Day 23: "Prisoner" - 8/18/09-8/28/09

Hello everyone. I'd first like to apologize for not staying on top of my blog as I should be. However, I have purchased a wireless internet card so I can update on the go. My first week solo was a bit hectic, but I am continuing to learn a lot. In fact, I learned a very valuable lesson not 3 hours into my time away from an FTO. The lesson? HAVE SPARE KEYS!

I was doing an extra watch of a property that had been vandalized recently, so I got out of my patrol vehicle and locked the doors, not knowing that my keys had fallen off of my belt keeper and onto the seat. After completing the check, I go to open my doors. They're locked. No big deal. I reach down for my keys, which of course are not there. My face turned pale. Oh shit. I didn't want to use my radio and let the whole shift know I just locked myself out of my car, so I called the station and asked for someone to bring me the lock-out kit, and who else to bring it to me but my old FTO! Fantastic! Not only did he take a picture of me using the lock out kit on my patrol car, but posted the picture in the station for everyone to see. Super.

On the positive side, I have been getting so much more done without my immediate supervisor breathing down my neck. Don't get me wrong, I really learned a lot on FTO. However, not having that added pressure of your superior there ALL THE TIME made life a lot easier. I could patrol where I wanted, write as many tickets as I wanted, contact whoever I wanted, and make the community safer by using my own style. I had no idea, but over the course of one week I had generated 26 traffic tickets, which if you do the math is about 4 tickets a day. However, on each day I lost roughly 1-2 hours worth of work for special details I had to do, like being assigned to the local school or patrol an area which can be better referred to as "The Boonies", and is a good 25 miles from any real landmark, but is a part of our jurisdiction for a certain reason.

Not all of my time spent this past week has been just patrolling; of course there would be calls for service. I only had three, which is surprisingly low. The first was to assist the Florida Highway Patrol in reference to a vehicle crash. The call came out as a "car rapidly taking on water", so of course I respond with lights and siren in the pouring down rain. When I arrived I came upon a pickup truck that was in 10" of water.... barely enough to cover HALF of the tires. The guy climbed out of the truck, and with the help of fire rescue made it to dry land. I directed traffic and waited for FHP to do their investigation, and as soon as they were done I took off my rain coat, got in my patrol car, and kept being productive. I then got another call for service in reference to counterfeit currency.

It's amazing how much of this stuff is floating around in our system. It seems every other day our agency seems to be getting a call about this. The interesting thing is that all of these counterfeit bills seem perfectly legit when compared side by side to a similar note of equal value. The gentleman who tried to pass the bill was oblivious as well, and unfortunately was out the $10 he tried to use to pay for a pack of cigarettes. I seized the currency, generated a property receipt, and filled out a short form report.

Finally, 10 minutes before the end of my shift, I received a call reference a woman who was trying to find her vehicle. The only problem was that she was very readily described as "drunk" by the reporting person. After making contact with the individual, I noticed she was so intoxicated that she could barely stand on her own, perform the most menial of tasks, and had urinated all over herself. This is the kind of person who thinks they can drive and gets someone killed. I told her she was in no condition to drive, and that she needed to give me her keys. It took a bit of convincing, but her combative nature gave way for only a moment for me to grab her keys and license. I ran her information, only to have it come back to a prior arrest for, guess what, disorderly intoxication. Those that do not learn from history are destined to repeat it.

Anyway, I asked her if she had any money for a cab, a hotel room, or any resource to come and pick her up. All replies led to "NO" and "I know my rights". Since there no place for her to stay and she was combative, I arrested her for disorderly intoxication. This is when all hell broke loose. She tensed up on me, so I bent her wrist back and induced slight pain for compliance. After that handcuff was on, it was time for the second. She tried to get away from me, so I again applied a wrist-lock transporter to her other hand. Now that both cuffs were on, it was time to go to the patrol car. She, of course, didn't want to go, and literally went in kicking and screaming. After loading her torso into the car, all that was left was her legs. I tried pushing them in, but she decided to kick me with both feet. Both of her feet landed just above both of my kneecaps. The pain was slight, but fortunately 4 other officers who were at the end of their shifts saw the whole thing. I threw her legs back and closed the door. Next time, it will be easier. If people actively resist, they're either getting a knee-strike or pepper spray. End of story. The only reason I didn't was because it was in a public place and she was a female. Next time it will be different. This time, however, she was charged not only with disorderly intoxication, but battery on law enforcement officer, resisting with violence, and was trespassed from the establishment.

I love my career and I love going to work every day.

Day 22: "Solo" - 8/7/09-8/17/09

Well, after a lot of hard work, a couple of mistakes, and plenty of learning experiences I am finally off of FTO. It was a bit of a rocky road, but now I get to take all of the knowledge I obtained throughout my law enforcement education and take it to the streets. All I really need to do is stay on top of everything and be on my P's and Q's, because I can't afford to slip up now. My agency watches all the new officers very carefully, and I will be no exception. I took some time and set up my patrol car the way I like it and it was an interesting feeling looking to my right and not having someone there.

I won't say I didn't like having someone ride with me, but I personally work better when I am myself. I don't second-guess any of my decisions because my supervisor isn't on top of me, and I will have a lot more freedom to combat criminal activity in my own way that will reflect positively on my agency.

Life is good.

Day 21 - "Three": 7/29-8/6/09

So I passed phase 2 and it's on to phase 3, which means tons of responsibility and a much looser leash. I have found myself to come into my own, and a majority of my paperwork has been submitted with few, if any flaws. We have responded to a couple of interesting calls, and I have been handling them with very little assistance from my FTO. My car is doing very well, although I almost blew it up a couple of days ago. I went after a speeder and ended up doing close to 130MPH to catch him, when all of a sudden he realizes he's been caught, and slams on his brakes. I end up threshold braking at the above speed, and after pulling into the grass all I can see is smoke and all I can smell is brakes. The driver is like, "Your car is on fire". All I said was, "It's not mine, now let me see your license, registration, and proof of insurance". I am constantly keeping my eye on my vehicle, the violator, and traffic, just to be sure any one of those variables doesn't jeopardize my safety, or my job. Over the past four days I have blown through 25 citations, all for different things. However, a majority of them have been for speeding, passing in a no passing zone, seat belt violations, and other equipment violations. I never thought I'd say this, but I like doing traffic. I aspire to do traffic homicide, so hopefully a citation will prevent me from investigating a case later down the road. There is always a method to the madness, even if the violator doesn't see it at first.

I am now on my second week of phase 3, so all I have to do is prove myself for another week, then it's off to shadow phase, where my FTO sits there in plain clothes and judges me on how I perform "solo". After that, I am really on my own, and I am chomping at the bit for that time in my law enforcement career.

Speaking of which, I know this profession doesn't have a ton of room for opinion, but I'd like to shed some light on something. Recently, a couple of Broward County police officers were dealing with a DUI, and in the course of things there was a traffic accident... no big deal. However, the officers decided to lie about it, which is absolutely unacceptable and asenine. The only kicker in all of this is that the DRUNK WOMAN decides to go on National Television (insert OMFG comment) and broadcast "her story" like she's some survivor. It's like, "look at how plastered I was. How irresponsible am I. And now all of America knows it!!!!" Congratulations lady, a job well done. I'd like to extend the same sarcastic remark to the officers who will now never again see the joy of working in this profession. I mean come on, we work so hard and jump through so many hoops to be where we are, and then to even consider opening yourself up to a career-ending mistake is... well... stupid. Sorry, that's how I feel.

Life overall is good. I am planning the next steps in my life, and things are moving forward. All of my hard work is continuing to pay off.