Tempest of Light

ATF Violations.

The sun had just finished setting meaning the criminals were heading out from their homes in order to commit crimes under the cover of darkness.

All Cops know when the sun goes out, the violent crimes start happening and in fair numbers. What this means for us is that we have a higher potential to find these criminals before they commit their crimes and thats where I come in.

On the prowl I was creeping through back streets in a residential area looking for things out of place. I didn’t have to patrol very far, as the corner I had just turned gave me a group of nine individuals standing next to a car and I could smell the aurora of Marijuana from almost 25 feet away.

I rolled up on them slowly, opening my car door and exiting calmly. I knew someone was going to jail, just not who.

Me : Gentlemen, how are we doing tonight?

Group : Aight.

Me : Excellent, I’m going to be honest, I can smell the Marijuana from here and that isn’t going to be an issue. So don’t worry about that at the moment. Since I am only one person and there are many of you, if you feel the need to run, now might be the time. Otherwise, line up on the fence and have a seat.

Giving them the opportunity to run in front of their friends makes them look like a coward if they run and they don’t wanna look soft in front of their ‘hard’ friends, so they normally don’t run.

Today was no exception. They all took a seat.

I got on my mic and advised the rest of my squad where I was and they showed up quickly.

Me : Okay, does everyone have ID?

Some Yes’s and some No’s chimed out.

I started collecting ID’s while my other partner was getting the names and DOB’s from the people without ID’s.

One of the guys piped up saying, “I’ve got ID, but its in my truck”.

Alrighty, having proof of ID is better then being given it verbally as it takes away any chance of them lying about who they are and the hassle of having to figure out if they’re telling the truth or not.

Me : Alright, get up and I’ll follow you to your car.

He got up and slowly walked to his car. I asked him where the ID was and he told me the glove box.

Plausible, as thats where a lot of people keep their wallets / ID’s when they drive.

We were now 30 feet from the group and away from my squad mates in very poor lighting conditions as it was pitch black outside and the street lamps where a few watts shy of making any usable light.

As we approached the truck I got one of those gut feelings that something was up. It may have been the way he was walking… I couldn’t put my finger on it.

I got fairly close to him on his backside and trailed him up to the passenger door of his truck.

All the sudden he grabbed the handle of the passenger side door and opened the door as fast as he could.

That’s when I saw the Sawed-Off shotgun sitting on the passenger seat, handle a foot from his hands.

He didn’t get a chance to grab it as I immediately threw him to the side of the truck and slammed him into it. He was cuffed quickly and without much struggle as he was still in shell shock from the slam. My squad mates weren’t sure what just happened but they did see me walking back with him in one hand, shotgun in the other.

He has a Mossberg 500A with a 14 inch barrel and pistol grip, making it a total of 24 inches. That’s a Federal offense and violation of ATF law. In order to own that shotgun he’d need a Tax stamp from the BATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms).

The other people all had extensive records for violent crimes but no warrants and they didn’t have anything major on them worth arresting for so I let them go.

I arrested the guy with the SBS (Short-barreled Shotgun) and got another Weapon off the streets.

That made my day, as for all I know, he could have used that to Rob someone or worse.

He’d been arrested before for CCF and CCW (Carrying a Concealed Weapon/Firearm) so this wasn’t a new charge for him, just another one in the box.

Do I think he was going to trying to kill me and my squad mates?

I’ll never know.

• Posted Mar 23, 2007