Today, like much of the rest of the country, the weather was extremely rough. It was raining when I woke up for work and it never stopped raining. At my department we contract out towing services to a company and we ran the company so ragged today that it ended up with of their trucks getting stuck on a major thoroughfare and blocking traffic and another truck with a flat tire that put it out of commission. The truck that got stuck on the major thoroughfare required a police officer to help direct traffic until it could become "unstuck" and yours truly was called upon to get the traffic flow moving.
Now directing traffic is not fun. In the police world they often say "If you want to see people with no common sense, just direct traffic". People lose their minds and never seem to follow directions. Add that with rain and heavy flooding (which we established previously that people cannot drive in the rain) and you can see how that went.
Yet the interesting story of the day comes from my overtime detail once again. I was assigned to do traffic near a problem apartment complex (one which regularly sees shots fired about three times a day). I observed a vehicle with out of state tags driving with a tag light that was out. I pull the car over and as I'm calling out the tag to my dispatcher, the driver door swings open and the driver attempts to get out of the car. Everyone reading please pay attention to this little tidbit: DON'T EVER GET OUT OF A CAR ON A TRAFFIC STOP UNLESS AN OFFICER TELLS YOU TO DO SO.
In today's world, it is not normal or reasonable for someone to get out of a car on a traffic stop. Automatically we begin to think the worst and it does not help things. I immediately got out of my car first and ordered him back in the car and to see his hands. A wise officer once told me that if someone prepares to get out of a car on a traffic stop you need to have your feet hit the blacktop before theirs. Those couple seconds can give you the advantage in a potential life or death situation.
Coming to the car I noticed a black male driver and a white female passenger. As I stated before, the area I work is officially and backed by statistics a near 100% black area. I can go days at work and the only white people I will see will be officers. I immediately notice through my visual scan of the car that her pants are unbuttoned and she seems flustered. I ask the driver for ID and he hands me his license. I ask the female for hers and she states that she doesn't have it. I have her write down her name and date of birth on a notepad and head back to my car to run both of them.
Immediately I find the male has two active warrants for probation violations and head back to the car to cuff him and place him in the backseat of my car. I'm looking at the female's information and realize her license information tells me she got a new license in another state. Something just doesn't feel right so I head to the car to talk to her. I ask the female what state her new ID is in and she tells me a state nowhere close to where we are. I run the information she gave me in the new state and NOTHING comes back with that information.
In the law enforcement community we have plenty of amazing tools to make our job easier. One handy tool is a mobile electronic fingerprint machine which allows me to fingerprint someone and it automatically tell me who they are. I fingerprint the female and find out she was lying to me. I place her in handcuffs and she starts crying and pleading with me not to arrest her. She had no warrants and had committed no crime besides providing me false information. I asked her why she lied to me and she told me she was worried I would judge her if I found out her criminal history (which I can't see when I run her and I even told her that).
Both the male and the female are now sitting in the backseat of my car. I open the door and tell them I'll be searching the car since they're both under arrest and if there's ANYTHING I need to know about before I search the car. Of course the answer is no.
I start searching the vehicle and find a crack pipe in the pouch behind the passenger seat, a just used needle with drug residue in the female's purse, along with multiple baggies with what appears to be cocaine residue all over them in the female's purse as well.
I open the door and show the crack pipe and ask if there's anything else in the car. The female tells me no and she's telling the truth. I then walk to the car and come back with the needle and ask if there's anything else. The female tells me she's a diabetic and that's her insulin needle and she forgot the case for the needle at home and she's telling the truth. I then take her purse and show her the baggies with the drug residue. The female immediately states she did not know how the bags got in her purse and the needle was not her crack needle and had no idea how it got there. In a matter of a few seconds her entire story had changed. When you start off my first ever time meeting you with a lie it becomes very hard for me to believe you when the lies continue to compound. (I should state at this point that it was very cold outside and raining but the female began to sweat like crazy and complain she was hot. She was clearly starting to feel effects from the recently used crack).
It's at this point when I should say this traffic stop happened around 2am here on Christmas Eve. The male stated he has full custody of his kids and the female told me she had an infant child. It just really leaves you wondering when you imagine how these kids are growing up with their respective parent's living this lifestyle.
I did have a long conversation with each of the two of them about making life choices, seeking help if needed, and how I as a police officer never judge anyone. Nobody is perfect. I'm not perfect. Just because I wear a badge and a uniform does not make me better than anyone else. Most people aren't bad people, they're just people who make bad choices. Life is full of choices and the consequences that result from all of them. I can't say if either of them took my conversations with them to heart but maybe one day SOMEONE I arrest will be impacted and make an effort to change their ways. Those two arrests were my 198th and 199th. Maybe #200 will be the one to make a difference in their lives.
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