My Friday

A few months back I opened my mouth and made a suggestion on some new technology I stumbled into on a traffic stop.  I was asked by my commander to write a proposal about my suggestion.  Like a sucker I did in fact write a proposal.  I expected that my boss would present the idea.  Nope, six months later first thing in the morning I am standing in front of the chief of operations and all of the division commanders “pitching” my idea.  The idea was well received and the meeting went well but caused me to rearrange my normal work schedule.  Because of said schedule rearrangement I was home much earlier than expected.  To celebrate my being home early I was sittin on the sofa chilling watching “The Wire”.  The Wire is not for everyone, but it’s without a doubt the closest look into the game (Cops and robbers) that I have ever seen.  My wife cannot stand even five minutes of it because the language and content is so offensive and she is right, it is; but so is life and the word I work in.

Anyway, Chillin I was, getting my Wire on, then I heard some racing motors and skidding tires and the ghetto bird on a very low orbit.  At first I thought to myself, screw it.  “I’m done with work for the day, it was my Friday, I’m going to ignore it”  But then I heard some more cars zoom by my house and realize the air unit is on a very tight low orbit right above me.  In the event any bad guys had run into my yard, I put my Rottweiler Zoe into the backyard.  (she likes watching The Wire with me even if my wife doesn’t)  I figure, if bad guy does have the misfortune of running into my yard it would be much better to let her enjoy a new chew toy.  In reality it would make it much less likely for bad guy to stay in my yard.  He would most likely will jump right back out as soon as he sees the dog.  So after sending Zoe out back I grab my radio and switch it to “hot” but it’s not the radio traffic I am looking for. 

I peak out of the blinds and see a patrol car in front of my house and from experience I can tell it’s the south end of a perimeter.   I head out my front door and walk north as I see my neighbor two houses up being escorted (not in cuffs) out of his back yard in swim trunks and a towel.   I recognize the officer by name and he recognizes me.  (I know most of you are wondering why I wouldn’t recognize the officer since we work for the same agency, but with nearly 800 officers, the truth is I don’t know them all.)  he tells me they chased a suspect into his yard and asks if I can stand by with the neighbor at a safe distance so they can search for the bad guy.   He tells me the radio channel it’s on (the gang units own channel) so I switch over, turns out my neighbor was cleaning his pool while swimming in it.  A suspect had run from a traffic stop and ran into his yard but he was underwater and didn’t see him.  He did see the cops with guns.  Since his back door was open and he was certain it was closed when he got into the pool, it needs to be treated like he is in the house.  I see the sergeant on scene is a bro of mine and was my last sergeant when I left patrol.  Over the radio he asks me for information about the house to ask my neighbor.  Bing! I’m on the clock for overtime now!  I ask and relay the info.  Back and forth several times with info and if he is willing to press charges for trespassing and such,  I relay that he is just fine with the landshark (K9) being let loose and finding said chew toy (suspect) in his house or yard.  A few of the SWAT guys arrive and they recognize me and we engage in some playful verbal banter about how they are bringing down my property value and such.  The SWAT guys ask me to take my neighbor and the crowd of neighbors from in front of my house to across the street since we would be within the field of fire if the suspect came out shooting. 

So we saunter across the street.  At this point I know who the suspect is and why they are looking for him.  As the intel officer I put his name on our target list of criminals to track down since he had a felony warrant and was wanted for questioning on multiple vehicle and residential burglaries in my work area.  So I start calling the detective that needs to interview him to let him know the a-hole he is looking for is barricaded up in MY NEIGHBORS HOUSE!!.  As I am on the phone, I have to answer some questions over the radio and my personal cell starts ringing.  It’s my wife who is out of state but is getting calls from all over the neighborhood about whisky tango foxtrot (WTF) is going on in our neighborhood.  I give her a brief run down and tell her I will call back.  I get back onto the mix.  I hear over the radio they are going to deploy a “DD” (Diversionary Devise otherwise known as a “flash bang”).  I tell my neighbors to plug their ears.  I should point out that I have the crowd of neighbors positioned behind my neighbors car in the event anything goes bad.  But this teenage couple did not heed my warning when I said they probably shouldn’t stand so close to the police perimeter.  So they were as close as you could get.  And when I told my neighbors to plug their ears they looked at me like I was insane.  So when I hear “Stand By for a report” over the radio, experience tells me in about 2 seconds a very loud BOOOOM will go off.  So instead of watching the flash bang go off I watch the teenage couple nearly jump out of their skin.  The girl was so scared she started crying and sobbing instantly.  I chuckled, I know I am twisted but that is funny. 

In the end, they found the bad guy and dragged him out to cart him off to jail.  I chit chatted with some of my cop buddies and neighbors before they left.   Before going back into my house one of my neighbors was telling me how crazy this whole thing was to her.  I told her this is everyday stuff for me and she was just puzzled when I said.  Isn’t it fun?  She didn’t think so.   I must say, this Friday ended better than it started.