Howdy!

Just a shout to my reader from Laramie, Wyoming - given that I lived there for 5 years long ago - it's a small world at times!

delimmas

One of the great things about my job is that I have a lot of discretion in what I do - within the law I get a great deal of leeway in how to deal with most situations and how to resolve them. It can be a great tool at times as well - deciding whether or not to arrest someone or cut them a break, stopping a particular violation in hopes of finding something more & all that. I truly think one of the things that separates the good cops from the adequate is just knowing how to use their discretion appropriately.

Unfortunately, a few situations we really don't have much (without blatantly ignoring things that is - not saying it never happens, just that I try to avoid being in that position). Domestic assaults - we have no choice, someone goes to jail. Shoplifters, same deal (a pet peeve of our judges for some reason).

This week I got caught in another one - didn't regret it, just kind of felt bad for the guy.

Stopped him in the classic "it's my girlfriend's car, I'm just running to get gas." BUT, the guy was 100% honest from the start, told me he didn't have a license and was suspended because of some DUI's. Was very straightforward about everything. Didn't run on me. Didn't lie. Didn't play games - I was ready to cut him what breaks I would, write his ticket & let him call for a ride for being honest.

Unfortunately, the position he was in - he'd been caught driving on his revoked license enough times that it was now a felony offense. And the way our rules read, I don't have the option of just writing him a ticket on a felony - I have to take him before the magistrate for it and get a warrant. Not only that, I had to impound the car for thirty days at his expense - runs about $1300 or so.

Of course, I'm under no illusions it was this guy's first time driving when he wasn't supposed to - this time he just got caught. But I did feel kind of bad that he was honest and straightforward and still took the ride to jail...

Maybe now he'll get the point.

just rambling

These four-day breaks are nice... even with being sick for a chunk of it, and my wife being sick & thus my time somewhat altered I still have had a chance to relax, catch up on school and just generally unwind as needed... definitely a good change for our work routine.

Got to spend some time with each of my wonderful children as well - it still amazes me each and every day that I have been blessed by being their father; getting to watch them grow and change and interact is just incredible.

Poor Jacob seems to have decided that the new stubborn trick is that he doesn't want to take his naps... which not only cuts into a little downtime for everyone, more importantly has him just absolutely tired and done with things by the end of the night... of course he doesn't catch the connection but we're trying to fix this early. Other than that he's had a great week, getting out & playing and having a chance to visit with his god-sister...

Kyleigh is starting to get up on her knees & trying to move - so far she can just scoot backwards, but we can tell crawling isn't too far behind... while it's great to see her progress so fast, once she's self-mobile we'll be trying to keep up with two of them! :O

Got the bike out yesterday for a chance to enjoy the warm weather and ride... poor neglected thing needed a few minutes to clean the winter sitting around out of the engine, but after that was just purring along. One of my resolutions is to take better care of it this summer & to remind myself to enjoy riding more. Lovely wife has started eyeballing replacement bikes as well, and hopefully it won't be too long before she has her own motorcycle again & the chance to enjoy it.

Well, that's the family update for the week...

Catching up a bit

Like I mentioned, it wasn't a bad week... just felt like it from being sick the whole way. Hopefully tonight is the last of it though & I'll be back to full snark tomorrow.

Got to spend some time with my lovely wife, my son and my daughter at various points today. Plus grilled out a nice steak, took a nap and enjoyed a beer. Tonight I get to sleep in my own bed without anyone yelling at me, I'm dry & warm and no one is shooting at me.

I don't care who you are, that's a win in my book.

Just making notes

the week hasn't been horrible, just my head and memory - fighting this cold so my brain isn't in the best place... so throwing a placeholder kind of post in here...

let's see...
took the boy who's had several DUI's to jail
wrote a chunk of tickets
did school
got the rifle optic to demo - have to decide if it's what I want or not
poor kids sick
cooked once
and will think of more later....

you think it's confusing here try in my head!

I Guess It Still Works...

Tonight I did a little overtime gig with one of my coworkers where we went out hunting druggies and such to bust - we played with it some last summer with good results, but hadn't had a chance since then. I've been tied up with recruits to train, and both of our schedules also just got kind of full. Fortunately though the new boss gave us permission to play again & we promised him good results.

Well, apparently we can still do it.

We started out with ID'ing some folks in one of our problem areas - no biggie but it keeps the bosses happy... then we went and caught a guy who had just tried shoplifting from stuff, and kept a hold of him til the uniformed guys working tonight could show up.

Then we decided it was time to play - went to one of our target spots, and the first car we see pulling out has all the signs... so we go ahead with the stop. I won't go into all the details, but the guy would have been better off just handing us his drugs, telling us where he sold them regularly and putting the cuffs on for us - it couldn't have been gift wrapped anymore.

So, first time in a while I got out to stretch my legs again as it were, and we scored right out of the gate. Nice to know that we can still perform well together, and that I haven't lost all my skills through lack of use.

K done talking good about myself, just felt like sharing! I'm going to go work on sleeping off this cold now so that I feel like normal police work tomorrow.

My fault

OK I can't exactly gripe at people for not reading when I'm not posting - so I hope you all will forgive me...

The Lovely Wife has been sick the past week, getting worse than she was unfortunately :( making it more complicated has been the fact that my work schedule continues to be slightly full, so she is stuck with both the kids the majority of the day when they are in full madness mode... so tonight she took some NyQuil and will hopefully get a full night's rest while I help with Kyleigh whenever she wakes up for the late feeding. Not a perfect fix, but hopefully it helps for one night.

My latest partner got his release for solo duty today - I know he's been looking forward to it. Like I told him after congratulating him, now begins the REAL learning - take everything he picked up in the past year & he's going to at least double it in the next six months, putting everything into practice on his own, sometimes without that chance to ask someone first if it's the right thing.

Along with that I spoke with our Sergeant who runs the whole FTO program about some training ideas I have - a number of our newer field training officers are relatively inexperienced unfortunately, and kind of over their head. I won't go into the pros or cons of how that has happened, simply that I think it's something we can fix & I hope my little bit of input helps. It's a tremendous responsibility to train someone in this job and send them out with your life in their hands, and I take it kind of seriously for that reason.

No good arrest stories or anything this go around, sorry. Also no good recreational tales, as we're just working to get by right now. Hopefully I'll have better soon...

Ooops

realized tonight that it had been a full week since I'd posted anything... mostly just due to being brain dead the past several days, and playing catch up with everything. But since Lovely Bride has found the time to post stuff even with being sick & exhausted, the least I can do is the same.

The work week ended up ok - nothing super amazing... just the normal idiots and drunks. My partner got to see the fun of breaking in a car window legally, yanking the drunk out & dealing with things from there.... he's shaping up better than the start, and I think he's got the potential to be a decent cop if he chooses to apply himself.

We also had one of those "same planet, different worlds" talks with a guy we busted... which ran along the lines of:
"But it's not like I had any drugs on me!"
"What do you mean? You had weed right in the ashtray."
"Yeah, I know - not like it was any drugs."

Seriously, I couldn't make this stuff up...

In toy news, the M4gery upper finally made its way home this week... got things put together & the Duracoat applied - need to touch up some bits where the degreaser missed a spot or two, but overall happy. Now just need the Aimpoint when my connection comes through & it will be ready to go. Hoping to get it to the range tomorrow to function check & sight in, then it should be set for any needs.

K that's enough of boring and bland from me...

Placeholder

Just a quick entry today... suffering from a bit of sleep deprivation this week as it's called in polite society (realistic society would say I've hit the point of "OMG what are the purple lizards doing on the ceiling?" My poor wife is suffering even more, having not only sleep deprivation to deal with but also being sick as well... Fortunately both the children are healthy and we should be seeing some improvement for everyone starting tomorrow.

Fixed my link to A Day in the Life of an Ambulance Driver - didn't realize it was off, and highly recommend you read it if you haven't done so already... My apologies for the error.

This week is having some fun as well, so hopefully will be able to share tomorrow night.

Off to bed, enjoy your days all.

Productive day

Woke up early for court... which of course got continued, but what the heck I got overtime anyway.

So then came home - it was a beautiful day out & I didn't have anything else going on. So I did about 2 1/2 hours worth of yardwork, plus walked the dog, sorted some junk in the office and just was generally productive. Also got some nice time just hanging out with my bride and relaxing, which we both need now & then!

Then, after we picked up Jacob from his play-day, I grilled out some absolutely wonderful steaks - seriously, they made me have impure thoughts.

Even got a nap in after the kids went to bed. Now I'm done with school for the week, just ate some tasty sushi and I'm enjoying a nice, hoppy beer.

So, nothing amazing to share in exciting stories today, but it was sure a day to enjoy life. I hope yours was the same.

*Tap tap* Is this thing on?

Geez folks, a little validation of some sort please! Just an encouragement as to topic, or even a shut up when needed!

I've had a good break - some nice family time with everyone, plus caught up on school and even got to relax a bit. Cleaned out a box of trash, bought some work and goof off stuff & just generally got to enjoy being somewhat normal. The four/four schedule is definitely working much nicer for that than the old one. Hell, this summer maybe I can even get some sun again....

Although, there is apparently not a can of Foster's to be found in Richmond right now - although I know it's cheap swill, I do enjoy it as a prelude to my other beers...

Well, in one little episode from last week... when I stop you and walk up to the car... and both of you are shaking more than a chihuahua on a 12-pack of Mountain Dew... the odds are I'm going to find your dope. Although I have to give them both points for honesty - not only did they admit to it, they told me right where it was & all that. So much easier than the "These aren't my pants." game that too many others feel like playing.

Josh Whedon is coming out with another Serenity comic series this month, for the few who may not have heard... preorder here, or check your friendly local store...

Until tomorrow night.

Imagination failed its saving throw today...

A sad bit of news for the Geek world - Gary Gygax passed away today.

For good or bad, a great part of the person I learned to be developed at the gaming table exercising my imagination in my formative years. I for one will definitely miss one of the greats who started it all.

Busy week...

Been offline most of the week, due to work and family time - gotta keep my priorities straight, or at least I'm working on improving them...

but had an interesting one, some good arrests, some amusing stuff and all that...

so I'll leave the story choice up to both my readers -

#1 - The two kids with the ton of weed in their car...

#2 - The DUI with "the offer"...

or

#3 - The "I didn't do anything" DUI hat trick...

Whichever gets chosen first I'll share tomorrow.

On the other hand, life is going well - midterms went ok, and the family is doing fine. Got to spend some time with both of my lovely children this week, which is always so incredible.

And, my newest Blogroll addition:

my wife has tossed her hat into the blogging ring - with all her own insights and brilliance. We may not always agree on things, but she is so incredible to share thoughts with & I hope you all feel the same.

Check her stuff out at :
This is Not the Life I Ordered!