A Night of Firsts

While last night was not my first night in the field, it was my first night in the driver's seat and running the show - more or less. I have been working night shift (9:15pm to 7:15am) with my training officer since Wednesday. I was observing for the most part the first two nights, though they really emphasize in the training program that your trainer's job is to "reign you in" rather than "push you forward." Well, on my third night my trainer turned the keys over to me and I took the wheel, which also meant taking the radio, the computer, and the initiative.

It started out as a pretty slow night. We had a 911 hang-up we went to check on and it turned out to be just phone problems and the two people were surprisingly good natured given that we were got them both out of bed well into the night - they even said they appreciated us coming by to check. After that nothing much was going on. My trainer was nervous about me initiating a traffic stop, known in the biz as an "unknown risk traffic stop," because I had been struggling during some of our practice runs during the slow hours between 3:00-5:00am on the first night. It's surprisingly complicated the number of things you have to do in a short amount of time to pull off a successful traffic stop - and throw in working your spotlights and nighttime variables and I was seriously bumbling. The first attempt, involving a parked car in a school parking lot, ended up with me jumping out of the car without putting it into park. It started rolling away as I was shining my flashlight into the suspect car with my trainer sitting silently in the passenger seat waiting for me to realize the car was still moving. I jumped awkwardly back in trying to hit the brakes before I collided with a stationary vehicle, and got it into park just in time. My trainer just looked at me with this smirk on his face and said, "Let's try that again."

Anyway, so his anxiety was not unfounded in my ability to get everything done that I needed to in order to perform a successful traffic stop on a live person. We ended up pulling over a bicyclist who didn't have a headlight on his bike (city code violation), mostly for practice but also to check out who he was and make sure there wasn't more than met the eye. He turned out to be a refugee from Burundi, but born in a refugee camp in Tanzania. Interestingly enough, I read a book in college about that very situation - the Burundian refugees living in Tanzania - in my anthropology class. However, knowing a bit about his origins didn't help me do any better with the stop - I forgot to get my lights on, I forgot what address I was at to call it out to dispatch, I didn't get out of the car in time because I was trying to figure out the address, I didn't get my spotlight on him, and I'm sure there were a few other things that fell through the cracks. My trainer jumped out to take over so the guy didn't just keep riding past us while I was frantically trying to get all of my procedural ducks in a row, and our sergeant happened to show up and gave me a hard time about calling out my location as "State street and...uh...uh...the drive-in."

The next one went better because it was more like I had been training - stopping an actual car from behind. It was a car driving with a headlight out and after I got her information, my trainer starting going over all of the things I did wrong between getting out of the car and walking back after getting her information - and there was a lot! However, most of it was just teaching suggestions and I handled everything pretty well. The next thing I knew a tone alert came out over the radio for a "man with a gun" about four blocks away. He told me to give her her information back and get back in the car "Now!" I ran back up to her car, gave her her info and told her to get the headlight fixed and then ran back to speed off on my first code run (i.e. lights and sirens, or emergency run). We whipped around and on our way dispatch said over the radio that it was a possible 10-33. 10-33 basically means shots fired, officer down. Cue the freak out. Actually, I didn't really freak out. I was more excited than anything. About 30 seconds later we made it to the scene where two officers had a guy on the ground. We jumped out, pulled our guns, and started sweeping the area. It turned out (at least for now) to just be the threat of a gun linked with a drunken fight, but we don't take any chances. There were about 10 cop cars and 15-20 cops on scene. Firsts: Code run; man with a gun call; gun out on the job.

After the area got cleared we I had a good debrief from my trainer about both the traffic stop and the code run, and then we got dispatched to a battery call. Our slow night was over. I can't go into too much detail here but it basically involved a domestic violence situation committed in the presence of children, and we got the job of arresting the male suspect. When we got to the house and went in, he was in his bed "asleep," and when we went to wake him up and found out that, of course, he was naked. Sweet. Fortunately, he ended up getting dressed before I put the cuffs on him. Firsts: Naked guy; felony arrest; cuffing; taking someone to the jail and filling out all associated paperwork.

In spite of being the new guy and having a veteran officer with me watching and evaluating everything I do (loads of nerves, anyone?), I am really enjoying myself. I mess up tons of stuff, but just like being a missionary, that's the way you learn, and that's why they don't send you out there alone. Also, I should really be grateful to go through this stressful, intimidating training program because this older fellow in our ward told us that he worked for Riverside county, CA sheriff's office for something like 27 years and his training involved little more than a pamphlet on how to be a police officer and hitting the field the next day with a trainer who had been on the job for a month. Unbelievable. Talk about trial by fire. I shouldn't have anything to complain about - the more training the better! Anyway, speaking of training, I've got studying to do before I head back to work. Who knows what adventures tonight will hold.