Moments from policing...

For the first time in far too long I found myself working this afternoon with nothing pressing on my "to-do" list - so I spent some time just driving around and helping the road units with a couple of calls. Most of it was pretty quiet, but I did end the day helping catch a shoplifter from one of the local malls. This was fun & memorable for the following:

- Discovering that apparently as the former diver on the call, I'm the guy who gets to chase said shoplifter into the retaining pond and stream when they get scared and stuck. Hey, somebody had to do it & they were all looking around with that stare of trying to figure out how to avoid getting dirty.

- While Gore-tex lined water-resistant boots are a great joy in most situations, they have one downfall: they do just as good of a job keeping water in after they are submerged. Not clean, pretty water either, but an afternoon of feet soaking in green scummy water til I got home. Hopefully the good wash and soak will have them back to new.

- Apparently boosting a selection of clothing for your significant other's birthday is considered OK these days. Guess that helps with the holiday budgeting.

- When said perpetrator has items from three different stores stolen over a period of days it's going to be an annoying report to write. Glad I got to hand that part back to the road guy.

- No miss, your prior "indecent exposure" charge I can guarantee you was not simply because your skirt was too short, no matter what story you're trying to tell me. I'll bet my next two paychecks that it's because you were turning tricks to pay for your habit, just like today's little adventure stemmed from.

All-in-all it was a fun afternoon and was nice to just play simple police stuff for a day.

Off to cook dinner and spend time with the munchkins to give the wife a break.