Good afternoon. I just finished another work week this morning. Last night was a relatively normal work night. The highlight of the night for me was arresting a driver for driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI).

The arrestee is a 25 year old male who had got off work at a Japanese restaurant and decided to get drunk. After finishing his drinking binge he decided to then go spin some donuts in a church parking lot before driving to his girlfriend's house.

Well, I just happened to hear the screeching tires and followed sound of the noise. It turned out this genius decided to speed right by my patrol sergeant. The Sgt. made a traffic stop on the driver before I could get to him. I acted as the cover officer during the initial contact before taking over the investigation for DUI. What that means is I had the driver step out of his car and administered Field Sobriety Test's (FST's) to him.

The driver had all the objective signs and symptoms of being under the influence of alcohol. He had bloodshot/watery eyes, an odor of alcohol on his breath, and he was unsteady on his feet when he got out of his car. The driver was arrested after being over the legal limit. I also towed his car as punishment. We have discretion in law enforcement. We don't always have to tow car's of the people we arrest. But, in this case given the driver's reckless driving and his being DUI, it made the decision real easy. The driver of course couldn't understand the reasoning behind his car being towed. They never do. The driver was ultimately cited and released later after being booked for DUI.

I am a little upset at our local justice system and district attorney's office. Part of our justice system incorporates Juvenile Hall. Juvenile hall is basically the County's jail for anyone under 18. We had a 15 year old kid who drove off in a stolen SUV from one of my co-worker's the other night. This 15 year old kid crashed this stolen SUV into two parked cars in a condo complex. Too bad for him, but I know the condo complex better than he did. He came running out the back of the condo complex right where I thought he would. I stopped him at gunpoint and we arrested him.

Unfortunately, Juvenile Hall in our County wouldn't take him. To get admitted to our Juvenile Hall a kid literally has to have either killed someone or have a parent that doesn't want them. It is frustrating because there is no real punishment for the kid committing the crime. He could have easily killed someone while he was trying to allude and evade my co-worker while he was driving the stolen SUV. We ended up just citing the kid out to his mother. This was his second arrest for stealing cars. So, we will probably see him again.

Another problem with our local justice system is our DA's office. They decided not to file charges against the two "cranksters" we arrested who stole mail at 3 am last week. I mentioned them in my earlier post. The DA's office rationalized there decision based on the possibility that the two suspects public defender would challenge our reason to stop the two suspects that night. The DA's office thought a motion to suppress hearing wouldn't be worth filing charges.

Our DA's office is a joke. They often don't file charges on good cases. The cases they don't file on would get filed on in most any other local County or definitely other State's. It's hard because we put so much effort and time into each case. We as police officer's are only one part of the justice system. We enforce the law and only hope the judicial branch of the local government does their job. I understand why the framer's of the Constitution set up a checks and balances system in our government. You never want any one branch to have to much power. But, if one branch is not doing their job than problems can occur.

Until next time,

"Eddie"

Good afternoon everyone. I just finished my work week and we are finally starting to correct the ratio of DUI arrests to DUI crashes. This past week my co-workers had four DUI arrests. I firmly believe it is better to stop a person from driving drunk then to have to see them after they crash their car. The people we arrest may not feel that way, but hopefully they will thank us the next time they see someone dead from a DUI accident.

Friday night my co-worker and I stopped two suspicious persons walking around a neighborhood in our city. It was 0340 HRS and these two people appeared to be nervous when we drove up on them. My co-worker and I immediately saw the tell tale signs of the man and woman being drug users. I call these criminals crankers, def: people who use Meth.

My co-worker started checking the area the two had been walking around before we drove up. Low and behold we found some mail on the ground and a mailbox open. The man and woman had ditched the mail they stole when they saw us drive up to them. We arrested the man and woman for possession of stolen property, conspiracy, and mail theft. These type of people prey upon innocent people who often leave their mail in their mailbox overnight.

Both of course initially denied stealing any mail. Lucky for them we weren't born yesterday. I had the two tell me where they parked their truck. I found their truck and towed it away. That is the price of doing business for people we arrest.

The female we arrested was rail thin from all her Meth and Heroin use. She had used up all her veins in her arms from shooting Heroin. She had to resort to skin popping. Skin popping is when a person shoots Heroin into any available muscle area on their body. Since it is not intravenously done it takes longer for the Heroin to reach the person's blood stream. Skin popping leaves disgusting and grotesque looking abscesses. This woman is only 23 years old. She is literally withering away and killing herself. I of course tried to talk to her about changing her life and getting some help. But, I think I fell on deaf ears.

Last night I helped a neighboring city in their search for a man that bailed out of a stolen car. We set up a perimeter to lock down the area so the suspect could not get away. A K-9 arrived to begin a track of the suspect. The best asset that arrived was a helicopter. The helicopter hovered over the area and used its Forward Looking Infrared Radar (FLIR). This allows the helicopter crew to see anyone hiding at night. It gives them a night vision capability. The helicopter crew immediately found the suspect hiding on the ground in a backyard in the area we had contained. The suspect was hiding under a tree on the ground. The K-9 team and other officers were able to take the suspect into custody (10-15) shortly afterward. A helicopter is a amazing asset, especially at night.

Until next time,

"Eddie"

My graveyard shift team and I dealt with our second DUI crash in as many weeks. Shortly before we were due to get off shift on Saturday morning we had a call of a car crashing into a tree. This was at 0630 in the morning.

When my co-workers got to the scene of the crash they found the vehicle unoccupied. The vehicle, a newer Toyota Camry had hit a tree head on. The force of the impact caused the Camry to bounce backward. The Camry was totaled.

The driver of the Camry had fled the scene of the accident to his condominium. After checking the residence we found the 17 year old, unlicensed driver. He had been drinking alcohol prior to his crashing into the tree. He also took his mother's car without her permission. The 17 year old blew a .14 on the preliminary alcohol screening device. This gives us an accurate reading of a person's blood alcohol level. This 17 year old driver was almost 2 times the legal limit of .08 here in California.

We arrested the 17 year old driver and towed his mother's totaled car. This was our third DUI crash since my team started our graveyard shift in September. Ideally, we would like to have a ratio of 3 DUI arrests to every DUI crash. So far we haven't been able to achieve that ratio. With the holiday season fast approaching and the liquor sure to be flowing we can only hope to get better at making more DUI arrests. Peoples lives depend upon us arresting them to avert a disaster.

Prior to this DUI crash I made another Warrant Arrest. I stopped an older model pickup truck with Arizona license plates at about 0200 HRS. The driver had an outstanding Felony Arrest Warrant out of another County. I arrested the driver and took him to County Jail.

I got to talking to the driver I arrested. He told me he was a Vietnam Veteran who has been struggling since returning from that war. Being a Veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom I can appreciate this man's situation. I can't however condone the life he is leading. He is a Methamphetamine user and has had problems with drugs.

I suggested he attempt to get help from the Veteran's Administration. He told me he already had tried and failed. It is always sad to see Military Veteran's who are struggling. However, they have to want to help themselves so they don't end up like so many others holding a sign on the side of the road.

Until next time,

"Eddie"

Last night it rained all night. I hate working in the rain. I do like being at home where it is nice and warm when it rains. For work purposes rain sucks. For obvious reasons. It obscures your vision while driving in a patrol car. It makes it that more miserable when you are getting soaked by the rain while out on a traffic stop or on a call. The only positive for me about working in the rain is that I get to wear my BDU's. Being an ex-soldier I love wearing BDU's. They are comfortable and very practical for police work.

The rain also seems to bring out a lot of the auto burglars and car thieves. We had a typical car stolen last night. A car thief stole an Acura Integra, probably with a shaved key. The car thief's burglar tool of choice for stealing cars.

Diligence in attempting to serve an outstanding misdemeanor arrest warrant paid off for me last night. My co-workers and I attempted to arrest this guy right after our shift started. However, no one was home when we got to the house. So, I scouted out the house about an hour later. Low and behold I saw the house's garage door was open. I sprung my plan back into action and eventually arrested the guy on his DUI warrant.

The father of the guy I arrested was pretty pissed off. He didn't seem to understand that we had a valid outstanding arrest warrant for his son. The guy I arrested turned out to be pretty cool. We talked in the patrol car while I drove him out to County Jail. He like most people just made a mistake and got popped for being Duce. In California we call a DUI a duce because the vehicle code section for DUI is 23152.

The rest of my rain soaked night was pretty anti-climatic. My co-worker almost had himself another occupied stolen vehicle. He is the current king of finding stolen vehicles at our department. He ran a plate but didn't follow it as it turned down a street. By the time our dispatch told him it was reported stolen he had lost sight of the vehicle. Sometimes our job is all about breaks. Sometimes we get a break and catch someone other times we don't. That's just life in general I guess.

My last call of the night was a dead body call. Otherwise known as a coroner's case. Most dead body calls in our city involve older people who pass away due to various illnesses or old age. The dead body call I had involved an elderly gentlemen who died of various physical ailments and disorders. He was 85 and lived a long prosperous life.

The toughest part of handling a coroner's case is dealing with the grieving family. They are almost always experiencing shock, pain, and sorrow all at once. Then into their house comes the strange policeman, me. So, it can be uncomfortable for both me and them. I try to be respectful and do my job at the same time. Whenever a death is expected the coroner's deputy usually releases the body of the deceased to their family to be picked up by a funeral home that same day. This was the case in my situation. I just called the deputy and gave him the details of the deceased. He then released the deceased body to the family.

What a way to finish a night/morning. Well, hopefully I will have an interesting night tonight. I want to get it over with so I can see this sweet and sexy woman I have been dating for a couple of weeks now.

Until next time,

"Eddie"