any attention.  I spoke with the cop in the small town she ran away from, and he was aware of her and the mother.

 

Turns out mom is well known by all the cops, and most men, in town.  The live in boyfriend is a methamphetamine freak, and so is mom.  The runaway daughter…No chance.  I drove her all the way back to her home town, and handed her over to the small town cop.  She told me, “I’m going to run away again.  California I think.  I like to wear mini-skirts and tank tops.”  Nice to know she has her priorities straight.  She seems to think, or pretends, that being a hooker is a glamorous lifestyle.  Sad.

J

Crazy!

 

There was a call of a “Suicidal man barricaded in his house” and three police units were sent to deal with it.  They arrived and spoke to the guy through the bathroom door.  After some time they realized that they were going to have to force entry, so they requested a Taser officer.  I had to drive some distance, about 7 miles lights and siren, but it is pretty damn fun!

 

I arrived, just as they kicked the door.  Thanks for waiting guys!  There’s the subject, sitting on the toilet, holding a knife to his temple, and a pair of scissors under his chin.  There was a shoe lace tied between both weapons.  I guess he was thinking that if we got one, the other would do the job? 

 

One officer is pointing a gun at him, and I am too far away to be of any use.  The senior officer tells the junior officer to put the gun away.  That cop backs out of the hall, where I am, and we both watch the most amazing police work ever!  <Heavy on sarcasm>  The senior cop stands 3 feet away from this crazy nut job, who is holding two very sharp weapons. 

 

Granted the threat is to kill himself, but you never know.  He could just as easily lunge at the senior officer.  If nut job made it past him, he’d be in for a world of hurt, because I’d be tasing him, while my partner was shooting him. 

 

The suspect finally puts the scissors down, but paces the little 5’ room slashing the knife about.  The senior cop is still within a few feet, and trying to talk him down.  After 5 minutes of this the senior cop backs away and the nut job follows him into the living room.  I stay in the kitchen, hoping to prevent crazy from making his way towards more knives, and the junior officer, with gun, moves to the only exit door. 

 

We watch as the crazy puts his knife down and bounces from wall to wall.  At some point he picks up a pen and I say, “Uhh…He’s got a pen in his left hand.”  The junior officer grabs the pen and throws it to the ground.  The senior officer looks at us like we’re crazy to fear a pen.  You ever get stabbed with a pen?  If it hits something vital you can die just as easy.

 

In the end we got crazy strapped to a gurney and transported to a hospital.  I’m just thankful to have survived another incident, and to be going home at the end of a shift.  Sometimes, I wonder who is the bigger threat.  The suspects, or some of the cops I work with?  I hear of cops dying every day, across America, who practice the “Old School Policing”   To steal a quote, from the IRA, “You have to be lucky all the time.  We only have to be lucky once.”  That’s how I look at suspects.  They only need one second to ruin your whole day…

 

J

Killing with kindness?

 

So I had just gotten into my cop car, when a call comes out, “Homeowners detaining burglar…”  These calls freak me out, because I’ve seen some seriously bad things happen to good people, when they “detain” bad people.  I fly out of the precinct and arrive within 2 minutes. 

 

We’re suppose to wait for backup, but out of concern for the homeowners I run into the house.  I find one homeowner, who tells me that the suspect is upstairs in the bathroom with the other homeowner.  I run upstairs and find the homeowner, and bad guy, both standing next to each other leaning over the sink. 

 

Apparently, the bad guy cut his finger, and one of the homeowners is a registered nurse, so he’s administering first aid!  HUH?!  Me?  Nad guy breaks in to my house?  I’d let him bleed out!  So I order the bad guy, “Sit down.”  I don’t shout, or swear.  I just simply order the bad guy to sit on the ground, so that I can keep him under control until my backup arrives.

 

The homeowner says, “Officer can you please de-escalate the situation.  Keep it calm.”  HUH!? 

 

“You want to handle this?  Or do you want me to handle it?”

 

The homeowner backs away and I shake down the bad guy, who turns out to be armed with a knife.  Later I learn that the bad guy has numerous assault, burglary, and weapons charges.  All I can say is that the homeowner is very lucky that the suspect didn’t knife him.  The suspect was in a “nice” mood up until he saw the cops.  I guess he didn’t expect us to show up.

 

Could you imagine what he would’ve done if he assumed the cops were coming? 

 

I also found $595 cash in the suspect’s pockets, which he stole from one homeowner’s wallet.  The homeowner’s car/house keys, and it turns out the suspect also ripped out the car stereo from the BMW.  The greedy suspect also placed the plasma TV, a $3,000 vase, and a $1,200 candle stick on the couch.  Did I mention the 12 year old son sleeping in the bedroom the suspect walked past?

 

Let’s just say that if it was my house the bad guy would be leaving horizontally.

 

J

Always winter, never Christmas…

 

Seattle has had some serious cold weather the past few weeks.  All the ice on the roads has created some serious down time at work.  We drive very slowly to some parking lot, in our beat, and then park.  No sense driving around, when you run the risk of crashing.  Very hard to stay awake, while sitting in a parking lot!

 

The call load has dropped some too.  Not as many crimes happening, because it’s too cold outside.  Although auto theft is on the rise, but I attribute that to drugheads stealing the cars for heat.  Run the engine all night and leave the heat on.  Not too mention it’s easy to find a victim.

 

Everyone is starting their cars, and then going back inside the house to let them warm up.  Bad guys walk the street, see a plume of exhaust, and there’s their free car/hear.  I took a report of a theft of a nice Audi A6, and when I came outside there was an unattended Mercedes.  The owner came out and I explained that lots of cars are getting stolen, because of people warming them up.

 

She says, “Really?  Not around here.” 

 

“Uhhh…Lady.  I just took a theft of an Audi from your neighbor.”

 

“But I locked the door officer.”

 

Good thing bad guys respect property enough not to shatter a window, while stealing a $50,000 car.  I call this potential victim, “Ivy League Stupid”.  Too smart to be in touch with reality.

 

J