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Copyright November 3, 2017 Art Labrousse

Chapter Two

At Last a Full-time Police Officer

Sarge came back out with my Training Manuel (issued by The Board on Police Standards and Training) and a book of City Ordinances that we enforced.   

It was telling that he didn’t give me a traffic statute book...I got that from my Training Officer who happened to be PFC John.

However, John wasn’t on duty that night; it was a Thursday night/Friday morning and it was John’s days off.

Sarge assigned Norm to start my training.  He told him to have me ride until 0400 and then come in and learn how to work the radio and teletype with Dorthea, Graveyard Matron.

When I first came on the force we had three Matrons; one for each shift.  They had a number of jobs in addition to having to dispatch officers and respond to their needs, such as requests for license information, warrant information, pulling over a violator, etc.

It was a hectic job, in addition to listening and responding to the radio and doing their assigned paperwork (each shift was different) they also had to greet anyone coming into the office to meet with officers, file complaints or anything else citizens may need to have addressed.

Then the reason they were called Matrons; the City had a jail in the basement.  While no one stayed downstairs with the inmates, we did have an intercom system so the Matrons could listen to see if there was any difficulty.

Day shift was the worst, far more traffic in and out of the office – it also put officers at risk in the field.  The Day shift Matron did the best she could, but there were times there were lapse and too much time before she could respond to officers as they called on the radio.

The Matrons had Saturday and Sunday’s off, except for Dorthea who had Sunday and Monday off. 

New officers were expected to sit the desk, no matter the shift, when the Matron was off.  As officers gained more experience and could work the street without close supervision the task might be taken by an older officer; especially if they had paperwork that needed to be completed and turned in.

Our shifts were Graveyard 2330 until 0800, Day shift 0730 to 1600 and Swing 1600 to 2400. 

We did not have a roll call, like people see on television.  We had the daily report that highlighted activity for the day and we would review that – if necessary we would look at individual cases.  We also had teletypes that we looked at to see if there was anything pertinent to our department and finally we would talk to the officers on the outgoing shift to see if they had anything in particular to tell us about.

Working the desk was not a particularly ‘glamorous’ or interesting job.  At first it did give me time to read up on the laws, study the 10-code, and other things pertaining to our department.

The training I received was pretty basic.  I practiced on the radio after Dorthea showed me how, I ran checks for car registrations and to see if they were stolen, operator’s license checks, and checks to see if a person was wanted or not.

Sarge had a habit of coming into the station at 0400.  He would do some work around the office and then go down to Johnny’s café to get breakfast for the inmates.  When he wasn’t working usually the junior officer (unless working the desk) would go and get the food.

Inmates were served at about 0600 hours and again at about 1600 hours, each time getting the meals from Johnny’s.

The inmates we had in our jail were arrested for municipal ordinance violations, most were for disorderly conduct, drunk and disorderly, but a few would be charged with traffic violations and minor assaults.

If it was a felony we would take the inmate to the County Jail a couple of blocks up the street.

Monday through Friday one of the day shift officers – usually the junior officer – at 0800 would take the inmates up to Municipal Court where they would be arraigned.  He would then take them back to the county jail or process them in the city jail.

On my first day of work, after sitting with Dorthea and working for a couple of hours, the Sarge came up and said, ‘let’s go have some coffee.’

We then went to the Recreation café’ a block down the street and sat down and had coffee.  Sarge then started talking to me about his philosophy and what he wanted on his shift.

In going over the traffic bails I noted there were two violations of Reckless Driving.  One was just Reckless Driving and the other was Reckless Driving with alcohol involved.

The second charge was generated by Sarge.  He said he became tired of always being the bad guy and the judge being the good guy and reducing DUII charges to reckless driving.

So, he decided he would be the good guy and instead of arresting them for DUII he arrested them for Reckless Driving, alcohol involved.

Sarge had his own way of doing things.  He told me stories of his actions in law enforcement and some of the things he had seen. 

He had worked Graveyard the entire time he was with The Dalles.  He rarely saw the Chief or Asst Chief, he ran the shift his way and no one challenged him on it.

He said that he and his wife would walk somewhere downtown and she would see business people she worked with at the bank, while he would see the hobos and drunks that he worked with at night.

He had an affinity for these people.  Most of them were harmless, and just couldn’t really survive in regular society.

Yes, they were alcoholics and some of them could get a tad contrary at times; but most actually respected the police and I think a lot of that was because of Sarge.

One story I won’t forget was the story about one of the guys, Tony, who was almost always drunk.

There was a large caterpillar on a railroad flat bed.  The problem was no one knew how to operate it and get it off the flat bed.   

While there several people trying to figure out what to do, Tony staggered up to the cat and then climbed aboard.  When the group saw what he was doing they started to yell.

He didn’t pay any attention, started the machine and drove it off the flat bed onto the ramp and then onto the street.

You never know where these guys come from, what they have done before they started getting drunk on a regular basis and couldn’t be counted on for a regular job. 

Each person has a story and most of them are quite interesting if you listen.

It was almost 0800 and end of shift when he said it was time to go back to the office.

Before I went home several of the officers on both shifts wanted to know what Sarge had talked about.  He had NEVER done that before.

Sarge and I got along fine, for the most part.

I had the next night off and then came in and did my time on the desk, Sunday and Monday.

One of the problems with a ‘rookie’ riding the desk is that there is far more to it than just sitting, answering the phone, dispatching and answering the radio.

Another officer that was hired about the same time I was, was working Day shift; he was sitting the desk.

An officer ran a checks for registration and warrants on a Florida plate.  The rookie typed the information into the teletype and a few seconds later a teletype came through on a stolen vehicle.

He radioed to the officer that the car was stolen.  The officer headed after the car and coordinated with other officers on how and where to make the stop.

When you stop a stolen car, you never know who is in the car, what other crimes they might have committed, if they are armed or not – so you take great care in stopping the car.

It is call a felony car stop.  Normally at least two cars will be used, one will pull over the car while the other places himself in a position to cover, where depends on the road and lay of the land.

The officer will not go to the car.  He will stay back and order the occupants, starting with the driver, to put their hands out and slowly exit the car – the driver will be told to take the keys out of the ignition and drop them outside the car.

This is an intense situation, you have a stolen car and you don’t know what the occupants are capable of – you have the occupants walk backward to the patrol car and then kneel down with their hands behind their heads.

An officer will come up and handcuff the person, bring them back where they can quickly search them and place them in the patrol car.

This is repeated until all the occupants are in custody.  Then the officers make sure there isn’t anyone else in the vehicle.

A successful felony stop is made when no one is hurt and all are in custody.

Sounds good, however, in this case, the officer told the rookie to contact the initiating agency and let them know we had the car and the people; as the rookie reads the teletype in its entirety he finds that it was a stolen vehicle report NOT that this was a stolen vehicle.

The occupants took it in good humor.  They asked to have a picture taken of them with the officer and they went on their way.

What happened was after the rookie entered the information of the Florida plate, a report of a stolen vehicle came through right afterward – at the top of the report was ‘STOLEN VEHICLE.’

It is very doubtful this kind of thing happens today.  Almost all departments now have a communications center with trained dispatchers.  They have a long training time with the agency and then spend several weeks at the training academy.

Things are different today and they just keep improving.

That is a good thing.

The next day that Sarge and I worked together it was just him, me and Dorthea.  Forth day on the job and I was told by Sarge to take a car, patrol the hill area and stay out of trouble!

Then I found the open door.

To be continued:

Copyright November 3, 2017 Art Labrousse

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1 Thessalonians 5:13-15  KJV “And to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake. And be at peace among yourselves.

¹⁴ Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all men.

¹⁵ See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men.”

Kind of a job description for Police Officers.

Later, Art (-: