On the Road and at the FD

April 30th, 2010

I worked the SO today. I started with a car accident on Johnson Road. The RP didn’t know where he was so it took a bit to find it. But once I found it, there wasn’t much to the accident. Just a car went off the road and rolled to its top. I took photos and talked to the driver.

I went back to the SO to write it up. It didn’t take too long to get the paperwork done. Then I had to decide how I wanted to write up a ticket. I talked to a couple other deputies about it. After getting their input I decided to write the bigger ticket.

I went home to work the fire department. It was one of those nights we ran several calls well spaced so that I was only able to get several hours of sleep. I was up againt at four in the morning for a fire alarm and a call that we probably shouldn’t have needed to go on. But we get those a lot. By the time I got home it was around six in the morning.

More Firearms Training

April 23rd, 2010

I headed down to the Renton Fish and Game Club for Marine Patrol training. We were doing our annual firearms familiarization. We shot the AR-Fifteen and Glock forty calibre. There is something about doing target practice that is fun. As you would expect, the more you do it, the better you are at it. I shot pretty well. We were there until about three o’clock.

I went home and hung out. I came close to taking a nap, but I didn’t. I watched some TV and had some dinner.

I went down to Jon’s and picked him up and then to a poker game. It is the monthly game they have in his neighborhood. I was playing well. I ended up winning eighty bucks. I got a Q-A in one hand and the flop was Q-Q-Q. I won that hand.

I had a couple other big hands. On one hand I made big bets making someone believe I had a good hand. On the river I bet the max amount., He folded. I was on a total bluff. I rarely do it, but this time I planned on doing it and it worked.

A Day at Colfax Fire

April 22nd, 2010

After getting packed I headed down to Colfax to work at the fire station. I made it on one call that came in while I was there. I was pretty tired so I went into my rig. Turned on my pager and went to sleep. I got about two hours of sleep before I had to be up for the meeting at the coroner’s office.

I got up just after five. I went to pick up the pizza. Then went to the coroners office. We had some dinner and discussed our cases from the last couple weeks.

I left Colfax to head to Seattle for training tomorrow. It was not that bad of a drive. The roads were pretty clear and I was able to cruise along. When I got home I watched some TV. I watched Trauma Life in the ER. Following that was a show called Critical Hour. It follows three or four cases along the length of the episode. One person they followed, I was watching. I was waiting for something to come of it. It was a football player who got hurt. When it was all done, they found nothing wrong and he was fine. It made me mad to watch the whole thing and have nothing come of it. It was like the story of Green Golfballs to me.

On my Laptop

April 21st, 2010

I hit the road right around noon. I drove to the SO and then over to the IS building. I was getting my computer set up so I can use it at the office when all the other computers are in use. I don’t like to waste time sitting around.

I hit the road some more. I typed up a couple tickets and a case report. I got most of the case report completed then I went to the jail.

I worked there for six hours. It was a long day. It seems like every day at the jail when I am there for six hours it kills me a little bit. I would rather be on the road or doing something else.

When I got off work I went home and cleaned my gun from the firearms training we did two weeks ago. I had been slacking on that.

Don’t Lie

April 20th, 2010

I spent the first part of my shift doing some follow up on two cases I was handed by the full-timers. One was a dog-bit in Oakesdale and the other was a trespassing in Pine City. I met with everyone I needed to and got statements. Then I did my own patrolling. It took me nearly two hours to get back to Colfax because I was stopping cars.

I went to lunch with Paul and Courtney. We went to Taco Del Mar. We spent time talking about the State Patrol and their upcoming hiring.

I went south on SR One-Ninety-Five, but it was pretty slow down there. So I went on the Pullman-Moscow highway. I stopped several cars. One thing is that if someone lies to me and it is really blantent, I am more likely to write the person. In this one case the guy said he works in Pullman. I knew he lived in Moscow, so I know he drives the road daily. He was doing eleven over. I was going to cut him a break, but he just was so dishonest about everything.

Then shortly after that another person doing eleven over did the same thing. This guy tried to claim he realized he was speeding and started to slow down, but really he was going fast until he saw my car and then hit his brakes. But bythen it was too late. Busted!

Early Playoff’s Exit

April 19th, 2010

I went to the SO to do paperwork. I went in uniform in case I needed to hit the road. I never did. I completed my warrant and got it turned in. It was the first warrant I wrote up myself. I got it and served it.

I also had other paperwork I had to do as well. I spent hours doing paperwork, plus I had to do some time in court.

I went home to get ready for softball. It was the playoffs and I was planning on going a long way in the playoffs. We were playing against Connor’s team. But that didn’t turn out too well. We threw the ball around a lot and let runs score. We couldn’t hit the ball to save our lives and we ended up losing the game. I was very disappointed. I was expecting so much more. But it just wasn’t to be.

I got Victor to cover the remainder of my shift and I went to Matt’s. We played Scene It and hung out. BKoe came with me. Eric was there as well as Erin. It was a fun time. We left around two in the morning.

Spokane Softball Day Two

April 18th, 2010

I met up with Steven and Matt. We carpooled to Spokane. We had a single game today for the softball tournament. It was a consolation game because we lost the first two games.

I thought we might have a chance against this team because we played pretty well yesterday, but we couldn’t get the bats going too well. We had a couple innings where we scored a few runs, but they teed off on us.

While we were playing a guy who plays on Biesen’s men’s team. He came over shirtless. It was a pleasant sight. It was almost distracting… for me. He was pretty well defined and was worth looking at for a while. But he left and that sucked, because there went my eye candy.

After the game Ryan, Steven, Steve, Matt, and Faber all went to the Spokane Valley Mall for some lunch. We hung out in the food court eating and talking about major league baseball.

The tournament over all treated me well. I never ended up meeting with Todd, but there was good eye candy on both days to give me something worth looking at.

Softball Tournament in Spokane

April 17th, 2010

I met up with Matt, Steven, Faber, and Steve to head up to Spokane for the Spring Fling Softball tournament. I picked up Christopher in Colfax and we made it to Spokane in about an hour and a half. Other started to show up little by little. I had thirteen guys in all. Some of them were former Nadirs as well as current Nadirs. It was our first tournament as a Nadirs team.

We knew something was up when the other team showed up in matching pants, shirts, and hats. It wasn’t long before we found out we were in the wrong division. We were playing in the B league which would have been fine in Pullman. But in Spokane we should have been playing D or maybe C. But really should have been D. In the first game we only scored two runs. We got ten-runned, but aside from the first inning where we let up six runs. We only let up two or three after that. We just couldn’t score.

Christopher got hurt running to first base and hitting the bag wrong. So we lost him halfway through the first game and for the rest of the day. We hung out between games at the field. We ran into GPa and we were talking about our placement. He said “Whoa” when we let him know what league we were in. His team was playing in the C division. So we were way out of our league.

We got to the second game and played another team we found out plays A league in Spokane. We played them tight. We finally hit the ball well. We lost by five, nineteen to twenty-four. That was a fun game. It was a great confidence booster for us.

After the game we went to Red Robin for dinner. We were waiting for our turn and a guy who worked there, Connor, was ten-six-seven. We had to wait for a while, but I didn’t mind. Ryan and I were texting back and forth about him. He said I should invite him to sit with us when he went on break. If I thought he was family I would have loved to. It was a nice way to wait around.

After dinner we headed back to Pullman. I got home and went to bed after ten o’clock PM. I was going to get up early for our consolation game on Sunday.

Number Two Rides Along

April 16th, 2010

It was nice and early and I was on my way to the jail to work dayshift. It was a long day in the jail. I did a couple rounds and spent most of the time in the control room. I was answering phone calls and opening doors. I couldn’t wait until four o’clock when I was going to get to hit the road. I had a rider scheduled for this evening.

Number Two, B-Wil, rode with me. He is an Intern who would like to become a reserve. He asked me a while ago to ride and it was his turn. I had promised my first ride to a different Intern. B-Wil got there and I got the form filled out for the ride. Then we hit the road. We made a stop of a car that one of the deputies told us had been speeding already. Because I caught him speeding I ended up writing him.

We went back to Colfax and I was asked by one of the part time Colfax cops to help him with a disorderly male at the city hall. We went there and spent about two hours dealing with that whole situation.

Then we got a radio battery for one of the reserves in Pullman. We dropped it off with him went to McDonald’s to have dinner with some of the other guys. BKoe stopped by and ate with us.

I ran some traffic on the Pullman-Albion road and then we headed up north. There wasn’t a lot of traffic on the road but we made several stops during the night. We called it a night right around two-thirty in the morning. With softball tomorrow it was a good time to call it a night.

No, I’m not Mad

April 15th, 2010

I hit the road this morning. I have been putting in a lot of hours at the SO. I was out on the road until four o’clock PM because I had to get to the jail. I only work two days a week at the jail for a total of twelve hours plus a shift here and there for coverage.

I got a message on facebook today from Chia. He asked if he did something that made me mad. He said it has been a while since we talked and he was hoping all was well.

I don’t know what it is, but since leaving my full-time post at the fire department my inclusion in the things they do has really fallen off. It is almost like was never downtown. I use to get invited to the things they do, but it has been months since I did anything with them and I can’t believe they haven’t done anything over the last four plus months.

There were many times that they were doing something and I was an after thought. I would message someone who was out with the group and then I would get invited. I didn’t like that too much. I guess I believed we were friends. It seemed like we were close while I was there, but it didn’t take long for them to forget who I was.

I am not mad at Chia. But I considered him a friends, more-so than many of the people who were there. We hung out at work and got along well, but we didn’t do a lot of stuff off work hours. But Chia seems to have fallen in with that crowd. Many times the only time I am contacted by Chia is when he has a question or wants to do something. Not to do things like friends. I remember he use to call when he was in town to hang out for a while or to get some chow. But not any more.

Another Arrest

April 12th, 2010

I checked into service after getting a couple more names on the softball roster. I headed to the WSU police station to ask about the hiring process. On the way I stopped someone for running a stop sign. Ended up with a suspended driver. I never was able to ask the questions about the hiring process.

I went to help with a stolen pop machine. That was all I got done today because I had to be at the fire station in Pullman by six o’clock PM. I got home and changed into my PFD uniform. I headed to the station.

We went to the city playfields for the pack test for wildland firefighting. On the way I dropped off the rosters for softball. We hung out at the playfields while people did their pack test and then went back to the station to clean the engine.

I went home and for the first time in a long time I was able to just sit around and watch some TV. It has been a long time since I have been able to do that.

Last Night of Regular Season

April 11th, 2010

After working all night last night and yesterday I left myself sleep in. I got up around eleven and got going on the day. I realized I need to get the rosters turned in to the city for softball, so I worked for a couple hours to get signatures from various people.

I went to the SO and did some patrolling. First I got my report completed from my arrest on Friday. I also had to get my tickets written up. Paperwork is the hangover of police work.

I went to my place and got ready for softball. Tonight is the final night of the regular season. We played one team and tied them. That sucked. It was only five innings because the time limit hit. before the game started I heard one guy on their bench say “oh it is that team”. They recognized us. I couldn’t hit a ball to save my life in the first game. The second game we won easily. I had a stand-up triple.

When we were done I went back on duty. It was slow. I did Tekoa time and drove on some county roads. I ended up making one stop on the evening.

Running Some Calls

April 10th, 2010

This morning I went to the gun range and worked on a combat course. I did pretty good. I shot well with the rifle. When it was done the top four reserves were going to get to go to a competition in Lewiston next weekend. I was invited, but because of the softball tournament in Spokane I am not going to be able to go. I had to turn down the invite, but I was happy I did well enough to get to go.

I went to the SO and worked on some paperwork for a while. I had to get caught up as I had added some cases over the last day. I got several closed out. I went home and tried to nap, but that didn’t work I was getting a lot of texts and phone calls.

I went to the fire station and did the rig checks. Then I hung out there and had some dinner. I also worked on a report in Spillman. While I was hanging out there we ran several calls. Then we started to hit the Event Center for multiple calls due to people being drunk. It was getting pretty busy for a while.

First Citizen Rider

April 9th, 2010

This evening I was going to have my first citizen rider. I am very excited about that. I went out on the road around three in the afternoon. I did an hour in Albion. Then I picked up my rider. We went to McDonald’s for dinner with Matt K. and Shane. After dinner we went through Albion again. We talked to K. Stew about a couple Intern related things and K. Stew encouraged me to apply for the WSU police job. I had put in my application already. I spent a couple hours working on that.

We went to the SO and I washed my car. Then we headed out SR Twenty-Six. I got someone doing nineteen over just outside of town. I stopped the car and smelled drugs. So I ended up getting an arrest. We then hit a lot of county roads going through some smaller town. I got a call for service around midnight for a welfare check.

When I was headed to drop Eric off at his house we saw Rick. He asked us to come and help bring the Peace Keeper to Pullman. Some stuff happened up there that caused the cops some concern that it could get out of hand. So they figured having it close to Pullman would be a good thing. I got to bed around four in the morning.

It Has Been A While

April 8th, 2010

I got a text from Chia asking if I was going to the pancake breakfast. I told him no. I don’t like some of the politics behind it and choose not to participate in it. I have not done it since it has been done by the guys at the PFD. He then asked how things have been going because it has been a long time. I didn’t respond. Partly because I kept getting busy and just never returned a text. At the time I got it I was in a really bad mood. I don’t know what I would have said if I responded when he first got a hold of me. But as the night went along I started to get in a much better mood.

I worked at the jail. I was there for a while before heading for the reserve meeting. It was a short one because we were doing our monthly training on Saturday at the gun range.

I went back to the jail and finished out the shift there. Then I went down stairs and started on the road. Broadfoot was out there too. We were stopping cars for six over doing an emphasis on speeding. We were letting people know that even six or seven over is still speeding and they need to watch their speed.

It is interesting, it seems like I would send messages to Chia and it was like I always got a lukewarm reception. Ever since leaving my full-time gig at the PFD many of the full-time guys have drifted away from me. I use to get invited to lots of things now I don’t get invited anymore. One guy, Tim, who I wasn’t all that close to before doing full-time is one of the ones who I seem to talk to the most. The last few times I did anything with them it was because I would send a text to someone and I would get a response that they were out somewhere I should come by. But they were already there and I was an afterthought.

There is a divide between the career and reserves and now that I am on the other side I am not one of them anymore. I am probably being a big of a whiner and being passive aggressive about things. But up until Chia asked if I was going to the pancake feed I haven’t gotten a text from in a month.

Got it Done

April 3rd, 2010

I was supposed to work the Palouse Thunder football game but it got cancelled. So I was free to hit the road. I told Matt I would be working again tonight and asked if he wanted to try to get his arrest again tonight.

I picked him up at his place and we hit the road. Yesterday he drove and today I drove. We hit dinner at North Arches with Matt K. I was telling Matt how Matt K. always is joking around about stuff including tons of gay innuendo. I am happy Matt K. is comfortable around me to be able to do that. While eating something came up and a stream of jokes ensued. Including something about Brokeback.

We work on getting some of Matt’s cases closed and then did some traffic. We were going to work Albion for an hour when we were asked by Keith to do a roadside. We went to Pullman and I helped him with some computer stuff.

Then he said to go get Matt’s final arrest. I had an idea of what we could do. We went to Howard street. We saw a group of underaged people drinking and found one with a beer in hand.

Matt and I spent the rest of the evening in Pullman backing up Keith on calls and looking for some of our own stuff. Matt told me I was able to do something that none of the other full-time deputies were able to do — get him his final arrest.

I Guess They Know

April 2nd, 2010

I had Matt from my reserve class riding with me tonight. I had a case that we went to investigate in Lamont. It turned out that nothing was going to come of it. We were working to get him an arrest so he could get up to the next level.

As we were driving he mentioned that he found my blog. I asked him how much of it he had read. He said that he read a number of entries and he didn’t read anything that surprised him.

I guess I am more obvious than I thought I was in the past. He said he thought most of the people in the reserve class knew. He mentioned that he was with a full-timer and they talked about it a little bit as well. It was the same guy who told me about what he did during the academy when he was in it with Joe.

I have to say that everyone has treated me very well and it seems that I had no idea they knew which shows that they have all been very cool about it. It has never been an issue. I told him that I keep the advise that Carter gave me years ago. If I don’t make an issue out of it, no one else will. So I told Matt more about things and how I feel about being gay. For all the jokes I make about Mike being gay, I wonder if he actually knows about me being the gay one.

It felt good to talk with Matt about it. It was fun to work with Matt. I have worked tons of hours with two other guys, so it was neat to see how someone else does their cop work.

We ended the night standing in the freezing cold waiting to get that final arrest. It never came.