Storm Fighters

No I didn’t drop off the face if the earth.  I took a kind of  leave of absence from posting on my blog.  I had several other projects that needed my attention and I also was ill several of those days.

The Perfect Storm or Franken Storm as some named it, with its huge size and destructive nature makes me pause and remember how much our police officers and fire officers are there for us. Not just when the weather is nice and the conditions are safe, but all the time 24/7. 

My guess is many of those officers have been without sleep or have had very little sleep for the past few days.  They most likely are working in wet or damp shoes or boots and have not eaten well lately, but they are still performing at their best trying to protect lives and property in the path of Sandy.

My prayers and hopes for safety go with all the people in the path of Sandy, but especially to the men and women who wear the badges of those who protect and serve. As a society we should all pause and be thankful.

Until later,

Sally S

Why Dislike You ?

I was on walking patrol with another officer early one evening walking along one of the downtown side streets when a car drove up onto the sidewalk trying to intentionly hit us. We could only assume his intention was to hurt us.

After he drove off the sidewalk onto the street and drove away we got on our portable radios and advised the dispatcher and other officers in the area of the vehicle description and direction of travel.  The vehicle matching the description was observed and stopped. The subject driving had no explanation for why he tried to hurt us other than the two of us were cops, and he hated cops. He really could never supply a specific reason he hated cops and specifically the other officer and me.

Another example was when I was working one night and one of my fellow officers asked me to stop by where he had a vehicle stopped.  I got to his location and he asked me to talk to the passenger of the stopped vehicle because she was acting really strange toward him and he thought it might have been because he was a male. I walked over towards the woman who was cowering and said something to the affect “go ahead and do what you are going to do” I told her I didn’t have the faintest idea what she was talking about. She explained she was a black person and I was a white cop and she assumed I was going to beat her.  I told her I did not beat on people. I told her I only used any physical force when needed and I had any reason to cause her harm. I definitely understand why she felt that way, but it actually hurt to know I was being judged by a few narrow minded, prejudicial, and ignorant police officers.

This incident brings to mind ideas that have always been dear to me. I studied a lot about predejudical behaviors in my social pyscology and sociology classes in college. I also have personal experience as a police officer in that area as two of the above incidents depict.

Worse  yet is when we have bad feelings for a group and if asked point blank why, no one from that group have caused us harm, yet we dislike that group.

I ‘ve encountered persons who didn’t like a particular segment of the population and I’ve asked them why.  I often got the response “just because”.  Then if I ask, can they name a member of that group that ever hurt them they can’t name any specific incident or can name only a few, yet they dislike or even hate thousands if not millions of members of that group because of the actions of one or maybe none.

We all need to check ourselves on a regular basis to remind ourselves not to judge and dislike all persons of a particular group, subculture, race, heritage, profession etc.  There is the reason in the first place to judge and dislike, much less when the judgment and dislike has no legitimate reason except maybe because of the actions of a very few members of that group.

Until Next Time,

Sally S

Almost A Gun Fight

I’m trying to type this while riding on a bus; we’ll see how it goes. I think God was looking out for me. I never had to shoot anyone, but I came real close one night.

I was working first shift, 1200 midnight through 8:00 am.  That entire evening we were responding to burglary calls at businesses all over the city. The alarms were set off by the burglar, however he was always gone by the time we got there, When an alarm went off at a pawn shop I drove to that call probably a bit faster than I should have, I wanted to get this guy. I pulled up to the front of the store and a second officer came through the alley to the rear of the store. As we both pulled up the suspect was running out of the rear of the store and shooting at the officer in the rear. 

I slammed my car transmission into Park and chose to pull my Ruger 357 from my holster opposed to fiddling with getting the shotgun out.  I didn’t want to take a fraction of a second longer than necessary.At that point he was running directly at me. My gun was raised, he was in my sights and I was in the process of pulling back the trigger with my right index finger and the hammer had almost struck the primer that would send a bullet immediately out the barrel and hopefully into the approaching suspect. At that split second the suspect tripped forward falling on his face with the gun skittering across the cement as it fell pout of his hand.  I needed to release the trigger and let the hammer down oh so gently so not to cause the primer to ignite and cause a bullet to fire. I was successful in getting the hammer back to safe position than ran toward where the suspect lay and keep my gun pointed at him while the other officer handcuffed and searched him.

Once we approached the suspect it was obvious that he tripped on a swollen and raised strip of tar between two large slabs of cement. All the action from the time I drove up to the front of the store and the suspect was down and under control was only seconds and to make the situation a bit more volatile I was breathing heavy, my adrenaline was racing through my body, and it was July and over 100 degrees.  I was very thankful I was able to handle the situation without sending a half jacketed hollow point bullet someplace where it didn’t belong.  

My words of wisdom today are; we don’t really pay our police officers for what they do every day, even though they do a lot of good and helpful services for the public. We pay them for the skills, the knowledge and the temperament that is needed in critical, challenging and crisis situations. As a society, do we pay our police enough? 

Until later,

Sally S

What To Know

I was chasing a robbery subject on foot one night and within seconds we ended up running down an alley. I lost sight of him for a while; however, I was sure he was in the immediate area because I had not been that far behind him.

I heard my radio traffic into dispatch concerning my location and status in stereo. There was an open window of an apartment along the alley that apparently had a scanner.

Within minutes I did find the man I was chasing crouched behind a trash bin in that area of the alley.  He was arrested, taken to jail, and booked.

This incident was many years ago. Police departments have since scrambled their transmissions and used frequencies for which scanners are not readily available. Also with the proliferation of cell phones much communication is done that way.

This brings to mind the question; how much information should government agencies share with the public? I am talking about the federal government to include military and security info? State government to include state police? City government including city and county police? In many areas things should be transparent, but is it necessary in all areas? Do we currently have transparency in any areas?

Until another day,

Sally S

I Am The Police

I was on patrol one night at about 11:00.   I was sent to a residence concerning a prowler in their yard.  I parked a couple houses away and walked quietly up to the residence. I was walking close to the outer wall of the side of the house and checked in the back. I saw no one walking around in the yard. All a sudden I heard the chilling sound of a shotgun slamming a round into the chamber as I heard a male voice through an open window that said something to the effect “you out there I called the police leave right now.” I shouted in as calm a voice as I could  “I am the police” and as I said that I shone my flashlight on my chest to light up my badge. There were a few tense moments, but eventually the man realized I was a police officer and not a prowler.

I walked up to the front door and discussed the possible prowler issue with the man.  He told me he and his wife heard noises in their back yard and heard dogs barking.  In my walk around the house and the yard I saw and heard no one.  I advised him to call the police if he heard the noises again.

Prowler calls can be dangerous, but what calls aren’t? But they are extremely important because they help people feel safe and secure in their homes.

Until tomorrow,

Sally S.

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