Let me tell you a story
My stories about my job never reveal any identities so don’t flip out. This post is locked so no one but select few can read it. NO ONE BUT A SELECT FEW CAN READ THIS.
Yesterday I was involved in an investigation that lasted 9 hours. Five and a half of those were straight overtime for me. I won’t go into details of course but it was a normal investigation that we get every day. Another entity bungled their part again which caused me great heartache. The worst part came at the end of the night.
It was 1am. I had already been at work for 15 hours. I had to arrange “safe passage” for a family to go back home. Basically, that means I have to escort the family home and make sure their house is secure. The escort should take a quick 10 minutes. When we get there I knocked on the door and no one opened it even though I could clearly see through the windows that there were two men inside. The men start arguing (In Spanish) and then started aggressively wrestling each other. I knocked again and identified myself as police. I even let the family talk through an open window so that the people inside knew who was knocking. One man yelled out in Spanish that he was not going to open the door and then the other guy tried to get out and was wrestled and held back. We could see all these events through the cracks in the window. At that point I didn’t know what was going on so I got everyone back to the cars.
In the dim light I was trying to figure out what was going on and who the men were inside this family’s house. I found out one of them was an adult son (related to the family I was escorting) and the other “crazy” guy is a guy who rents out a back house but he should not be inside the front house. One of the family members called the son’s cell phone and the son said that he was scared and the crazy guy won’t let him leave the house. I asked more questions about the “crazy” guy and they said he abuses drugs and alcohol so he might be high or intoxicated.
At this point I have a possible battery, an intoxicated man, false imprisonment, and a barricaded door. I start thinking about a tactical plan to open the door and take the crazy man into custody. Remember, it’s 1 am in the morning. I’m tired and it’s very dark. As we’re standing in the street trying to figure it out an older black gentlemen came out onto the street and started yelling, “I’m the block captain here! You need to get out of here! You need to get your asses out of here! This is my block!” He yells it over and over……………..As he’s yelling more and more people start coming out of their homes and start surrounding us. I am now in a potential riot that has nothing to do with my escort.
To make a long story short the neighborhood calmed down and we got the crazy guy out and calmed him down. Prior to the one additional unit that I managed to get at the end to assist me I was at the location BY MYSELF. I handled the neighborhood ALONE. I handled the crazy guy ALONE. One single officer handling 4 or 5 scenarios occurring all at one time.
I’ve been surrounded by masses of people before so that’s like wearing an old hat but doing it alone is very difficult when back up is about 5 minutes away. It’s very challenging, scary, and emotional. I need to protect myself, the family with me, and the social worker with us. I’m the only one with the ability to take action.
The reason why I’m telling you this is because it’s easy to criticize what someone does in hindsight but if you were to take their place how would you react? Are you going to maintain professionalism, shit your pants, or run? If you punch someone you might get into trouble because that was excessive but if you let someone punch you in the face and you lose an eye then you’re in trouble because you didn’t use proper force but if you do nothing and let the guy get away you’re in trouble again because you neglected your duty. So, you lose for whatever you do.
There are good people out there doing a good job. I feel like I am one of those people. But when you start criticizing the things that good people do because you think they are all unprofessional then that will definitely frustrate me.
Yesterday I was involved in an investigation that lasted 9 hours. Five and a half of those were straight overtime for me. I won’t go into details of course but it was a normal investigation that we get every day. Another entity bungled their part again which caused me great heartache. The worst part came at the end of the night.
It was 1am. I had already been at work for 15 hours. I had to arrange “safe passage” for a family to go back home. Basically, that means I have to escort the family home and make sure their house is secure. The escort should take a quick 10 minutes. When we get there I knocked on the door and no one opened it even though I could clearly see through the windows that there were two men inside. The men start arguing (In Spanish) and then started aggressively wrestling each other. I knocked again and identified myself as police. I even let the family talk through an open window so that the people inside knew who was knocking. One man yelled out in Spanish that he was not going to open the door and then the other guy tried to get out and was wrestled and held back. We could see all these events through the cracks in the window. At that point I didn’t know what was going on so I got everyone back to the cars.
In the dim light I was trying to figure out what was going on and who the men were inside this family’s house. I found out one of them was an adult son (related to the family I was escorting) and the other “crazy” guy is a guy who rents out a back house but he should not be inside the front house. One of the family members called the son’s cell phone and the son said that he was scared and the crazy guy won’t let him leave the house. I asked more questions about the “crazy” guy and they said he abuses drugs and alcohol so he might be high or intoxicated.
At this point I have a possible battery, an intoxicated man, false imprisonment, and a barricaded door. I start thinking about a tactical plan to open the door and take the crazy man into custody. Remember, it’s 1 am in the morning. I’m tired and it’s very dark. As we’re standing in the street trying to figure it out an older black gentlemen came out onto the street and started yelling, “I’m the block captain here! You need to get out of here! You need to get your asses out of here! This is my block!” He yells it over and over……………..As he’s yelling more and more people start coming out of their homes and start surrounding us. I am now in a potential riot that has nothing to do with my escort.
To make a long story short the neighborhood calmed down and we got the crazy guy out and calmed him down. Prior to the one additional unit that I managed to get at the end to assist me I was at the location BY MYSELF. I handled the neighborhood ALONE. I handled the crazy guy ALONE. One single officer handling 4 or 5 scenarios occurring all at one time.
I’ve been surrounded by masses of people before so that’s like wearing an old hat but doing it alone is very difficult when back up is about 5 minutes away. It’s very challenging, scary, and emotional. I need to protect myself, the family with me, and the social worker with us. I’m the only one with the ability to take action.
The reason why I’m telling you this is because it’s easy to criticize what someone does in hindsight but if you were to take their place how would you react? Are you going to maintain professionalism, shit your pants, or run? If you punch someone you might get into trouble because that was excessive but if you let someone punch you in the face and you lose an eye then you’re in trouble because you didn’t use proper force but if you do nothing and let the guy get away you’re in trouble again because you neglected your duty. So, you lose for whatever you do.
There are good people out there doing a good job. I feel like I am one of those people. But when you start criticizing the things that good people do because you think they are all unprofessional then that will definitely frustrate me.