Tag: police

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Writer's Notes

WITH MALICE AFORETHOUGHT–A Progress Report

By Thonie Hevron

I’ve formally passed the one-third point in this novel. After several false starts, do-overs and life events, I’ve finally gotten back on the roll that becomes my stories. In the fall of 2014, I’d gotten rolling, cranking out pages that satisfied me and my critique group.

Then, I found Mike Brown. A Sonoma County Sheriff’s Lieutenant, (now retired) Mike spent several years as a Violent Crimes Investigations (VCI) Sergeant. One of my lead characters in WITH MALICE AFORETHOUGHT is a newly promoted VCI sergeant. When Mike said, “Yes, I’ll help,” to my plea for technical assistance, I was thrilled. His level of expertise and how he articulated it got me really excited.

Until he read my outline. Thank God I asked him to look at it.

His comments could be summed up with a “that couldn’t happen.”

Sheesh. Back to the drawing board.

At some point in fiction, the author has to feasibly “suspend disbelief” in the reader’s mind. Think about it—you’re reading along in a really good book and a character does something you KNOW is inconsistent or not part of the real world. But, the words are strung together in such a way that you think, it could happen.

It could happen. The suspension of disbelief.

This is very different from procedural inconsistencies. A wrong move could compromise an investigation and or prosecution. An investigator is paid for his/her knowledge to ensure a thorough and proper investigation (leading to a successful prosecution, hopefully). There are enough law enforcement and judicial officers in the reading public that an author who doesn’t pay attention to details can irretrievably lose credibility. Those who know what is feasible and what is not see errors. An author, no matter how good a wordsmith, cannot stretch “not right”. As a reader, when I encounter this, the book is tossed, literally and figuratively because the author’s trustworthiness has been destroyed.

Thus, I tossed most of what I’d written and started over. I must admit, following Mike’s suggestions have made this story much better.

Whew!

What this post is really about, though, is to admit that I won’t make my self-assigned deadline. May 8 this the last day to enter the Public Safety Writers Association (PSWA) Writing Contest. I’ve placed in two previous contests 2012, 2014) with PSWA and wanted my third Nick and Meredith Mystery to join the other two. Not gonna happen. With only five days left, I have just under half the story written.

While I’m dismayed about this, I won’t lose any sleep. I’ll just reassign a deadline, work to achieve it and find another contest.

Thonie

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More Street Stories

Richmond PD Gets It Right

This Katie Couric interview should be food for thought for all agencies who have tenuous relationships with minority populations. As a life-long Northern Californian, I know that Richmond has had a tumultuous history with race-related issues. This sensible chief has brought sanity to the streets of Richmond. Could it be possible in your city?

–Thonie

Richmond PD

by Brad Marshland

When Chris Magnus first moved to Richmond, Calif., in 2006, he would hear gunshots at night, sometimes very close to his house. That would be disturbing to anyone, but it was especially so to Magnus, as he had just been hired to be Richmond’s new chief of police.

Recent shootings of unarmed black men in Ferguson, Mo.; Cleveland, Ohio; and Madison, Wis., have triggered violent reactions, revealing a deep chasm between many police departments and the communities they purportedly serve. But not so in the San Francisco Bay Area suburb of Richmond: Not only are relationships between the people and the police strong, but the statistics indicate that the policies instituted by Chief Magnus are significantly reducing crime. Violent crime has been dropping nationally for years – down 14.5% since 2004, according to the FBI. In Richmond, it has dropped even faster. Homicides in this city of just over 100,000 are down from 47 in 2007 to just 11 last year.

Since Magnus took over as Chief in Richmond, he has instituted geographic policing, where officers are assigned to specific beats over an extended period of time, sometimes as long as several years. He has also challenged his officers to do more than just respond to calls. Evaluations are now based in part on how much officers engage with and address the residents’ top priorities. Back in 2006, for example, despite the high homicide rate, one of the first things residents complained to Magnus about was the number of abandoned vehicles on the streets. While addressing this problem first may have seemed counterintuitive, it went a long way toward building trust. “It sent a very powerful message to residents that we were actually listening to them and were willing to make their priorities our priorities,” Magnus told Yahoo Global News Anchor Katie Couric.

Acting in partnership with the community on such minor matters can have hugely positive effects when it comes to tackling violent crime as well. “Just starting a conversation sometimes leads to surprising results,” says Magnus. As relationships get built, residents are more likely to talk to officers they know and provide tips that either solve or prevent more serious crimes down the road.

Longtime community advocate Kathleen Sullivan has never been afraid to call the command staff when she sees an officer behaving badly. The fact that they listen has changed everything. Now she feels comfortable telling others “Sometimes when you’re concerned, you need to call the police. Because they are here to get the bad guy.”

The term “community policing” has become such a buzz phrase that “Pretty much every department, if you ask them, would say they’re doing community policing,” says Magnus, “And I think most believe it. But the challenge is: is community policing really policing the community in the way that the community wants to be policed, or is it driven by the police department?” Magnus’ approach has been to build partnerships with the community at every opportunity, learning from the residents what their priorities are, in order to define where resources should go.

One thing Sullivan believes the department could do better would be to get out and walk the streets more. The key is to train the officers to view walking and talking to residents not as an added chore, but rather as a means to an end. “You’re talking to people in order to get to know them,” Magnus says “to build a relationship that helps you ultimately solve or prevent a crime.”

In the past year, the national wave of protests against excessive use of police force turned violent in many cities, exposing a rift where police departments and the public view each other as adversaries rather than as partners. In Richmond, the demonstrations were peaceful, with the police department command staff engaging community members in dialogue about how policing could be done better. Chief Magnus, who is white, went so far as to hold a “Black Lives Matter” sign. “It seemed to totally represent what we’re trying to accomplish,” says Magnus, “which is respect: this idea that we acknowledge that the relationship between police and the African American community, particularly in many cities, has really been at best strained and at worst incredibly difficult for many, many years.”

Magnus took some grief for holding the sign, but he stands by his decision: “It doesn’t mean a wholesale endorsement of attacks on police or saying that police are brutal or racist across the board. Of course I don’t feel that way. I feel like all lives matter. That’s really what community policing should be about.”

Along with reducing crime, Richmond’s style of community policing could explain why Richmond’s recent protests were peaceful. “The key to the whole thing,” says community advocate Sullivan, “is the more you know who they are, and they know who you are, you respond to policing differently.”

Community policing is not Richmond’s only strategy. They have also actively hired for diversity within the department, deployed computer algorithms to help predict where crimes are likely to occur (and allocate resources accordingly), and they have begun testing body cameras on their officers. While some have touted body cameras as a panacea for preventing excessive use of force, Magnus thinks the issue is more complicated.

“First of all,” says Magnus, “cameras don’t show everything.” No matter how they’re worn by an officer, they don’t give a complete picture of what an officer may be seeing or perceiving in any given situation. And yet the public may believe the video will show the whole truth. Second, the whole truth is sometimes hard to look at. “Using force never looks good, even when it’s completely appropriate and within policy,” Magnus says. “It’s very tough to see somebody on the receiving end of a police baton, even if that is the right tool under the right circumstances to use.” Still, the public wants to see some of the results; they want criminals arrested, and they don’t want police officers put in unnecessary danger. “This means one of the challenges we’re going to face as police agencies is really helping to educate the public about the use of force. When is it appropriate, in what measure, under what circumstances? How do we do it? How are those decisions made?” And that conversation is only just beginning.

Finally, Magnus sees a real danger to the whole idea of community policing once body cameras get introduced. He believes that officers should not be required to have cameras on at all times, “because I want the public to be able to have positive, proactive conversations with officers that they don’t feel are being recorded.” What community policing has so successfully achieved in Richmond may be undermined if lawful residents suddenly feel they are under surveillance.

That said, the Richmond department has begun testing the technology, in part in an effort to learn how cameras might support its broader goals.

Last fall, the Department of Justice asked Chief Magnus to be on a panel of experts looking at protocols, procedures, training and supervision in St. Louis County. His takeaway: “it is critically important we redouble our effort to reconnect police and community at every possible level. None of this is easy. But if we’re operating from a position of goodwill, with the goal of building trust, there’s really a lot we can accomplish by working together.”

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Ramblings by Hal

Ramblings, Hollywood Characters, part 5, Old Bill

By Hal Collier, LAPD, Retired

Hal is a thirty-five year veteran of LAPD. We are pleased he is sharing his stories with us.

The following story is true, I was there. I’ll follow with a story about another Hollywood Character. I asked around for this character’s name or background. Everyone who worked Hollywood in the 70’s knew him but only two remembered his name and only Dale Hickerson remembered his background.

 

Ok, first the story. With today’s TV coverage of car pursuits and police tactics, everyone is an expert on how we stop felony suspects. The Helicopter reporters tell the viewers what the police should do next and they criticize the officer if it’s not according to their textbook. One of the problems is that different police departments have different tactics and policies.

 

Late one night a Hollywood police car spots a stolen car. The senior officer broadcasts that he is following a stolen car and requests a backup and a helicopter. The officer is southbound on Highland passing Sunset. I’m excited because I’m close and fall in behind the lead officer.

 

car stopIt must have been a slow night because two blocks later most of the cops in Hollywood division are behind us. The helicopter is overhead with its bright light shining down on the stolen vehicle. The lead officer turns on his red lights at Santa Monica and Highland. The suspect’s vehicle stops. I look behind me. We have about six police cars all with their red lights on and the entire street blocked. The helicopter is circling overhead.

 

The lead officer gets on the PA system in the police car and broadcasts to the suspect’s vehicle,  “This is the Los Angeles Police Department”  I hear a voice from an officer behind me,  “They know who we are.”

 

Picture this: fourteen officers crouched down behind their car doors, guns drawn, and adrenalin surging through their veins. Suddenly laughter breaks out. The lead officer is not going to let this stop him from conducting a tactically correct felony car stop. He orders the driver to throw the car keys out the driver’s window.

After a brief pause, the driver of the stolen car tosses a screwdriver out the window. More laughter from the officers.

The lead officer did everything by the book, but it was funny as hell.

 

Hollywood Character:  Baseball Pitcher—Old Bill

 

During the 70’s, there was a black man who would stand at the southwest corner of Santa Monica and Western. Other guys like me told his name was Bill. Just after first light Old Bill would be out on the corner with a baseball and a glove. I think he was in his 70’s or 80’s. Bill would bend at the waist and look in to get a sign from an imaginary catcher. He would wind up and throw an imaginary pitch. Sometimes he had runners on base and would throw an imaginary ball to first base.  I once looked at his baseball glove. It was similar to my dad’s glove that he used in high school in 1935, I know because I still have it.

 

Negro LeagueHollywood officers, including myself would stop and ask Old Bill, “What’s the score?” The Dodgers were always winning. The count on the batter varied but I don’t ever recall him giving up a home run. Another officer asked him once if any runner had ever stolen a base on him and Bill replied, “No I have a good catcher.” He was fun to talk to. I wish I had asked him more about his background. Dale Hickerson said he played some pro ball in the Negro leagues.

 

Last time I saw Old Bill was early one morning. I received a radio call of a man down at Santa Monica and Western. When I arrived, I was told that the man had been transported to Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital. I arrived at the hospital and Old Bill was lying on a gurney. A nurse was trying to pry Bill’s baseball and glove from his hand. Old Bill had a stroke and I never saw him again.

The Dodgers lost the best pitcher they never had and Hollywood lost a character.

Hal

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Writer's Notes

Ramblings, Hollywood Characters

 

 

By Hal Collier, LAPD, Retired

Hal is a thirty-five year veteran of LAPD. We are pleased he is sharing his stories with us.

This story is true and the characters are real. I ran across many memorable characters during my 33+ years working Hollywood. Some of the background comes from other old time Hollywood cops. J.J. Brown worked the Hollywood Boulevard foot beat for years and is a wealth of information. J.J. was a legend in Hollywood and his contribution was invaluable. I’ll start with a short story and then describe a well-known Hollywood character, Tilly.

 

I’m working Day Watch, after fourteen years on A.M.’s, that’s graveyard, for my non-police friends. I would get up at 4 A.M. and drive into Hollywood and workout or go for a 3 1/2 mi. run.

 

arcoOn this particular morning, I noticed I was low on gas in “Old Blue,” as my truck was affectionately known. No problem, I’ll stop at the all-night ARCO gas station at Franklin and Gower to fill up. While pumping gas I was once offered sex for a few dollars by a woman with oozing sores on her face. Gas at that time was $2.00 a gallon and she was asking for five gallons worth. I always had my gun close by and a firm “no” was sufficient to make her go away.

 

I pulled up to the pump and began pumping gas. I heard a shopping cart approaching. A young hype-looking guy is pushing a shopping cart with a large brown paper bag in the cart. He approaches me and asks, “You want to but a stereo?” I look into the open shopping bag and see five car stereos, with the wires dangling. Ok, even a rookie just out from the academy knows these were just ripped out of car dashes. I tell the hype, “No, thank you.” He walks off. I make a note of his description and watch him leave.

 

This story is old and I didn’t have a cell phone. (Hell, I had to be dragged into the technology age. I now have a cell phone but I never turn it on and I don’t even know my cell phone number.)

 

I drive to the station and tell the watch commander about my encounter with the car burglar. He sends two officers out to search for my suspect. I complete my workout, shower, dress, and go to roll call. As I’m walking out the back door to go to work, I run into the officers with my suspect. I look at the suspect and ask, “Want to buy a stereo?” The “oh shit” look on his face was priceless. He admitted to breaking into eight cars and even showed the officers which cars. It could have been a TV episode of stupid criminals. You can’t make up this stuff.

 

Hollywood Characters:  Tilly

 

Any street cop that worked Hollywood in the 70’s and 80’s knew Tilly. Tilly was an original bag lady. She must have been in her 70’s. She wore a 3/4 length coat, day or night, winter or summer and a pair of black 3/4 top men’s work shoes. Tilly pushed around a shopping cart full of her worldly belongings. She didn’t beg but people felt sorry for her and gave her money. Tilly looked like everyone’s grandmother, only dirtier.

 

Sunset Strip
Sunset Strip

During the day Tilly would walk Hollywood and Sunset Boulevards pushing her shopping cart. At night when I was working, Tilly could be found at the “International Hot Dog” stand at Hollywood and McCadden. The “Hot Dog Stand” as it was known to Hollywood cops was an all-night dive, where you could buy dope, sex or discuss world events with a drag queen. I think they even sold hot dogs.

 

Tilly would stand in the corner and mind her own business. I remember once a guy offered to buy Tilly a meal. Tilly lashed out at this guy, telling him she didn’t need his money or charity.

 

old woman pulling shopping cartThe truth of the matter is that Tilly had money and according to some officers, she had lots. Once, J.J. a Hollywood foot beat officer, took Tilly to the hospital for a mental evaluation. They found $600.00 in small bills in her shopping cart. Another time an officer was in line at the Bank of America and Tilly was in front of him. Tilly deposited a handful of money into her bank account. Tilly could probably afford a motel room but like a lot of homeless people, she chose to live on the streets.

 

They tore down the Hot Dog stand in the 80’s and put up a strip mall. After that I would occasionally see Tilly sleeping on a bus bench on Sunset.  I didn’t even know her real name and like most Hollywood Characters, Tilly just disappeared.

Hal

 

 

Epilogue:  After I wrote this three years ago I received additional stories about Tilly from former Hollywood cops. Mike Castro mentioned the time he booked Tilly. She had $2,500 dollars in cash in her shopping cart. The officers almost threw it out with her trash.

 

Paul Anderson also related the following story:   Somewhere around the early 90’s I was driving westbound Beverly between Crescent Heights and Fairfax when I see this very nicely dressed elderly lady walking eastbound on Beverly. I abruptly stopped my black and white, backed up, and said to myself, “That looks like Tilly.” (Years prior she told me her real name was Mary Marlow). I got out of my car and walked up to her and asked, ‘Tilly?’” She says, “Sergeant Anderson, how are you?” I asked her why she left the Boulevards (Hollywood and Sunset) and she responded, “Someone told me it was dangerous, so I went to a retirement home.” This is coming from a “street person” of 10 to 15 years literally sleeping on the streets. Anyway, it was nice to see her and that she was alive and safe.

 

Another Hollywood success story. No wonder I loved worked Hollywood!

Hal

So I have to ask: any of you cop-types reading this have stories about your “characters.” Send a comment to this post and we’ll see how many characters we can accumulate!

Thonie

 

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Ramblings by Hal

Rambling, Desk Duty, part 4 of 4, Let Me Entertain You

By Hal Collier, LAPD, Retired Hal is a thirty-five year veteran of LAPD. We are pleased he is sharing his stories with us.

 

The following story is true. I thought my last Ramblings about the desk was the final chapter, but I remembered some incidents myself and I was asked why I didn’t write about so and so. So here goes. You know it almost sounds like working the desk was all fun.

 

Remember these stories are spread out over thirty-five years. I could tell you about the times there were twelve people waiting in line to make a report or get their car out of impound. I could bore you with the time a citizen waited twenty minutes in line to be told he needed to talk to a Detective. The Detective interviewed him for thirty minutes and then walked him back out to the end of the desk line and told the desk officer to take a report. Ah!!! Why didn’t the detective just take the report when he was getting all the information? See? This was why patrol and detectives didn’t get along.

 

There were some pretty amusing stories also. There was a desk officer (JP) who raced out of roll call to be the first one at the desk. No one else rushed to work the desk. After some time the other desk officers discovered that he was placing a sign on the outside of the desk in front of his seat that said “Questions Only.” He didn’t have to take any reports.

It was also common for desk officers to throw items into a desk drawer that needed to be booked into property: found drivers licenses, credit cards, keys, and other items that are beyond description.

 

old grenadeAnother time a little old lady walked into the lobby, with a paper bag. She set the paper bag on the counter and removed a hand grenade. It was something her late husband had brought home from who knows what war. The lobby and the front of the station were evacuated and an hour later, the bomb squad determined it was safe. No reports taken during that hour. This happened more than once.

 

Some nights, there was entertainment at the desk. If Hollywood had a new lieutenant, one of the patrol officers would send “BJ” to the station to greet him. BJ was a well-endowed woman who lived on Yucca. First time I was introduced to BJ was at Yucca and Wilcox. My partner pulled into the parking lot at Playboy Liquor. I hear a female voice calling out, “Officer.” I look up at the balcony and see this woman. She says, “Hi, I’m BJ.” I hunch my shoulders at her and I hear my partner laughing. BJ flops out her boobs and wiggles them at me. Welcome to police work, Hollywood style.

 

Back to the new lieutenant. Some officer would send BJ to the desk and have BJ ask to see the Watch Commander. The new lieutenant would walk out to the desk and you guessed it, BJ would greet the new Watch Commander in the only way she knew how! I never sent BJ to the desk. I had a child on the way and really needed my job.

 

Flash forward a lot of years. I’m a sergeant and the Watch Commander for the day. It’s a Saturday. One of my senior desk officers tells me that a citizen wants to speak to me. Not unusual, people always want to speak to the Watch Commander. I go to the desk and this man says he has a video that he thinks I should see. This is post-Rodney King and we know what a mess that video caused. My heart is racing, I can feel my blood pressure rising, I should have called in sick. I ask him what’s on the tape. He only tells me it pretty disgusting and something needs to be done.

 

I take the tape, and tell the man to have a seat. I go into the captains’ office to watch the tape. I’m thinking, oh please not a video of a policeman involved in some deed of misconduct. I go over the list of notifications if it’s a Rodney King-type tape. If I miss one notification, it’s days off without pay for me. My kids are both in college and I’m broke.

 

RatsI hit the play button and hold my breath. It’s a video of the north side of the police station, near our trash dumpsters. At first, I’m looking for cops, then I see small furry rodents. That’s right—rats, dozens of them. They are living in the storm drain and come out to raid our trash dumpsters.

 

I know from experience they aren’t eating left over jail food. I can breathe again and the only notification I need to make is to the city to rid the station of these pests. Most officers thought all the Watch Commander did was drink coffee and play Free Cell on the computer.

 

Working the Hollywood desk had its moments, but for the most part, it was busy twenty-four hours a day. When I worked Southeast (Watts), the morning watch desk was run by one officer who watched VHS movies on a small TV most nights. The Watch Commander brought in the movies. They even turned off the lobby lights; it looked like we were closed. Different worlds.

 

coffee-readyThis last story is half desk, half Watch Commanders Office. We used to have a coffee machine in the Watch Commanders (W/C) office. It was one of those office machines where someone actually had to make a pot of coffee. No one wanted to make coffee, so a game was devised where you would pitch a quarter at white circle on the tile floor. The farthest quarter from the circle had to make the pot of coffee. You had to be careful that your quarter didn’t end up on its edge and roll into the desk area.

 

Next, it was decided that we would have three quarter pitches. First loser would make coffee; second loser had to buy coffee for everyone in the game. The last loser had to pour coffee for everyone. Soon the third loser had to wear a red waiter’s vest and hang a white towel over his arm as he poured. If you lost all three games, you made the hall of fame and had you picture taken. Sometimes if you had a lot of participants, it could cost you your eating money for the night, not to mention the embarrassment of wearing the red vest. Your tax dollars at work.

 

Working the desk was not a lot of fun, but it had its moments and of course these memories.

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More Street Stories

If you don’t want to get hurt, don’t challenge me

This article appeared today in the Press Democrat, a Santa Rosa area newspaper, reprinted from the Washington Post. Mr. Dutta has a reasonable opinion on Ferguson, Missouri and many other incidents like this. In my county, it is the Andy Lopez shooting by Deputy Eric Gelhaus. Mere words cannot change what happened either in Ferguson or Santa Rosa, but Mr. Dutta’s sensible scenarios for citizens and cops is a must read. If one person remembers his words, posting the article was worth it. It’s long but the perspective may change the way you look at or react to police contact. –Thonie

 

By SUNIL DUTTA

A teen-ager is fatally shot by a police officer; the police are accused of being bloodthirsty, trigger-happy murderers; riots erupt. This, we are led to believe, is the way of things in America.

It is also a terrible calumny; cops are not murderers. No officer goes out in the field wishing to shoot anyone, armed or unarmed. And while they’re unlikely to defend it quite as loudly during a time of national angst like this one, people who work in law enforcement know they are legally vested with the authority to detain suspects — an authority that must sometimes be enforced. Regardless of what happened with Mike Brown, in the overwhelming majority of cases it is not the cops, but the people they stop, who can prevent detentions from turning into tragedies.

Working the street, I can’t even count how many times I withstood curses, screaming tantrums, aggressive and menacing encroachments on my safety zone and outright challenges to my authority. In the vast majority of such encounters, I was able to peacefully resolve the situation without using force. Cops deploy their training and their intuition creatively, and I wielded every trick in my arsenal, including verbal judo, humor, warnings and ostentatious displays of the lethal (and nonlethal) hardware resting in my duty belt.

One time, for instance, my partner and I faced a belligerent man who had doused his car with gallons of gas and was about to create a firebomb at a busy mall filled with holiday shoppers. The potential for serious harm to the bystanders would have justified deadly force. Instead, I distracted him with a hook about his family and loved ones, and he disengaged without hurting anyone. Every day cops show similar restraint and resolve incidents that could easily end up in serious injuries or worse. Sometimes, though, no amount of persuasion or warnings work on a belligerent person; that’s when cops have to use force, and the results can be tragic. We are still learning what transpired between Officer Darren Wilson and Brown, but in most cases it’s less ambiguous — and officers are rarely at fault. When they use force, they are defending their, or the public’s, safety.

Even though it might sound harsh and impolitic, here is the bottom line: if you don’t want to get shot, tased, pepper-sprayed, struck with a baton or thrown to the ground, just do what I tell you. Don’t argue with me, don’t call me names, don’t tell me that I can’t stop you, don’t say I’m a racist pig, don’t threaten that you’ll sue me and take away my badge. Don’t scream at me that you pay my salary and don’t even think of aggressively walking toward me. Most field stops are complete in minutes. How difficult is it to cooperate for that long?

I know it is scary for people to be stopped by cops. I also understand the anger and frustration if people believe they have been stopped unjustly or without a reason. I am aware that corrupt and bully cops exist. When it comes to police misconduct, I side with the ACLU: Having worked as an internal affairs investigator, I know that some officers engage in unprofessional and arrogant behavior; sometimes they behave like criminals themselves. I also believe every cop should use a body camera to record interactions with the community at all times. Every police car should have a video recorder. (This would prevent a situation like Mike Brown’s shooting, about which conflicting and self-serving statements allow people to believe what they want.) And you don’t have to submit to an illegal stop or search. You can refuse consent to search your car or home if there’s no warrant (though a pat-down is still allowed if there is cause for suspicion).

Always ask the officer whether you are under detention or are free to leave. Unless the officer has a legal basis to stop and search you, he or she must let you go. Finally, cops are legally prohibited from using excessive force: The moment a suspect submits and stops resisting, the officers must cease use of force.

But if you believe (or know) that the cop stopping you is violating your rights or is acting like a bully, I guarantee that the situation will not become easier if you show your anger and resentment. Worse, initiating a physical confrontation is a sure recipe for getting hurt. Police are legally permitted to use deadly force when they assess a serious threat to their or someone else’s life. Save your anger for later, and channel it appropriately. Do what the officer tells you to and it will end safely for both of you. We have a justice system in which you are presumed innocent; if a cop can do his or her job unmolested, that system can run its course. Later, you can ask for a supervisor, lodge a complaint or contact civil rights organizations if you believe your rights were violated. Feel free to sue the police! Just don’t challenge a cop during a stop.

An average person cannot comprehend the risks and has no true understanding of a cop’s job. Hollywood and television stereotypes of the police are cartoons in which fearless super cops singlehandedly defeat dozens of thugs, shooting guns out of their hands. Real life is different. An average cop is always concerned with his or her safety and tries to control every encounter. That is how we are trained.

While most citizens are courteous and law abiding, the subset of people we generally interact with everyday are not the genteel types. You don’t know what is in my mind when I stop you. Did I just get a radio call of a shooting moments ago? Am I looking for a murderer or an armed fugitive? For you, this might be a “simple” traffic stop, for me each traffic stop is a dangerous encounter. Show some empathy for an officer’s safety concerns. Don’t make our job more difficult than it already is.

Community members deserve courtesy, respect and professionalism from their officers. Every person stopped by a cop should feel safe instead of feeling that their wellbeing is in jeopardy. Shouldn’t the community members extend the same courtesy to their officers and project that the officer’s safety is not threatened by their actions? Sunil Dutta, a professor of homeland security at Colorado Tech University, has been an officer with the Los Angeles Police Department for 17 years. The views presented here are his own and do not represent the LAPD.

From the Washington Post.

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Ramblings by Hal

Ramblings: Driving, part 1 of probably 3

 

Hal’s post for today is also on my updated website thoniehevron.com under “Just the Facts, Ma’am.” For now the photos aren’t posted but will be soon. Please bear with me during this transition to my website from Wordpress blog.

Thanks, Thonie 

by Hal Collier

Think back to your youth. To some of us that will be a longer reach. Your hormones are racing and you wonder how your parents have survived knowing so little about the real world. You’re about to learn how to drive. You’re good at home for at least a few weeks before you ask mom if your can get a learner’s permit from DMV.

 

You get a permit and pester mom or dad to teach you to drive. It’s amazing how old dad got in six months while you drove in parking lots with no cars and on back streets. You finally get a license to drive. Mom will never sleep well again and dad seems to drink a little more beer at night after a lesson.

 

imagesP2HPK037Flash forward to the day you graduate from the police academy and hit the streets. You’re a rookie and although you have passed an academy approved driving course, in the real world of police work you don’t know how to drive. If you get to drive a real black and white police car (B/W) it’s only to gas it up or have the garage wash your cruiser.

 

I’ll never forget my first time! I’m still in the academy, but in the fourth month, they sent you out into the field for a few days to get a taste of real police work. That means you actually put bullets in your gun and most citizens don’t know that you’re a rookie.

 

On my first day, I show up at Rampart station looking good. I’m assigned to ride along with a Senior Lead Officer (Community Relations Officer). He’s what I later referred to as a slug. We spend the first two hours running off fliers for a neighborhood watch meeting. I got a paper cut but decided not to tell my academy classmates I was injured on duty.

 

We spent another hours following catering trucks to high-rise buildings on Wilshire Boulevard. That was so he could hit on office secretaries. We ate lunch at a dive restaurant only because the meal was half price.

An LAPD no no!

 

After lunch, we’re driving down Wilshire Boulevard and my partner pulls over to the curb. He looks at me and says, “Get Out.” Oh crap, what have I done? He tells me I’m driving. Holy crap. I remind him I’m still in the academy; he laughs and tells me to drive. Cool. I get in and adjust the mirrors, seat, and cinch the seat belt down tight. I’m ready. I ask, “Where do you want me to drive?” He replies anywhere as long as it’s up and down Wilshire Boulevard real slow so I can look at the girls! I swore that I would never be that kind of a cop. He was later fired for using crime statistics to promote his own alarm business.

 

There are reasons that new officers don’t get to drive and I’m going to tell you some of them. The most important is survival! Every cop wants to go home at the end of his shift. The driver of a B/W often holds the life of both officers in his hands. An inexperienced driver can get both officers killed as well as innocent citizens. Trust me, there’s no glory in dying in a car crash that was your fault. 

 

article.wn.com police foundtn dev dr trng trackCops, especially young cops seem to have an invincible attitude or “that’s not going to happen to me.” You have to attend a few police officer funerals to see that you’re not Superman. There is no bigger shock than looking down at a dead police officer in his uniform in a casket. I made my probationers go to at least one cop funeral for that reason alone. Cops have a tendency to want to be the first on scene at a major incident so we drive faster and take more chances. Only with experience do we slow down. Having a family also helps.

 

After graduation, I’m sent to Hollywood Division, the “Entertainment Capital of the World.” I’m pretty proud: we’re driving down Hollywood Boulevard, it’s a Saturday night and the streets are packed. I even have bullets in my gun. I’m perfectly happy to be the passenger—for a while.

 

Next I’ll describe why rookies shouldn’t drive until they have out grown those academy t-shirts.  

–Hal

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Compassionate Cops? 5-31-14

Here’s another wonderful post about the good that police officers do. Courtesy of C.L. Swinney. Link to his blog is at bottom of post. –Thonie

 

Florida Officer Helps Boy Who Lost Birthday Present

 

A Jacksonville police officer gave a local boy the birthday that had been stolen from him, all because of an auto burglary.

According to the police report, someone broke into the boy’s mother’s van on Gilmore Street between 5 p.m. March 27 and 2 p.m. the next day and stole children’s clothing valued at about $2,000. That included his birthday present.

The mother had purchased the clothing with her tax refund, the report states. She told Officer Derek Pratico, who handled the auto burglary, that she did not have any money to replace the gift and didn’t know how she was going to give her son a birthday.

Pratico wrote up the police report and finished his tour of duty, then went to a store the next day and bought a new birthday present, cake and birthday card for the boy. He got a $100 gift card for the child’s mother to help her. Then he gave them their presents.

“I did not do this for any recognition,” Pratico said in a Sheriff’s Office Facebook post. “I just felt it was the right thing to do at that moment.”

Police did search the neighborhood for suspects in the auto burglary and did check the minivan for fingerprints, the report states.

 

http://Compassionate Cops? 5-31-14.

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COP started it

A Little Sumptin’ About Cop Acronyms

by Thonie Hevron

With apologies to my Wednesday post readers-I’m a little late. Here is your Wednesday post in all its glory!

Sir Robert Peel
Sir Robert Peel

It started with COP. In 1829, Sir Robert Peel of Britain succeeded in reforming the criminal laws and established the London police force, whose members came to be called Peelers or Bobbies. In time, another title: “Constable on Patrol” was shortened to cop.

For the same reason radio codes are used, cops have come to use acronyms as shorthand. Whether a pursuit at 90 miles per hour or sneaking around a fence line searching for a prowler, an officer cannot always afford the time to use proper English. Codes help but don’t always do the trick. To avoid confusion, shorthand acronyms are used.

 

Some are universal, some unique to the agency that uses it. For instance, when I worked for Petaluma PD, we used the letter “W” to designate the station. No one knew its origin but it was used until I left in 1991. Anyone know if they still use it? 

 

There are many terms for the same thing. In Southern California, law enforcement uses “BO” to indicate something (usually equipment) is broken. In Northern Cali, if I said BO on the radio, everyone would think I was calling something stinky. Here we use “down”. An example: My patrol unit is down.

 

Also while in Petaluma, I worked with a Wonder Dispatcher who had a low tolerance for fools—in or out of uniform. Before computers, magnets were used for unit identifiers. A BTW: For example—Gerry Goldshine was 1Tom36: 1 (1 is city designator for Petaluma, 10 for the Sheriff’s Office) Tom (the alpha that stands for a traffic unit) 36 was his patrol number. When I was a Community Service Officer (acronym: CSO, predictably) I was 1Charles 65-Charles was the CSO alpha.   

Police dispatcher photo by gazette.net
Police dispatcher
photo by gazette.net

Somehow, Wonder Dispatcher got a magnet made with NARS on it. It stood for “Not a Rocket Scientist”. Every day she worked, she would place the little sign over the officer’s activity card. Whoever made a fool of himself (or herself) that shift, got the dubious honor. This was awarded for general or specific stupidity and Wonder Dispatcher was the Queen who bestowed it.

Sometimes members of the general public were given their own acronyms. A particularly used set of initials were not condoned by the department, but used regularly as needed: PVP, NHI. Needs were based on judgments about the type of call or the behavior of the involved parties. “Low-lifes” occupy a lot of police time. Many are regulars—or frequent fliers—who don’t have the common sense to solve their problems, thus they become a problem for others. The letters stand for “puke versus puke, no humans involved”.

Most of the other acronyms I can readily think of aren’t nearly so interesting. Here are a few.

DEA-Drug Enforcement Agency, FBI and all the other agencies…

GOA-gone on arrival

OIS-officer involved shooting

WC-watch commander

ETA-estimated time of arrival

X-stands for female i.e. 10-15X is a female arrestee

J-juvenile

IFO-in front of; JSO-just south (change the letter for the different direction) of…

HBD-has been drinking or ETOH-borrowed from our paramedic co-workers, it pertains to someone who has been drinking

HUA-when I quizzed acronyms on Facebook, this one got volunteered a lot from friends who know the job. It’s a catch all that hopefully won’t see much radio time: head up ass

BOL or BOLO-Be on the Lookout; similar to APB-all points bulletin

WMA and variations: white male adult (race, gender, age given in same order), WFJ is a white female juvenile, BFA is a black female adult, Latins are generally known as Mexican or Hispanic (is currently correct), Asian are O probably to avoid confusion with Adult…and so on.

DOA-dead on arrival

PC and VC-penal code and vehicle code; the two Bibles for California law enforcement. Additionally there are other code books we must know: WIC-Welfare and Institutions Code (particularly in child welfare incidents) H&S-Health and Safety is used in drug incidents, including cultivation, use, sale, and possession of all types of narcotics and other drugs.

POS-refers to a vehicle, residence or sometimes even a person that is a “piece of shit”

Most of these won’t find their way to official police transcripts or on the radio. Some are just used to get a point across to another officer.

Sure had fun putting this list together.

Any more out there?

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Calling All Cars

Adam 12 sound byte

San Rafael PD Meter Maids c1973 Marie Morris, Sharon Bunker, Thonie Mulcahy (Hevron)
San Rafael PD Meter Maids c1973 Marie Morris, Sharon Bunker, Thonie Mulcahy (Hevron)

Back in 1973, when I first got hired as a Parking Enforcement Officer with San Rafael Police Department in California, I didn’t need to worry about 10 codes. For the first 2 years of my tenure, we had no radio in our “buggies”. Of course, I learned them anyway. Then around 1975, after a Hell’s Angel accosted me (it’s not what you think: I was on 4th Street–the main drag–and this Romeo decided he was irresistible and wouldn’t take NO for an answer). Because the incident occurred downtown in a highly visible area, merchants called the swamped police dispatch straightaway. Admin decided I needed a radio of my own way to call for help. The “portable” radio they gave me to use was about 8 pounds and 12” x 10” x 3”. Not so portable, really. Months later when was assigned to having cars towed from no parking zones, I had to really learn to talk on that darn thing. So using the only role model available–Adam 12–I wrote down what I needed to say on the radio, then read it with the mike keyed. I knew it wouldn’t take too long to learn the ins and outs–I was a quick study.

The radio was to become my career, even though I denied it to anyone who would listen. There have been high points and low points, to be sure. But learn it, I did.

One of the first things I had to learn was the 10-code, aka the aural brevity code. San Rafael Police Department–as do many municipalities in California–used the 10 code. The 9 code is a relic from years past sometimes used and the 11 code is primarily the California Highway Patrol’s realm. To be accurate, most agencies use a mix of the 10 and 11 codes.

Calling All Cars

Motorola has a great website to detailing the beginning of police radio communications.

The development of the 10-codes began in 1937, when police radio channels were limited, to reduce use of speech on the radio. Credit for inventing the codes goes to Charles “Charlie” Hopper, communications director for the Illinois State Police, in Pesotum, Il. Hopper realized there was a need to abbreviate transmissions on State Police bands.

Experienced radio operators knew the first syllable of a transmission was frequently not understood because of quirks in early electronics technology. Radios in the 1930s were based on vacuum tubes powered by a small motor-generator called a dynamotor. The dynamotor took from 1/10 to 1/4 of a second to “spin up” to full power. Police officers were trained to push the microphone button, then pause briefly before speaking; however, sometimes they would forget to wait. Preceding each code with “ten-” gave the radio transmitter time to reach full power.

Highway Patrol with Broderick Crawford
Highway Patrol with Broderick Crawford

Ten-codes, especially “ten-four”, first reached public recognition in the mid- to late-1950s through the popular television series Highway Patrol, with Broderick Crawford. Crawford would reach into his patrol car to use the microphone to answer a call and precede his response with “10-4”.

Ten-codes were adapted for use by CB radio enthusiasts during its pop culture explosion in the late 1970s. The hit 1975 song “Convoy” by C. W. McCall depicting conversation among CB-communicating truckers put phrases like 10-4 meaning “understood” and what’s your twenty? (10-20) for “where are you?” into common and use in American English. A 1978 movie Convoy, loosely based on the song, further entrenched ten-codes in casual conversation.

Replacement with plain language

As of 2011, ten-codes remain in common use, but have been phased out in some areas in favor of plain language. Nineteen states were planning to change to plain English as of the end of 2009.

10-4 does not mean “yes” (one of my pet peeves), only “understood” “acknowledged” or “ok”.

Official 10 codes

This link provides the standard published by Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) list of 10 codes. However, each agency has its own peculiarities and codes often morph into something unique to the department. When I worked for Petaluma Police (1981-1992), the standard code for “station” (the police station) was “W”. I asked once what it stood for. No one could recall. I doubt they are still using this.

Codes are often used in a more abbreviated form. For instance, using Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety, an exchange that could be “4 Sam 1, 10-20?” “First and Main” might be more like “4 Sam 1, what’s your 10-20?” “My 20 is First and Main”—it would be more efficient to simply ask, “4 Sam 1, where are you?” “I’m at First and Main.” FYI: The “4” before the “Sam” in the call sign denotes the agency. In Sonoma County, “1” stands for Sonoma County Sheriff’s Department. Surrounding agencies are numbered by mutual agreement and use their numbers in their department call signs. The “Sam” is a rank designator, in this case a sergeant.

  • “Lincoln” is a patrol officer
  • “Tom” is a traffic officer
  • “Mary” is a motor officer
  • “David” is a detective
  • “Adam” is an administrator

The number following is called the “unit number” and generally assigned by seniority. For instance, the most senior patrol officer would be “4L1” or “4Lincoln1”.

Just so you don’t think this cop stuff is too easy, there are agencies who adjust an officer’s call sign by shift, beat or zone and unit. For instance, Sonoma County Sheriff uses this system: “E-Edward” is a dayshift unit, “F” is swing (afternoons) shift, and “G” is graveyard (nights). The agency designator stays the same but if an officer is hired for overtime and works a different shift than normal, he has to learn to say his correct radio call sign. In times of intense stress, this has proven to be problematic.

On the other hand, there are times when the use of codes is appropriate, even if less efficient than speaking “clear text”. For instance, using discreet codes for sexual assault, homicide, suicide and other such situations can prevent the victim and family from having to hear the description being broadcast to all within earshot. Even when the meaning is known, it is less of an emotional jolt to hear a set of numbers being rattled off than to hear plain-speech terms for the trauma.

Incident Command System at work
Incident Command System at work

While ten-codes were intended to be a terse, concise, and standardized system, the proliferation of different meanings may render them useless in situations where people from different agencies and jurisdictions need to communicate. For that reason their use is expressly forbidden in the nationally-standardized Incident Command System as is the use of other codes. An example: in Marin County, a “code 6” is a warrant check. In Sonoma County, it is a request for back-up. Yikes.

In the fall of 2005, responding to inter-organizational communication problems during the rescue operations after Hurricane Katrina, the United States Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) discouraged the use of ten-codes and other codes due to their wide variation in meaning. The Department of Homeland Security‘s SAFECOM program, established in response to communication problems experienced during the September 11 attacks also advises local agencies on how and why to transition to plain language. The New Orleans Police Department continued using 10-codes as of 2010.

There is no easy answer. Besides codes, clear talk is the only other option. Yet there are times when law enforcement agencies need expeditious codes. Standardization is a great idea but as long as more than two agencies are involved, there will be differences.

Next, some interesting thoughts from a friend who moved from a California fire agency to a Mid-west military installation. The next post will be guest Elaine O’Brien from Fort Riley PD. You’ll love some of her insights!