Day 19 - "Seize" - 7/20/09

My weekend went exceptionally well. I got to see my girlfriend, got to relax quite a bit, and got to slow down a little. It really feels good every time I see her, and we have a lot of plans for the future. We've been going out for almost four years now, and I can already see the next couple of steps in our lives. She is going to grad school in Palm Beach, and since I am working in Miami, we need to find a middle ground so we can move in together. Our dogs, however, are a problem because not many associations take our type of breed (Siberian Husky), and the ones that do are either not reasonably priced, or are too far away. We are continuing to look, and hopefully we'll find the right place soon enough. I am also putting a lot of money into my savings account for a "special" piece of jewelry I know she'll love.

Yesterday was a fairly interesting day. We served some subpoenas, did a bit of patrolling, and only did one traffic stop. I don't know why, but I had the biggest senior moment (no offense to seniors reading this blog). I missed two boxes on my citation, almost forgot to rip the violator copy from the rest, and almost forgot to issue the mailer. My FTO was like, "What are you on?" I apologized a lot and felt really bad. The rest of the traffic stop was OK, but I need to really take some time with these tickets. One of my better traits is also one of my worst enemies. It's not that I am competitive, but I am the type of person who wants to not only excel in whatever they do, but to be BETTER than those that already do it, and teach them so they can better themselves. I used to do it when I played baseball, I did it during my entire academic career, I do it on the race track, and I do it on the job. The only problem is that when I don't feel I've done well, it gets me down. It's like "Fuck man, what is wrong with me? I should've known that. I should've done better." I get over being down fairly quickly, and it pushes me to be better. I learn not to make that mistake again.

We also did a vehicle search today. My FTO watched me as I searched the vehicle, and for some reason my senior moments continued. I knew in the academy if there was a bag inside of a vehicle that was being searched, the bag was fair game. However, for some reason, I didn't search it until my FTO told me to, and that's when it clicked that I could. There goes mistake #2, with mistake #3 right on its heels. When I searched the guys car, I was very detailed, but when I searched his car, I didn't put any of his stuff back. Damn. In the academy all they teach you is how to search the car, but they don't tell you what to do afterwards. There should be a closing sentence on that section that says, "If you don't find anything, please remember to put the subject's shit back the way you found it."

Since my first week on Phase 2 was almost finished, my FTO began talking to me about my performance. He called this day my allowable "shit day", and he said everybody has one, and I had it at the right time. I will just learn not to make those mistakes again. His "review" of me was very positive, which I liked, but he also gave me some pointers at how I can make myself better, which was good. Things are moving in the right direction. Then night fell, and some proactive policing helped me assist another officer in a VERY nice arrest.

An officer stopped a vehicle for not driving with it's headlights on. Upon making contact, the officer observed the passenger with close to a pound of marijuana in his possession. He arrested both occupants, took all the evidence to the station, and began filling out paperwork. I did a couple of things like transport prisoners to their cells, did some handcuffing, did some paperwork, and something a little "too tactical". My FTO liked it, the dispatcher didn't. One of the prisoners had to use the restroom. No biggie, I'll "prep" the restroom for his use, which meant getting rid of any possible weapons. I took away the obvious stuff like disinfectant sprays and cleaners, but I began looking at other possible weapons. I ended up taking the shower rod from the bathroom, the jug of soap, all disinfectants, and some coffee cups laying en route to the bathroom. This guy, even if he tried, couldn't use anything against me, unless he's Jet Li, which he's not. The bathroom trip went uneventful, and I had to put the stuff back. The guy had to wash his hands, so I did it a little "unorthodox", but it worked. I soaked a bunch of paper towels, put some liquid soap on one, and gave him some dry towels. I put them in his cell, and my improvisation actually worked. He washed his hands sufficiently, I picked up the towels and threw them away, and that was that.

After helping to complete some paperwork, it was the end of our shift. I completed my paperwork and went home. Today is the last day of my first week, and I'd like to see what my FTO puts on paper.