[CopWednesday 5] They See Me Rollin'...

I finally got to go on my ride-along with the MoCo Police Department. For anyone not familiar with the practice, a ride-along is when a civilian accompanies a patrol officer as he goes about his regular business (technically, because they're not members of the military, police officers are generally 'civilians' as well, but the term is still used to refer to persons not affiliated with the force). It's seen as a way of ensuring transparency and improve public relations; if people are allowed to see what goes on behind the scenes of police work, they tend to be less paranoid. You're allowed to do one every six months (though because I'm an intern, I get to go once a month if I want - yay perks), and if you've never done one, I'd strongly recommend it. They're informative, if nothing else.

I showed up at the police station around 3:30, just after the evening shift was finishing roll call and heading out. The officer I was with had 13-odd years under his belt, first in D.C. and then here in Montgomery County. He had a shaved head and wore athletic-style sunglasses, and except for the beginings of a beer belly, didn't look a day over 25. The car was the classic Crown Vic cop car. Unless otherwise noted, I was instructed to get out of the car but hang back while the officer dealt with whoever he needed to.

For the first hour or so, nothing major happened. He told some drug dealers loitering outside a 7-Eleven to move along, wrote someone a $250 ticket for parking their car in a fire lane, and generally drove around running license plates through his computer (some people don't know this: the police have access to complete vehicle histories through their laptops, and run license numbers of passing cars as a matter of course. Invasion of privacy? Hey, you've been warned.).

Around 5, things started to pick up. We answered a call for larceny of a cell phone. Two people had gotten in a fight, and one had driven off with the other one's phone, which was being held until an apology was offered. It was obviously a lover's spat, made awkward by the fact that both parties were guys. Let me say this: the police don't care if you're gay. It's easier if you just tell them, rather than dancing around it and saying he's a 'friend'. We went to the thief's house, convinced him he's taken the phone by mistake, and returned it to the first man.

A bit after that, we responded to a possible suicide in an apartment complex. The man had left his social worker a note reading "If you've recieved this, I'm already dead." Somehow, that sounds hilarious when dead-panned over the dispatcher's radio, so spirits were unusually high when we knocked on his door to check that he was alive. Sure enough, he was fine; he explained that he'd left the note last week when he was feeling "bummed out," and that he was doing much better this week, so after making him call his social worker to clear things up, we moved on to the next job, a 'threatening communication' call.

On the way there, a call came in for a suspect fleeing the scene of a shoplifting. Suddenly, the car was going 100 mph down Germantown Rd, siren wailing as we dodged through intersections and wove between confused motorists. People, its not hard: when you hear a siren, get to the right.

After ducking down a residential street a block from where the suspect had jumped a fence, we slowed to a mere 60 mph, scanning the sidestreets for the suspect, but a few minutes later we got the call that someone else had picked him up, so we drove to their location to assist in the questioning. Apparently, him and his 'baby momma' (who was picked up a few streets down) had been shoplifting tubes of cortisone cream (of all things), and he still had several tubes on his person. The shopkeeper decided not to press charges (for a theft under $200 dollars, he'd have only been issued a citation anyway), so we issued him a trespass banning him from returning to the store and cut him loose.

After that, we cleared the call we'd been on our way to: an ex-con, ankle bracelet and all, had threatened to beat up an 11-year old for hitting his car with a football on accident, so we told the kid's mom how to file for a peace order and instructed her to stay away from him. The guy was on house arrest after stabbing his then-girlfriend (now ex-girlfriend, I hope), and had numerous dealing with the police in the past, but that was basically all we could do.

A summer thunderstorm was blowing in at that point, so we waited it out in the car. When it cleared, we recieved word that all the traffic lights on Rt. 118 were out, so we directed traffic for a few hours while the electric company sent a guy out to fix them (I say 'we', but I had to wait in the car for this one: directing traffic is actually one of the most dangerous things police do on a regular basis).

There was one last call before I got dropped off for the night. A man, apparently drunk, was loitering around a convenience store, and didn't leave when the shopkeeper asked him to do so. We showed up to have a word with him. During the conversation, he lied several times about his name, which was unwise considering one of the officers responding with us had dealt with him not two nights before on a different call. He kept putting his hands in his pockets after being repeatedly told not to. It was probably just nerves, but the third time he did it, the officers made him put his hands on the hood of the car and patted him down, just to be safe. After a few minutes, his ride showed up and we let him go.

I was dropped back at the station around 8:30, halfway through the evening shift and just as the overlapping midnight shift was coming on. Overall, it was a fun evening, with plenty of variety and a few instances of edge-of-my-seat action (that prioity call was quite something). Of course, it was all completely mundane for the officer driving me around: just your average Saturday night for the boys in blue (or black, in this case).

In any event, it doesn't seem like the sort of job that'd get boring too fast.

Next Time (Cop Stuff): Repeat Offenders Training this Wednesday
Next Time (40k): Black Templars, one of four Space Marines Chapters that got their own Codex
Next Time (philosophy): The Importance of Being Philosophical, response
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General Updates: JulNoWriMo is finally starting to move again. That is to say, I only need to write 4,000 words a day for the next four days in order to finish it on time. I probably won't, just because that'd be painful. Besides, if I was allowed to count what I write here, I'd be done already, so I don't feel too bad.

I finished Baccano!, and it was great. It's kind of an action/comedy set (mostly) in 1930s America, and focuses on a group of gangsters, terrorists, alchemists, and thieves who get caught up in a train robbery. The story is told non-chronologically, from various points of view, so it can seem confusing at first, but you can definitely get the feel for it. The cast is robust, featuring no less than four action-girls (two of whom are emotionless girls, to boot), two psychopaths, five or six legitimate heroes, a creepy child, a heartstrings-pulling nice girl, and a comedy duo to round it off. That said, it's a fairly short show, only 13 episodes (plus 3 OVAs that serve as an epilogue). You'll like it, and you should watch it (I watched the dubbed version, which is good enough to make the subbed version unnecessary).