Last Friday I went with a friend of mine on a ride-in. He’s a Fort Worth Police Officer and invited me to come hang out with him and see what his job is all about. When I was younger, I had some friends that always liked to do ride-in’s. I had never done one, so I thought I would see what it was all about.
He has a night shift so we thought Friday night would be more interesting than a weekday night. I showed up a tad early and after a brief shift meeting and Monster Energy drink we were on the road by about 8:15pm.
We had a fairly new patrol car and he started off by showing me his status screens and things that he was keeping track of – mostly the calls coming out of dispatch. There was some really cool information and toys at his disposal! One of the first things we did is run a plate on a random truck going down the highway. As luck would have it, the guy had a warrant out for his arrest and was currently running without insurance. He had about 4 convictions of no insurance and the warrant was for not having insurance. My friend doesn’t like writing tickets, but this was one of those things he couldn’t let go. He did, however, give the guy a choice between going to jail or getting another $800 ticket for no insurance. The guy took the ticket. That was the only ticket written all night.
The next big task was hooking up with a Tarrant County Sherriff to serve a warrant to a convicted felon (sexual assault, sexual assault to a minor, etc.). That turned out to be a wash, but we went to go find him and ended up in a couple of people’s homes during the process.
A bit later, we had to go to another home when a lady was being taken away by EMTs. We had to escort her young daughter and a friend to her grandmother’s house, etc.
My friend served a warrant to a guy that had tried to commit insurance fraud so we went to the jail. Trust me, it’s not a place you really want to go if you can ever avoid it, but I did managed to get a cat-call whistle from one of the guys while we were walking by his cell. I suppose if I ever go to jail, I’ll get “lucky.”
The last big thing that happened was arresting a guy for beating his girlfriend. The guy was hammered and had hit her a few times. He couldn’t seem to remember what had happened even though he had blood on his clothes from hitting her.
During all this, we constantly ran plates and checked people out. We made a few traffic stops, but everyone was pretty much let off with a warning. Going to jail took a while because there was so much paperwork that had to be done. Driving fast was the order of the night, but only when we had to assist another officer for the guy beating his g/f did we really fly down the highway (no lights). I found that highly entertaining and wished I could also haul ass all over the place with impunity.
Because I was doing a ride-in, the officer in charge has sole discretion of the amount of involvement. My friend pretty much gave me the option to come along on anything unless he specifically said otherwise. For the most part, I didn’t get out for traffic stops, but otherwise went with him at all times. It was a little odd going into people’s homes, and that made me a little uneasy, but I also had an obligation to let my friend know where I was at all times. I pretty much just kept my mouth shut and didn’t say anything. Only one time did a lady ask me for my id and badge number, and I told her I wasn’t a cop and that was the end of it.
It could be a function of my friend’s area of patrol, but I also think that the people who need the help of the police are the same people that are really struggling. Most of our stops / calls were in pretty seedy areas and in some cases the people had cat shit right on the floor – no litter box required. It was fairly disgusting and I felt sorry for most of the people even if they had put themselves in those situations due to poor life choices. It’s one thing to be aware of, and to know about, poor people and the problems they have in their lives. It’s entirely another to be thrust into their lives and see it and experience it first-hand.
Nonetheless – I had a great time even if I was really struggling to stay awake by 3:00am. We rolled in slightly before 6:00am and I took off. Got home by about 6:15am and it really wiped me out for the rest of the day. I’d like to do it again, but it will probably be some time before I go again. My friend said he hopes it would be more exciting. I thought it was great and a good way to show someone what it is all about.
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