You'd think based on that statement that it was a rough night. Not so much. I was unsure about going on the ride along. I had considered it in the past but the opportunity never came up until last week. Then I got worried. Wondering what would happen. I've watched an episode or two of Cops. Would I enjoy it, would something really bad or freaky happen, would I be scared? And not just because it's a police ride along, but also because it's with my brother. He likes to be mean to his big sister!
Like when we first start heading out....the first thing he says to me...."Now on the off chance that I get shot and can't speak into my radio, then pick this up, push the button. Tell them my badge number and when they say 'go ahead' then just say whatever and tell them what happened." Um, OK. Like I'd have the capacity to do that if my brother got freaking shot!!
So what was the highlight of my night? Let's see...
There was the old lady in curlers walking down the street holding a golf club. For protection we assumed.
There were the multiple times he sped and zig zagged through traffic to see a license plate so he could run it because something caught his eye.
There was the guy he pulled over for having a taillight out. Yeah, just something to do so he could show me he knew how to do his job.
There were the the teenagers in two "suspicious" cars parked in a grocery store parking lot that he checked out. Nothing came of that. They were supposedly waiting for a ride for one of the kids.
There was the dispatcher that didn't know what the heck she was doing. He kept making fun of her the entire night. She accidentally sounded the ambulance alert and then got on the radio and was like "sorry, hit the button by mistake"
There was a call about neighbors playing loud music and one of their cars parked on someone else's property. Only two of the guys would come out of the house, they told them to move the car and that was it.
There were the two bar checks he went on. Random checks to see if the bartender had a license and if there were any underage drinkers. All clean.
There was call he backed up another officer checking out a suspect seen leaving a local business where the window was broken as if a rock had been thrown through it. Didn't seem like the guy, we drove off, guy took his hands out of his pockets, one was dripping in blood. Yup, it was him. He punched his hand trough the window. Real smart.
The rest of the night was spent driving in circles or squares as he preferred to call them, around the city. I was getting dizzy passing the same places over and over. We saw some deer in a couple different spots. He had fun scaring them off with his spotlight.
We did take about 15-20 minutes to tour the jail. His girlfriend works 3rd shift also at the jail and she offered to show me around. I can't imagine being locked up in a place like that! The place holds about 300. Mostly people waiting for their trials to come up, some of them even prolonging their trials........do they like it there? Then of course the drunk tank where they bring them to "sleep it off".
She did say during the winter that homeless people will purposely do something to get arrested so they can get inside where it's warm. Pretty sad.
And that was about it. Exciting stuff hey?
I guess it's not always an episode of Cops!
