Well, home safe after a long day and the boots have come off. I woke up for work with a sore throat and pondering about not going into work. In a job like this however, not showing up could mean a fellow officer needing help has to wait just a little bit longer in a fight for the next closest officer to be there. Having been in a fight for my life myself before, I can attest that EVERY second counts. My judgement of not going to work falls in the answer to one simple question-Will I help or hurt in a fight if the moment happens? If I know I can help my brother or sister then I gear up and head in. If I know I would be a liability in a fight then it's taking care of my body until I can get back on the street as soon as possible.

Today was one of those days where the calls just never stopped. I ate before work (thankfully I woke up on time) and did not have food again until about 9pm. Sometimes it can get like that. I try and bring a snack with me in my car but sometimes that easily slips my mind amidst everything as soon as I pull in service waiting to see what the day holds for me. As I said before, I work in a large American city. Not only do we get the problems in the city but I work in the busiest part of the city during the busiest shift in a low income/ lower middle income area that is according to census date legitimately 99% minority. I'm a minority cop myself and get a chance to see just how both sides of the spectrum work. But enough of background and let's get back to my day.

I was sitting in a parking lot trying to get a report done for a gas drive off theft (yes, those actually still do happen nowadays) when I noticed a call on my beat (the area that I am in charge of on a daily basis to handle any calls that come up) of a indecent exposure call literally across the street of where I was. I read the remarks which stated "BM (black male) AT LOCATION JUST USED THE BATHROOM AT THE REAR OF THE LOCATION-STILL O/S (on scene)". Now every call is NEVER at it appears. Here I was thinking more than likely the male was urinating on the brick wall of the back of the business a-la Adam Sandler in Big Daddy. Boy was I wrong.

I pull up to the business which is a 24 hour laundromat and ask the clerk where the male was. She told me he was inside of the restroom which was at the back of the location inside the business. She gave me a smirk and told me I would know when I got close. I start walking to the back of the business and immediately see a LARGE puddle of urine and two HUGE droppings of human feces. I immediately put on my tactical gloves. I was NOT coming in contact with any crazy bodily fluids today.

I yell out to the man in the bathroom "Hey man, let me talk to you for a second!" The door opens and a pant less 20-something year old comes out in all his full glory. "Hey....do you have any toilet paper?" I try and hold in my laughter and reply "No man, I don't." just shaking my head.

"Radio, start me another unit...".  Within minutes about four officers show up and the look on their faces just says it all. I ask the male if he had any medical problems and he said no. I asked him how old he was and he was clearly old enough to know right from wrong. I had him put his pants back on and the staff of the laundromat gave me a huge pile of towels and bleach. I had the man clean up all of the mess (he clearly had never mopped before in his life, never wringing out the mop and spreading the fluids everywhere). After a little instruction from a few officers, the man managed to clean up the mess. The male was placed under arrest for defecating and urinating in a business and taken to the city jail.

In my 15 months solo on the street, that was my 193rd arrest. Every arrest has it's story and no two are alike. One lesson learned is NOTHING appears as it is until you arrive on scene and just when you think you've seen it all---you get proven wrong.