Thursday, September 9, 2010
Anything can happen
Today I came across something interesting and unusual. As I was headed to lunch at mom's house, I noticed a van in front of me with the front passenger door partially open. The passenger had his right foot on the rocker panel and his right hand was holding the door open. Since I'm not in a marked police unit, I couldn't initiate the traffic stop. I didn't know what the passenger's intentions were. I thought maybe he was about to jump out of the moving vehicle! I got on the radio and started calling for a marked unit to assist. I followed the van several blocks before it finally pulled off the road and parked at a residence. I got out of my vehicle and motioned for the passenger to approach the front of my vehicle. The occupants turned out to be an older couple. When I asked the gentleman if he had a reason for riding with his door open, he stated, "I was hot." I then reworded my question and asked if he had a "good" reason for riding with his door open. Then he explained that he was returning home from dialysis and the a/c didn't work and he couldn't roll down the window. I then gave him other alternatives when faced with the same problem later. One was maybe try pulling over and finding some shade for a minute or going to a store with a/c. Before you ask, No I didn't write them a ticket!
Monday, July 12, 2010
Yes Officer, I'm 21!
So with my new position, I don't do much "real" police work since I have an office job. But, sometimes I work special operations and get to have a little fun. I recently assisted with an operation targeting underage drinking. This entailed a small group of us wearing regular clothes and a handful of officers wearing their patrol uniform. I was in plain clothes for this one and my duties included going into drinking establishments and looking for anyone that was not 21 that had alcohol in their possession.
The night for my team started off pretty slow. We went into a small bar on Jefferson and knew that after we caught a couple kids, we weren't going to catch much more since word gets around pretty quick. After catching a couple, I noticed a lot of girls were checking me out, but then realized they were just telling each other, "Hey, that guy is a cop!"
I should note that at my age, picking out the young people is getting harder and harder since everyone in the bar looks like they are 12 years old to me. Oh, except this one lady, which leads me to another story! Out of all these gorgeous women in the bar, the one woman that tries to hit on me, looks like she is knocking on 60. I went and stood at the end of the bar so that I would have a good position to see everyone that approached the bar for a drink. This lady, who is sitting three empty bar stools away from me, keeps trying to make small talk. I felt out of place in this bar and I am sure she was 20 plus years older than me. I had to move and find another place to stand before she and I got too involved in conversation. One of my partners said I could have had a "Sugar Mam,." then another officer on my team quickly chimed in and said I could have had a "Sugar Granny!". Even if she was pretty hot looking in that leopard print scarf, I am happily married and had to get back to work.
Not always, but sometimes, when we approach women, they seem excited that guys are interested in them, and they usually give a nice smile. That smile quickly goes away when you show them a police badge. The first two that we caught were together. The 21 year old had just purchased a refreshing margarita for her 20 year old friend. The smiles became tears in seconds! This part of the job is not fun. While writing the citation, the uniformed officer learned that the 20 year old was to turn 21 in three days and this was the second citation she was receiving for the same thing in less than a month. She claimed she was going to be kicked out of her nursing program.
Well, after about an hour of not getting a bite, my team moved to better fishing grounds away from downtown. Minutes after entering this new bar, I recognized a lot of people that were just at the small bar on Jefferson. A lot of them were seen at the small bar, wearing the color coded bracelets signifying they were under 21. Now those bracelets were gone and they had drinks in hand. I loved hearing the excuses they had for not having their ID. I guess they thought that if I asked them for their ID and they didn't have it with them, I would simply take their word for it and move on to the next person. When I would tell them they had to come with me, most of them performed a magic trick and produced their ID. My favorite one was when I asked this girl for her ID, she told me it was outside in her truck. I then asked how old she was and of course she said "21". When I told her to come outside with me, she said, "I'm not going anywhere! I have to stay with them". When I offered to handcuff her and drag her outside, she immediately pulled out her wallet and gave me her ID and voluntarily walked out with me. Yes, people lie to the Po-po!
The night for my team started off pretty slow. We went into a small bar on Jefferson and knew that after we caught a couple kids, we weren't going to catch much more since word gets around pretty quick. After catching a couple, I noticed a lot of girls were checking me out, but then realized they were just telling each other, "Hey, that guy is a cop!"
I should note that at my age, picking out the young people is getting harder and harder since everyone in the bar looks like they are 12 years old to me. Oh, except this one lady, which leads me to another story! Out of all these gorgeous women in the bar, the one woman that tries to hit on me, looks like she is knocking on 60. I went and stood at the end of the bar so that I would have a good position to see everyone that approached the bar for a drink. This lady, who is sitting three empty bar stools away from me, keeps trying to make small talk. I felt out of place in this bar and I am sure she was 20 plus years older than me. I had to move and find another place to stand before she and I got too involved in conversation. One of my partners said I could have had a "Sugar Mam,." then another officer on my team quickly chimed in and said I could have had a "Sugar Granny!". Even if she was pretty hot looking in that leopard print scarf, I am happily married and had to get back to work.
Not always, but sometimes, when we approach women, they seem excited that guys are interested in them, and they usually give a nice smile. That smile quickly goes away when you show them a police badge. The first two that we caught were together. The 21 year old had just purchased a refreshing margarita for her 20 year old friend. The smiles became tears in seconds! This part of the job is not fun. While writing the citation, the uniformed officer learned that the 20 year old was to turn 21 in three days and this was the second citation she was receiving for the same thing in less than a month. She claimed she was going to be kicked out of her nursing program.
Well, after about an hour of not getting a bite, my team moved to better fishing grounds away from downtown. Minutes after entering this new bar, I recognized a lot of people that were just at the small bar on Jefferson. A lot of them were seen at the small bar, wearing the color coded bracelets signifying they were under 21. Now those bracelets were gone and they had drinks in hand. I loved hearing the excuses they had for not having their ID. I guess they thought that if I asked them for their ID and they didn't have it with them, I would simply take their word for it and move on to the next person. When I would tell them they had to come with me, most of them performed a magic trick and produced their ID. My favorite one was when I asked this girl for her ID, she told me it was outside in her truck. I then asked how old she was and of course she said "21". When I told her to come outside with me, she said, "I'm not going anywhere! I have to stay with them". When I offered to handcuff her and drag her outside, she immediately pulled out her wallet and gave me her ID and voluntarily walked out with me. Yes, people lie to the Po-po!
Monday, January 25, 2010
Mardi Gras
Well, Mardi Gras is coming up in a couple weeksand to be honest, not many police officers are excited about it. Its a very long and stressful time for us, or, at least most of us. Long hours, above and beyond the normal work week, and many hours on our feet. Did I mention that we wear about 25-30 lbs of gear each day? Walking or standing on a parade route gets old quick.
Here are a few things to think about when you see your local police officer on the parade route:
* More than likley, he did not volunteer to work the parade and miss out on enjoying it with his family.
* Its possible that the officer just finished an 8 - 10 hour shift before being forced to work the parade.
* Officers do not want any of those cheap worthless beads so please do not throw them to or at us.
* Drunks are not always cute to a sober and tired police officer.
* As I said earlier, we are wearing a lot of gear and its not easy to bend over to pick up beads.
* Our job is to keep you and your family safe. Don't make our job any harder than it already is by putting your children over the baracades to pick up beads from under the float tires! Plus, when one does it, they all start doing it.
* I don't know many officers that would mind or be offended by seeing a nice pair of boobs. Unfortunately, there is always someone in the crowd ready to complain, making us the bad guy.
* When going to a parade, plan on being stuck in traffic when its over. Enough said.
* While at a parade and drinking adult beverages, keep in mind that all that alcohol is going to want to come out sooner than you think. Plan ahead on finding a bathroom more suitable than a nearby tree or car tire.
* Do us all a favor, don't buy your kids those long plastic trumpets. Those things should be illegal!
Ok, well that is all for now. Back to work.
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