{"id":8447,"date":"2014-11-08T14:51:37","date_gmt":"2014-11-08T19:51:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/?p=8447"},"modified":"2014-11-08T16:15:37","modified_gmt":"2014-11-08T21:15:37","slug":"back-in-uniform-for-a-shift","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/?p=8447","title":{"rendered":"Back in Uniform for a Shift"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"IMG_2359<\/a>\"Uniform<\/a>We had a minor supervisory crisis last Sunday night and I was asked to fill in for the Evening Shift. \u00a0Okay, I hadn’t been in a street uniform in over a year, but I offered to help out. \u00a0My equipment was mostly right where I had left it.\u00a0 I would be the only sergeant for the shift, but, hey, I’ve been there many times before.<\/p>\n

Sunday afternoon arrived. \u00a0I had borrowed the keys to a fellow sergeant’s marked Chevy Tahoe. \u00a0When I parked at the PD, I loaded my equipment: admin files, statute book, traffic vest, spare flashlight, plate carrier with 2 rifle mags and med kit, AR-15, and shotgun. \u00a0I fired up the truck’s computer. \u00a0And I stared blankly at it for a few minutes before I coaxed it into full operation.<\/p>\n

After preparing the day’s roster, I sat at the read off table and awaited my fifteen officers.\u00a0 Their reactions to my presence at roll call were amusing.\u00a0 Since this was a very young squad, most knew me as one of the detective sergeants, but they had never seen me in blues. \u00a0The rest were new when I last worked the road. \u00a0A few looked puzzled as they took seats.<\/p>\n

I introduced myself and covered the assignments and officer safety issues for the day.\u00a0 I sincerely told the officers that I though they had the most important job at the police department. \u00a0I thanked them for their efforts. \u00a0Finally, I made a couple of snarky inside jokes to those with whom I had previously worked. \u00a0“All right, let’s go out and have a safe shift and some fun.”<\/p>\n

\"Police<\/a>The Tahoe swept me out of the parking lot and onto the street where I was back in my element. \u00a0Two radio channels hammered out voice transmissions, a CAD screen paraded the latest unit locations and active calls-for-service, classic rock provided the background sound track, and the city’s scenery began passing by my safety glass windshield. I really missed this.<\/p>\n

Although I wanted to go to every call (for my own enjoyment), the troops need to know you trust them in routine matters, which I do. \u00a0I showed some restraint and only went where I was actually needed. \u00a0In the next hours, I stopped out at a disturbance at the County Supervisor of Elections, responded to a fight resulting in an injured child, pulled up at a multi-car crash, area checked for a theft suspect, and cruised a high crime area where I used to live.<\/p>\n

As usual, the computerized administrative messages began rolling in. \u00a0A dispatch supervisor requested that I review and cancel a call. \u00a0An officer typed me a procedural question. \u00a0Somebody else wanted to know if they could phone my cell about a child custody issue. \u00a0When the Day Shift sergeants left, there was an hour where my span of control was 23 officers to one supervisor (me).\u00a0 Yeow.<\/p>\n

At meal break, I made it home to see my wife and get a bite to eat. \u00a0Just before I finished up, an officer sharply exhaled into his mic that he was in foot pursuit. \u00a0Bye, honey! \u00a0I roared off in the truck. \u00a0The officer caught the retail theft suspect before I arrived on scene.\u00a0 I estimated the distance of the chase at about a half mile and the officer’s cardio capacity at above average. \u00a0The bad guy was gassed.<\/p>\n

After a positive ID by loss prevention, we went back to the department store. \u00a0I made sure the recruit car taking the report would properly articulate their PC for the arrest and vehicle search. \u00a0A DUI officer swooped in for some advice on one of her collars. \u00a0I answered a text from the off-duty shift lieutenant–No, sir, I had not burned down his town–all was well.<\/p>\n

\"In<\/a>One thing about working the road is that there is plenty to keep a supervisor busy. \u00a0I finally found time to read police reports. \u00a0Boy, the coppers had generated a bunch of numbers.\u00a0 This would take a while. \u00a0My eye strain rose as the incident queue dwindled.\u00a0 I did not want to leave any work for tomorrow’s street bosses.<\/p>\n

At my agency, Midnight Shift overlaps Evenings by two hours. \u00a0I had a chance to catch up with the graveyard guys and K9’s before it was time for me to punch out. \u00a0I reluctantly put a halt to the fun because it was 2300 hrs and I was expected back in the detectives’ bay at 0800. \u00a0My ten hours in uniform had ended. \u00a0I felt like Cinderfella.<\/p>\n

Although I may be in the minority, I strongly feel that those of us in administrative positions should put on a uniform and hit the street to keep our skills sharp. \u00a0It also reminds us as to what the officers and deputies are experiencing out there every day.<\/p>\n

I had a great time reacquainting myself with the squad and with the duties and responsibilities of a road sergeant. \u00a0The blue polyester and leather gear felt good. \u00a0It was my pleasure to have everyone go home safe.\u00a0 I think I will be doing this again in the not-too-distant future.<\/p>\n

Randall<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We had a minor supervisory crisis last Sunday night and I was asked to fill in for the Evening Shift. \u00a0Okay, I hadn’t been in a street uniform in over a year, but I offered to help out. \u00a0My equipment was mostly right where I had left it.\u00a0 I would be the only sergeant for the shift, but, hey, I’ve been there many times before. Sunday afternoon arrived. \u00a0I had borrowed the keys to a fellow sergeant’s marked Chevy Tahoe. \u00a0When I parked at the PD, I loaded my equipment: admin files, statute book, traffic vest, spare flashlight, plate carrier with 2 rifle mags and med kit, AR-15, and shotgun. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-street"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p28xkp-2cf","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8447"}],"version-history":[{"count":26,"href":"https:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8447\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8492,"href":"https:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8447\/revisions\/8492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}