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Posted on 07/20/2020 6:39:37 AM PDT by The Houston Courant
Recently, I embarked on a journey to become more involved in my community. I enrolled in the Houston Police Department’s Citizen’s Police Academy as a means to interact with community and business leaders and network with my neighbors. Selfishly, I hoped that the program would assist in my own professional development, allowing me to build a portfolio of perspective clients for a growing legal practice. Instead, I gained much more than I could have imagined. I learned valuable insight into the daily operations of the Houston Police Department and the courageous and selfless men and women behind the badge.
During the program, I had an opportunity to participate in a ride-along. The day I met the Officer, he was celebrating his third anniversary on the force, having graduated from the police academy exactly three years earlier. The Officer burst with pride as he regaled about his family. He is a fifth-generation law enforcement officer and, I was advised at the time, a noble and righteous representative of the Houston Police Department. Though I will likely never know why, there were apparently a variety of internal reasons (and text messages) assigning him to me. The Officer’s fellow officers certainly gave him some good-natured ribbing during roll call about the assignment and his apparent placement within the department. Once he and I were more acquainted in our vehicle, I joked with him that he was the face of the Houston Police Department. He seemed surprised -- maybe bewildered – and certainly unassuming.
I was given a quick tutorial on our call number and instructed how to utilize the radio system to summon the cavalry should the Officer encounter trouble and be unable to do so. It is a striking and a sobering reality that no officer knows what lies in front of them on any given shift. We left the station on a mission to better the City.
The Officer said it would be a quiet Saturday. It was not.
Within minutes of us leaving the station, we were “Code 1”, lights and sirens, detailed to a possible assault. We arrived at the scene. Although not the primary unit, questions were asked and a brief investigation was underway. We departed and continued our beat. We responded to a call involving a dispute between neighbors and the Officer diffused a civil situation with no criminal elements.
We took a break for a brief lunch and then resumed our patrol. We were alerted to an alarm sounding at a business, apparently a frequent call involving what would likely be a false alarm. I’ll never know if this alarm was false. We were quickly re-routed to a welfare check in which an individual was alleged to be holding a weapon to his head and threatening his life. Houston’s finest arrived at the scene and it cleared quickly, apparently the individual was doing fine and was no threat to himself or others. Our patrol continued.
Soon thereafter, we were dispatched toward a burglary of two motor vehicles in close proximity to the Astros game. Admittedly, we had a brief detour to the Officer’s favorite coffee haunt at Retrospect. It was clear he knew them well and they knew him. We exchanged pleasantries. The Officer supplied detailed information about his history with the Houston Police Department while I had an opportunity to discuss my involvement in the Houston Police Department’s Citizen’s Police Academy. I now know that the Officer practices the relational policing that his Chief demands. I know that the rapport the Officer is developing within his community can only yield positive results now and in the future.
As we rode to the scene of the motor vehicle burglaries, the Officer witnessed a vehicle driving the wrong way on a one-way street and quickly made a traffic stop. The gentleman we stopped was not a local and was relying on his navigation system to get him out of town. The Officer gave him a verbal warning and offered directions to the highway. Shortly thereafter, we located the motor vehicles that had been burglarized. The Officer spoke with the owners and gathered information for his report. The scene ended quickly with the Officer wishing the individuals well. We headed off to a quiet street so that the Officer could complete his report. He backed our vehicle into a dead end so that he could work, noting for me that he was doing so to minimize the possibility of an ambush from behind. Another sobering reality, worthy of respect.
The wildest call of the day came next and it would ultimately be the last of our shift. It was also the one that left the most lasting impression on me. We were dispatched to an assault in progress. The radio traffic indicated that an individual was being beaten by someone yielding a baseball bat. It was lights and sirens again as we raced to the scene at a speed that easily surpassed anything earlier in the day. We worked to dodge motorists who refused to yield the right-of-way to the police cruiser. While navigating to the scene, the Officer stated that it was likely the assault may still be in progress and the scene may pose a threat. He asked me to stay in the car until he gave me the all clear.
We were not the first unit to arrive. Several others had already rolled up. The scene was very much active and the situation unclear. We found a bloodied man yelling in the street. Two officers were already working to calm him. An emotionally charged female stood nearby. She was being tended to by another officer and was crying and screaming in an attempt – I think – to get the officers to leave the man alone.
The Officer jumped out of the car to aid his brothers in blue. I remained in the car, cautiously taking note of the situation and my surroundings. We were not in a nice neighborhood, certainly not one that I had grown accustomed to. I should have worried about the instant threat, instead the neighborhood garnered my attention. Fenced dogs were barking ferociously, neighbors were gathering with their camera phones out, others looked the other way, unfazed by the commotion. The police presence was palpable and growing as other local agencies responded. I would learn later that the actual crime scene was blocks away, additional first responders were there. I can only imagine that the scene was hectic and charged....
Continued at HC
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WHO can the police stop?
HOORAY thin blue line!
What does “the police acted stupidly” Barry have to say?
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