Nice sunny day in our neck of the woods, all day long.  Carla was very happy about that.

Got some steaks resting after grilling, while the potatoes finish baking.  Not too many days left that I will be able to grill or barbecue.

I am over halfway through the challenge, I don’t count these updates, scriptures or comments so it is a ‘bit’ more writing than I am actually doing.

That’s okay, as one friend’s wife said, I can do 1667 words just saying hello.

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Chapter Eleven

Caught in the Act

One of the things officers feel great about is when they catch the perpetrator in the act, or better yet, keep them from actually committing the criminal act.

One night on Graveyard John and I were in our patrol cars facing each other and talking.  We were parked in a parking lot just west of what used to be Shakey’s Pizza.

He told me to freeze, don’t hit the brakes or do anything, look in your mirror.

A burglar that we had arrested in the past was crawling over a fence the restaurant had to hide the garbage cans, the back door, of course, was inside that fence.

After he crawled over, we waited a moment and saw him crawling back out.  John drove over and arrested him.  He said that he was just curious as to what was back there; he left his burglar tool, a nail puller behind, which reinforced that he was going to burglarize the restaurant.

We lodged him for Criminal Trespass, since he hadn’t actually tried to break into the building, not sure what tipped him off.  There were a couple of his buddies also in jail.  They shouted out asking him what he was in for, he said nothing I was just walking down the street.

John couldn’t help himself, he said, no, he was actually trying to commit a burglary under the watchful eye of two cops in marked cars.

Through the years we had more contact with him, and more arrests for different crimes.  He became one of those that thought the government had no power over him.  He made his own car license plate – at a glance it looked pretty good – and his own driver’s license.

He was cited and/or arrested for both a couple of times before he gave it up.

There were a couple of places that seemed to just attract burglars.  Part of it was they were a ways out of the city proper and could be accessed without fear of neighbors hearing them.

One had a low access to the roof, and the burglars would just move a garbage can under it and make their way up the roof to a window.  I mentioned earlier that you get to know your area and if something was out of place you immediately saw it and started investigating.

These two places were often hit by juveniles and they really didn’t consider their course of action very well.

We saw the can had been moved and called for back-up, we caught the kids inside and at least one other time it was the same kids.

The other one that seemed to be hit often had a burglary one night and it was discovered by an officer.  He called for backup but we both figured they had left the premises.  A check of the building proved that correct.

There were two sets of foot prints, two leading to the building and then two leading out of the building – in the snow on the ground.

Intelligence doesn’t enter into the job description of a burglar.

While one officer stayed at the building waiting for the owner to come down, the other officers followed the tracks.  They led across the freeway, which was just behind the building, down the street and up the front door of a house.

When the owner arrived he confirmed that there were bottles of liquor missing.

The officers knocked on the door and asked them about the burglary they denied knowing what they were talking about. 

Both subjects were pretty inebriated by this time, drinking their contraband – but, when the officers showed them their tracks, they confessed and were arrested.

One of the most knuckle whitening situations came while I was Sergeant on swing shift.

I was in the office finishing up paperwork and talking to the clerk when John stopped by.  He had just got out of Circuit Court and was bringing back his notes.  (As I write these this month, it seems like a lot of these stories had John in them, but the only made up thing is his name.)

The dispatcher hit a beeper three times, a warning that she was about to give us a do it now, dangerous call.

There was an armed robbery going down at a downtown pharmacy.  I had two cars out, one was close, the other a ways out.

I ran to my car, with John beside me.  He realized he hadn’t carried a gun since the judge didn’t want them in the court room, so he took the shotgun out of the rack as we headed that way; it was three blocks away.

I knew the store well, this was my pharmacist.  The pharmacy was located in the back of the store right next to the back door leading out to the alley.

I told the closest officer to go in the alley the correct way (they were one way alleys) and I would be going in the other way.  I told the second car to cover the front.

We both stopped just short of that backdoor.

Out came the robber.  He had a gun and bag in one hand and was pulling off his ski mask with the other.  He froze as he realized he was in between two cop cars; with three cops pointing guns at him.

He was ordered to drop the gun.  He looked back at the officer whose car was going the right direction, me and then John.

The other officer and John couldn’t shoot, they were facing each other and could very well be caught in a cross fire.

He looked back at me and we both realized that I was the only one there that had a shot.  I could tell he was thinking about it and the hammer on my gun was starting to go back as I was pulling the trigger.

We starred at each other for several moments.

He decided to give up.  He had been driven there by a female who was waiting in the car a block away.

He was a career criminal, out of a state of Washington prison for just a few days, he wanted to get high.  They had filled up with gas and were driving through town when he saw the drug store. 

Thinking, small town, not many cops he would take the chance and hold up the store.  He wanted narcotics.  Talking to the pharmacist and getting his statement, I learned that the robber had asked for them under a name different than was used at the time.

The pharmacist said he knew the guy had to have been out of circulation because of the language when demanding the drugs.

We hauled him to jail, he claimed the driver didn’t know his intentions, but when questioning her she admitted he had told her what he was going to do.

When she saw the police cars she knew it was over and just gave herself up.

We ran the gun through the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) and it came back stolen.  That charge was also levied against him; as well as a felon in possession of a handgun.

We received a call from the Seattle Police Department concerning the gun.  It had been used in a murder. 

Our suspect was in prison at the time, but they wanted to know where he got the weapon and from who; a couple of detectives came down to interview him.

I know he claimed he bought it off the streets from someone he didn’t know, but I don’t know if they ever got to the bottom of it.

There is always danger when an officer makes contact with anyone in a suspicious situation.  He doesn’t know the person’s intent and must be prepared for the worse.

When officers respond to crimes like these they are much more alert and ready for danger, guns will be pulled out and used if necessary. 

However, traffic stops are another matter; while you don’t know what has been going on just before the stop, while you are using caution, unless there is something suspicious about the car or its occupants, you don’t make contact with a gun in your hand.

But many officers have been killed when they made a ‘routine’ traffic stop (there is no such stop, any stop can turn deadly) and it almost happened to one of my fellow officers.

We were on Graveyard.  It was sometime after bar closing and the officer was driving up Scenic Drive.  He met a car coming down the hill with a tail light out.

He turned around and stopped the car, letting the driver know that it was out.  He ran a check on him and the car for warrants and to make sure he had a valid license, he did.  The officer noted he was from Pendleton and asked what he was doing up there, he gave a plausible excuse, so the officer let him go.

A short time later we received a call.

The buildings that houses the College now were once used by a hospital for those that could not care for themselves in society.  The Pharmacy was located in what is now the administration building.

They had been robbed, tied up and the suspects took a number of drugs.

Yep, same people the officer had stopped less than an hour before.

We notified the State Police and the Pendleton Police.  The Pendleton Police sat on the off ramp, saw them coming in about an hour later and arrested them.

Both had guns on them and of course the drugs.

Later that morning one of the officers called us.  He just wanted us to know that the officer that had stopped the car had almost been killed.

The passenger wanted to shoot the officer when they got stopped, he thought they had been found out.

The driver told him to wait and let’s see what he wants, but the passenger had the gun in his lap and was ready to shoot at the slightest provocation.  The officer had checked out the car as he came up but didn’t see the gun hidden in the passenger’s lap.

A simple stop, a tail light out and the officer was in mortal danger.

The assault on and the killing of an officer can be done under the most benign of circumstances; the size of the city or the seriousness of call, the time of day, or the number of people in the contact makes no difference.   While they have to be on guard at all times, they also try and treat people the way they want to be treated.

It is a fine line they walk, every, single, moment, of every, single, day; never knowing from one stop or one call to the next if that might be their last one.

Copyright November 14, 2017 Art Labrousse

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Psalm 94:18-19  KJV  “When I said, My foot slippeth; thy mercy, O Lord, held me up.

¹⁹ In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul.”

It is comforting to know that our God is with us, wherever we may be; time of day makes no difference.  He is always there for us.

There are times we have to remind ourselves that we are not alone, whatever the situation, no matter how alone we might feel, we are not alone.

When we have fears or worries, we can look to Him to comfort us and make us stronger to face those things that are bothering us.

We are like children that run to mom for a hug after we have fallen, we are HIS children and He will surround us with his arms as our mother did when we were kids.

It really is a comforting feeling.

Later, Art (-: