Hope all is well and you're staying warm. Yesterday on my shift it was freezing cold. Literally. Our temperature got down to 24 degrees with a wind chill of -5 degrees. I was playing the role of Field Training Officer as the rookie's FTO was off enjoying his wife's birthday. The young guy was so excited since through his five weeks in field training I was the first one to let him drive the patrol car since he was sworn in (I remember that first thrill). Sadly there was not too much going on for this rookie's day.
This was the second time I had played FTO. The first time I ever trained someone it was the day of a lifetime. We had a school shooting and I ended up holding the hand of an 18 year old shot twice to the chest and keeping him conscious until the ambulance could arrive (the kid made it and later during an interview thanked me for keeping him alert and alive). The same day we responded to a active home invasion where we had JUST missed the robbers and entered a house feeling full well we were about to get into a shootout. After that first day of training someone-this day was the complete opposite.
We didn't get many calls and even sat down at a gas station to get some much needed coffee to stay warm. I opted for the layering method to my uniform and had about four layers of clothes on with department skullcap. I'll do anything I can to avoid wearing a jacket. If I need to reach for anything on my belt, including my gun, I don't want to run the risk of it getting caught. That fraction of a second can easily mean the difference between life and death.
The majority of our calls were domestic situations where people caught cabin fever and couldn't stand to be with whoever they lived with and were asking us to toss the said people from the house. The state where I work actually prohibits us from tossing out people who claim residency in the household (whether they are on a lease or not). As long as the person stays there for a reasonable amount of time (48 hours) or has possessions or mail at the address, the person wishing them to leave must actually file an eviction notice on the person to force them out. I think I explained that process about ten times yesterday to people.
Additionally we kept responding to a lot of house alarms more than likely triggered by the cold weather that all amounted to nothing.
En route to one of those aforementioned domestics, we noticed a broken down car on the side of the road on my beat that I told the rookie, if it was still there after the call we'd stop to help them out. After clearing the call, the vehicle was still in a turn lane with its hazard lights flashing. We stopped behind the vehicle and put our blue lights on at night to make sure nobody would come and run right into the back of this young lady and asked her what was wrong. It turn out she had a radiator leak to her vehicle and her father was coming with water to help get her at least to the house. At this point in time it was so cold that the water leaking from her radiator was freezing solid on the ground. An unbelievable sight. Eventually her father made it out and we helped him place water in the radiator and they kept on their way.
For a slow night with not much going on, we at least were able to do a good deed.
Well I'm going to try and enjoy my last 3-day weekend before we go to 8-hour shifts. I'll have to work a minimum of 48 hours next week since the transition falls on what would have been my off day.
No comments:
Post a Comment