Day 5 - "Horatio" - 6/23/09

Last night was fairly unexciting, but had in store a little twist that gave me a boost of energy I desperately needed.

After I came home yesterday, I didn't fall to sleep for awhile, and then went to my Mom's house to dinner with my Dad. I got about 7 hours total, which I knew wouldn't be enough, but I figured a nice meal would give me some energy, and trust me, it was a very nice meal. After dinner, I still felt out of it, so I grabbed a blanket and tried to go back to sleep for an hour or two, but my parents' conversation and the fact I was watching a TV show I liked kept me awake. It was then time to get changed and ready. I needed something to boost my energy.

On my way out, I stopped at the local gas station and picked up some orange juice not only to give me a boost, but to keep me healthy as my FTO was in the stages of getting rid of his cold. I drank the orange juice on the way down, cranked the tunes, and rolled down the windows. After the tremendous storms that had hit, a brief reprieve of cool air lingered over South Florida, which many dired for after the heat index at night was almost 100 degrees.

My FTO picked me up as usual, and we did a small detail and it was off to the checkpoint. I took the helm at the first detail we had as I wanted to not only impress my FTO, but reinforce what I had learned. It went pretty smoothly, and I was very confident in myself. At the checkpoint, we sat there for awhile and then got relieved by another officer. We went to the station, did some minor paperwork, and then decided to do a small foot patrol, where he showed me all the buildings and what to check for; it was a good learning experience for me. I had done many foot patrols before as a security guard, but he showed me a couple of small things I had been overlooking in the past. After the foot patrol, it was back to the checkpoint.

Walking around for awhile really helped my energy levels, but once the air conditioning in the car kicked in and we had sat there for awhile, fatigue began to kick in. At about 0500 I began to feel like my eyes had little weights on them, or someone was pushing the "close" button on a garage door and my eyelids were the receiver. At every 10 minute interval I had to get out of the patrol car and walk around, stretch, and do an occasional jumping jack. In between these little "exercise" routines, I took my FTO's advice and read up on statutes and standard operating procedures. At 6:30 in the morning, we had an investigation to go to.

Apparently one gentleman had walked into one of our substations bleeding all over the place, so one of the other patrol officers worked on getting him to the hospital. The gaping hole in his wrist said it all. While the other patrol officers were taking care of him, we were dispatched to conduct an investigation. Queue CSI: Miami music.

We arrived at the house and my FTO wanted to start checking for broken windows. Sure enough, on the side of the house, was a broken window. We then looked inside. There was blood absolutely everywhere. In the center of the floor of the bathroom (the room with the broken window) was a giant pool of blood, along with low-velocity blood splatter drips throughout the house. Once again, academy training fell right into place. I immediately thought to myself, "secure the scene, take overall, mid-length, and closeup pictures, ensure the chain of custody, and remember officer safety." We did all of that, and then did an overall canvass of the house. There were more low-velocity blood drips around the house, and I thought for a second, after folowing the trail, that it came from the subject's car. I checked underneath the door handle, around the edges of the window, and shined my flashlight inside the vehicle. Nothing. I tried to look at every possible angle, and answer the ultimate question, "How did the subject get cut?" and also, "What was the subject cut with?"

The broken window was busted out from the inside, which means any activity occurred inside the house. I looked around to see what instrument he used. Could it be a piece of broken glass? Could it be something on the bathroom floor? Could the instrument be outside? I took a hard look inside the bathroom, and aside from glass, I couldn't see an instrument decent enough to inflict a lot of harm. I began to assume that the instrument was the glass itself. I didn't get a chance to go inside the house to look for more instruments, but at this point in time, the glass was my best bet. I then left the house with that idea, but never concluded to it.

At the station, we finished up with paperwork, and by that time, I was all full of energy. A little too late in my book, but it felt good. From there it was back to my car, back to my house, and 8 hours of sleep. I feel good, and hope that tonight has some excitement as well.