Foot Pursuit

Went to a local beauty college where a student was apparently refusing to leave after getting very loud with a teacher there. Upon arrival, found that the girl had left the establishment, but per management, they wanted her trespassed (not allowed back) from the college. I went and found her a block away, walking quickly. Yelling at her to stop, she began walking quicker. I got out of the car and ran up a hill, quickly catching up. She was in no mood to chat, though I was able to get some basic info out of her before she went walking away quickly. Another officer came up in his car, and ran the information I obtained. She apparently had a warrant from another agency. After trying to catch up to her on foot and yelling her name, she took of running. I ran up another hill calling out on the radio I was in foot pursuit. Luckily, she wasn't very quick, so I caught up quickly grabbing her arm while she struggled to get away from me. She was quickly put in handcuffs and in the back of a car that came up shortly after. When asked why she ran, she stated that she knew about the warrant and thought it was funny to make me run after her. Hope it was worth the resisting arrest charge she obtained for it. She already has 3 resisting convictions.....imagine that.

The Public

Well, I had an odd day the other day. Cops get a bad rap most of the time. People don't like us because we write them a speeding ticket for going 75mph in a 50mph construction zone, or arrest them for stealing hundreds of dollars from someone. Working 2nd and 3rd shift gets a lot of the negative attitudes. I believe that I am very fair when it comes to arresting/citing/or any other action authoritative that comes with the job. Working the shifts that I have been assigned to makes me see the bad side of people much more often than the good. Most of the public doesn't have contact with us unless they did something wrong or something was done wrong to them. Because of this, we get a lot of negativity that is pretty constant. It drains us more than people realize. It's not easy getting that attitude all day long every day. But on the rare occasion that we get someone that is nice, without attitude, it comes as quite a shock some of the time. On this particular day, I went into a local burrito establishment that I frequent to pick up a quick lunch. When I went to the register a thirty-something lady came up with her credit card in hand and refused to let me pay. She stated " I just want to say I appreciate what you do." In those simple words and the $3 in food, she completely made my day. It was unexpected,l but very much appreciated (the thought much more than the $3). I just want to say on behalf of all cops....thanks to all the public that we are here to serve, but usually never encounter. These rare comments make the job worthwhile.

Recovered Stolen Auto

Well, how's this for smart. I recently recovered a stolen car that was stolen out of my city several months ago. Another agency located the vehicle and I responded to get it towed back to my pd to be fingerprinted and processed. I found out that the owner had decided to leave the car at a dealership to get regular maintenance done on it when it was stolen. Of course, this is a common thing people do and you drop it at night for them to work on the next day, putting your keys in their drop box.....right? For some reason this individual thought it would be a good idea to leave the keys in the ignition, doors unlocked, with a large note in the window telling the dealership that "the keys are in it" and describing the work to be performed. Talk about a lucky day for an opportunistic car thief. How much easier does it get?

Employee Thefts/Traffic Rant

Those of you who know me probably know that theft is one of my pet peeves. I really don't like the fact that some people just take what isn't theirs because they want it. I rarely find a theft suspect that is stealing something that they need to live. It's most often meaningless items that they just want. And the people that we get usually have more than one theft charge on their record. A recent occurrence was at a local department store that wanted to get my opinion on an employee that they had stealing. While interviewing her about these alleged thefts, she admitted to $805 in cash/gift cards. Her reason for the thefts...."I don't know." Beautiful. And she thought it was pretty funny that she was getting charged for the thefts. Then she questioned why she was being taken away in handcuffs. My response..."Because your a criminal, and not only that...a felon." I do get sick of people that believe they are entitled to things.
That reminds me...what is it with people trying to go through roads that are closed. I recently shut down a street that was being worked on by construction crews. I had countless people try to go through with me yelling at them. I even had put up two long rows of cones and put my cruiser with its lights on in the middle of it. I had people tell me "I thought I was supposed to go through/around the cones" "I thought I saw space in between the cones", and my personal favorite. "But I need to go that way," as if I was there just testing my cones out to make sure they were cone like. If there is a cop with his lights on in an intersection, even without cones....find another way! There are plenty of ways to get where your going. My inconveniencing you is probably much more of an inconvenience to me, just having to be there. I don't want to be there blocking traffic. Find another way....you are not entitled to go wherever you please because that's the way you want to go. I promise there are other roads that will get you where you're going.

Career Criminal Update

Well, through about 12 hours of investigation and paperwork I was able to file 3 more theft charges and 4 attempted theft charges on her. I found out she was released from the justice center, so chances are that I will never see her again. Just in case she does show up, she has 9 charges pending on her. Should get a little jail time with some convictions. Lots of paperwork. Hope it was worth the trouble.