By Mikey, Retired LAPD
On the LAPD, if I say the 647f (drunk in public) had a “Short Dog,” I’m talking about his wine bottle. I have several “short stories” that I call “Short Dogs,” so readers will know they are short stories.
The Locker Room Ghost
I was working Northeast Division morning watch (12 midnight to 0800) with my partner, Ruben. He has been in court most of the day prior and did not get a lot of sleep so around 0200 we take code 7(meal break) at the station. Now, this is the old station on York Boulevard built in the early twenties so it is old even in 1977. It’s the LAPD museum today. Ruben crashed in one of the old holding cells so I headed to my locker to get some change for the food vending machine. Our roll call and locker rooms were in the basement of the station, so down I went. I had the door open and was grabbing some change when I felt “something” brush my back. It was as if a person had walked past and brushed up against me. Startled, I turned around and saw that there was no one there. Then a feeling “get out,” came over me. I slammed the locker door shut and shot up the stairs, landing in a chair at the desk area. I was still breathing hard when the watch commander walked in, took one look at me and said, (yes, he did—he said,) “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” The second I finished my story, two coppers and a sergeant, guns drawn, were in the locker room looking for whatever. If you are an old Northeast copper and experienced the paranormal, you ain’t alone brother.
Rich H. and the Spider
On another night working Northeast morning watch, my partner Scott and I were asked to switch channels at the request of another unit. The officers asked that we meet them at a location near Eastern Avenue and Huntington Drive. Rich H. and Steve F. are two of the best street coppers I’ve ever worked with; their tactics are rock solid. They inform us that they thought they had heard a shot and it sounded like it had come from a location down a narrow alley. To either sides of the alley are car ports and garages so we have plenty of cover as we make our way through the alley. Scott and I are on the right side of the alley and Rich and Steve are on the left. With guns drawn. off we go. There was some overhead lighting on the streets to either side of the alley so we were not in total darkness. Using our flashlights was not an option as we did not want to give the “who-so-evers” targets. All was going well, I mean we were mini SWAT going up that alley using hand signals and all, very impressive. I saw Rich move into a car port and take cover behind a wall. Just as Steve started to move, Rich yelled “Holy S—T, Holy S—T” and started the weirdest gyrations I’ve ever seen a man do WITH GUN IN HAND! “Spiders, Spiders. Get them off me!” Well, cover blown, flashlights on, illuminating Rich, to heck with the “shooter,” get the friggin spiders! You see, Rich has this thing for spiders. He walked into a web and the rest is history. Coppers are only human too.
Well, sort of.
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Read Thonie Hevron’s books: By Force or Fear, Intent to Hold, and With Malice Aforethought are all available through Amazon.
