Attempted Suicide

At about 11:00 one night, in one of the jurisdictions in which I worked, I responded to a medical emergency. Someone called 911 about a phone call they just received from a friend who wanted to say goodbye because she was committing suicide with prescription drugs and alcohol. 

The ambulance and I arrived simultaneously. When we walked up the steps to the apartment, the door was unlocked; we opened the door and walked in.  A woman in her thirties was lying on the sofa with several empty pill bottles lying on the coffee table in front of her and an empty vodka bottle was lying on the floor beneath her. Her speech was slurred and she acted very groggy.

The EMTs (Emergency Medical Technicians) took her pulse, blood pressure and all the actions to make an initial appraisal. They recommended she allow them to take her to the hospital. She refused saying that she wanted to die, her life sucked etc.

Not sure about all states, but in that state it was not against the law to take your own life and medical care couldn’t be forced on anyone. Now if she would have been unconscious, the EMTs or I could have made that decision. But at that point the EMTs and I were supposed to leave and wait and respond when a neighbor, friend, or landlord reported an unconscious or dead body.  I was not ready to do that. I didn’t think she wanted to die, she was confused, frustrated and out of options.

I called my supervisor to ask if I could stay. It was close to quitting time and I was a backup officer and had no reports to turn in.  I would stay as a civilian and he could send someone by to pick up my patrol car. I would request an officer pick me up later if one was available.

The EMTs told me if she fell asleep she would become unconscious and would probably die if not given immediate medical treatment.  If she drank lots of water, no more pills, and no more alcohol she would probably be okay after several hours. I would try to keep her awake until the immediate effects wore off; or call for an ambulance when she went unconscious. The woman and I sat on the sofa and chatted for about two and one half hours. I don’t recall what her specific issues or problems were. I felt that when I left we had talked about possible solutions and ideas for her to pursue and that she would not try to harm herself again that night

Apparently they hadn’t needed the patrol car I had been driving because it was still there in the apartment lot.    I returned the car to the department parking lot and drove home in my POV (Personally owned Vehicle)

I felt good about what I chose to do. I couldn’t walk away. I was much younger then and it was early in my career when I thought I could and should save everybody. I did see the woman years later at a store someplace. She remembered me and thanked me. She said life wasn’t perfect but things were going much better.

Suicide is quite the philosophical and moral issue. Like we don’t have many others. Should people be allowed to take their own lives? It’s their body, their life. But aren’t people often not in their “right” mind when they choose to end their lives? As a society should we step in?  We make decisions for children because they don’t have the cognitive skills to make good decisions and choices.

Until next time,

Sally S

Personal

I apologize for not posting yesterday, but the day just got away from me.  My time managemnent was apparently "Out of Order".

I also wanted to remind everyone that not all the comments and questions at the end of my posts express my personal views. I want to make myself and all of us question our own personal views and our societal views on the various topics I write about.  There are not right and wrong answers. So please don't be bashful about making comments. Life isn't black and white. Trying to function in a world that is truly gray is probably the hardest aspect of police work.

Sally S

A Person's Most Important Possession

These days when politicians make speeches, organizations evaluate what they said to determine what was true and what was not.

We need these organizations to evaluate what is said to assist us in knowing what we should believe and not believe. Many of today’s politicians appear to have lost their integrity.

In my opinion our integrity is the most important thing each of us personally have.  Integrity is when you can trust what someone says, because they check their sources, they don’t  “jump the gun”, and they make sure of the facts before they say something or act. Integrity is also the idea that you will do what you say you’ll do.

Integrity and trust are extremely important in Law Enforcement.  In my various capacities I was known for my details.  I spent very little time in court. I had a reputation with both the prosecuting attorneys and defense attorneys that my cases were easy to get convictions. My arrests and decisions were fact based.  I didn’t present “iffy” cases to the county and city attorneys.

Let me give you a few examples:

When I issued speeding tickets using radar, I insisted on obtaining two readings of the violator vehicle. If I could not get two readings I would not write the ticket. I wanted to be 100% certain I was issuing the ticket to the correct driver for driving at the correct speed. I also wanted to be 100% sure when I issued tickets for stop sign violations. Did the vehicle actually stop or did it merely slow down? Can my eyes detect a microsecond stop? Probably not. Thus if it wasn’t extremely obvious they moved through the sign with no hesitation I would not write them.

I look at integrity as reliability, people can rely on what you say to be, true, you actually saw, heard, that you researched. things that seemed a bit out there. I used to get livid when parents with their children saw me in uniform, point to me and tell the child I would lock them up and throw away the key.

I tried real hard never to threaten suspects with things I could not actually do to them.

I must admit I have lied to suspects in certain types of interrogations or in undercover work, but those were specific circumstances.

Do you feel integrity and trust are important for everyone? Or just politicians and public servants? Is integrity and trust important among our friends? Our families? In our workplaces? I certainly have not done a study on this, but it appears to me integrity and trust are not as important as they were in the past. Why would integrity and trust not be as important as they were in the past?

Until Another Day,

Sally S.

My Easiest and Hardest DUI

One fall evening, around 8:00, I was driving along on one of the main streets in the city where I worked and observed a car following another car extremely close. There were only a few feet between the two vehicles. I turned on my overhead red lights and siren as I drove behind the two vehicles. The two vehicles turned into a bank parking lot and stopped. I stopped my vehicle a few feet behind the rear vehicle. I contacted my dispatcher and advised of the license plate number of the rear vehicle and the location of the stop. I got out of my patrol car and walked toward both vehicles.  I saw a woman sitting in the driver’s seat of the rear vehicle.  I told her I stopped her because she was following the vehicle in front of her too closely. She responded something to the effect” That’s my husband, he’s drunk and I was following him close to be sure he got home okay. He’s been at the American Legion all afternoon drinking.” I told her to stay sitting inside her vehicle while I walked up to the front vehicle to talk with her husband. While I was walking up to the front vehicle I advised the dispatcher of the front vehicle’s license plate number.

A middle aged man was sitting in the drivers seat. I asked him for his driver’s license. He had difficulty getting the license out of his wallet. I observed his bloodshot eyes and smelled the odor of intoxicating beverage on his person. (Alcohol does not have a smell. What we smell are additives to the beverage. Defense attorneys usually jump on officers when they say they smelled the odor of alcohol.) The man had slurred speech. I asked him to get out of the car and he was very unsteady. He refused to take the field sobriety test (Walk a relatively straight line, touch fingers to nose, say the alphabet) In most states, possessing a drivers license means you have already agreed to submit to the test. I advised the man he was under arrest for driving under the influence. I searched him, incident to an arrest, and placed him in handcuffs and helped him into my car.(Searches incident to an arrest are for the safety of the officer in case a suspect might have some type of weapon hidden on them, and also allows contraband /drugs on them to be found. We handcuff, again for the safety of the officer and also to prevent an officer from injuring a suspect and using the excuse the suspect attacked them.) The wife locked the car the husband was in. She planned on driving her car home and then return and drive the husband’s car home.

I drove the suspect to the police department. On the way he kept telling me he was going to make me work for this arrest and conviction because he had too many previous DUIs and one more and he was going to lose his license.  The man refused to submit to Breathalyzer test.  He continually reminded me I was going to work for this one.

The case was tried in city court and the man was found guilty of driving under the influence that he appealed to the county court. The case was tried in county court and the conviction was upheld. My observation of his behaviors, appearance of his eyes, the way he stood, and walked etc., enabled the conviction without the field sobriety and Breathalyzer.  The defense attorney “grilled me” and tried to make me make mistakes in my testimony. It also helped that I had a “good track record” in both courts because my observations and interpretation of suspect behavior aligned with Breathalyzer results in other DUI cases.

Alcohol, I’ve seen destroy so many lives in so many different ways. People lose their jobs, their families, and their homes. People lose their lives to drunk drivers. From history we know prohibition doesn’t work.

How can we as a society prevent alcohol from ruining so many lives in various ways? As a society do we have a responsibility to do so?

Until Tomorrow,

Sally S.

What's in his pants?

In one of the jurisdictions where I worked, we often had officers on foot patrol in our downtown area, especially at night.  Night was when the downtown restaurant and bar foot traffic was heaviest. There were also several prostitutes included in the foot traffic and our presence tended to decrease their business. (I plan on talking about prostitution issues in future blogs).

During the past few weeks many of the bar owners in the downtown area were having beer glasses stolen. That was a cost to the bar owners which they were not happy about. Additionally, it was a safety issue. Glasses outside were at times used as weapons; broken glass can cause painful and dangerous lacerations. Broken glass on the streets could cause flat tires or eventual blowouts that are annoying to the drivers and possibly very hazardous.

Back to the story. My sergeant and I were on patrol one night downtown and we observed several people walking on the sidewalks in the area carrying beer glasses in their hands or sticking out of their jacket pockets.  We approached them, checked their identification, and checked them for wants or warrant locally, statewide, and nationally. If we found no reason to arrest them on any wants or warrants we walked them back to where they took the glass. The glasses often were etched or painted with the bar name and or logo. If the glass was not marked the people did tell where they took it. (Yes, there were times when we did arrest people we stopped on foot patrol that were wanted in other states.)

At some time that evening, I observed a young male walk by us and I observed a bulge in his groin area that didn’t look like any erection I had ever seen before. It was larger and the shape was not right.  It didn’t look right to me and to my gut instinct it wasn’t right.  I turned around and briskly walked toward the man who was walking away and spoke in a loud voice toward him  “ stop, police”. I asked him to slowly remove whatever was in his pants. “ My sergeant had the most horrified look on his face.  I’m not sure what he thought the guy was going to pull out. I can only guess. The young man pulled out a beer glass from one of the area bars. The glass was returned and we went back to our foot patrol.  I got razed about the confrontation for a few weeks.

You probably ask, why am I so knowledgeable about what a man’s groin area should look like? That area sometimes is used as a place to carry a small handgun. Women sometimes use their cleavage area for the same.

These areas that people shy from looking at can be dangerous for officers. I always wanted to go home after my shifts so when I felt the need to be safe, I looked.

Many cities, as did ours, eventually started requiring the use of plastic disposable beer glasses in their bars in certain locales. Is that fair, for government to dictate what type of glass a business should use? The disposable glasses cost more than the purchase and reuse of glass glasses. The business owner and the customers bear the increased cost. Is that right?

Until tomorrow,

Sally S

Personal Stuff

As many of you may be aware, I established a Face Book page over the weekend hoping to get the word to more people about my Sally Shield Says blog, I see some of you have “liked” it and I thank you.

I’ve decided to also take Saturdays off from writing and posting on my blog. I need more time to devote to a current project I am working on.

Please continue to read my blog and remember I am not the final word on anything. My experiences are just that, my experiences, not how every cop does or should do things, but they worked for me. My views are my personal views and I welcome a spirited discussion concerning my posts.

Thank you again.

Until later,

Sally S

How fast can you change a tire?

I used to think demonstrating the ability to quickly change a tire that was part of the testing to become a police officer was a bit ridiculous.  As usual I seem to have to learn everything the hard way.

It was about 7:00 one summer night in one of my jurisdictions and I had to contact someone at their home concerning a case I had been working. As I parked my patrol car at the curb near the house where I needed to go, I observed several young men sitting out in one of the yards. I recognized several as recently released from prison or known to have committed violent crimes, but the police could never make a solid case for a conviction. These young men were the grown children of the residents in the area. As I walked to the house where I needed to speak to the resident who was victim of a previous case the young men were scowling at me with” looks that could kill”.

When I left the residence about 10 minutes later, I observed a flat tire on my patrol car. I knew I needed to handle the situation correctly or I would be into something I may not be able to handle. I knew from the radio traffic that I had been monitoring on my portable radio that all the other officers in the city were busy on calls and away from their cars. It would take them awhile to respond if I needed help.

I quickly, but not appearing to be in a panic, opened my trunk and removed the jack, the tire iron and the spare tire. I carried them over to the passenger side front tire that was flat. I tried to keep an eye on the young men who were sitting in the yard almost behind me. I felt certain at least half of them were carrying a concealed handgun.  Consequently, I was trying to kneel parallel to the car so I could work and observe. I loosened the lug nuts while the young men were making the most unflattering comments. I got the flat tire off and the spare on and the lug nuts back on and tightened very quickly. I threw the flat tire, the jack and the tire iron into the trunk. I planned on putting them in their proper place when I got to another location. I got into my car and drove off.

Driving away I was thankful that I had learned to change a tire and do it quickly.

There is a dislike of police by many? Why is this? What can the police do to lessen this hatred, short of allowing people to break the law? What can we do as a society to improve the perception of the police?

Until later,

Sally S