Christmas eve, my day wasn’t going to be a busy one.
I brought a few nice Monte-Cristo White cigars to work with me in hopes of enjoying them with my squad and relaxing.
1030AM rolled around and everyone was doing their own thing, so I fired up one of my cigars, which now happen to cost $11.50. Sitting in my car with the windows down, the breeze was blowing through on this cool day, the sun was out without a cloud in sight.
Just an awesome day.
BEEP!!!! ATTENTION ALL UNITS, BURGLARY IN PROGRESS AT XXX NE XX AVE! TWO BLACK MALES INSIDE THE ADDRESS. ONE WEARING A YELLOW SHIRT WITH BLACK SHORTS AND THE OTHER WEARING A BLACK SHIRT WITH WHITE SHORTS.
Really? Seriously? I was right around the corner and not even 5 minutes into my cigar.
I drove over to the address and was the second guy to arrive on scene. The first cop was pointing north and yelled, “They went that way!”, so I moseyed on over that way.
Sure as hell, a block north, I saw 4 black males walking west bound about 4 blocks west of me. Two happened to be matching, so I started driving that way and got on the main channel, advising the dispatcher of what I saw.
A block away from them, another unmarked detective got behind me and we’d go ahead and stop them together.
Clenching my newly lit cigar in my teeth, I stopped directly behind them and grunted, “Gentlemen, lay down”.
The two on the left looked at me and threw themselves on the floor, the other two debated it for a second but as I approached them, they decided to take off running.
Damn it.
I grabbed my radio in my left hand and chased after them. They ran northwest through a backyard and I started advising through clenched teeth as there was no way in hell I was going to drop that cigar. We’re in a recession.
Holding down the mic on the radio, I said, “Alright, we’re coming up to a small fence, one second”. I hopped the fence jumping sideways using my right hand.
These kids kept looking back at me.
Another fence, “Now we’re coming up to a small white fence, still in the backyards, one second”. Like the first fence, no problem.
Then I saw the 4 foot spiked iron fence, “Damn it, we’re coming up on a blue spiked fence”. I jumped extra hard as to not catch the spikes, cigar still in place.
We ran across a street and out of all of the houses to run into, they ran into the Church conversion home.
Come on.
Entering the building I used my free right hand and drew my sidearm, “Police! Get down, hands up!”. No response, then I heard the rear door hit the outside wall. These kids weren’t going to stop running away from me. Grrr..
So I continued outside of the church and was met with a large 6 foot fence. I saw one jump west bound and one jump north bound.
Screw it.
“Dispatch, we cleared the church on the west side and theres a fence I’m just not getting over. I need perimeter points setup 2 by 2 from my current location”.
The points were filled and K9 / Aviation arrived.
I walked back to my car, cigar still lit. My LT was there.
“Hey Dash, did you seriously just chase those kids with that stogy in your mouth?”
“Well, Yea. That a problem LT?”
“No no man, do you have another?”
So I opened up my Humidor and gave it to him.
Later we’d find out that the 4 kids had committed 4 burglaries in that little section of town in the last 2 hours and they confessed to several more. The two that K9 found in the field just west of the church keep repeated, “Don’t put me near that white guy, he’s nuts, don’t”.
Something about a big white guy with a cigar spooked these kids, so now of course my squad mates are making all of the jokes you could think of, but at the end of the day, I wasn’t going to just let $11.50 burn on the side of the road.
Merry Christmas.
In the last few months I’ve been busy working a lot.
In the Burglary unit, I’ve been instrumental in helping bring down two burglary rings which effectively stopped the majority of burglaries in my area.
I’m doing a great job and might be getting a Detective position in Auto Theft soon.
There isn’t a whole lot to mention outside of the fact that I really like my new area, its laid back and relaxing. Some of the supervisors are a little more strict then I’m used too but overall I have to say I’m happy with the move.
I have a pending suspension coming up for not handing up my old partner Batman. I did nothing wrong but because I refused to hand him up, I’m getting punished just as if I’d been the person who did the violation. So be it, I’m going to have a forced three day vacation. I’ll wear that as a badge of honor.
I’m now assigned to a unit which is basically the long arm of the burglary investigations unit.
We’re tasked with hunting down and apprehending the subjects identified by the detectives and we operate under the General Investigations Unit.
I got to the station for my first day and was quite nervous. I met up with my new Sergeant and had to fill out all my paperwork. I’m the most senior guy on the squad again, which is always an odd feeling but it’s been that way everywhere I’ve been for a few years now.
I met my new squad-mates and I have to say, they seem to be a bunch of stand-up guys.
The squad had breakfast at Denny’s and I have to say, they’re all nuts.
We’re going to get along just fine.
I went to the quarter master to get my new set of tan/brown BDUs as that’s the outfit this unit wears and they weren’t in stock, so I stole a few extra shirts from the people on my squad and I just bought a pair of 5.11 brown BDUs until the County ones come in stock.
Later in the shift I met up with the only gal on my squad and helped her take a subject into custody for the Burglary detectives, which was great. She’s a stud and has a set of balls that could rival any guy I know.
Later in the shift they invited me out for lunch before it was time to go home and I met up with them for some Sushi.
Needless to say, the area I’m now assigned too is a much nicer area but it borders my old hood district at its southern point, so I can still play if I feel an itch too.
Primarily, they want me catching Burglary subjects. Knowing that, this unit seems to be more laid back and just what I need right now.
The change of pace and atmosphere is honestly quite nice.
:)
I had a little talk with my doctor and basically told him that I’m stuck on the desk and he should put me back to full duty.
He did.
Now, I’m not fully healed and really should be on Light Duty another few months, but I took a pay cut and lost my cruiser, which is too much for me.
On a brighter note, one of my interviews for another district went through and I finally got the official transfer memo in.
I’ll be going to General Investigations in two weeks.
My left shoulder is killing me.
I’ve re-injured it three times in the past week and that was while trying to NOT use it.
I had to go talk to my LT today and tell him I needed to contact the Workmans Compensation people so I could go see a doctor.
Instead of being nice about it, or even asking about it, the first thing he asked for were the keys to my Police car…
Stunned, I handed him my spare key and walked out of his office. He brought a SGT in and basically told me as of that moment I was Officially on Light Duty and to remove my uniform/duty belt.
He was acting as if I’d been suspended or wronged him in some way when all I was asking for was to see a doctor reference my injury a few days ago from doing my job and trying to Tackle a bad guy.
Tomorrow I’m reporting to the mini-station in civilian clothes and have to wait to be called so I can go see a doctor. Hopefully I won’t be out of the game too long, but after that little encounter, I don’t know if I can even respect the guy as a supervisor anymore.
I’m sort of down about the whole thing.
UPDATE
I had my first xrays done and it looks to be a Separated Shoulder (AC Joint). :(
Click here to see the XRAY
I taught a 16 hour (2 day) Shotgun course of instruction to a group of academy recruits.
It was awesome.
I got there early on the first day and was quite nervous.
Veronica, one of my old instructors when I was in the academy, was up in her range tower at 6AM and we sat and talked for a while since I was an hour early. She made me a cup of coffee and calmed me down.
Around 7AM I met up with Lou and we headed over to the classroom.
He gave me a little pep talk and we entered the room.
CLASS!!!
The trainee closest to the door yelled as we walked in, signaling the class to stand at attention until told to relax by the instructor.
Lou told them to have a seat and we went to the front of the class with the 26 shotguns that were wheeled in.
I was introduced and then fed to the wolves.
I started giving my initial introduction lecture and all of the sudden felt at home.
It wasn’t but 10 minutes before I was engaging the class and making them laugh while learning the information I needed to relay to them.
Lou called me a natural and to hear that from the most senior Firearms instructor my department had was a needed refresher.
4 hours of talking and I sent the class off to lunch.
I pulled Lou aside and told him just how relieved I was that he was right and that once I got comfortable I’d breeze through it.
After lunch we went out to the range to start on range familiarization and firing practice. I fixed a bunch of shooting issues and my entire group were on target.
Awesome day.
The second day came around and we went out to the range. I was pulled aside by two different SGTs and a LT, along with some of the firearms staff and basically told flat out that they want me to take over Annual training and get into the division ASAP.
The group did their practice rounds and then qualifications without much issue at all. It was a good feeling to know that I taught them and they understood the material, were able to apply it and were mostly excited to ask questions.
I’m really hoping this goes through. I was actually happy at work for the first time in years.
It was 10AM and my unit was working a 12 hour shift detail, from 10AM to 10PM.
I got to work on time and was just driving around waiting for the rest of my unit to show up.
Being that we normally all meet up once everyone straggles in, I wasn’t suited up in my vest because I wasn’t really doing much of anything except burning gas and putting miles on my car.
BEEP!!!!! ATTENTION ALL UNITS. 5 BLACK MALES ARMED WITH GUNS IN FRONT OF AN ABANDONED HOUSE AT XXST NW XXAVE!
You’ve got to be kidding me, I was half a block away, so I started hauling ass over there, figuring someone else in my unit or at least some road units would get there with me and back me up.
Upon arrival I saw 5 black males gambling in front of the address listed and had a feeling this was more a drug deal related call-in and someone thought they got ‘jipped’ so they were going to make the false 911 call to get the dealer screwed.
I pulled up to the group, most of whom I already knew from previous arrests and jumped out of my vehicle.
I drew my sidearm and pointed it at the crowd.
In a calm and somewhat quiet voice I said, “Everybody on the floor, now.”
Those that knew me already laid down immediately and the one that didn’t took his time until one of his buddies yelled at him to lay down for me.
Okay, backup should be arriving shortly… but I really needed to check for guns while I still had them in that initial shock.
“Gentle, I’m going to check you one at a time for weapons. First person to move will have a T-shirt made ‘In memory of’, are we clear?”
They all said some form of ‘yes’.
I started from left to right, patting them down. I found no weapons but one of them did have a small bomb (few bags of marijuana in a larger bag).
A few guys on my squad showed up just as I was getting to the last guy. They started doing their thing while I went to my car to toss the ‘evidence’ in.
All of the sudden, I heard some of our undercover units yelling on the tactical channel we operate off of that they were a block south of us and had a tall black male running north west from them reference drug sales.
I threw my evidence in my car and started running west to see if I could cut the guy off, while my squad mates (minus 1 who stayed to watch the guys I had stopped) took chase after me.
Coming up to the cross street, I looked south and saw a guy matching the description given running north directly towards me.
I started running at him.
We got about 10 feet apart from each other when I realized that he was not just tall… he was 6’5 and had at least thirty pounds on me.
Screw it. I went for a low body tackle.
As luck would have it, he decided he wanted to do the same thing to me.
We met shoulder to shoulder and I blanked out for a second.
As I realized what was happening, I had already gone up and over him, landing solidly on the ground, right on my left shoulder which was apparently already dislocated.
I looked down at my shoulder, which was now in front of my chest.
Damn it.
I rolled over, slamming my arm into the ground, forcing it back into place like I’d done several times before.
The adrenaline was pumping at that point and I don’t remember feeling any pain.
I got back up and chased the guy another block with my squad mates just behind me.
The guy jumped a chain link fence and I followed suit.
I ended the chase when I took out my pistol and told him to freeze. He didn’t and I gave him a pistol whip to what I thought was going to be his head and ended up being his eye ball.
He went down to the floor immediately and my guys jumped on him, effecting the arrest.
One of my guys turned to me, “Hey Dash… you need to get to the hospital man. Look at your shoulder”.
It was already swelling.
Crap.
I refused the hospital because that would put me on official light duty and instead went to the firehouse a few blocks away. They basically told me that I needed to ice it and take some Ibuprofen but if it didn’t go down in swelling in a few hours to go to the hospital… Then they gave me some of their freshly cooked hamburgers/fries and water for lunch.
I had my supervisor write the First Report of Injury paperwork and I wrote up my arrests with my functional hand, calling it a day. My partner for the day did her best to help me out and my wife took care of me when I got home. Long day and I’ll be babying my arm for a few weeks until it gets better. Hurts a whole damn lot.
Long story short, I need to work on my tackles.
I’m on unofficial Light Duty per my LT until the arm is healed. I can come to work and do my thing but he wants me laying low for a bit.
Also.. I’ve amassed too many complaints/uses of force/IA cases in my tenure in the unit and I was basically told it’s time to start looking for a new home.
I’m hoping one of these interviews that I did come to fruition soon, my personal jacket is getting too thick.
In order to get over to the firearms unit in my department you have to have at least two certifications. The first being ITW and the second being FIW (Firearms Instructor Workshop). I’ve got the FIW certification as of 2008 so I only needed the ITW class.
ITW is needed to teach anything at the police academy. My interview with the Firearms division is coming up and I needed to get in this ITW class. Long story short, a few phone calls were made and I got into the class.
As it stands, 4000+ officers are currently employed by my department and the class is only held twice a year with a maximum occupancy of 15 officers.
Day 1
Sitting in the computer lab in a dimly lit room, I sat in the front row mostly because I can’t see well in dim lighting and wanted to miss nothing.
The first instructor was a LT who talked about Sexual Harassment as it relates to teaching for the first 2 hours. This was only one in a string of classes that would project the image of extreme liability in every action you took.
After those first two hours were up we had another instructor come in. She was going to be the lead instructor for the duration of the two week course. She made us one by one pull a piece of paper from an envelope and one by one stand in front of the class to give a 1 minute presentation on the topic listed on the paper.
When it was my turn, I stood up, grabbed a random paper from the envelope and read the words, “WINE”. Knowing nothing about Wine aside from it being White or Red, I did what any rational person would do; fake it if you must but look good.
I started out with giving my name and unit and proceeded to talk about Wines origins and how it related to foods, the use of the old barrels to make beers, ect.
I did fairly well compared to most of the class, where some people stood up with something as simple as given a minute speech on ‘Dolphins’ or ‘Football’ and they couldn’t get past their names..
After that we had basic instruction on the ‘hows/whys’ people listen to instructors and whatnot.
To close out the day we had another woman come in and talk about presentations for two hours. You know, things like how to open and keep interest in a topic.
Sometime next week I’ll have to give a 50 minute Presentation on a topic of my choosing. I was mulling around giving a lecture on “Ways to survive the Post Nuclear Zombie Apocalypse” but decided I’d be better off with a “History of Rifles” topic as I could bring in some rifles of mine and at the very least show and tell.
I’ll let you know how day two goes.
Day 2
Same as Day 1.
Day 3
I had to give a 5 minute speech today on Louis Armstrong. I made a short power-point presentation in 15 minutes and ended up actually presenting for what seemed like only a few minutes but turned out to be… 17 1/2 minutes.
Yea, apparently I talk a lot.
The instructor said I have a melodic voice and sound like I’m telling a story which kept everyone engaged even though I was almost 3 times over my time limit.
Skipping to the last day.
My presentation on the ‘History of the Modern Rifle’ went very well. I spoke for 53 minutes without a hiccup and will be going back to the Training Bureau Monday morning to see how soon I can start teaching to get the hours required for my certification to become active.
Sooner I get all this done, the sooner I can get over to Firearms Full time.
Long story short, I didn’t make the list.
No excuses to make, I just didn’t pass.
Let down doesn’t begin to describe the feeling, as I thought I did very well on it.
I found most of the questions/answers in my material and thought I got a high passing score, but for all I know I missed a bubble somewhere and threw the whole thing off.
Blah.
Looks like I’ll have to wait another two years.
While I was away studying for the written part of the Sergeants exam, my squad acquired a new member. Fresh off probation, just a day over a year on the job and with no take home car.
None of us have ever heard of her and as a tight unit, we have no desire to just let anyone in simply because they were assigned by someone higher up to be placed in our unit.
She has to prove herself.
While I was away she’d ridden with each individual squad member in order to get an ‘overall’ feel for what we do and get more acquainted with us individually. Needless to say, each person she rode with treated her with respect but they didn’t operate with the unit that day. They instead ventured out on their own and purposely got into items that would stress/push her.
From what I heard when I got into the mini-station that morning wasn’t so great.
Long story short, she doesn’t seem to be fitting in very well and with good reason. You don’t take someone who just got on and has barely any experience into the senior jumpout unit. We don’t know her. For all we know, she could be a plant from higher up to find out exactly what we do as a unit daily to really get the bad guys we get. We know that as a rookie, you’re going to fold under pressure and when asked by Command staff about an item, you’re going to sing about everything from the shower you took in the morning to the smallest detail of what exactly happened to that last cig in the pack.
It’s not that we do anything illegal or anything of the sort, but we’re a hands on unit that does what needs to get done to keep our streets safe. The people I work with have been close friends for years.
So, today she rode with me.
She wasn’t on time and the Admin officer at our mini-station asked me for a ride to the south end of the County to pickup our Incident Command vehicle. No problem.
Two-hours later I got back to the mini-station and there she was, sitting in one of the chairs at our desks.
I looked her up and down.
Medium weight, medium length hair, tactical vest…
I said, “Alright, lets go”.
No apology for being late. If she was a soft cookie, she was going to get broken today. I needed to know what she was made of. My squad needed to know. It’s our safety out there. She could be the difference between my partners seeing their families at the end of the night or me having to explain to their wives and kids why they didn’t come home.
She started to say something and I walked out of the station and to my car. I saw her run out with a bag in her hand and I hit the trunk release. She tossed her bag inside and got in the passenger seat.
I didn’t say a word. Didn’t ask her name, and didn’t tell her mine.
Driving around I stopped a car near one of the project houses. I got out of the car immediately and the driver threw his door open. In the corner of my eye I saw her get out of the car.
I immediately drew my firearm and pointed it at the guy.
“HANDS UP! DON’T MOVE!”
He saw my barrel and threw his hands up. Any thought of running as I closed on him disappeared immediately.
I walked up to his door.
“Place your hands on the wheel. Okay, do you have ID on you? Oh. so your license isn’t good. Alright, I can work with that. Listen, I don’t write tickets and you trying to bail out is pretty stupid for just not having a license. Get out of here and park the car before someone arrests you”.
I walked back to the patrol car and got a glimpse of the look on her face. It was a mix of disbelief and shock.
I got back in the car and she sat down in the passenger seat.
“Why’d you draw your gun on him, Dash?”
She threw me off. I didn’t tell her my name yet but I simply replied with:
“Listen. You’re in a raid unit. People that open their doors as soon as they stop are doing one of two things. They’re either going to bailout or open fire on you. Don’t be afraid to draw your weapon. It’s a tool and just like a Plumber, you have to be proficient with your tools and know when to use them.”
She nodded.
I drove off to look for a bad guy.
I parked the cruiser behind an apartment complex known for high volume drug sales. We got out and started walking through a rear alley that lead to a break in the rear fence so we could sneak up on the dealers. Walking through the alley I spotted the manhole cover that they’d removed, closely followed by the open manhole. Walking past it I saw several 2×4 boards facing straight up and down inside.
Booby trap. Most dealers have them around so when they run, they can clear past them and hope that some cop not paying attention gets snagged.
Speaking of not paying attention, I said in a loud whisper, “Look Down”.
And that’s when I heard the, “Woah! That was close…”
Ugh.
Entering the back I saw a guy my partner had arrested before (Batman) for carrying a concealed firearm. He’d also been Trespass warned here before as this was the place he’d been arrested for the firearm and it was HUD housing. I snatched him up and cuffed him. He had nothing on him but he was up to no good so I gave him a citation for Trespass and told him to leave before I took him for the ride.
She watched but didn’t engage.
Back in the car I opened up conversation. I told her she was on a Unit probation and if she didn’t fit, she’d have a hard time finding us after roll call. She started talking about how she knew what she was getting into when she signed up for the unit and names of people she knows high up.
I stopped her there.
“Listen, you could braid the chiefs daughters hair. That isn’t going to save anyone in the unit if you fail to function properly. If one of my guys gets injured or killed because of your lack of action, no one is going to help you. It’s a unit policy: If you see us engaged in a fight and you don’t help, the next person to hit the floor is going to be you. That’s how it is. Understand? You’re not handling calls for service. You’re going to be dealing with criminals that wouldn’t think twice about killing you. Not even for a second. So sit back, watch how we operate and try to keep up.”
She had nothing to say. Was I being tough? Absolutely. I had to know just what she’s got in her. If she put a transfer in to go back to the road, then she didn’t belong here. If she stayed and proved herself, she’d earn her way in and get all of the privileges that come with the territory.
A few minutes later some units got on the radio, “We’ve got armed robbery subjects fleeing in car! It’s a White Altima headed into the ‘Pinks’!”
I was literally around the corner. I got there as the car smashed into the front of a police car trying to stop it inside an apartment complex. I saw four kids get out of the car and run into the complex and I stopped the car and started chasing after them.
The officers that lost the kids had no idea where they were at or what apartments here were empty, but that’s my job. I know my area and I know where they went.
Running to the last building I saw the door to the 2nd level apartment which was abandoned was cracked a bit and shades were not pulled. We leaves those shades open so we know when people are hiding out inside of them.
Running up to the door, I kicked it without stopping, gun in hand.
There they were, all four of em with no place to go.
I yelled, “GET DOWN! POLICE! GET DOWN!”
I knew half these kids..
They all flew to the floor. I yelled over my shoulder to my partner for the day, “Hey, Cuff them.”
…
“Cuff them”..
I turned my head around just enough to see behind me and I was alone.
You’ve got to be kidding me.
“Gentlemen, cross your legs and put your hands behind you head. First one to move gets shot. As far as I know, you’re armed. Understand?”
I got a unanimous “Ya”.
I keyed my mic.
“Guys, I’m upstairs in the pinks, last building, second floor.”
They got on, “We’re downstairs man, be up in 2”.
After they cuffed the guys we brought them all downstairs to the units they’d hit and transferred them over.
I walked back to my car and started her up. My rook came and got into the passenger seat.
First thing out of my mouth, “Where were you?”
She said she’d gotten lost. She said I got out so quickly she had no idea where I went so she went around the building but just got lost.
“Hey, if you don’t know what you’re doing, just follow your partner as best you can and keep up. If you can’t keep up, find another place to go. You left me alone during a building entry. We don’t have the luxury of sitting around and waiting to make entry as that gives these people time to setup and ambush us as we come in. You have to be dynamic and instantaneous.”
With that, I drove back to the mini-station.
I’d had my fill for the day. Maybe I was having a bad day but I’ve kicked people out of my car for that exact same thing before, and that person was a friend of mine. I gave her some slack as she’s new to this, but honestly, as far as I see it, she has no business here.
She’s got big shoes to fill and I want to see if she has what it takes to change our mind.
