Tuesday, April 12, 2011

"I Love The Taste Of Asphalt At 8PM"

Just the words you want to hear on the phone from your husband. If you'll recall in the last post I mentioned that Patrol 1 does not have a vehicle of its own at the moment. In addition to that, the vehicle that they are using has NO company logos on it anywhere and the windows are very highly tinted, probably to the point of being barely legal. Just what you want in a vehicle being used for patrol at night. On more than one occasion John and the other driver have been stopped in the HOAs by sheriff's officers who had received reports of a suspicious vehicle in the area. Well, tonight was the topper. Are you all ready for this? Yes? Okay, here goes:

John was doing his door checks at Copenhagen and found one open. As per post orders he called the FSM and the owner. He inquired of the owner if he wished him to call an officer and wait for him to check the premises. He was advised to simply secure the door and write in the report that they had left it open as the alarm company would show up if it were going off. Okay, fine, no problem. He secured the door and returned to the vehicle to write the report. Less than five minutes later two sheriff's officers show up with lights and sirens blaring, one in front of him, one behind him. "OUT OF THE CAR!! ON THE GROUND ARMS TO YOUR SIDES!!!" So here is John lying on the ground in the position with an officer at his head and an officer at his back both with guns drawn and aimed at him. He told them he was a security officer who had been checking the building and was sitting in the car writing his report. They told him to roll over so they could see him. When he rolled over they could see his uniform and they allowed him to get up. The first question they had was, "What the H*** are you doing in an unmarked car?" The second question was, "What on earth are you wearing white for?" LOL After they realized who he was they felt really bad. The one officer was even dusting him off and offered to pay for cleaning his shirt as it is no longer anywhere near white. A scary situation that turned out okay but he will be putting in the report that he was put on the ground at gunpoint by sheriff's officers due to being in an unmarked vehicle. He called his FSM back and told her what had happened and reminded her that they had both warned the office that something would happen with them driving an unmarked vehicle. She told him that they will be getting their new vehicle on the 22nd and that it will be marked within an inch of its life so it won't happen again. Still, that's 10 days away. I'm just glad he's still in one piece.

Oh, just FYI, their new vehicle is going to be a Prius. LOL Any of you who are familiar with the Tucson area during monsoon season know how well that tiny little vehicle will be doing in the outlying areas where they patrol. Many hits will not be made during the summer due to running washes.

So that's the news from our corner of the world tonight. Hope things are a little calmer in yours.

3 comments:

Karen said...

Poor John, that must have been scary and humiliating to say the least. At least the officers had the grace to be apologetic...probably took some of the sting out of it. Not too calm in my corner of the world, as you know, but we are getting through the days. 2 more and counting until our great vacation adventure!

Wilma said...

John said it definitely wasn't one of his more relaxing moments at work. I can speak from experience that it isn't very calming to have a gun pulled on you. LOL

Two DAYS? You mean you aren't counting minutes yet? JK *grin* Hope you guys have a great time.

Mel said...

Wow! That really is scary for him!