Last night was a bit of a long shift. But this tells you about the job.
Sergeants on my shift (and many an evening shift) take their lunches early because things can go nuts later on. Case in point, last night.
Almost finished my dinner and one of my officers calls about someone shooting three times near him. He searched for the car but they were gone and we’re honesty not sure who the punk was shooting at. Could have been at the cop, could have been someone on the sidewalk or could have been just shooting in the air. In the third case the moron is apparently not bothered about another law called gravity. The rounds will fall to the ground somewhere and he can kill himself.
After getting that taken care of…well, I didn’t do much there. I just gave the officer some guidance (Not much, he knows what he is doing, but he has to contact his supervisor.) and he gets to it. But the pain in the ass it I have to send a report up to our command center and that just takes some time. So I back into my favorite hole in the wall to start typing away. Then the real fun begins.
Another units is dispatched to a disturbance with a couple and their child. After they arrive they know quickly they need backup. Now I’ve got the father in his house with a one year old in his hands and he is refusing to come out. We may have to bring out a SWAT team and we have a child in the man’s hands. This could get ugly and quick.
Well one of my other sergeants got him to come to a window and starting to speak to him. He was going no where and then he passed him over to me. And I get to speak to this man for almost an hour, trying to convince him to let the medics take a look at her. This was fun.
After about 20 minutes I was able to get him to lower his guard a bit and he did relax. And he let me call his boss to confirm he was not at work today and he seems to make him trust me a bit. He asks me about the Texans dropping Andre Johnson and I mention how “Hey, I”m from New Orleans and we just got rid of Jimmy Graham, trust me, we know about loosing something….” And we talk…and talk.
An officer asks if I want a chair and I tell him “No, but please go to my car and get my thermos and pipe…” The father sees I’m setting up with the coffee and pipe and starts laughing his ass off. Great stress reliever.
Finally the grandmother arrives about the same time a lieutenant arrives. And the father agrees to turn the girl over to her grandmother. I get to take the one year old to the medics and grandma, then take a photo to show the father. Something to take his edge off, just to show him his girl is ok. Well, I can’t make the big decisions anymore because bigger brass has come on the scene and he is the new “adult supervision”.
To the dismay of many of the officers, he orders us to let him go for the moment. We have the child, we know who he is, where he lives and works, “just file a warrant and we’ll pick him up tomorrow…” Don’t sit well with the troops but the man does have two weapons in his possession and let’s just finish this later.
So I go back to the station and get another report ready. And I’m getting tired of looking at the computer screen, but I get that through. And again, the job. The hours are unpredictably and often suck. Standing in mud in the rain (what is going on here, have I croaked and woken up in Seattle!) speaking with an armed man with a child begging him to let her go. And talking about life. And football. And coffee.
Getting home the dog is cheering (at least I know he will always greet me :<) ) and I get some scotch. I need to come down and that is one of my best stress relievers. Then go to the bed and Elmer is nice enough to jump between Beth and I. “Yea Dad, I’m keep you warm…”
Life is good. Have a great weekend.
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