Happy June!

Well, here we are. It's now June, 2010 and I've been a cop for just over a year. I never could have imagined the wild ride this past year would be when I started the academy. Let's recap some of the things that have happened to me in the time I've been a cop shall we??

1) Departmental turmoil... This has been a big one. I had 20 years experience in EMS and Fire prior to going to the academy and I've never worked anywhere that was as crazy as my department was when I started. I got threatened when I interviewed that if I screwed up, then they would do everything they could to have my Peace Officer's certification revoked and that I would never work as a cop again. That threat was repeated when I was offered the job. I needed a job badly at the time and accepted anyways but I was planning on leaving as soon as I got an offer somewhere else. Then, the Chief of our department as well as the Lieutenant who threatened me were both fired for a variety of issues. Since then, we have a new Chief and one of our Sergeants was promoted to Lieutenant in charge of Uniform Patrol. I have to give my NEW Lt a lot of credit in that he has really changed my attitude about staying where I am. He doesn't micromanage and he expects us to do our jobs. He fights for us when we're in the right and he's the first one to chew us out when we're wrong. Also, once he gets done chewing us out and we walk out of his office, that's the end of it. He is getting us training which was a real issue prior to the change in administration and he's trying to improve the way we do things as a department. All in all, I'm very impressed with the things he's done. He can be very abrasive at times but he supports the guys in the trenches and I respect that a lot.

2) Time at home.... I used to work ALL the time when I was working full time in EMS. I still work a lot but I'm also home a lot more. My family doesn't see me as a stranger anymore and I get to spend more time with my wife and son which was a big deciding factor when I made up my mind to go to the academy.

3) My abilities as an Officer..... When I started working for the department, I didn't get much in the way of field training. I pretty much had to learn things on my own. Now, I'm not stupid by any stretch but it would have been nice to have someone I KNEW I could rely on to give me good information on how things needed to be done. I've done fairly well in learning how to deal with the myriad of issues that a Police Officer has to deal with on a daily basis and that seems to have been noticed by my Lieutenant. I consistently get a lot of praise on the quality of my reports and the Captain has stated several times in front of other officers that I write the best reports in the department. I'm making good cases pretty much on my own and rarely have any problems. I still screw up periodically but it's usually not a big issue and I learn from my mistakes.

Another factor in the situation is the fact that we've reduced our monthly expenses a lot and are living more within our means. The only vehicle we owe money on is the minivan and that should be paid off later this year. In addition, we recently refinanced our house which reduced our mortgage payment by about $400 per month. This has taken a lot of pressure off of me so that I don't have to worry so much about finding extra work to help cover bills AND give us some spending money. I still work overtime when I can get it plus I work a couple of shifts a month on an ambulance to maintain my paramedic skills. We are in a much better financial situation and that helps immensely.

These days, I'm keeping busy at work and at home. My garden is going well and we're starting to get some fresh veggies out of it so that's definitely satisfying. We're currently swimming in zucchini and trying to find ways to use it. My wife has been baking zucchini bread and made a chocolate chip zucchini cake tonight for dessert. I got the first cucumber out of the garden yesterday and got 3 more today. I'm probably going to take some to a buddy of mine at work since he likes it. I also got the first of the okra out of the garden today. My tomatoes are coming along well but we probably won't get any ripe ones for another few weeks. I'm contemplating taking some green tomatoes to my mother in law along with a request for some fried green tomatoes. If you haven't had these little southern delicacies, then you're missing out on a treat. Truly good fried green tomatoes are delicious and you quickly become addicted to them.

Well, I hope that this update finds you, my non-existent readers, healthy and happy. I'm busy locking bad guys up and enjoying my family time as much as possible. I'm looking forward to a well deserved vacation next month and some time away from work.

Back again

Sitting here in the recliner enjoying a little peace before the evening begins. Things have been very busy here at the casa lately. I worked 8 nights straight last week and tonight is my only one off this week. Last week my partner and I covered 2 nights for the opposite shift so that they could go to Field Sobriety training. Our Lieutenant basically told everyone that the city doesn't have the money to pay us overtime to cover for the guys going to class. So, in order to get everyone some training, we all agreed to cover each other's shifts while we all go to class. Last week was their turn and my shift goes to the same class in early April. It's not ideal but this department has a long history of giving their officers second rate training so getting a chance to take these classes at the state training center is a really good opportunity. On top of all this, we have quarterly firearms qualification and patrol rifle class coming up in April too. This means I get to go out and make things go "BANG" on the city's dime which is always fun.

Of course working all this time means less time to spend with my family. My wife is very supportive of my job and puts up with the demands on my time from work, court and side jobs to provide everything we want. We don't have a ton of disposable income but we have enough to cover the bills, keep food on the table and sock a little into savings for a rainy day. We are slowly renovating the house and recently managed to get a new roof courtesy of our insurance company for some hail damage we got from a storm last year. We are currently trying to get the house refinanced which will free up several hundred dollars per month that we can put towards paying off our minivan or the mortgage. As a result, we've decided to dip into savings and spruce up the house a bit by fixing some problems and putting in a new walkway from the front porch to the driveway. Eventually I want to renovate the kitchen to make it a bit more user friendly. I love to cook when I actually have the time so that would be a nice thing.

My wife and I are getting along pretty well. She had to go to work today but she's getting off early so that we can go check out a new school in the area for our son to attend next year. A local church is starting up a new Christian school and we're interested in sending the kid there. The local public schools seem to be a breeding ground for thugs and delinquents so we're looking into options. The question is whether or not this new school is overly Christian. My wife and I are somewhat religious but we try to keep a balanced view on everything and we don't want our son exposed to the bible-thumping TOTALLY right-wing wackos that are very prevalent here in the bible belt. We also want a school with better academics and better resources than what is currently available in the public school system. I want my son to grow up as a normal kid and not be criminalized because he drew a picture of a gun in school. We'll see how things go tonight and make a decision soon.

In summary, I'm working way too much and busting my hump to try and make progress at work. We also had city court last week and I got to see the guy who bashed his head in my patrol car. He plead guilty to all my charges and promptly got about $3k worth of fines and lost his license for a year. I'm just trying to relax and enjoy the time off while I have it. I'm back to work tomorrow night and have a million things to do before then. I hope you are having a pleasant day because I am.

Having fun

Feeling mellow tonight. It's been a very good day. I worked all weekend and did some good work. I arrested a lady for an outstanding warrant Friday evening, arrested a guy for DUI on Saturday night and then my partner got 2 felony arrests, some marijuana and a gun out of a car early Monday morning.

We came in for work Friday evening, had supper at a local restaurant and then went out to run some traffic. When I say we are running traffic, basically we're looking for whatever we can find. It isn't about the ticket but rather it's about looking deeper for something more serious. I could care less whether or not I actually issue a citation, I'd rather catch someone with drugs or a warrant than give someone a ticket for having a headlight out.

Anyways, we get a call about an argument between a man and a woman. We get to the house and find out that the guy has already taken off. The woman we talked kept insisting that they were just friends and not dating. She said they had an argument and she asked him to leave because he was drunk. So I'm thinking we might could catch a DUI so my partner calls him on the cell phone and asks him to meet us at the police department so we can talk. He agrees and we get set up to try and catch him coming back into town DUI. Well, he was smart and had a friend drive him to meet with us. He admits that he's engaged to the girl and just wants to get his stuff out of her house. We take him back to the girl's house and talk to her about it. She agrees to let him get his clothes and leave. During the course of the situation, I check the girl's license through dispatch. Uh-oh......... she's got 2 warrants for bad checks. We end up having to call her mom to come get the 2 little girls that were in the house and then we end up taking mom to jail for the warrants. That was pretty much it after that. We stopped a bunch of cars but couldn't find much of anything. It rained most of the night so it was hard to get motivated in the pouring down rain.

Saturday was better. I got to spend some time with my wife before leaving for work and was feeling pretty good by the time I started my shift. Stopped a bunch of cars but didn't find any serious crimes so they got warnings. We decided to go to the interstate about 2 or 3 in the morning. Usually, traffic in town dries up about 9 or 10pm and you can almost see tumbleweeds rolling down the sidewalks. Having the interstate in our jurisdiction makes for a nice change of pace. We roll down the on-ramp and park where we can watch traffic. A few minutes later, my partner rolls out to stop a car and I stay put. He'll call for me if he needs some help and I can find my own car to stop. While I'm sitting there, this white Honda comes past me like a bat out of hell. He was EASILY doing 100mph. As I watch him, I see him swerve across the white dotted line between the lines, which is a violation. I pull out after him and stop him about 2 miles down the road. I walk up to the car, introduce myself and the guy says "You got me Officer! I was speeding!" I ask him how fast he was going and he replies " I was doing at least a hundred when I passed you." Well, as I'm talking to him, I smell a familiar odor. Bingo!! I ask him to step out of the car to speak with me and he complies. Again, I smell an alcoholic beverage so I'm resisting the urge to giggle in front of him. I'm being very polite and asking him if he'd mind taking a few simple tests for me. He's more than happy to oblige and ends up in handcuffs for his trouble. I put him in my car while my partner starts the impound sheet and take off for the jail to give him the state required breath test.

Of course, with my luck, the guy starts flipping out in my car and ends up cursing me from the time we leave the scene until the time we get to the jail. He even bashes his head against my cage, earning himself a small bruise and cut. When we arrived, the sight of 6 deputies with Tasers drawn settled him down and he promptly blew 0.169 on the machine which is twice the legal limit. I'm actually looking forward to seeing him in court because everything was caught on tape and I'll be happy to let the judge hear just how many times he referred to me as a "cracker motherfucker."

So we come back in Sunday evening and I'm not expecting too much. Sunday isn't usually a party night and most folks are in the house asleep because they have to go to work on Monday morning. We tool around town for a couple of hours until my partner decides he wants to go write some speeding tickets. So we grab the laser and head out to the big road. Now I don't have any type of certification to run radar of laser but I can write speeding tickets for people that have been lasered by my partner so we get set up with him zapping cars and me playing bird dog. Sure enough, we get one running 93 in a 70 mph zone. I stop the car and hand the lady driving a nice yellow driving certificate. She said she's just going to pay it off but I forgot to mention the extra $200 fee the state is going to send her for doing more than 85mph on the interstate. Anyways, we hang around out on the interstate for a little while longer and then head back to town. We ride the city, patrolling businesses and neighborhoods looking for people up to no good. Thankfully we come up empty and go back to the interstate after a couple of hours. We set up again and traffic is slow compared to what it was earlier. We're standing outside of our cars despite the cold and talking about nonsense when my partner zaps one at 95 in a 70. We go after them and stop the car which is from one of our neighboring states. We start talking to the 3 occupants and I see that one of the passengers has lit a cigarette. Now this is a CLASSIC sign of extreme nervousness so I am extra alert.

My partner starts pulling people out of the car and having them stand at the front of his car. He gives me a thumbs up letting me know there's dope in the car. I go up to talk to the passenger in the back seat and I get a good whiff of it too. Very strong odor of raw marijuana in the car. We get permission to search the car and recover an ounce of weed as well as a pistol. Well, as it turns out, both of the male occupants are convicted felons which means they can't be in possession of a firearm. We end up arresting both of the men and the female subject who was 17 ends up having to sit at the PD until her father can come from the neighboring state to get her.

All in all, a very enjoyable and productive weekend at work. I ended up getting off work about 90 minutes late after all the evidence was logged and paperwork completed. The sun was rising as I drove home and the fields on both sides of the road were coated in frost. It was just a wonderful way to start a couple of days off. I even snapped some pics with my Iphone.

So I make it home and spend a little bit snuggling with my wife before heading to bed. We had a wonderful dinner this evening and my wife made a homemade banana pudding for dessert. Now I'm just relaxing in my recliner listening to Colt Ford on my Iphone and typing this post. This is what I'm all about. I work hard, love my family and try to be the best husband/father I can be.

Happy New Year!!!!

Well, just got back from work after going in for some OT on New Year's eve. Working in a small town, we usually only have 2 officers on at a time. However, we wanted to do a road check to try and get some DUIs so that required some extra assistance. Myself and another officer ended up coming in so that we could cover the road check and cover the expected extra traffic coming through the city. Things started off right just as I was coming in about 10pm. One of the other officers stopped a car for running a stop sign and ended up getting 2 arrests out of it. He arrested the driver for DUI and he also had a warrant for his arrest. One of the passengers also had a warrant so he got a free ride as well. The third passenger was released and the driver's father got the vehicle.

After those 2 were booked and transported to jail, we went and got set up for our road check. These aren't very complicated. We ask for driver's licenses and insurance cards which people are required by state law to have in their possession while operating a motor vehicle. We ensure that those documents are valid, glance at the tag and they're on their way. The kicker is that sometimes things aren't always on the up and up. We hadn't been set up for more than 10 minutes when on of the other officers got a car with no insurance. The driver was promptly cited for the infraction and the car was towed away. A short time later, a car pulled up and the officer could smell the odor of marijuana coming from the vehicle. Surprise, surprise!!!

After pulling all 5 people out of the car, nobody wanted to admit to having any marijuana. One of the passengers kept proclaiming how he was on federal probation and wouldn't have anything to do with marijuana. Of course he was on probation for possession of Crack cocaine with intent to distribute. So, we decide to search the car and end up finding 33 individually wrapped baggies full of marijuana. Fun times, fun times. After talking to the 5 occupants of the vehicle, one of the passengers claims the weed and is promptly arrested, thereby saving us from having to arrest all 5 of them. My buddy Andy ends up transporting the guy for booking and then to the jail while we continue the road check. We decide to wrap things up and head back to the PD for a break while we wait on Andy to get back.

We're sitting at the PD waiting on the coffee to finish brewing when we hear Andy on the radio advising that he hit a deer on the way back from the jail. So we haul ass up to check on him and find his car lying in the ditch with a very badly injured and very much alive deer lying in the roadway. This deer is pretty badly hurt with 2-3 broken legs but still hell bent on getting away after 3 more police cars pull up so she starts stumbling down the road, bumping against the door of my car as I'm trying to get out. I end up having to pull my backup weapon to put the deer down and end it's suffering. Andy was fine but his car is pretty bad. He was mainly just mad since he just got it back from the shop after hitting another deer (which I also had to put down) about 2 weeks ago. I was laughing about it and told him that every time we work together, we end up tearing up a car.

Anyways, I finally got home about an hour ago and it's almost time for me to get to bed. My wife is getting ready to go to work and my son is going to spend the day with his grandparents so I can sleep before my regular shift tonight. Y'all have fun and have a wonderful new year!