Cop Stories Part 2

Christmas:
H. E. called me and asked what my plans were for Christmas. I told him Bonnie and I were going to her mothers for Christmas dinner.
He said if that was all why didn't I come and ride with him, not a bad idea. He was assigned to a radar unit. That meant we would in effect have the whole city and any calls we wanted to fill on. All we would be responsible for was 1O moving violations. What a way to spend a day.
After briefing we headed to the frontage road at the airport, it was always good for a mover or two. We had no sooner set up when the radar chirped. We had a car at 50 in a 25. The driver was a young exec. In a hot Porsche. His attitude was how dare you and didn't get better when we explained how we dared. He was cited and reluctantly signed. We watched as he walked back to his car tour up the citation and dropped the pieces on the ground. I looked at H. and smiled.

The stop didn't end here; however, the man got into his car and left a patch of burning rubber on the road. The patch measured 16 paces (about.3 feet to a pace).
Relights and siren and stop number two, attitude what now. Response exhibition of speed littering and sign here. Two movers in twenty minutes. Almost as good as my first ride.
Where we were we could see over highway 17 into a group of warehouses, and something didn't sit well with H. He said we must take a closer look, and we did.
The lot in front of the warehouse was covered with crushed rock so no matter who quiet we approached our tires let everyone know we were there. H. maneuvered the car so that he was behind the engine block for cover leaving me a 55-gallon barrel of what I hoped was water for cover. We both drew our weapons, and I said; ''you in the building! This is the police! Come out with your hands up!'' A couple of seconds later I saw hands on the door and the door began to slid open. I then said, ''turn your back to me and back toward my voice." Boy just like on TV. I approached to cuff him, and he said, ''I own the building." It seemed that his wife was getting Christmas dinner ready, and he thought it would be an opportunity to catch up on paperwork. He also told us that he heard our car tires on the rocks and thought we might be robbers. He said, ''when I heard your car, I grabbed my 30 ought 6 semi-auto and was going to come out shooting." Well, we confirmed the fact and wished him a Merry Christmas and returned to patrol.

As we pulled onto Hedding Street guess who I saw, no not Santa, it was Bonnie and five screaming kids. H. said, ''what the hell, why not?'' Car stop number two for the day. I don't know why, but Bonnie didn't see the humor. After a second or two neither did H. It took about ten minutes to calm her down and get her on her way. But before she left, she said, ''oh, yeah do you need these," and there in her hand were six bullets, the six that should have been in my revolver. Dr. R, the department shrink, who came with Chief Mc. said to keep your wife involved and thereby keeping a happy marriage. I thought that letting her load my gun was being involved. BS, Bonnie never touched my gun again.

STAKEOUT:
San Jose was being hit with a rash of newspaper stand brake ins. ''Person or persons unknown," would spray Freon into the cash box lock, hit it with a hammer and take the coins. All the major newspapers in the Bay Area and some of the porn sheets complained. The chief's office said, ''aha, a job for the Reserves."
R. G. and I were assigned to unit 5271. A special unmarked unit on a stakeout. We went 10-8 (in service) and went to our assigned location, an intersection on Camden Ave. We arrive about 1930 (7:30 pm) and were to stay there until 0030 (1230 am).
R. G. was the only Reserve that I knew that had actually shot someone. Before he joined the Reserves he worked in private security and was assigned to guard a construction site after work ended for the day. One night he surprised a robber, and the robber shot at him, R. G. was a better shot. The DA cleared him and now the stakeout.
R. G. was behind the wheel, and I sat in the passenger seat with my binoculars. About 2000 hours (8 pm) I noticed something. A light had come on in the window of an apartment a block behind the location we were to protect. Yeah, it was suspicious. As I watched a young woman entered and began to undress without closing the blinds, now, I have to be careful because my wife will read this, if you get my drift.
R. G. said, ''you got something? I don't see anything."
''Nah, nothing of any importance," but I was still staring through the glasses. He sat for a while longer and then grabbed the binoculars out of my hands and found what I was watching just before she turned off the lights and left the room. Did you ever hear French with a Spanish accent, well I just did.
R. G. said nothing else for the rest of the shift. OH, nothing else happened.
No, he must have forgiven me because we worked together again but we never spoke of the stakeout.