May 19

Nothing much exciting happened to me at work this last week. I got the 14th off for Memorial Day holiday. On the 15th, I was told to be out at the range for my remedial training at 1pm. When I showed up, it wasn't remedial, it was just a make up day. I called my Sgt. He told me to go to the station and see if they could put me to work. So, for most of the afternoon I rode with a 1st shifter. Then I was on my own from 5pm till 11pm. It was weird to cover all 4 shifts. Then on Saturday, I didn't do much. I volunteered to sit at the desk in the station because I wasn't feeling very good. Then Sunday I was pretty sick so I didn't get to work.

Last Tuesday, for Paige's birthday, we were going to take her horseback riding, but it was wet and rainy that day. So, we rescheduled for yesterday. We were all excited. We all bought cowboy hats. Paige got a brown horse named Sam. I got a white horse name Jesus. Justin got another brown horse named Howard. We went on a 1 hr "prairie ride". Which was basically 2 miles down a dirt road, then a few circles in a pasture. It was fun though. I think Justin and I are both glad we just did the one hour ride. Here are a few pictures. To see all of them go to My Picture link.

May 11

Well, it has been a while since I blogged. My days are becoming pretty routine. The usual domestic disturbance, traffic accidents, disturbances with weapons, and check shots which are usually fireworks. I have had a few good incidences in the last few weeks.

A few weeks ago, I was dispatched to a man down call. Basically, neighbors were calling because there was a man lying in their street. Initially, I turned the wrong way and didn't get there as fast as I would have had I not gotten lost. When I arrived another officer and my Sgt were on scene. All I saw was a body hit the ground right next to the other officer's police car. I run up and they had him tazed. However, the guy doesn't seem to be feeling it....at all. So, he got tazed 6 more times @ 5 seconds each. Then we rolled him to his belly and tried to get his hands behind his back to get him in handcuffs and he was holding his hands under his chest. So, he got a good beating at that point. He got drive stunned in his arm with a tazer and beat with a baton. Nothing was working. I was pretty much just tugging on his arm. We finally got one and I got it cuffs. All that was left was my arm. I tugged and tugged and finally got him cuffed up. Initially, I didn't know why we were beating this guy up. Then I found out when the other officer arrived, this guy charged his patrol car and jumped on the hood and windshield. Then he charged at the other officer. Come to find out, the dude was on PCP. Yup, I guess it's all the rage again.

The next fun story happened 2 nights ago. I was riding as a 2 officer unit this night. My partner and I were sent to a larceny just occurred from an auto. The neighbor saw the whole thing and pointed us to a house across the street. We pulled everyone out of that house. The guy we were looking for was not in there. However, they did know exactly who he was. One of the people in the house was able to get him on the phone. He was still in the area and could see us. So, my partner and I went trapezing thru the neighborhood. I was about a block and a half from my partner when I saw the guy. He took off running down an alley. So, I chased him. He had a good head start on me though. I was able to call it out on the radio as I was running. I chased him up this alley for about half a block before he ducked into a backyard. I had officers in the area pretty quick, but I think he just hunkered down somewhere. We weren't able to locate him again, but we know who he is and where he lives. We'll get him next time.

So, that's about it for cop stuff. Our vacation plans are going good. I've requested the days off work and they are available. Justin and I have purchased miscellaneous clothing and gear for the trip. I'm doing some research about the history of the area. I remember when I went to South Dakota a few years back I regretted the fact that I didn't know enough about the history going in. Deadwood would have been a lot more interesting.

As for our varmints, Baxter is the devil. Samson is going to the groomer's on Wednesday. We have warned the guy about Samson being a crotchety old dog who's been kicked out of Petsmart. They said the shouldn't have any trouble with him. We'll see. Today I have a massage. I have only slept 2 hours so far today. Tomorrow Justin and I are taking Paige to a horse ranch up in Maize and going horseback riding for her birthday, which is the day after mine, on the 16th. I have Thursday off for my Memorial Day holiday. I don't know if we have any plans for my birthday. Justin wasn't able to get Thursday off with me. I might just ride with him that day.

April 15, 2009

Well, I'm not sure anything real exciting has happened since my last blog. I haven't gotten kicked in the head lately. On March 26th Justin road with me. It was a pretty uneventful night.

On April 3rd, I helped other officers in the area of a hit and run. The run vehicle was abandoned in the neighborhood. When I came into the neighborhood, I saw someone walking along the sidewalk. That was pretty unusual for that neighborhood and that time of night. I turned to check him out and he ran from me. I couldn't call it out on the radio because other officers were involved in a foot chase on the south end of town and I wasn't entirely sure if this dude had anything to do with the hit and run. Later that morning, I spotted a guy walking at 13th and Rock that looked like the guy I saw in the neighborhood. I stopped him and he turned out to be the guy that was the registered owner of the run vehicle. He was drunk, which is what we figured.

On April 4th, I was sent to a suspicious character call in a really nice neighborhood across from Kapaun Mt. Carmel. We located 3 juveniles hiding in the bushes. They said they were making "Works" bombs. Basically, acid bombs. Plastic bottle, pressure, boom! We discussed the situation with the supervisor and we determined that these kids were going to be arrested for Felony Criminal Use of Explosives. I went over to where the "bomb" was exploded. I determined that I didn't want to touch this stuff. We had to call the bomb squad out to collect the evidence. Basically, I was on one call for 8 hours that night.

On April 5th, I got my first DUI for the month. It was 30 degrees and the wind was blowing like crazy. I had the guy out doing field sobriety testing for 6 minutes and my fingers were numb. Believe me, in weather like that, I wasn't looking for a drunk. They just always find me.

April 9th was a pretty crazy night. I was sent to 4 calls and got 4 cases. I started with a juvenile shoplift at the mall. Then a vicious dog. Then at around midnight it started pouring down the biggest snowflakes I've ever seen. I was sitting at the mall at Douglass and Rock doing paperwork when a auto theft just occurred came out at the apartments at Douglass and Rock. It happened to be a motorcycle. I think I would have noticed a motorcycle driving around in that weather. I don't remember seeing one so he must have gone the other way. Then about 15 min after I clear from that a robbery comes out at my Dillons at Central and Rock. They ended up finding the suspects and I got to book one, a 16 year old, for felony aggravated robbery. Most nights I don't have any calls on my beat. On this night I had 3 and 2 were major crimes.

On April 11th, I was cruising west on 13th from Greenwich. Usually I don't go up that far because I know my closest backup is pretty far off. As I was headed westbound, a truck going eastbound suddenly came into my lane. He swerved back into his lane right before hitting me. I immediately flipped my overhead lights and siren on and turned around to chase him down. He stopped on 13th at Greenwich. I was getting ready to get out of my car when he took off again. I was thinking "kick ass, a chase". However, he just turned south onto Greenwich then stopped about 100 yds from the intersection. However, when I got out of my car, I must have turned the wrong knob on my radio because I ended up on another channel. East side dispatch was checking on me and I wasn't responding. So, they put me out in trouble. So, all law enforcement officers in Sedgwick county were headed my way. I got up to the car and realized it was a drunk old guy. When I got on the radio to say I was 10-4, I realized I was on the wrong channel. I fumbled with my radio for a while before I was able to find my channel. Justin happened to be working at that time. He said he was headed my way from Oaklawn. That ended up being a pretty crazy night. The longest I went between any call was 30 minutes. Most of my calls were all back to back.

Justin and I have been planning a vacation for the end of August. It will be our 1 year anniversary by then. We are planning on going to Estes Park, CO. We have reserved a cute cabin with a hot tub. I am sure we will need the hot tub after all our activities. We are planning on white water rafting, hiking, horseback riding, kayaking, and ATV riding. We are going to stay 5 days there. I am totally looking forward to it since I haven't had a vacation since I went to Cherie's wedding in FL in Aug 2006.

Baxter, the cat, AKA "Bastard", has been nothing but a headache. First with the ocular discharge. Now he has ring worm on his ear. He is a total attention whore and hollers when you pet him and when you don't pet him. He is always in my face. He loves to stand in front of the computer monitor and play with the cursor while I am trying to do stuff on the computer. It doesn't matter how many times you throw him off, he just comes back. He licks everything and chews on stuff. He's the weirdest animal I have ever owne. As for Samson, he's doing fine. He is about 5 lbs over weight, and he needs a haircut real bad.

Last few weeks

Well, the last few weeks have been pretty interesting. I've been keeping copies of my daily activity reports so I can look back and see what I did.

On the 12th, I got my first DUI on my own. That was pretty exciting. Then later I helped another one of the rookies on a DUI. They were just falling in our laps that day. On the 13th I rode with a senior officer. It wasn't too exciting until the end of the night when we responded to a walk-in at St. Joe. He had an arterial bleed on his wrist. He was squirting blood everywhere. I immediately grabbed the camera and started taking pictures of the outside. Then I walk in the ER and they said "follow the blood trail". It was pretty nasty, but I held up much better than I thought I would. On the 14th I worked an injury accident and a hit and run. Luckily I sat BOF (badge on the floor) at the station that night so I was able to get all that paperwork done. On the 15th, I assisted SCAT at 11:30 p.m. with a female patdown and was there till 7 a.m. while they executed a search warrant. That is what we call a day killer.

I don't have a copy from the 19th, but I am pretty sure it was uneventful. On the 20th, I didn't do a whole lot. Then around 2:30 a.m. I assisted with an assault case. I was with that until 7 a.m. Another day killer. The 21st was pretty exciting. The night was very slow until I picked up a wanted person out of Pottawatomie county and took them to the jail. While there, one of the other guys in my class had a drunk chick. They were trying to get her back in cuffs to get her into booking when she resisted. I helped wrestler her to the ground where she began kicking. I was trying to control her legs when she kicked me in the face. I didn't notice it, but my arrestee said "she just kicked you in the face". It took a little while to get her in cuffs. People are crazy when they are drunk. We ended up booking also booking her for Battery-LEO. The next day my head hurt pretty good and I had a nice bruise on my right arm. Guess she kicked me there too. When your adrenaline is pumping, you don't feel anything. The 22nd was another crazy night. We got tons of disturbance weapons calls. I got to run hot down Central to an officer in trouble call. Then at about 4:55 a.m a shooting came out just down the street from the station, where I was doing paperwork. I got there and got to talk to a witness. Then I was asked to take him to the 6th floor for detectives to interview. Sounds like they ended up catching the guy that shot the lady in that house.

Baxter has been a bit of a pain and I don't know if I like him yet. He tends to holler alot while I'm sleeping. Usually it's inches from my face. He got declawed Monday. I pick him up today. Justin is going to ride with me tonight. He has spend most of this week getting certified on the M-4. He has training today from 8a.m. to 5 pm, then he has tomorrow off. So we thought this was a good night for him to ride. I'm hoping to learn a lot from him. Monday night Justin and I hung out with some people from our class. We had a good time and it was fun hearing every ones cop stories.

On my own

As of March 7th, I have been out of training and on my own. My final week of FTO wasn't too crazy. I only road with my training officer 2 days. My official end of phase was Thursday March 5. On Friday, I road with a traffic officer and got Lydar certified.

Saturday, March 7th I was on my own. Just a reminder I am working 4th (9pm - 7 am) with Mon, Tues, Wed off. My first night they wanted both us rookies to ride on our own. However, when Marks and I went out to find a car we had a little trouble. The car I got in, an Impala, had to be jumped. The car Marks got in, the computer didn't work. Those were the only cars left on the lot. Marks was headed to CMF to find a car that might have had repairs completed, when someone who was already there told the Sgt. there weren't any. So, Sgt. decided to pair Marks and I up. However, when I went to log us on the computer, it wouldn't work. "Help Desk" was useless. We took another computer from a downed vehicle and were on our way. It was a pretty slow night. Most of the calls were pretty routine. The only thing that sucked was when they sent us on 2 officer calls, we were the only ones there. There were no senior officers to ask questions to.

Then, Sunday I was finally on my own. It was another slow night. I did a club check with a couple other officers and they ended up finding a crap load of cocaine on some people. I helped transport to jail. That was the most exciting thing all night. I got so desperate for entertainment that I wrote a parking ticket. Don't park left wheels to curb on my beat.

Then, I had Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday off. As a reward for finishing my training I got a cat. He's a cute little pain in the butt. He pretty much lies around all the time. He is very affectionate and talks...alot. We named him Baxter.

First week of final phase

Well, I've had 10 weeks of pretty much routine stuff. Nothing too crazy. I think I was saving it up for this week. I know it's hard to believe but I can't actually remember what I did the first few days. I know it was very nice out. I worked a couple of crazy accidents. It seems like nothing I roll up on can be routine. Then, Thurs night at approximately 2:30 a.m. (I get off at 3 am.) I was headed out out east because the Sgt. said he had a car going eastbound in the westbound lanes. I was northbound on Woodlawn coming up to Kellogg when I saw a car at a high rate of speed make the u-turn from WB Kellogg to EB Kellogg. So, I started to follow it. It ran the stop sign on Kellogg drive. Then I got behind it at Rock road where it ran the light there. The whole time I'm praying that this guy is not drunk. So, I lit him up and he kept going. It wasn't some crazy high speed chase. Our speeds were less than 25mph. He took the road that curves around behind the shopping center there. Then he pulled over a bailed.

My FTO got out first and started chasing him. Then after I got our car parked I jumped out. As I was taking off to help my FTO, I saw back up lights on the other car. Then I heard a crunch. So, I went back to where my FTO was and he had him tazered. I jumped the fence faster than I ever though I could. I jumped on him and put him in cuffs.

Then I found out that he might be the vehicle in another Hit and Run that other officers were working. So, a good night. We got a bad guy. I didn't get out of the station till 7 a.m.

I have 3 more days of FTO. My FTO has Friday off so my end of phase will be Thursday. Not sure what they are gong to do with me Friday. I'll probably ride as a 2 officer unit. Then, Saturday I'm on my own. I was given 4th shift (9pm-7am) with Mon-Tues-Wed off. I've been told I have 37 beat which goes from Oliver to Webb, Kellogg to Central. It shouldn't bee too bad on 4th shift since the stores at the mall will be closed down.

Justin and I are still doing really well. We just had our 6 month anniversary. He filled out some paperwork to be put on the lease here. He's letting me get a cat once I get out of FTO and have a regular schedule. Since Justin doesn't want the kitty litter in his bathroom, we are fixing up the spare bedroom for the kitty. Since Samson seems to like to eat kitty litter and its contents I have decided to elevate the kitty's litter box. So, I am gonna go to the DAV and try to find a table.

That's all for now. I'll blog more after my final phase and after my first few days on my own. This week I'll work Tues-Fri on 3rd for final phase. Since our pay period starts on Saturday, that is my first day of my new schedule. So, I'll also work Sat and Sun. on 4th shift. So, six days in a row. That should be fun.

3 more weeks

I know, it's been a long time since my last blog. It has just been hard to get motivated to do much on my days off. I did 4 weeks on 4th shift (9pm-7am) and was just getting used to that schedule when I moved to 1st (7am-5pm). I am just starting to get used to 1st shift. I have gotten out of the apartment more this weekend. I had this Saturday off for President's day. I go back on Wed. for the last week of phase 3.

My phase 3 FTO is pretty hard on me. He knows a lot of stuff, especially about gangs and Plainview. I'm getting a wake up call to the fact that 13 year old boys are as violent as adults. It's been hard adjusting to thinking the world is a good place to not trusting anyone and thinking any person you could stop might want to kill you.

I still haven't done anything too exciting yet. I was riding with another officer the other day when he noticed a car in the driveway of someone wanted for murder, but he was supposedly out of the state. We called detectives and they got info from a CI that the guy was there. We were sent to secure the house until SWAT showed up. We were to make sure no one came or went. I grabbed my shotgun and went to the front of the house. Me and my FTO for the day had the front door. Eventually SWAT showed up and moved us back. I was about 50 ft from the front door when the suspect walked out the front door. He was taken into custody without incident. Then we got to sit on the house for the rest of the day while the narcotics unit secured a search warrant. I got to be there when narcs showed up to execute the search warrant. I saw all kinds of drugs and paraphernalia that I had never seen before. The guy was Albert Thomas. He was accused of killing a girl in Plainview last summer.

That's about as exciting as it has gotten. Justin has been assigned to 2nd shift (2:30pm - 11 pm) with Tues. Wed. off. I'm hoping my schedule will work with that. I know I will definitely have Tues and Wed. off so that will be nice. He also gets his own car since he graduated first in his class.