After a couple days of relaxation and spending time with friends, I went back to work. While I was off, I was itching to get back to work. I very much enjoy the constantly changing environment, awesome coworkers, and getting to interact with all kinds of people. Every day is different, and every day has a new first. I got the most standard, but exciting “first” a police officer can have; an arrest.
The day had started somewhat slow, just some him-hawing around, directed patrols (certain areas that have seen increased criminal activity get driven through a few times a day as a deterrent), verbal disputes, the normal stuff. Then, we had a warrant check.
Warrants are a finicky thing, you never know what you’re walking into, especially if you’re going to someone’s house to try to find them. You’re on their turf, and you have no idea what they have inside, or what frame of mind they are in. The call came in and we told dispatch we would back-up the primary officer. It was a simple warrant, “Failure to Appear”, but this guy had done an outstanding job of avoiding us for upwards of a year, and it was time to try again to find him. We rolled up to the house, and made our approach.
We made sure to stay close to the wall approaching the door, as it is the most tactical place to approach from. As we neared the door, my field training officer looked at me and said “You’re gonna be the one knocking”. My heart rate immediately spiked, and my hands got a little clammy. All I could think was “Oh. Oh wow. Here we go.” The other officers took points on the corners of the house to watch and see if the guy we were looking to pick up would bolt out the back door, or a window, or who knows what. knock knock knock “
“Oh shit. Hey Corporal, this door isn’t secured and is coming open when I knock”. He shrugged his shoulders and told me to keep knocking. Then, the dogs started barking. Great.
I kept knocking. The door kept coming closer to popping open. I knocked again. Then, the door swung wide open. It was there that I was greeted by a big, barking dog, and this was his land. I immediately back pedaled praying that this dog wouldn’t come after me. Luckily he didn’t. He came up to me wagging his tail, I gave him a little pet, and shooed him off. Another one appeared and I did the same with him. After that, a smaller one came out, barking and approaching me with it’s hair raised on end. “Oh boy.”
Me and the other officers started to do a little dance, trying to keep our distance from the aggressive one, while still trying to watch the door and the house. A million thoughts pounded through my brain. If it charges me, do I kick it? Do I shoot it? Do I tase it? I love dogs, and hurting one is the last thing I would want to do, but I’ll be damned if I get bit by a random one. That dog finally backed down, and joined his buddies in watching us. Sadly, the guy never came to the door, and we put the dogs in the backyard and made sure the gate was secure. We’ll get him eventually.
After that, we made our way to the car, and as soon as we sat down, I more urgent voice came over the radio. “I got two suspects both of them running the other one is headed across the street”. Very fast, very exasperated. The adrenaline from the warrant call spiked even more. We scooted off across town, trying to get to the shoplifters. We neared the scene, and more information came out “We’ve got one in custody. We’re getting reports the second guy is in the Chick-Fil-A across the street”. We picked up the pace a bit to get there, weaving in and out of traffic.
We arrived to the parking lot, and two more squad cars pulled in. I had unbuckled my seatbelt before we even came to a stop, and my hand rested on the door handle, ready to bail and go get this guy. I was chomping at the bit. We stopped, I hopped out and followed another officer into the restaurant which was filled with wide-eyed customers who were there for their lunch break.
He was no where to be seen, but, we hadn’t checked the bathroom yet, so we made our way there. Lo-and-behold, there was our guy.
Sitting. On the toilet. In the stall. With his pants down.
We could make out his clothing and tattoos which fit the description through the crack in the stall. The other officer drew his taser and pointed it at the door “Hey man. We know you’re in there. Come out” My heart started pounding a bit more. This dude was a lot bigger, than me, and was tattooed head to toe. For a lack of better terms, he looked a bit “rough” around the edges.
“Bro I’m takin’ shit, I’m almost done just hold up please”.
So we waited about 30 seconds, and called to him again. This time, we heard a flush (which was probably his dope, but who knows). He slowly rose from the toilet, pulled his pants up, and clicked the lock open.
Yet another adrenaline surge.
He opened the door, but as he did so, he started to put on his t-shirt which he had taken off at some point. We began giving him commands to stop, we would get it on later, but he needed to turn around and put his hands behind his back. He did not listen and continued trying to get his shirt on.
That’s when we went hands on. We tugged him a bit, grabbed the shirt away. My heart was pounding. This was it. I was hands-on with a guy and about to put him in handcuffs. Another officer hopped in and grabbed his other arm, and I whipped out my cuffs. I fumbled with them a bit, but got them in the right position finally. My hands were trembling, I’m not going to lie.
click click. That was one of the most satisfying sounds I’ve heard.
My FTO called over to me “RandomOfficer, you got him?”
“Sure do.”
I then got to take a walk of pride through the restaurant, while the shoplifter took a walk of shame. It took everything in my power to stiffle a smile. I was absolutely ecstatic. I had made my first arrest. We lead him out to the car and I searched him. He was then placed in the backseat, and the real fun was about to begin; paperwork.
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