But it is illegal

I was training a new girl in dispatch and she was a sweetie. Grew up in a small town and had never really faced the real world. We kind of worried how she would take to dispatch and dealing with the seedy group of people.

One Saturday night about a week after she started we were really busy and booking people in to jail right and left. The booking officer was so far behind that he had people waiting in the locked area by dispatch.

We were busy running criminal histories on everyone that was arrested.  She ran her first CCH and it showed the man arrested had several AKA or aliases, several social security numbers, several drivers license numbers. She said she needed some help because she had done something wrong. I asked why, what did it show. She said that somehow she had got a bunch of CCH’s on people instead of just one.  I looked at the print out and said it was the same guy. She said “it can’t be, he has more then one social security number and you can’t do that” I explained that a lot of criminals do that trying to hide who they are when the officers stop them and once they use a name or social security or date of birth that will always show on their record.

She said again, “no you don’t understand he has lots and it is illegal to do that” I explained we weren’t dealing with honest people or they would not be in there. That they don’t’ care if it is illegal.  She still could not understand how to do that since it was illegal and that would get you in trouble with the feds.

The other thing she had trouble dealing with was they were sitting there laughing. She said “I can’t believe they are laughing, I would be in tears”. “Why do they think it is funny, don’t’ they understand they are arrested?”

I felt so sorry for her as she tried to get her mind around the fact that people were doing things she did not think you could do because it was illegal.  She did not make it long in dispatch as it really upset her.

Blonde haired blue eyed officer saves the day

We had a regular woman that came to jail at least once a week for detox.  She was hell on wheels. I mean kick, bite, hit, spit and cuss and we all hated to book her in. She also had a way of putting things places they should not be where you could not take them from her.

She also we found out had a big attraction for blonde haired, blue eyes police officers. One of our new younger officers brought her in one night for Driving Under the Influence and you could tell she had put up a fight.

We took the stuff out of her pockets and patted her down and now it starts as we try to un-cuff her and put her in the detox cell.  As soon as she feels a hand free the fight is on and all of a sudden she gets a look at the cops and says “oh your cute” and she jumps on him trying to kiss him.  He yells for help and we say “we are only allowed to use force up to and including what force is necessary to keep the subject from fighting and that is far from fighting”…..laughing as we pull her off from him.

She is fighting again but not us just trying to get loose to get a hold of that blue eyed guy. We finally got smart and told him to go stand inside the drunk tank. He does and we let her loose. She takes off running for him and he steps aside and closes the door.  We got her.

This became a standard way of getting her into her cell. She just loved that blonde haired boy and if she got loose or he was not fast enough she was wrapped right around him. We had a lot less bruises to show for booking her into jail after that but we hated the nights he wasn’t around.

Revenge of the troopers

Our shooting range was across the bay behind the airport so when you qualified you had to ride the ferry across the bay, walk through the airport into this valley.  SE Alaska doesn’t have many flat spots that you can set up a range at.

The troopers always wore full uniform when they were doing anything where the public could see them. They decided to take the shotgun and the mace canisters with them as they had lots of canisters and had never used them.  Off they go. I bet you know by now this is not going to turn out good…………….

They get down in the bottom of the draw and start their shooting exercises and they go good.  Now time for play, they load up the canisters and shoot several off. The other end of the draw is one big cloud of mace. OH NO!  A gust of wind comes and here comes the cloud. They all take off running. The Sergeant and our commanding officer is not a very fast runner and the cloud overtakes him, down he goes, the eyes are burning, the snot is running, coughing on his knees.  The officers think they can’t leave him there so they turn back. Sarge crawls to a small stream.  The officers are running down the hill yelling “no, no, that is the sewer from the airport”, but he doesn’t hear them and starts throwing the water in his face.  They don’t know if they should cry or laugh………..

They finally get to him and half drag, half run back up the hill. The cloud has dispersed a little by now but their eyes are still running and the nose is going full force snot running everywhere and Sarge stinks.

They clean up as well as they can and head for the ferry. They know they can’t go inside as they are a mess and Sarge, well he stinks to high heaven but his nose is still running so full he can’t smell himself.  They looked like something that cat had drug in.

They finally walk through the door of dispatch and the laughter erupts, what I would have given for a camera.  Not a smile on any face but dispatchers and our eyes are watering too and not from mace. Man those officers all stunk but no one as much as the sarge.  

The Sergeant comes in the next day headed to Juneau. He still is not smiling but boy does he smell better. Off he goes for a week.

The Troopers all come into the office; we wonder why all of them are coming in. They must have a meeting. Well they had a meeting alright.  All of a sudden here they call come into dispatch and right out the front door of dispatch as they are spraying mace everywhere and laughing. 

Our office smelled just like that draw for 3 days. The tears were running and this time not from laughter.  We opened every window and door and still had to dispatch the shift with the radio mike and phone sitting on the window sill and us in a lawn chair outside. Those blasted guys. They sure did not spend any time in the office the next 3 days.

The dispatchers???? Revenge will be mine!  Someday when you least expect it, revenge will be mine.

The city boy cop

We had a patrol deputy that was a city boy and he brought many a good time to our department. They fed him so full of bull it wasn’t even funny but he had a way of putting himself where it was easy to do.

One night we got a call of some cattle out on the highway and he went to see if he could get them back in.  He arrived and said he had about 6 cows on the road.  I asked him if any of them had a brand where I could look it up in the brand book to find the owner. He said he could not see any. I then asked if he could see any notches in the ears. He asked what a notch was. I advised him where they had cut a V shaped cut out of one ear or both ears and sometimes two notches. It was as good as a brand.  He advised they had a notch in both ears.

I found two different owners with a notch in each ear. One also had a waddle. I asked the deputy if they had waddles.  He said he would check.  It was quite a while before he came back on the radio and said “I have followed them for quite a while and they seem to be walking pretty straight to me”

I laughed so hard, it was hard to keep the laughter out of my voice as I explained to him that a waddle was a piece of skin they cut loose on the lower part of the neck where it leaves a section free to hang loose. 

Another time it was horses and I asked for the colors to try and think of who might own the horses and the reply I got was “two brunettes, a red head and a blonde”

Got to love those city boys

Getting shocked

As I have told you in many stories on my other County gal blog I hate being shocked and am terrified of electricity. To many incidents with the electric fence growing up. My career as an Emergency Medical Tech. suffered as I was afraid to move to the level where you shocked people’s hearts.. I was not sure I could shock people, even if they were dead and I sure did not want to shock myself.

After about 3 years and many times of wishing I could do more to help on a call because call where someone is not breathing or cardiac calls it takes all the hands you can get. I finally went and got my EMT3, Cardiac tech.

We got a call of a man down and not breathing, CPR in progress and off we flew.  We arrived on the scene and with the firemen and police we had about 6 to 7 people to help and everyone was busy.  The paramedic was attaching the heart monitor, 2 were taking over CPR, two were getting the gurney out of ambulance and myself and another EMT were getting an IV set up.  It is hard at this point to even find room to get to your patient so we were between the paramedics legs with an arm out getting the IV started and getting medication ready to put in the vein.

This was in an area where lots of people were around and traffic and it was hard to hear. The paramedic read the heart monitor and had decided to shock the patient. We are taught to yell “clear” and check to the left, across and to the right which he did. Yep, your right, he did not check between his legs and we did not hear him…ZAP! That arm we were working on jumped right out of our grip and dang that electric fence got me and the other EMT..ZAP…

Neither of us were hurt and it became a joke at the department, say “CLEAR”, look to the right, look to the left, look across and look between your legs to see where Linda & *Jim are.

The man lived, got his condition taken care of and is still doing good today and a funny memory for us to laugh at when things get tense.

*Jim not his real name

The mad bull

A short story about a bull that got loose at the rodeo. That bull was out for blood. He chased people if he saw one and no one could get him cornered. They called the cops for help.

The Calvary arrived and attempted to help corral the bull but he would have nothing to do with going back into the pen.  They finally got him in an area they could drive him towards the corral.  Once he realized where he was going he became enraged and would chase the officers and crew everywhere. Up over the fence, under the fence, through the fence the people would climb.

Finally one officer decided he had enough. When the bull turned around and came charging down the fence line and people ran everywhere he stood his ground. He faced the bull and yep, he pepper sprayed him right in the eyes. That bull was enraged, bellowing and blowing but they were able to get him in the pen.

Someone asked him “did you really think that was going to make the bull sweet?” He said “no, but it was going to make him where he couldn’t see me good”

Bull back in the pen, madder then a wet hen but he was in there and no one was hurt.

My Native American traffic stop

 While working for the tribal police we had one officer who was Native American and was 6'5 in his stocking feet, He had a voice like a bull frog in a big deep pipe.  He wore his hair long and had two small braids that came down each side of his face. He wore an old cowboy hat with some different pins of the front of it of police stuff and marine stuff. Everyone was afraid of *Jeff (not his real name). He was a great big giant teddy bear if he liked you and I adored him.

He was working the main highway on patrol with another officer who was not a Native American. They pulled a car over from New Jersey for speeding.  Jeff was driving the car so he starts up towards the drivers side of the car. The other officer starts up on the passenger side of the car.  Due to the fact that he other officer had called the license plate in he was slower getting out of the car then Jeff was.

As Jeff approached the car he could see there was two women in the car and the driver was searching through her purse probably for her drivers license but you never know. When Jeff got to the window he had to lean over since he is so tall which made his braids and long hair fall over part of his face and the other braid hang down and he says in this bullfrog voice. "can I see your drivers license?"  The woman turns and looks at him and starts screaming bloody murder and yelling "oh my God! Oh  my God, its an Indian"  you would have to know Jeff but he never cracks a smile. The non-native is laying across the hood of the patrol car in hysterical laughter when Jeff says "what did you expect on an indian reservation?"  The driver says "I'm sorry, I did not realize I was on the reservation. I am so sorry, how do I get off, I promise I will leave"  The other lady is crying softly.  Jeff says "where did you come from and where are you going?"  The driver advised she came from Portland and she is headed towards Bend.  Jeff still has not cracked a smile.  Sometimes he has a real attitude with people and their reactions to Native Americans and this was one of them. He was not the least pleased with her screaming and crying about the fact he was a Native, let alone acting like he was some monster to be afraid of so he says....You have to go back to Portland and down to The Dalles and  take highway 97 to Bend.  He gives her a verbal warning for speeding. (I am so surprised as mad as he was that he did not write her a ticket but I think he just wanted away from her) The driver turns around to head back to Portland on her trip that is now about 100 miles longer then it would have been and Jeff walks back and gets in the patrol car. The other officer is still laughing almost unable to walk. Jeff says "shut up your snickering and get in this car or you are walking back to the station" The other officer gets in the patrol car and they come to the police station. 

I looked up when the walked in and Jeff looked like he wanted to kill someone. He did not even say “hi” to me but stomps into the squad room. The other officer is still laughing so hard tears are rolling down his cheeks as he tries to tell us the story. We are all laughing and Jeff does not even come out of the squad room.

All the years I worked there the only thing I ever heard him say about the story was when an officer asked if he thought it was kind of mean to send them so far out of their way and he said “they deserved it, if they feel that way they need to stay off the reservation”

Thanksgiving for the inmates

The small tribal jail I worked at only had a pizza oven. The inmates ate TV dinners for breakfast, lunch and supper.  One year just before Thanksgiving we got a real stove. We had about 15 inmates that could not get a release for the Thanksgiving holiday. The inmates wanted to know if they could have a real Turkey that Thanksgiving instead of a TV dinner. I told them that all the trustees’ had a holiday release and there was no one to cook it for them.

I went home and was telling my family and my three teenage girls asked if they could cook it for them. I said “I don’t know if that is a good idea”  They kept at me saying that was what Thanksgiving should be like and it would not be fun to stay at home because their dad who was also a cop and myself were going to be working anyway. I told them I would ask the Chief of Police.

The tribes are really good about anything that was family. When I asked the police chief he said that would be fine as long as they were monitored by the corrections officer at all times they were in the jail area and the inmates could not leave the jail area. They would have to eat at the metal picnic tables they used. We had wanted to decorate the room where the tables were the officers and public used as it was still secure but we accepted his rules.

The girls had to be careful what they allowed in the jail area and everything approved by corrections.  They decorated the tables with painted cans (no glass) and flowers and used clean sheets for the tablecloths.  They got some fancy paper plates (no glass). They used the forks etc. from the jail.  They spent the two days before Thanksgiving making pies in the tin foil plates and getting all their goodies as ready as they can.

The big day arrived, we got up at 2am…yuck so they could get down there and get started. They did every bit of that dinner by themselves. They hauled our big Kitchenaid mixer down etc. They cooked and served that beautiful Thanksgiving dinner to the inmates.  There was not a better behaved grateful group of people ever sat down for a Thanksgiving meal. They minded their manners and could not believe that those girls were waiting on them like they were something special.

After the kitchen was up and running good the next year the tribes did not allow Thanksgiving breaks for the inmates and the trustees cooked the meal.

The inmates that were in jail at that time have never forgotten my girls.  Even today if they see me they ask if I remember that Thanksgiving. In fact, once an inmate that had been in jail at that time for murder would help my daughter out of a bad situation at a local store when some thugs were bothering her.  They never forgot, they were always thankful and that is what Thanksgiving is about.

Most inmates in local jails are good people with an alcohol or drug problem. The inmate serving time for murder had served his time in federal prison where he could be in a local jail on work release status. His incident was also an alcohol related incident where he was fighting over a gun and it went off.  There are some fine people in jail and we need to remember that and treat them nice.  They are great when they sober up or clean up from taking drugs.  Hard time prisoners are a different story. 

Thanksgiving Turkey emergency

Sitting in dispatch one Thanksgiving morning pouting because I had to work while everyone was at home having Thanksgiving. At least one of the best things about Thanksgiving dinner is the left overs.  Thanksgivings are usually as slow as molasses on a cold morning until that night when people start getting liquored up and the domestics start. During the day shift you are lucky if the phone rings.

The 911 line rings!
"911 please state your emergency"
caller: "I need some help, I can't find out how hot to cook my turkey or for how long"
911: "I am sorry mam but this is the 911 line"
caller: "I know."
911: "you should never call 911 unless it is an emergency."
caller:" you don't understand mam this is an emergency. My new in-laws are coming for Thanksgiving and my mother-in-law is an excellent cook. I can't have her show up for my first dinner at my house and have the turkey still raw. Please, you have to help me."
911: since it is so slow I proceeded to tell her to call my business line and I would tell her how to cook her turkey and answered what questions I could. This was back before the internet which would have been so much easier. She called me off and on all that morning.  She made my Thanksgiving one to remember even though I had to work.

The Bear Prowler

In Ketchikan, Alaska it rains a lot and I mean a lot. The main street of town in built on pilings right over the ocean. The storm drains drain right into the ocean and it still rains so hard they back up. When you are driving it is like trying to drive through a waterfall and sometimes traffic comes to a halt or hardly moves.  The electricity on the island goes out if it doesn’t rain enough and it goes out if it rains too much. Most people set their house up with gas when they have lights all the time if necessary or buy lots of oil lamps and candles. This was one of those nights, rain coming down hard.

911, please state your emergency. This hysterical voice says “I have a prowler, please help me, I saw a shadow on the window too”

911:  “what is your address?”

Caller: “I don’t know. I don’t know. I have no idea?”

 911: “what street do you live on?”

Caller: “I don’t know, I am sorry but I really have no idea.”

911: “Do you live on the south end or the north end of the island”

Caller: Crying she said “I really don’t know, I came up from California with my fiancé to meet his parents. They won’t be here until tomorrow and he went to town to get groceries.”

911: “ok calm down we will figure this out” I tried to remember what I saw when I got off the ferry the first time that a tourist might notice. “did you see an arch over the highway that said “Alaska’s first city?”

Caller: “no, I don’t think so.”

911:  “Did you see a bunch of airplanes sitting on the water?”

Caller: “yes, a whole bunch of them”

911:  Most tourists notice the planes on the water instead of an airport runway. “ok, we are making progress”  “Do you still hear the prowler?”

Caller: “yes he just knocked a garbage can over I think.”

911: “has he tried to get in at all?”

Caller:  “no, he is just walking around outside like he is looking over the place deciding where to get in. I am hid”

911:  “good you stay hid”  “When you were driving out there did you notice any houses that looked like someone cut a can in half?”

Caller:  “yes, oh yes, we turned to the left right there”

911:  “ok, we know what road you are on, stay calm”  I then dispatched the officer to that road on the north end of the island. “madam, can you describe the house at all, any feature that stand out or color or anything outside that you noticed or any cars in the driveway”

Caller:  “A red pickup in the driveway, OMG, he just cut my electricity!” starting to cry really hard again.

911:  “calm down, I just lost mine too, this is a common occurrence in Alaska, I am pretty sure your prowler is a black bear. They aren’t real dangerous as long as you stay in the house. He probably knocked the garbage can over on purpose looking for food and the officer is just a few minutes away now”

Caller: “I am starting to feel stupid, it probably isn’t a guy.”

911: “just stay on the phone until the officer checks to make sure, he is just pulling up now”

Caller: “I just heard a car and now I see a flashlight beam. Thank you for helping me I was so scared”

911: “no you stay right here on the phone with me until the officer has contact with you. Do not open the door until I tell you too for any reason”

Caller: “ok, my friends are not going to believe this when I get back to LA”

911:  “good you will have some stories to tell and they will probably think you are making it up” I say kind of laughing. “The officer just ran a small black bear off and he is coming to your door. He will identify himself as Trooper *Smith. Ok I can hear him knocking on your door, lay the phone on the table and go make open the door”

Caller:  “ok”, she lays the phone down and I can hear the officer identify himself and her open the door and them start talking. She comes back to the phone and says again “thanks, I really appreciate your help, I really feel stupid”

911: “don’t feel stupid, this is our job and only to glad to help. I am just glad it turned out to be a beat and not a person. You enjoy your stay in Alaska.”

Two days later a big bouquet of flowers arrived with a thank you note. A nice calls where someone actually appreciated your help. I could have done one of these a night. Makes you feel good and you love it when it turns out with no one hurt, just a little humor.  

Outdoor potty breaks

While on patrol with a fish & game trooper tromping through the woods he advised me he had to take a shit.  He went off into the woods and I continued walking when I heard voices coming from where I had left him so I turned around to go back and see what was going on.

Well the trooper had assumed the position when all of a sudden this guy walks out of the woods and right up to him and started asking where the good fishing holes were like nothing was going on.  Now this trooper can’t stop going, remember he has diarrhea. He tells the guy to get the hell out of there but he just keeps talking and talking. The trooper yells, I am going to kick you ass, get out of here.  The guys said it didn’t bother him, he knows what poop looks like, he just wants to know where the fishing holes are.

If looks could kill that fisherman would have been dead. Now that is a dedicated fisherman and one mad trooper.  I wish I had a way to explain the look on that troopers face.

Names withheld by request

Posted by anonymous officer

“My thoughts were I bet the directions that trooper gave the fisherman were a long hard hike with no fish at the end of the hike”…..grandma Linda

First Domestic

My ex-husband dreamed of being a cop since he was in high school but things did not work out that way as we got married and he had a family to support. He got a job offer to go to Alaska for a year to build a shingle mill. He was and is today an excellent welder.  We thought it would be an adventure, one year in Alaska. One of our best friends from Oregon already worked there and is who got him the job.  We were living on the farm in a trailer helping my folks after my dad got hurt and he had just leased the farm out so now was a good time before he found another job.

Off to Alaska we went. We had been there a year and were thinking of coming home when an ad in the paper said they were looking for applicants for the police department and the old dream surfaced. He applied for the job and got it which is a story in itself.

He was so proud of his uniform, he spit shined it, his pants had to be altered where it hit his boots with one wrinkle etc. His dream was coming true. He was going to save the world. He was going to make a difference.  Now keep in mind this is a small town guy we are talking about. I am not sure he had faced the way the world had become at this point in his life.

He started with his Sergeant as his training officer and a fire in his heart to help people.

I don’t know how long it was before he got his first call of a domestic. He did not believe in hitting a woman for any reason. Now here was a call he could be that knight in shinning armor.

The coastal town we lived in was built right on a steep hill side. The main street was built on pilings in the ocean and a lot of the side streets were actually stairs that people had to carry their stuff up sometimes for blocks. One of these streets was where the domestic was occurring, a block up the stairs.

Up the stairs they flew that knight in his quest to save the day. When he got to the landing a man had a woman against the wall just beating the tar out of her.  My ex’s fight mode was in full force, he grabbed the guy and yanked him off the woman spinning him around and throwing him against the wall and penning him there reaching around for his handcuffs. All of a sudden a person was on his back, hitting, biting, yelling “leave my husband alone” The guys is trying to get loose, he has a 160 pound woman on his back pulling his hair, biting, kicking and a 225 pound mad man on the front side. Holding onto the man for dear life and trying to shake the woman off he stepped off the landing and down the stairs all three of them go bowling over the Sergeant who was still rushing up the stairs.  This call was over in just a couple of minutes that seemed like hours.

After they had both of them in handcuffs and my husband is still confused as to why that woman was mad at him, the Sergeant was still puffing hard explains that domestics are one of the most dangerous calls a cop can go on and that you can never trust the spouse not to support the other one no matter how bad he has beat her…first lesson learned the hard way as rolling down a flight of stairs with two people mad at you fighting is not an easy landing.  He was just lucky that he was in such good shape and was so strong or this call could very well have ended much worse.

Oreo Cookies

You could always tell when I was PMS-ing. I started with wanting Oreo cookies, time to run everyone, Linda wants Oreo’s.  No one hung around dispatch when I was eating Oreo cookies unless they had too. So……….

One lonely Oreo cookie night I was sitting in dispatch alone eating my Oreo’s when the 911 rang. I had just stuffed an Oreo in my mouth and when the 911 ran I swallowed it whole. A trait every dispatcher that doesn’t get a lunch break does.  That Oreo stuck in my throat Ker-plunk and would not move, I could not breathe or talk and the phone just hit my ear and a lady was screaming “my baby is not breathing, I live at ------------ and my baby isn’t breathing.”  I am thinking, well I am not doing so well either. I went ahead and hit the tones for the ambulance over and over hoping someone would come help me too.

The juvenile officer was just pulling up to his office upstairs and later said he turned to the other one and said “that is funny, last night on 911 the same thing happened and the dispatcher was choking and couldn’t talk” The ambulance is screaming for me to give them a location and I can’t talk. I am starting to get dizzy, I am trying my best to do all the things they say to do if you are alone and choking. One lone officer came running as he knew something was wrong, he saw a big bump in my neck and rubbed it down and I squeaked and I mean squeaked out the address they were wanted at and what happened. The officer grabbed the phone and took over the call. 

Thankfully both of us were saved that night, thanks to God and an alert police officer. The juvenile officer that did not come down after saying that felt terrible but alls well that ends well.

The next day I showed up in dispatch and there on the message board was an Oreo cookie with a hole drilled in it and a string though it and a note that said “in case of choking, please pull string”   I still have the note and string in my scrapbook. And yes I ate that Oreo cookie….lol

Burning the dogs and cats

One of the worse things I always hated was when people would hurt the defenseless living creatures, the kids, the elderly and the animals, the special needs.  People of this category usually start young with the animals of the world.

We had a white cat once that my dad adored. He was a really good cat and some kids took and tied him to a tree and used him for batting practice until he was a beaten pulp of flesh.  Thank God one of the Oregon State Troopers worked the case like a murder case until he found the kids. He said they had to as this is the type of person who will get worse as they get older until it is humans they are killing.

Another case in our rural town was two teenagers that were pouring a mixture of gas and kerosene on dogs and cats and lighting them on fire watching them run and scream until they died.  Another dispatcher and I were just sick to our stomachs over it. At least once a week and sometimes more we would get a call in reference to an animal they set afire.  They were getting closer all the time with leads to catch them.  As we were sitting in dispatch one night two teenage boys came down the stairs into dispatch. They stunk to high heaven of aftershave. It was so strong you could hardly use your nose to breathe. You could still smell gas and kerosene on them.  They said “I hear the police are looking for us in reference to those animals getting set on fire and we wanted to come in and clear it up because we did not do it.”  You could even smell the charred smell of flesh on them.

I had to catch the other dispatchers arm as she started to go right over the top of the counter after them with tears in her eyes.  We called the officers into the office and the teens were convicted of the crime.

Crimes are hard on people and on the emergency service people that deal with it. After weeks of looking at the pictures on the animals as we type and filed reports would tear our hearts out and make us sick to our stomach and when they came in to the police station smelling that way it was just to much to bear as all those pictures kept flashing through our heads. Every person that came in with a picture of their beloved pet with tears running down their faces and pain in their eyes and voice flashes through your head like a fast running movie.

Please if you know of any information on crimes call your police. Almost every police department has an anonymous line where you don’t have to identify yourself.  I think it is sad that people don’t want to be involved anymore. This is your town, your animals, get involved, be the eyes for the police. They can’t be around everywhere all the time. These are our animals, our property, our neighbors that need help. You can’t turn your back on people any more. Our towns are suffering because no one wants involved. Would you want someone to be involved if it was your animals, your property, your loved ones?

A person told me once he was against road blocks looking for intoxicated rivers because he did not want to have to set at one, he wanted to go home and he did not think it was fair to have to be held up in traffic for 10 minutes.  I asked him “would you spend that 10 minutes if you knew it would save your family’s life?”  He said “well of course I would but this has nothing to do with my family.”  I said “no, but getting the drunk off the road may save someone else the pain of losing a loved one. So you are telling me it is worth the time to save your family but not mine?”  Get involved, same our families, save our animals, save our town.

Thanks again for thinking about it and for listening.  The police do care!  They care deeply!  I have seen many of these tough guys in tears over a call he just had to go on.  We are as human as you with the same feelings you have, we have just learned to hide them for your sake, not for our sake.

Burning the dogs and cats

One of the worse things I always hated was when people would hurt the defenseless living creatures, the kids, the elderly and the animals, the special needs.  People of this category usually start young with the animals of the world.

We had a white cat once that my dad adored. He was a really good cat and some kids took and tied him to a tree and used him for batting practice until he was a beaten pulp of flesh.  Thank God one of the Oregon State Troopers worked the case like a murder case until he found the kids. He said they had to as this is the type of person who will get worse as they get older until it is humans they are killing.

Another case in our rural town was two teenagers that were pouring a mixture of gas and kerosene on dogs and cats and lighting them on fire watching them run and scream until they died.  Another dispatcher and I were just sick to our stomachs over it. At least once a week and sometimes more we would get a call in reference to an animal they set afire.  They were getting closer all the time with leads to catch them.  As we were sitting in dispatch one night two teenage boys came down the stairs into dispatch. They stunk to high heaven of aftershave. It was so strong you could hardly use your nose to breathe. You could still smell gas and kerosene on them.  They said “I hear the police are looking for us in reference to those animals getting set on fire and we wanted to come in and clear it up because we did not do it.”  You could even smell the charred smell of flesh on them.

I had to catch the other dispatchers arm as she started to go right over the top of the counter after them with tears in her eyes.  We called the officers into the office and the teens were convicted of the crime.

Crimes are hard on people and on the emergency service people that deal with it. After weeks of looking at the pictures on the animals as we type and filed reports would tear our hearts out and make us sick to our stomach and when they came in to the police station smelling that way it was just to much to bear as all those pictures kept flashing through our heads. Every person that came in with a picture of their beloved pet with tears running down their faces and pain in their eyes and voice flashes through your head like a fast running movie.

Please if you know of any information on crimes call your police. Almost every police department has an anonymous line where you don’t have to identify yourself.  I think it is sad that people don’t want to be involved anymore. This is your town, your animals, get involved, be the eyes for the police. They can’t be around everywhere all the time. These are our animals, our property, our neighbors that need help. You can’t turn your back on people any more. Our towns are suffering because no one wants involved. Would you want someone to be involved if it was your animals, your property, your loved ones?

A person told me once he was against road blocks looking for intoxicated rivers because he did not want to have to set at one, he wanted to go home and he did not think it was fair to have to be held up in traffic for 10 minutes.  I asked him “would you spend that 10 minutes if you knew it would save your family’s life?”  He said “well of course I would but this has nothing to do with my family.”  I said “no, but getting the drunk off the road may save someone else the pain of losing a loved one. So you are telling me it is worth the time to save your family but not mine?”  Get involved, same our families, save our animals, save our town.

Thanks again for thinking about it and for listening.  The police do care!  They care deeply!  I have seen many of these tough guys in tears over a call he just had to go on.  We are as human as you with the same feelings you have, we have just learned to hide them for your sake, not for our sake.

Training the new girl

I love new dispatchers and their reactions to different things.  We had one dispatcher that was as tickled as anyone I have ever seen about getting the job. She had listened to the scanner for years and wanted so bad to be a dispatcher and talk to the officers.

She started training and did really well remembering things. She tried really hard to do a good job but her goal still remained to talk on that radio. She kept saying “when do I get to talk on the radio?”  I told her to practice reading a license plate back to the officer and when she could do it correctly I would let her read it back on the air.

She learned her radio codes and the words for the alphabet letters and was ready. She reminded me of the little kids at Christmas just waiting for an officer to run a plate.

In those days you had a mike that sat on the desk and you pressed the button at the bottom and talked.

For some reason that day traffic was slow but finally an officer called and wanted a plate ran.  I ran it on the computer and handed her the print out to read back to the officer. She grinned from ear to ear and took a breath, pushed the mike, opened her mouth and FROZE. She could not talk and she would not remove her finger from the mike where I could pull it over and talk. I finally had to pry her fingers off the mike and read it back.

She was in tears!  She wasn’t going to get to be a dispatcher, wrong. I told her it was like stage fright and that first time is hard sometimes. 

She went on to being a very good dispatcher and loved her job. That is the one and only time she ever froze about anything. She was fast and accurate and always loved the job she always wanted

Wrong Department

Wrong Department

They say that 89% or so of what you do is from habit and I have many stories that prove that it is a whole lot higher percent.  When you get really busy doing something, it is done by habit.  When you are under stress, it is done by habit.  Practice does not make perfect, only perfect practice makes perfect.  If you practice a lot you will be much better under pressure. 

Police officers used to go out the firing range and shoot and unload their weapons and put the empty brass in their pocket where they could reload it. They understand the more practice they get the better shots they become and reloading their own ammo is cheaper so it allows more practice.  The problem is the habit.  They started finding officers dead on the street with their gun empty and their hand full empty brass casing in their pocket. Now on the range you have to dump your brass on the ground quickly and reload immediately. It has saved many lives I am sure.  So what does this have to do with wrong department??

When we came home to Oregon after working for the Alaska State Troopers I went to work for the tribal police department. I enjoyed working there as we were busy like we were in Alaska. 

I do not like someone else taking a call I have to dispatch as they don’t get the same information that I do, especially if an officer answers it.  Example. We had a call come in of a robbery in progress at the Safeway store in the town I was working. An officer going to help me because I was busy grabbed the phone. He hung up the phone and yelled, robbery going down at Safeway. I asked “how many, are they armed?” He said, “I don’t know they didn’t say, they just said they were being robbed right now” I asked for a description of the suspects. He said “I don’t know, they didn’t say”.  This means he did not ask!  If I would have dispatched a call to him like that with no info my name would have been worse then you know what.

So everyone knows if I don’t ask you to, please don’t’ answer my phone.

I was super busy doing things and the phone rang and I reached over and grabbed it and said “Alaska State Troopers, may I help you?” The caller said “Oh my God, how did I get you” and hung up before I could correct myself.  The phone immediately rang and I yelled to the officer in the next room to come answer the phone. He ran into dispatch and looking at me strangely as I just sat there doing nothing and answered the phone.. All of a sudden this big grin comes on his face.

He gets off the phone and said “now I understand, that guy that called was telling me he tried to call her and got the Alaska State Troopers and he can’t understand how in the world that happened”

I did not want to answer the phone with the voice that had just answered at the Alaska State Troopers… Those stinking habits anyway…..Good laugh for us all 

reply to rape post

Some are taking this as I don't think the victim has right to counsel, I do very strongly believe he has the right to counsel. I just think the victim should have the same rights, not more rights just the same rights

Remember the victim

You have the right to a speedy trial. Yes you do if you are the suspect. As a victim your rights are few and far in between anymore.  They tried in Oregon to pass a victim’s rights bill and all of a sudden on TV it was a bill that was going to give the police more power over you.  People you need to get educated and quit being so afraid that everything gives police power to do things to you.  It gave the police no more power then they have right now except to protect your rights as a VICTIM.  Every time I think about the right to a speedy trial I get mad and I think of a little girl that lived on a remote island in Alaska.

This little 9 year old girl came to the bigger island with her parents about once a month to get groceries, see the doctor, banking or whatever business they needed to take care of. They got a room in a local hotel that was above a restaurant.

One night around 10pm the little girl was asleep so the parents went down stairs sitting right at the bottom of the stairs to have a snack and cup of coffee before going to bed. They heard some noises and went up the stairs to check on their daughter and found a man raping her.  He had crawled up to the second story window and went inside. The father took after him, the mom and daughter were screaming and yelling and the waitress called 911.

The police arrived and the suspect was locked in the bathroom with no place to go and the dad was trying his best to knock the door down. The police officer was trying to pull the dad back and the dad was trying to get the police officers gun.  They finally got the father under control and kicked in the door and arrested the man.

Now this sounds like a pretty shut and dry case right?  Well you can only hold someone for arraignments then they have to be granted bail until the trail.  The judge could set a really high bail and hope he can’t get the money together but unless special circumstances like murder and proof they may flee can they be kept in jail. It rarely ever happens, in fact most of the time they are released with a court order when they are suppose to show up for trial.

If they can’t afford an attorney the court (the people) will pay for one.  If the victim (9 year old girl) wants an attorney she must pay for it. The only attorney or investigator she gets paid for his the District Attorney and yes those mean old cops.  The attorney for the bad guys hires a couple of investigators to try and find anything and everything he can about the victim. The Defense attorney hires doctors to try and show his client has problems, he hires who he wants and you the public pay for it.  The little girl, well she has those mean ole cops and the District Attorney who is already 6 months behind on cases to work for her.

Back to the island the little girl goes waiting for trial. She is terrified of staying in town. The Defense Attorney cause for a postponement due to the fact he has not had enough time to contact certain witnesses for the defense and is granted it.  The little girls right to a speedy trial???  Nope, she has to go back to the island. She can not put this behind her because her and her family have to remember details where they can testify in court.

Life goes on.  The man gets an order to stay away from kids.  Well he knew rape was not right and that did not stop him but the court saying this time stay away is going to keep everyone safe… That paper would make me feel safe.  He goes back to his job, back to visiting with friends, going fishing, going out to dinner, going to the movies; yes life goes on.

The little girl???  She stays on her island living in fear he will find her. He will do something to them where they can’t testify. She can’t go to the movies on the big island, she is afraid of him. They can’t even come to the island to do business because of the fear but they have to get groceries.

Those mean old cops, they meet the family as they arrive in town.  They take the little girl home with them and let the parents do their business. They took the family home that  night to stay in their private homes.  They escort that little girl to the movie she has been dying to see. They make arrangements for the next trip to town where they can see who is off that day.

This continued for almost 2 years before it came to trial. Many people wanted the police officer to charge the dad for trying to take his gun. Come on!  Any father that walks in on a man mounting his 9 year old daughter would do the same thing.  The officer refused and said he would testify in court for the father.

This whole group of officers helped that family anyway they could as they spent the two years with their right to a speedy trial.

Finally the day arrives, no postponement, the trial is on.  The man is convicted, the family rejoices, the cops smile, proud of the fact they are a cop.  The results; The man is given probation, time served and an order to stay away from kids and listed as a registered sex offender and walks out the door.

Now this is justice!  What did the girl get?  Living in fear because this man is still loose and walking the streets. The solution?  The girl and the family move away from their home.  Who had the most punishment?  They said never again, next time they will walk away and catch the man in a dark alley someday.

Think about it before you vote. Don’t think of the police has bad guys, think of them as the attorney and investigators for the victim.  Are there bad cops?  Yes there is. There are bad people in all professions, teachers, doctors, firemen, coaches, pastors, you name it but we don’t hate the whole profession because of it. If an officer is a bad officer or he screws up, punish him, put him in jail, fire him but don’t let it affect the real victim in this, the victim; in this case a 9 year old girl.

Police officers do care, I could spend days writing on incidents where police have helped people. Went home and changed their clothes and went back to help somebody that broke down and could not afford a mechanic etc.

Please from now on, put your feelings towards the police away in your pocket somewhere and think instead of the victim and what they are going through. When you set on the jury, think of the victim instead of the poor bad guys upbringing. The victim deserves rights too. The victim deserves your caring too. They deserve some protection from the law.

Thank you for taking your time to read this and I pray that it will make you think about the other side of the story.

Weather report requests

A simple thing but one I used to laugh at and had to work very hard not to mouth off to them. A person calls and wants to know what the mountain pass is like. We have blizzard conditions on the flat plains and 8” of snow and they wonder what the mountain pass is like. I am sorry but I always wanted to say “you should go, its 80 degrees and sunny up there”. 

I actually had one lady call from the small hill in town and want to know what it was like downtown. I wanted so bad to say, boy that two blocks makes such a difference, it is so warm and sunny here. I mean you can see it from your window lady.

Then I remember the blizzard I told you about, but at least the blizzard conditions were higher then where they were at, not at a lower elevation.

The worse weather question I ever had asked was when I was in Alaska and it was December and some guy called and wanted to know if he could get through the roads from Prince Rupert on South in March. I said “there are no road closures they have listed at this time sir”  He said “no, I mean is the weather going to be bad”. I really thought it was a crank call but the man was serious. I said you have to be kidding, I have no way of knowing what the weather is going to be like months from now. He advised me he had to know as he worked at the mill and they do vacations by seniority and he had to get his vacation put in early enough that no one else could get the time he wanted and he did not want to take vacation and then not be able to get out.  He kept just arguing with me that I should be able to get a hold of the weather bureau or something and get the information for him. I finally said after arguing for almost ½ hour. Sir we are not God, he is the only one that can tell you. He got mad and hung up on me.  

People never want to believe me when I tell that story but it is the truth. 

pepper spray post

A person commented on the pepper spray incident about it being painful to get sprayed. Well in our department if you carried a tazer gun you also had to be shot with it so you would know how it felt before you could carry one.  In fact one time the Sgt. used his tazer on someone and went to reload because the guy did not go down and tazed himself...It was hard not to laugh right in front of the suspect...suspect arrested without further ado

Lights out

We moved to Fairbanks Alaska for one summer. Drove up right after spring breakup and came home just before freeze for winter.  We had an old Ford pickup utility box pickup that used to belong to the light company and was a ladder truck. It was a heavy, touch old pickup, kind of a medium gray.

While we left we bought a bumper sticker that read “Winding in and winding out leaves my mind to serious doubt: of weather the man that built this road was going to hell or coming out” and one that read “we drove the Alaska Highway, yes dammit both ways”

When we got back into Oregon we cleaned off a spot on the bumper and put them both on and headed to Coos Bay, Oregon.  The back of the pickup which was loaded like the Beverly Hill Billy’s and covered with a tarp.  The only place clean on that pickup was the bumper stickers.

When we got to Coos Bay a police officer pulled us over. (my ex had a habit of when he was going to lie to an officer he got out because my face gave it away and if he did not know why they stopped him he stayed in the vehicle)  A state police officer walked up to the window and said “sir you don’t have any lights on the back of this pickup and it is really hard to see.” My husband walked to the back of the pickup and hit it a few times and the lights came on, he said it must have a short from all the gravel roads something has worked loose.  The State Police officer said “I see where you went to Alaska, I have always wanted to do that.  They stood out there and swapped some hunting stories and talked about Alaska and by then the lights went out again. The police officer being nice followed us to our friend’s house we were going to stay with and then went on his way.

We found a house to rent and started moving things into our house and running around to garage sales to find things as we had sold almost everything we owned when we moved to Alaska and the trailer and the rest of the stuff when we came home.  So, needless to say this was a very busy time in our life and you know who did not ever do anything about the lights.

Another couple of weeks passed and we were over visiting our friends and were headed home again when, sure enough red lights to the rear, a police officer was pulling us over. My husband jumped out of the pickup, which we still had not washed and started telling this officer the same story about coming home from Alaska. I mean after all it worked the first time.  Meanwhile, I was frantically trying to get my husbands attention because I recognized the officer as being the same one that had stopped him before. I must admit I was really impressed with the officer. He stood right there and listened to the whole story again and then very politely pulled out his ticket book and said “it must be that time of the year, I stopped a guy in a pickup like this a couple of weeks ago with the same story of just coming home from Alaska” as he wrote the ticket and my husband turned bright red.

You would think that was the end of the story with the lights, right?  Nope, about 3 years later we were coming home from Bend in the same pickup and a state police officer pulled us over. He walked up to the pickup and said “sir, I stopped you because you don’t have any lights on this pickup and it is hard to see.” My husband said “when did you move up here from Coos Bay?”  The officer said “what did I give you a ticket in Coos Bay?”  My husband said “well not the first time but you did the second time and for your information I did get those lights fixed.” The officer looked again at the pickup and the worn out Alaska bumper stickers and started laughing his head off.  The officer said “oh my goodness, I remember you now, I have told that story many times over the years” 

He did not give us a ticket, my husband fixed the lights and we always waved when we saw each other.

Dim lights out

My ex made such a good police officer later in life because he was such a border line case before he was a cop. He knew every excuse that people give because he has used them himself.  He got stopped once for his dim lights being out and he told the officer he did not know it. Being mouthy me, I said “remember I told you last week”.  So now anytime he wants to lie to an officer he gets out of the vehicle and stands if I am in the car where they can’t see the look on my face.  This will even make more sense when you read the post following about lights out.

We were driving from Pendleton, Oregon to Hermiston, Oregon after dark one night when my husband knew he did not have any dim lights so every time he would meet a car and they would flash their bright lights at him he would dim his real quick to show them that he did not have any dims.  Traffic was very sparse in the area.

We met this car and he dimmed his lights real quick to show he had no dims and right back bright again and by then he realized the car was a police officer.  My husband immediately pulled to the side of the road, grabbed a screwdriver and jumped out and was working on the light….yeah right. 

The officer turned around and had came back and walked up to him.  The officer said I see you are working on your vehicle and my husband said “Yeah when I met you I went to dim my lights and they went out, like to scared me to death so I thought I would pull over and see if I can fix them.”  The officer said “I wish everyone was that safety conscious sir, you have a good day”.

Well the police officer must have got a good laugh out of that one because you can’t fix you vehicle lights with a screwdriver, get a new light, change a fuse or something but not stand by the light with a screwdriver. I think he was just impressed with his quick thinking in trying to get out of a ticket and probably laughed all the way to the station. Many times I have had officers come in laughing because of some cock in bull story that someone gave them.

Writing this can sometimes be hard

When I decided to start this blog I thought it would be cool for the public to understand us that work in emergency services a little more with a honest feeling about what has happened.  Fire Departments are loved when they help people but police aren't because so many times it means that someone goes to jail. I wonder sometimes why the public thinks police are so bad. I know that big town cops are not the same as small town cops but they don't arrest the suspect at a domestic for reasons that are personal to them. They arrest the suspect to keep people from getting hurt.  They are not the mean person out to get you.

So many times in dispatch I get calls saying "if that cop doesn't quit harassing  me I am going to sue him"
me:  "What is he doing that is harassing you sir?"
caller: "I am going to Bend and he has been following me for 25 miles and I have not done anything, he is just stalking me"
me. "no sir, he is not stalking you, he is going to the crime lab in Bend and that is the only highway to get there"
caller: "oh, fine but tell him to follow someone else over there" and he hangs up

I have never minded a cop behind me since I got my drivers license at 16 until one day when I was following a semi to close and could not see the traffic light and by the time it came out from above the truck it was red and I was already starting into intersection. YIKES, OMG, I just ran a red light, my first ever is 25 years..OH NO, I hope a cop is not around.  That got my mind to thinking, now I understand why they are nervous when a cop is around, they break the law once in a while.  Even the next few miles I was nervous watching for them because I just knew someone had called in and said I had ran a red light. OH NO!!!! A COP!!! sitting there just waiting for me at that stop sign, yep he is pulling out behind me, I have to make sure I don't break any laws and I drive perfect because someone called me in and he is just going to be watching for any mistake, I mean any mistake I might make so he can pull me over. Sweat breaking out, nerves are shot, good grief cop give up I am going to drive fine. I just made a mistake, give up, pull off.

By the time that officer pulled off I am sure my blood pressure was up 20 points, my breathing was faster and my nerves were shot...

OK drivers I know understand why you hate the cop behind you. But I also understand if you aren't nervous to begin with the cop doesn't bother you to be behind you.  Walking in someone else's shoes does help you understand.

One of my favorite sayings was the one about walk a mile in someone else's shoes before you condemn them when you are mad.  Then an Indian friend of me thought me the true meaning of that one. Walk a mile in someone else's shoes before you mouth off, that way when he gets mad you will be a mile away and he won't have any shoes....lol

Have a good day and God bless and be safe

Streaking

The KTVZ story also reminded me of the guy that decided to streak the court house in Baker, Oregon and as he was running down the hall from the police he took a wrong turn and ended up in the judges chamber...now try to tell the judge that you are innocent on this charge.....

Wire fences and running

Today on KTVZ news they ran an article about a man that was naked and streaked by a police car and refused to stop that tried to get over a fence that had barbed wire at the top.....OUCH but reminded me of another story.

A guy was running from the police in the industrial area of our town. The cops are searching all over different buildings for him when they get a call on the radio to come to the jail as a man was caught in the fence.  The man had tried to get over the fence to hide and it was the fence that surrounds the jail.

No one ever said the bad guys were the smart guys, they are the bad guys

Overweight permits

When I worked for the Alaska State Troopers we were you also got your overweight, over-width permits at.

The State decided to go on a health kick and tell all officers that they had to be on the scale for height, weight that the doctors chart said and sent out a memo.  One of our officer who was a real hunk and I mean hunk weighed the same thing he did in high school but according to that blasted chart he was 10 pounds overweight. Well if you can look that way and be 10 overweight good for you but one officer had a weight issue and had to lose 30 pounds.

 I do not remember the time line on it but it was way to soon to lose that much weight so the solution.......we would issue an overweight permit.

We took measurements of his feet like they were tires, his height etc. and filled out the permit just like we would on a truck or trailer over-width permit, signed it and left it on the Sgt.'s desk for his signature. Needless to say he did not sign it and his humor did not match ours but if you looked at his eyes they were full of twinkles.

Lucky for the officer the state got so many complaints on the memo that it was dropped and they only had to pass a physical agility test once a year and if you could pass weight did not matter....

I still have a copy of that permit

Good State Worker

One of my  favorite stories about always finding something to do  was when I worked for the Alaska State Troopers.  If you had your work done the boss would let you do something like read etc. but if he found your work not done and you doing it you can bet you had a 3 day unpaid vacation, 2nd time a weeks vacation unpaid and the 3rd time you were looking for another job.  One winter which was always a really slow time for us I decided I would bring music tapes out and put them in the Dictaphone to transcribe the words for one of the Sgt.'s that had a country band that played around town on his days off and in Alaska sheet music was hard to find.

Our Captain came from the Juneau post and he loved to just drop in unexpected to check up on all of us, days, swing or graveyard you never knew when he was going to walk through the door.  Little known to me one day shift he went into my Sgt.'s office and him and the Sgt. walked back out to where I was busy transcribing music off a tape for the other Sgt. and unplugged my earphones and out comes this country song. The Captain says "well at least she knows how to look busy like a good state worker". He had been in the Sgt.s office telling him what a worker I was, that no matter when he showed up I was always busy even in winter. He had said he did not know what all I did but I was the busiest dispatcher he had ever seen. The Sgt. smiled and did not say anything he just walked out and pulled the plug........lol

Bomb Threat

When I first started working in 911 for the Alaska Troopers I had training with my supervisor Julie (not a real name).  I was doing pretty good so she went to a meeting and told me I was on my own.  I was excited and scared at the same time. Adrenaline was running wild hoping for the phone to ring and afraid it would at the same time.

The business line lite up.  Alaska State Troopers, how can I help you?
caller: Is Julie there?
me:  Not at this time, may I take a message?
caller: no, I have to talk to her and I have to talk to her now.
me: I am sorry sir but if it is an emergency I can do my best to get a hold of her as soon as possible.
caller:  Well you are going to have to or else the bomb is going to go off first.

My heart stopped...BOMB! OMG! BOMB!

I started trying to wave my hands around to get my Sgt. in the other rooms attention where I could get them to trace the call as this was before enhanced 911 that shows you the address, when he looked up I mouthed trace this call, bomb and he grabbed the phone and started dialing.

Trying to stay calm I said: Sir where is the bomb?
caller: at the hospital (by now the Sgt is also monitoring the call)
me: where at the hospital is it located?
caller: you will know when it goes off, you had better get Julie and you better get the fire department and all the police up there and get those people out.
Me: We are trying to sir could you give me some more information as to the time the bomb is suppose to go off? (I am thinking I have to keep him on the line until we can get it traced)

Julie walks through the door and I put the phone up in the air and start telling her what the guy said and that he  had asked for her. Sgt. is busy listening, ordering troops into position,tracing call, calling more officers from home, trying to get hospital administrator on the line etc.

Julie grabs the phone from my hand and says "Bob knock it off we don't have time for this!  Why are you upset today?"

caller:  I am so glad they found you, someone called me a name and I was going to show them they can't call me names.
Julie:  It is ok Bob, lets talk about this. She tells everyone to abort all orders and send everyone home it is ok. it is one of our local mental cases that when he flips out he starts calling in emergencies as he likes to watch all the officers run around code 3 and he likes the attention he gets so Julie gives him his attention and he is fine.

A lesson that I learned right off in dealing with mental problems. A lot of the time all they want is someone to talk to. Later in life we had one in Oregon that used to call with all kinds of problems. I would talk to her if I was not busy sometimes for an hour but then she was happy. If I was busy I would get her talking long enough to make sure she did not have a real emergency and then I would put her on hold and go about my other calls and once in a while pick up her line and say " I understand Kathy, tell me some more and then put her back on hold.  I was training a girl once and we were really busy and Kathy called and the trainee was monitoring all calls. Kathy told me her usual story about people trying to get her and they were hiding and watching her through her window and I said "oh no Kathy, tell me who you think they are and describe them in detail" and then I put her on hold.  I did not even look at the trainees face as I was really busy with several calls. I did my once in a while pick up the line and make some remark about "I don't blame you for being afraid so you be sure and tell me each noise you hear" and back on hold she went. Finally I picked up the line and she said "thanks Linda but they have left now and I can sleep" I hung the phone up.

After about 1/2 hour things slowed down and I had not even remembered that Kathy had called and my trainee said "why in the world did you put that poor lady that had a prowler on hold, you told me that was a very dangerous call for an officer"  I then explained to her about mental patients.

Kathy used to also come to the emergency room with a broken toe all the time. We had a new doctor on and the new admitting clerk called that they had a female with a broken toe out front. I went out and sure enough it was Kathy.  I said "what is wrong Kathy?"  She said "I think I broke my toe"  I said "oh no, let me see. I looked at her perfectly fine toe and said hang on Kathy and I will get your medicine for you.  I went into the ER and got her a glass of water and took to her and told her I put her medicine in the glass and she was to drink every bit of it two swallows at a time. Don't drink it fast and her pain would go away"  She set there for almost 1/2 hr drinking her meds two swallows at a time and said "Oh thank you Linda, you always know what to do when I have a problem"  Again she was just lonely and wanted someone to give her a little attention.

The doctor said at first he thought I was the crazy one when I said I will go get your meds as I can't dose meds....lol  Of course everyone at the hospital became very acquainted with Kathy in a hurry.  The main thing was to make sure that she did not have a real complaint this time.

Another mental I will call Larry loved the attention and we had a new EMT on board. We had several people hurt but all minor. Myself and my boss looked up and there was our new EMT in the back of the ambulance with Larry giving him a secondary survey saying "where do you hurt?"  Asking all the questions he says "Did your seat belt hit you in the chest to make it hurt?"  Larry: "I did not have a seat belt?" EMT: "did you hit the dash then to make your chest hurt?"  Patient "no?"  EMT: "where were you in the car?"  Patient: "oh I wasn't in the car" EMT:  "did the car hit you?"  Patient "No"  EMT:  "did you fall and injure your chest?" Patient "no" I was just walking by and this looked like fun"  EMT looks at me and the boss and everyone is already gone from accident as it was just a fender bender and the boss and me are sitting the sidewalk laughing so hard tears are running down our cheeks as we watch the new guy try to get this guy out of his ambulance.  We knew cause we had already been there before.......

Yep mental patients often just want attention because a lot of people are afraid of them or don't want to talk to them so they use the emergency services to get some attention and if we have the time we should give them that attention as everyone needs someone to care.  If we don't have time we should always try and figure out a way to give them attention, sometimes they will even call you back in a an hour.

Tragic death

I am not sure people realize what a toll some calls take on the emergency personnel that have to deal with them. They think it just affected the ones that are related to the call. WRONG!  Even in dispatch you listen to the call and your heart bleeds for them. Now officers type their own reports on the computer but in those days you had to type every yucky detail and I mean down to the most minor detail of the call. You think some crime books or movies are bad, try reading a real police report on an incident or being there in the ambulance or police officer. It breaks your heart for years. It is not something you can go home and tell your spouse about either. Just to sick to want them to know.  I am going to tell a story about such a call but I am going to leave out 90% of the really sick stuff for the same reason I just mentioned.  I just want people to get a feel for what it is like truthfully. I hate that the lawyers play games in court and decide what a jury should hear. They say it is to emotional to show that picture, well the case was emotional and the jury needs to see it.

Anyway, one early am call when you are doing your best to stay awake and watching the clock count the hours and minutes until your relief gets there and hopefully you can sleep  during the day to come back that next night...Oh blessed sleep  how I miss you.....911 WAKE UP...."911 please st." and you hear a screaming voice say "my baby isn't breathing". An emergency services nightmare is about to begin.  With one hand you start asking her questions "do you know CPR" and the other hand is poking buttons like mad to get the ambulance enroute and the officers started.  The caller is yelling "no, help me, God help me she is blue"  You start giving her instructions to do CPR and stopping for a second to give the ambulance crew the address. You tell her how to start breaths and she yells "I can't she is cold and stiff", you relay the info to the responding crews......

Dead on arrival....a sad way to end your shift.  How do you go home now and go to sleep....You think of your own kids at home sleeping in their beds, your fears always think of your kids and hope they are ok and breathing when you get there. It takes all your will power not to call home and wake up the whole family just to hear their voices and know they are ok.  You continue your shift.

You come back to work the next day....(our troopers used to record the reports on cassette for the Dictaphone for you to type) and their in your work basket is the cassette on the call the night before. Oh great, now come all the little dirty details of how they died. You put the tape in the Dictaphone and hope against hope it was a natural death and this was not going to ruin your whole day as soon as you get to work. No such luck, it is not a natural death.

In as little details as I can and still get the point across. They had a drinking party at the house that fateful night and everyone was drunk as can be.  The baby 8 months old was laying on the couch with a blanket and her drunk uncle went over and sat on her.  He was so drunk he did not know it and did not feel her struggle to get a breath but they found bits of his jeans and skin under her little fingernails as she struggled......I will leave the story with only those details.  His defense in court  "he was drunk" "he was sorry" "he was sad and destroyed"
and her family "he did not mean too, it has destroyed our family but it was a tragic accident" He got a manslaughter charge and probation.

I think it was murder by neglect!!!!

Alcohol destroys so much!  It is the most misused drug in our society and the most accepted drug in our society. You would be amazed at how many of calls alcohol is involved in.

Don't drink and drive but don't let your kids at a drunken party either. This was over 30 years ago and I can remember this case.  The family and all responders that had to deal with this case remember it.

A little girl no longer walks with us because of a night of fun, took a life of laughter

float plane

Your right, they are lucky they did not have to dump the salmon but if they had I think they would have been throwing them at each other...lol

Float Plane & the muddy bay

Heheheh.....  

Speed has never killed anyone.
 Suddenly becoming stationary,
 that's what does it.
  

This saying reminds me of the Lt. at the Police Dept who had his own float plane. He laughed when he found out I was afraid of flying and he said that the flying is not the problem it is when you quit flying that you have to worry about......

Anyway he decided 3 officers decided to approach Tim and see if they paid for the gas if he would fly them out to this river on an Island that had no town that the salmon were suppose to be big and the run was in. Of course being a avid fisherman himself he readily agreed and plans were made.

Off they flew into the wild blue yonder, the day was bright and this was going to be a great trip. High expectations abounded and excitement was in their voices.  They came to the bay and landed without  a hitch.  They anchored the plane, put on their backpacks and off they went for their day of fishing.  

The rumors were right, the fishing was fantastic, the weather held and stayed sunny, they had their packed lunches on the river bank, filled what they could carry of fish so off they hiked back to the plane.

They arrived back at the bay without any problems but OH MY GOODNESS, where did the water go?  Here was the little float plane sitting in a bay of muck and mud and no water anywhere close to it.  Now this isn't good. You have to have water to get going or a hard surface to use the wheels, mud and muck up past your knees is not for a runway.

Being the troopers they were into the muck they waded, out to the plane they go, they load their precious treasure of salmon aboard and crawl in.  Mud is hanging all over them. Lt. is not happy to see all that in his plane. He starts the engine and pulls the throttle thinking he can skim on the mud until he reaches the water...NOPE, the plane is stuck!

He tells the guys, get out and shove!  They say, you have to be kidding?  NOPE, you have to shove, I can't shove and fly both and we are going to have to use the engine and propeller to move this thing.

Oh great, out the other 3 climb and get behind and start shoving, the plane is not moving. They have to get out before dark or wait until morning, wet, tired, cranky and covered in mud and nothing left to eat except that precious salmon....

Lt. fires up the engine and gives it some throttle, it moves a little, shove harder he yells. They shove for everything they have and he gives it more throttle and yep it is moving towards the water but BLAST that propeller is blowing mud and gunk all over the other 3.  The finally work their way to the water enough to float. By now tempers are flaring and no one is happy anymore. They wash off as well as they can in the ice cold water of Alaska waters and crawl in the plane. Lt now has water, mud and gunk all over and 3 very upset fishermen.

They fly back home safe and sound and were the most humorous things you ever saw crawl out of that plane that day. You could tell by the look on their face now was not the time to ask questions or to laugh. Trying to control yourself you help  load them in the blazer for the drive home, into the hot bath, hot supper...still no laugh.

By the time they went back to work the humor was back and the story still remains a favorite to this day of everyone who heard it.

Told you airplanes weren't cool.....ha ha

Oink Oink

A police officer did a traffic stop on 2 women during the time it was the fad to call cops pigs. He walked up to the car and asked to see their drivers license and registration.  They gave them to him and he turned around to walk back to his patrol car and one of the women said "oink, oink" real loud. He turned around and started back towards the car. His fellow officer was a little nervous about what he was going to say to them. He walked back to the window and looked in and just looked carefully at each one and then said "arf, arf" without so much as changing his facial expression. He then turned around and walked back to his car.  There was not another smart remark the whole traffic stop...

I loved that one and so did his fellow officer

Sleeping

I am doing a quick story this morning as I am short on battery.

One night I was totally exhausted. It was flu season and everyone was calling in sick. I was sleeping soundly away when the phone rang. I grabbed it and said "******** County Sheriff's Office" The voice on the other end said "no it isn't but it is where we need you to be".....You get so programmed it just comes out automatically.

Another time the phone rang at home and I said "hello", my supervisor said "get down here right now we just had a tornado hit". We do not get tornado's in our area and so I thought she was joking and said "right and I am the queen of England"  She said "I don't care who you are as long as you get here NOW".

We had a small tornado touch down in some sagebrush with no damage to anything except brush and juniper trees but the public sure was in a panic and we could not answer phones fast enough. There was 3 of us and our phone lines stayed lite for several minutes straight before people calmed back down.

They wanted to know what to do....How do I know I am terrified of those dang things myself...ha ha but by golly gee I was calm on the phone. The first instructor I had who knew me and my favorite saying "shit" when things go wrong told me. "Linda, you have to learn never to say "oh shit" to a person on a call or to a patient no matter how scared you are"

Defective pepper spray

We had a subject with mental problems that was running around town every night with a gun strapped to his head and nothing else on.  He was a nice guy usually but when he flipped out he was out of it and thought everyone was out to kill him.  Anyway they had a report he was down at the rodeo grounds in one of the corrals so off everyone went to try and surround him.  They parked down from the grounds and worked their way up to surround the corral and sure enough he was doing a dance in the middle of the corral. The all got through the fence and had him surrounded.  They did not want to shoot him so they all had their pepper spray out with one officer with a sniper gun.  They slowly started closer and he finally noticed them and started screaming at them to get back. They were close enough they thought they could spray him and the officer let go with the spray.  Problem was the spray came out 360 degrees around the cap plus shot forward. The officer not only got himself but all his back up officers.  They came into the police dept. to book him in with tears running down their faces and I won't repeat the language.  Took them a couple of days to see the humor in that one but as usual their humor serviced and everyone had a good laugh at their own expense.

Most people don't realize it but every department I worked for you had to be sprayed with pepper spray before you could carry it where you would know how it felt and also know how to work through it...It does BURN!