Police Ride Along

Yesterday afternoon I went on my Mesa Police Ride Along. I rode with a female officer named Lauren. She was a very interesting lady. She has been with the MPD for 16 years and I could tell that she loves her job. I went out from 2 until 6:30pm. The time went really fast too. I could have stayed out all night with her, it was fun.

I started by going to the Superstition District on Ellsworth to meet up with my officer. I was able to attend the briefing with about 4 officers that were just coming on the swing shift. They talked about crimes that had occurred over night and any "bad guys" that were out and about. It was kind of a story telling time, and maybe it was because I was there, but I didn't totally get the feeling that they were doing anything different than when I'm not there. After the briefing that lasted about 20 mins, I headed out to the cars with Lauren. It took about another 20 mins to get her computer running and her car loaded with all her stuff. Just as we were finishing up we got her first call. Someone had thrown a rock through a window at a house that people were inside working on. Sadly this is where we ended up spending most of our time.

The house was a big 2 story in North Mesa that had been a foreclosure and the new owners were fixing up. It was gutted to the drywall. It looked like a new build on the inside. Except for all the broken, boarded up windows. We took a report, because the people wanted a report. But there really wasn't anything to do because they didn't see anyone throw the rock and we couldn't find anyone when we drove around behind the house. Oh, the house backs up to a shopping center and the top row of brick on the fence was down, so basically an easy target for bored kids.

We left there and drove around a little while. She showed me how she checked license plates while sitting at red lights. Just looking for insurance and registration violations. Officer Lauren doesn't pull people over for speeding unless its really excessive. She drives very fast. I was holding on the entire time. We then got called back to the first call. Some teenagers had jumped the wall and the owners had them sitting on the curb behind the house. Four officers responded to this call because there was four teens caught and one that had taken off. After all the talking and figuring out, it was determined that 1 boy was high and 1 other had actually gone over the fence. And because they were all around 14 they were being cited and released to their parents. Watching angry parents show up was entertaining, but otherwise it was a lot of standing around.

We got 2 other calls while I was on the ride along. The first of the 2 involved a Sheriff's Posey member harassing teenagers in his neighborhood. Basically a cranky old guy who shot off his mouth to the wrong Mom that he was Police. Well the parents didn't take kindly to it and call the real Police. So that was a quick call, and I'm sure they will be back in that neighborhood with more complaints soon.

The last call we went on came in as a "hot" call. A woman called a crisis line and was threatening suicide by hammer. This is someone that Officer Lauren had dealt with in the past. A mental health, common crisis person. When we got to the apartment complex, Southwest Ambulance was waiting. Officer Lauren called them vultures, just waiting for blood. I thought, wow finally something exciting. There were 2 other officers there when we got there. Officer Lauren took lead because she had had previous contact with the woman. A very agitated and colorfully worded woman answered the door and started screaming at the officers. I stay down the stairs a bit, just in case. But like any good mental health patient, her mood changed very quickly and she calmed down and talked to the officers for about 10 mins. She told them she called the crisis line and asked to be put in lock down, but they told her no. So she said some things that set everything into motion. But now she was saying the crisis was over and no one needed to come. Officer Lauren explained that the crisis team was already en route and would be there in about 20 mins. A friend showed up to stay with her and sadly we all left with no further trouble.

After that it was time to take me back to the district. I had softball games to get to anyways. After I got home I realized I left my water bottle in the police car. I warned my babysitter that if the police showed up, not to worry. And sure enough, when I got home from my ballgames around 10:30 my water bottle was sitting on the counter.