This weekend, I got to do a little crime fighting. My brother, Mike, is a police officer and I went with him on what is called a "ride along". Basically, I got to follow him around at work all day. It was AWESOME!
We hit the streets around 3:00 pm. Basically, we responded to calls all night. If it was slow and there weren't any calls to go on, we would drive around his beat (territory) and run plates and look for anybody acting suspicious or committing some sort of traffic violation. It was a pretty busy night, so we only pulled over 4 people for traffic violations. They were pretty ordinary: a speeder, someone with a brake light out, and somebody running a stop sign. The most exciting part of pulling somebody over was the hope that it would turn out to be somebody with a warrant so that we could arrest the guy. No such luck. But, a few of them had to get out of the car so that Mike could pat them down. I liked that.
It seemed that the majority of the calls we went on turned out to be nothing. For instance, two "runaways" were just at Grandma's house down the street. Three suspicious looking girls hanging out at a street corner weren't causing any trouble at all- they just had a flat tire. An obnoxious door-to-door salesman who "wouldn't leave my property" seemed like the a perfectly normal college kid selling pest control for the summer. Another person reported that the people in the upstairs apartment were yelling violently at each other. They were hearing a lot of banging around and feared that it was going to get violent. When we showed up for the call, it was just an old lady and her granddaughter.
There were a couple calls that turned out to be pretty interesting. One call came in from a girl who was choked by her boyfriend. Apparently, he had her in a sleeper hold until she was starting to blackout. I felt really bad for this girl. She was very shaken up, but was unsure about how she would handle the situation. She's been with this guy for a long time, and they have a baby together. Mike really wanted to get this guy, because he already had a warrant for other offenses. We looked for him between calls throughout the night, but we didn't find him. But, I got a phone call from Mike yesterday and they finally found him. I was stoked!
There was also a call from a guy who said 3 kids were trying to break into the next door neighbor's apartment, and then tried to break into his car. This one came across a lot more dramatic than it was. Three cops responded to this call and they had the kids on the ground for quite some time. They guy who made the call had to identify the kids, which was kind of exciting too. But, in the end, one of the 3 kids actually lived in the house he was trying to break into. He had forgotten his key and was locked out. And as for trying to break into the car, it was pretty much a he-said, she-said kind of thing.
The last of the interesting calls was someone reporting a group of 10-15 teenagers who were in the woods with guns. (The caller was unsure whether these guns were really or not) It turned out to be just a bunch of kids playing with air-soft guns. Some of the girls looked downright terrified when the cops were talking to them and patting them all down. This is exactly the kind of stuff we did when we were stupid teenagers, so I sympathized with them quite a bit.
By around midnight, I was getting pretty tired, but I really wanted to see somebody arrested. I wasn't quite ready to call it a night. As we were passing a car, I noticed the driver looked really out of it. He was smoking a cigarette and looked really dazed. I pointed him out to Mike and he decided to follow the guy for a bit to see what he would do. After a mile or so, we were passed by an off-duty cop who yelled out his window, "Are you going to pull that guy over? He looks totally stoned!" Mike assured him that it was under control.
We only had to follow him for a bit longer before he made a boo boo. The guy changed lanes in the middle of an intersection. Mike immediately pulled him over. After questioning the guy a few minutes, and there definitely was something not quite right with him. His speech was slurred and he seemed really slow. He had a hard time coming up with the name of the person he was supposed to be meeting. His explanation for his erratic driving was that he was in an unfamiliar area and forgot his glasses at home. Mike called in for another guy to come and check him for alcohol and drugs. (Since Mike isn't a traffic cop, this isn't his responsibility) When the other officer showed up, he checked they guy out, and he didn't seem like there was anything wrong with him other than his speech. The officer asked him if he had a speech impediment, and he said yes. He also asked him if he had any other types of disabilities. He said no.
In the end, they let him go. My theory is that the poor guy was just a little slow in the head. I hope he wasn't insulted that they basically told him he talks like drunk. :)
By about 1:00 AM, I was tired. Mike had to work until about 4:00 AM, so Rick came and picked me up. We snapped a few more photos, and left Mike to continue fighting crime on his own.
Some of you might be wondering what level on involvement I actually had on these calls. Although I would like to think that I made some huge contribution to keeping the streets safe, I spent most of the night doodling in my police notebook. If we arrived to a call that had any potential danger, I had to wait in the car until it seemed safe. Sometimes I stayed in the car the whole time, but I made sure to roll down my window so I could eavesdrop.
it was definitely one of the most unique experiences I have ever had. It was exciting, and sometimes a teeny bit scary. I love it! Not that my brother ever reads my blog, but thank you SO much for letting me tag along!
We hit the streets around 3:00 pm. Basically, we responded to calls all night. If it was slow and there weren't any calls to go on, we would drive around his beat (territory) and run plates and look for anybody acting suspicious or committing some sort of traffic violation. It was a pretty busy night, so we only pulled over 4 people for traffic violations. They were pretty ordinary: a speeder, someone with a brake light out, and somebody running a stop sign. The most exciting part of pulling somebody over was the hope that it would turn out to be somebody with a warrant so that we could arrest the guy. No such luck. But, a few of them had to get out of the car so that Mike could pat them down. I liked that.
It seemed that the majority of the calls we went on turned out to be nothing. For instance, two "runaways" were just at Grandma's house down the street. Three suspicious looking girls hanging out at a street corner weren't causing any trouble at all- they just had a flat tire. An obnoxious door-to-door salesman who "wouldn't leave my property" seemed like the a perfectly normal college kid selling pest control for the summer. Another person reported that the people in the upstairs apartment were yelling violently at each other. They were hearing a lot of banging around and feared that it was going to get violent. When we showed up for the call, it was just an old lady and her granddaughter.
There were a couple calls that turned out to be pretty interesting. One call came in from a girl who was choked by her boyfriend. Apparently, he had her in a sleeper hold until she was starting to blackout. I felt really bad for this girl. She was very shaken up, but was unsure about how she would handle the situation. She's been with this guy for a long time, and they have a baby together. Mike really wanted to get this guy, because he already had a warrant for other offenses. We looked for him between calls throughout the night, but we didn't find him. But, I got a phone call from Mike yesterday and they finally found him. I was stoked!
There was also a call from a guy who said 3 kids were trying to break into the next door neighbor's apartment, and then tried to break into his car. This one came across a lot more dramatic than it was. Three cops responded to this call and they had the kids on the ground for quite some time. They guy who made the call had to identify the kids, which was kind of exciting too. But, in the end, one of the 3 kids actually lived in the house he was trying to break into. He had forgotten his key and was locked out. And as for trying to break into the car, it was pretty much a he-said, she-said kind of thing.
The last of the interesting calls was someone reporting a group of 10-15 teenagers who were in the woods with guns. (The caller was unsure whether these guns were really or not) It turned out to be just a bunch of kids playing with air-soft guns. Some of the girls looked downright terrified when the cops were talking to them and patting them all down. This is exactly the kind of stuff we did when we were stupid teenagers, so I sympathized with them quite a bit.
By around midnight, I was getting pretty tired, but I really wanted to see somebody arrested. I wasn't quite ready to call it a night. As we were passing a car, I noticed the driver looked really out of it. He was smoking a cigarette and looked really dazed. I pointed him out to Mike and he decided to follow the guy for a bit to see what he would do. After a mile or so, we were passed by an off-duty cop who yelled out his window, "Are you going to pull that guy over? He looks totally stoned!" Mike assured him that it was under control.
We only had to follow him for a bit longer before he made a boo boo. The guy changed lanes in the middle of an intersection. Mike immediately pulled him over. After questioning the guy a few minutes, and there definitely was something not quite right with him. His speech was slurred and he seemed really slow. He had a hard time coming up with the name of the person he was supposed to be meeting. His explanation for his erratic driving was that he was in an unfamiliar area and forgot his glasses at home. Mike called in for another guy to come and check him for alcohol and drugs. (Since Mike isn't a traffic cop, this isn't his responsibility) When the other officer showed up, he checked they guy out, and he didn't seem like there was anything wrong with him other than his speech. The officer asked him if he had a speech impediment, and he said yes. He also asked him if he had any other types of disabilities. He said no.
In the end, they let him go. My theory is that the poor guy was just a little slow in the head. I hope he wasn't insulted that they basically told him he talks like drunk. :)
By about 1:00 AM, I was tired. Mike had to work until about 4:00 AM, so Rick came and picked me up. We snapped a few more photos, and left Mike to continue fighting crime on his own.
Some of you might be wondering what level on involvement I actually had on these calls. Although I would like to think that I made some huge contribution to keeping the streets safe, I spent most of the night doodling in my police notebook. If we arrived to a call that had any potential danger, I had to wait in the car until it seemed safe. Sometimes I stayed in the car the whole time, but I made sure to roll down my window so I could eavesdrop.
it was definitely one of the most unique experiences I have ever had. It was exciting, and sometimes a teeny bit scary. I love it! Not that my brother ever reads my blog, but thank you SO much for letting me tag along!
The backseat of the patrol car. Not too comfy
When you push the orange button, all of the traffic lights in your path turn green. I would pay big bucks for a button like that for my car!
The "gun" button is great! You use this to shoot from the headlights. Very convenient if it's raining and you don't want to get out of the car.
Actually, the gun button releases the gun in between the passenger and driver seat. You never know when you might need an extra.
There was some serious multi-tasking going on. Mike could drink Dew, talk on the radio, and type on his laptop all while driving. And to top it off, as he was doing all of these things, he would say things like, "See that red civic two lanes over? His tabs are expired".
The only equipment I got to operate was the spotlight you see on the right of this photo. I was really good at it. I took a photo of that sign because I knew Rick would think it was funny. Can you read what it says?
Rick really enjoyed sitting in the back of the car
I thought we made a great team, but I think he was glad to get rid of me!
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8 comments:
So is Mike going to yell at us for not having tabs on Daniel's truck when he comes to visit in a couple weeks? Maybe he can fix the emissions problem we have with it. I mean, fix it. He's got connections, right?
My first thought about the speech impediment guy was maybe he has diabetic. When your blood sugar drops you can act drunk. I actually have a diabetic id card that says in big bold letters, "I AM NOT DRUNK."
Hehe, I have a "SPEED HUMPS AHEAD" sign that I somehow stumbled upon in my younger days. Don't tell your brother. :) How fun that you got to go on a ride along! I can unfortunately say I've been in the back of one of those uncomfortable police cars, but you'll just have to hang out with me to hear that story!
Ok, I say our next get together is at our house. Maybe a Saturday afternoon when it's nice out, that way you and Rick and Gwen can come swimming in our pool! I'll invite Denise over too so the kids can entertain each other! Love you!
"This is exactly the kind of stuff we did when we were stupid teenagers...." I didn't know that. Grrrr! You are totally grounded.
You two make a good team. Partners in crime is more like it. Love the stories and photos. Rick behind bars is the best. Runner up -- the HUMP sign.
xoxo
MA
I can't believe he arrested Rick.
Sounds like a fun time to me. I have actually been in the back of a cop car with a drunk lady as a matter of fact. Long story that I will tell you sometime....No, I wasn't doing anything wrong (well that the cop) knew about :)
Love it. Secrectly, I know you've always wanted to get arrested. I'm really glad you had a safe ride along!
What a fun night, thanks for the play by play, it was fun to read.
so i totally love the "hump" sign. I personally love "cops" and have always wanted to do a ride along and pick up junkies with missing teeth. i'm so jealous.
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