Tempest of Light

First day back from vacation and I got the rook.

While I was away studying for the written part of the Sergeants exam, my squad acquired a new member. Fresh off probation, just a day over a year on the job and with no take home car.

None of us have ever heard of her and as a tight unit, we have no desire to just let anyone in simply because they were assigned by someone higher up to be placed in our unit.

She has to prove herself.

While I was away she’d ridden with each individual squad member in order to get an ‘overall’ feel for what we do and get more acquainted with us individually. Needless to say, each person she rode with treated her with respect but they didn’t operate with the unit that day. They instead ventured out on their own and purposely got into items that would stress/push her.

From what I heard when I got into the mini-station that morning wasn’t so great.

Long story short, she doesn’t seem to be fitting in very well and with good reason. You don’t take someone who just got on and has barely any experience into the senior jumpout unit. We don’t know her. For all we know, she could be a plant from higher up to find out exactly what we do as a unit daily to really get the bad guys we get. We know that as a rookie, you’re going to fold under pressure and when asked by Command staff about an item, you’re going to sing about everything from the shower you took in the morning to the smallest detail of what exactly happened to that last cig in the pack.

It’s not that we do anything illegal or anything of the sort, but we’re a hands on unit that does what needs to get done to keep our streets safe. The people I work with have been close friends for years.

So, today she rode with me.

She wasn’t on time and the Admin officer at our mini-station asked me for a ride to the south end of the County to pickup our Incident Command vehicle. No problem.

Two-hours later I got back to the mini-station and there she was, sitting in one of the chairs at our desks.

I looked her up and down.

Medium weight, medium length hair, tactical vest…

I said, “Alright, lets go”.

No apology for being late. If she was a soft cookie, she was going to get broken today. I needed to know what she was made of. My squad needed to know. It’s our safety out there. She could be the difference between my partners seeing their families at the end of the night or me having to explain to their wives and kids why they didn’t come home.

She started to say something and I walked out of the station and to my car. I saw her run out with a bag in her hand and I hit the trunk release. She tossed her bag inside and got in the passenger seat.

I didn’t say a word. Didn’t ask her name, and didn’t tell her mine.

Driving around I stopped a car near one of the project houses. I got out of the car immediately and the driver threw his door open. In the corner of my eye I saw her get out of the car.

I immediately drew my firearm and pointed it at the guy.

“HANDS UP! DON’T MOVE!”

He saw my barrel and threw his hands up. Any thought of running as I closed on him disappeared immediately.

I walked up to his door.

“Place your hands on the wheel. Okay, do you have ID on you? Oh. so your license isn’t good. Alright, I can work with that. Listen, I don’t write tickets and you trying to bail out is pretty stupid for just not having a license. Get out of here and park the car before someone arrests you”.

I walked back to the patrol car and got a glimpse of the look on her face. It was a mix of disbelief and shock.

I got back in the car and she sat down in the passenger seat.

“Why’d you draw your gun on him, Dash?”

She threw me off. I didn’t tell her my name yet but I simply replied with:

“Listen. You’re in a raid unit. People that open their doors as soon as they stop are doing one of two things. They’re either going to bailout or open fire on you. Don’t be afraid to draw your weapon. It’s a tool and just like a Plumber, you have to be proficient with your tools and know when to use them.”

She nodded.

I drove off to look for a bad guy.

I parked the cruiser behind an apartment complex known for high volume drug sales. We got out and started walking through a rear alley that lead to a break in the rear fence so we could sneak up on the dealers. Walking through the alley I spotted the manhole cover that they’d removed, closely followed by the open manhole. Walking past it I saw several 2×4 boards facing straight up and down inside.

Booby trap. Most dealers have them around so when they run, they can clear past them and hope that some cop not paying attention gets snagged.

Speaking of not paying attention, I said in a loud whisper, “Look Down”.

And that’s when I heard the, “Woah! That was close…”

Ugh.

Entering the back I saw a guy my partner had arrested before (Batman) for carrying a concealed firearm. He’d also been Trespass warned here before as this was the place he’d been arrested for the firearm and it was HUD housing. I snatched him up and cuffed him. He had nothing on him but he was up to no good so I gave him a citation for Trespass and told him to leave before I took him for the ride.

She watched but didn’t engage.

Back in the car I opened up conversation. I told her she was on a Unit probation and if she didn’t fit, she’d have a hard time finding us after roll call. She started talking about how she knew what she was getting into when she signed up for the unit and names of people she knows high up.

I stopped her there.

“Listen, you could braid the chiefs daughters hair. That isn’t going to save anyone in the unit if you fail to function properly. If one of my guys gets injured or killed because of your lack of action, no one is going to help you. It’s a unit policy: If you see us engaged in a fight and you don’t help, the next person to hit the floor is going to be you. That’s how it is. Understand? You’re not handling calls for service. You’re going to be dealing with criminals that wouldn’t think twice about killing you. Not even for a second. So sit back, watch how we operate and try to keep up.”

She had nothing to say. Was I being tough? Absolutely. I had to know just what she’s got in her. If she put a transfer in to go back to the road, then she didn’t belong here. If she stayed and proved herself, she’d earn her way in and get all of the privileges that come with the territory.

A few minutes later some units got on the radio, “We’ve got armed robbery subjects fleeing in car! It’s a White Altima headed into the ‘Pinks’!”

I was literally around the corner. I got there as the car smashed into the front of a police car trying to stop it inside an apartment complex. I saw four kids get out of the car and run into the complex and I stopped the car and started chasing after them.

The officers that lost the kids had no idea where they were at or what apartments here were empty, but that’s my job. I know my area and I know where they went.

Running to the last building I saw the door to the 2nd level apartment which was abandoned was cracked a bit and shades were not pulled. We leaves those shades open so we know when people are hiding out inside of them.

Running up to the door, I kicked it without stopping, gun in hand.

There they were, all four of em with no place to go.

I yelled, “GET DOWN! POLICE! GET DOWN!”

I knew half these kids..

They all flew to the floor. I yelled over my shoulder to my partner for the day, “Hey, Cuff them.”

…

“Cuff them”..

I turned my head around just enough to see behind me and I was alone.

You’ve got to be kidding me.

“Gentlemen, cross your legs and put your hands behind you head. First one to move gets shot. As far as I know, you’re armed. Understand?”

I got a unanimous “Ya”.

I keyed my mic.

“Guys, I’m upstairs in the pinks, last building, second floor.”

They got on, “We’re downstairs man, be up in 2”.

After they cuffed the guys we brought them all downstairs to the units they’d hit and transferred them over.

I walked back to my car and started her up. My rook came and got into the passenger seat.

First thing out of my mouth, “Where were you?”

She said she’d gotten lost. She said I got out so quickly she had no idea where I went so she went around the building but just got lost.

“Hey, if you don’t know what you’re doing, just follow your partner as best you can and keep up. If you can’t keep up, find another place to go. You left me alone during a building entry. We don’t have the luxury of sitting around and waiting to make entry as that gives these people time to setup and ambush us as we come in. You have to be dynamic and instantaneous.”

With that, I drove back to the mini-station.

I’d had my fill for the day. Maybe I was having a bad day but I’ve kicked people out of my car for that exact same thing before, and that person was a friend of mine. I gave her some slack as she’s new to this, but honestly, as far as I see it, she has no business here.

She’s got big shoes to fill and I want to see if she has what it takes to change our mind.

• Posted Jun 12, 2009