New gun

So, I finally broke down this week and bought a new duty gun. I was having some major issues with my original gun and I couldn't even qualify with it.

So, I took myself down to one of the local gun shops and ordered another gun. I never thought I would, but I'm now the proud owner of a Gen 4 Glock 22 .40

I have to admit, it's a pretty awesome gun :)

Well, I'm on day 8 of my 12. I probably complain too much, but it kinda has sucked this week. I like my job probably too much since I'm still a newbie, but the weird sleeping has really messed me up :)

Haha, it's actually Monday this time :)
Yesterday was interesting... I find the justice system to be completely confusing (and to think I wanted to be a lawyer).

It amazes me that the judge who signed 4 protective orders and a warrant against the same man, is also the same judge who signed his OR release. This guy has some pretty serious mental issues, including bipolar and schizophrenia, he's made threats of violence against the DA's office, our department and the Sheriff's office all because he perceives he's not getting his way when it comes to certain issues.

Mostly all of his complaints are civil rather than police matters anyway. He's always been either rude or nice when he's called, (he was the one demanding wrecker service the other night). When he called yesterday morning, he was completely violent, threatening to kill his brother and to do something to us because we weren't "protecting his rights". Did I mention his warrant was for previous threats of violence against the department? *sigh*

I'm not sure how any of his previous requests and issues have been our fault, there's only so much we can do and it's been explained to him repeatedly.

I just hope he gets the help he needs before he attempts to make himself heard with a weapon.
:)

Today should be Friday for me, but alas, I had to open my big mouth and complain about overtime earlier in the month. And, apparently the 30 hours on my last check did not go undetected...so I'm getting to have another 24 this week. Yay me.

it's been a slow week on the nights, however the 2nd shift has had their hands full, which is good for them, that means the weirdness hasn't happened to us :)

One complaint for the week however, apparently I don't know what I'm talking about when I tell a repeat caller that the police department is neither a wrecker or mechanic service. I'm pretty sure I know that none of our current vehicles have tow packages or hitches..even if they did we wouldn't be pulling your truck to the road so we can jump it off.

I'll be here all week, so stay tuned :)

Peace out.

Boredom leads to inane stuff...

Stuff, I guess for a lack of a better word. I really can't believe I've actually been sucked into 16 and Pregnant--only briefly, I came to my senses very shortly.

Far be it from me to be judgmental, people can find themselves in crazy and difficult situations very quickly, as I see on a weekly basis, but some of this is just pathetic.

I've been officially 10-8 for a week now, and I'm still a little self conscious about actually being out in uniform. However, I'm learning some valuable lessons which will be very useful in dispatch. Information--properly disseminated and anything extra will greatly help the officer onscene. Of course, I know this, but now I know how vitally important is to have a clear picture when responding to a disturbance or domestic call.

I've been itching to get to respond to calls and I got my chance tonight. I'm pretty limited on when I can come ride since I work nights and the two days I'm off are the two slowest nights generally of the week. Occasionally they surprise us, but not often enough to mention :). I admit to being a horrible and habitual psycho-analyzer, something I do without even realizing it sometimes. But, when I'm in close proximity with people, such as the officers I work for/with, I tend to try and analyze them.

Yes, it's very similar, type A's with a few exceptions scattered among them, but 9 times out of 10, they are alpha males (or females). The officer I tend to ride with on the evening shift has a wide and varied background, even though he's only about five years older. I always enjoy riding with him because he actually performs the role of an FTO.

He'll ask what I know and quiz me on procedures to see if it's correct and if it's not, he'll show me the proper way. He went over the basic traffic stop, which is never the same and probably one of the dangerous, consistent duties an officer will perform. We actually tried a mock traffic stop in the parking lot of the PD and went over where to stand, what to look for, what to do in the event of a subject pulling a gun and where to go.
Very educational if I do say so.

It was an eventful evening and I'm glad to get the chance to see what it's like.

I should have skipped dinner, now I'm sleepy. Not a good thing...this makes me wish the phone would ring...then I would have to complain! :)

Peace out.

I have to say it's been a fairly productive Monday.
We're back to looking up grant opportunities and I managed to get one application completed last night. Yay me... :

Starting at roughly 430 I started getting heat advisories from the weather service, you know it's going to be hellaciously hot today. Not fun in the least.

This is short and without any comedic instances, unless you count my trying to start working out again :). I've decided to get back in the groove of working out, eating healthy isn't too big of a problem, it's just hard all the time since only thing open in the middle of the night is fast food and I tend to forget to bring healthy food ...

Perhaps I'll go swimming tonight before work and improve my tan!

TGIF!

I have to admit, I'm very glad it's Friday :)
Saturday went really well, considering all the craziness. Most of the issues last night were because parents feel the need to screw off raising their children and calling us when they can't handle them anymore. Yay us.


I guess now I've accomplished the goal of becoming a commissioned reserve officer, it's interesting how now I get to see both sides of a call and this job. Got to go on one call, there were four of us so we kind of SWAT teamed them.

One observation I can pull away from this experience is that those uniforms suck and the vests are hotter than hell :) I'd much rather be working in a pair of 511s and a polo shirt.

Qualified.

I've been unsuccessfully trying to post an update for most of this week, and now I have a chance to do so.

With good news!

I had pretty much decided to put off anymore attempts to qualify for a couple of weeks, thinking it was operator error or perhaps the gun I was shooting and I told the Chief exactly this.

Well, as things would have it, one of the officers I work with loaned me a different gun and the dispatcher I just finished training talked me into trying one more time.
I'm not sure exactly what the problem was whether it was myself or the gun, but I managed to squeak out an 84 yesterday morning after I got off work.

Qualifying score is a 72 :) I managed to refrain from jumping up and down and screaming, but I did tell the instructor that I could have hugged him. Believe me, after failing multiple times I definitely had a monkey on my back ... or so I was told by just about everyone at the dept. :) Gotta love their brand of encouragement!

Well, it's been a great week, went for a couple of ridealongs (I have to say I'm addicted now) and the calls were fairly steady and not terribly complicated.

Right now they're slamming me with traffic stops...a comment was made earlier that one of the officers prefers to take calls versus running traffic, I'm cool either way, I like them running traffic because it keeps me on my toes and gives me practice (wierd I know) so now, one goes out, the other follows.

I'm not sure when I'll be commissioned, the Chief had to make an emergency trip out of town and didn't get back until last night. I'll try to post an update whenever that happens.