Final Mock Scenes

Today was going to be a long day. I was expecting to be done around three or four in the afternoon, but today was the day I was going to prove I could do the job, or I would prove I need more work, or that I am just not cut out for being a cop. I have spent sixteen hours a week for nearly the last five months. In the morning we were going to work on DV’s, FI’s, and building searches. In the afternoon the schedule was going to be traffic stops and high-risk stops.

As it turned out we never made it to the final two things. With the scenes lasting as long as they did and some of the fails that were happening we spent pretty much the whole day working on the first three items.

In my first scene I was getting dispatched to a domestic violence scene. I was called in as a backup officer. We started at Rosauers in Colfax. We drove down Mill street to the scene. It was at the Fire Station in Colfax. I got down the road to about one block from the scene. We parked our patrol cars there and walked in.

I thought about the staging of my patrol car. I have been going on police ride alongs for nearly seventeen years. One thing I have noticed is whenever the car is left somewhere typically it is left running, but the door is locked when they leave it. We were only given one key to the car so I couldn’t do that. We never went over this stuff in the class, so I left the car running, but wasn’t able to lock the door.

I went to the scene. We dealt with a husband and wife who had been in an argument. I dealt with the male half and found out that he had been slapped by his wife. I passed along that information to my partner. She asked the wife about the slap. When it was confirmed we arrested the wife. The husband was not too happy about that and started to get mad and started towards my partner. I told him that he needed to sit down and I would explain what was going on. I finally got him to sit down. He no longer was my “buddy” and didn’t want to talk to me.

We took the wife to the patrol car, gave the husband the domestic violence paperwork and went to clear. When I went to my patrol car it was not where I parked it. I knew right away that it was “stolen”. I was mad because I thought we nailed the scene and that I would now fail it. Cooper asked what I was looking for. But I knew he knew what was going on. I said the car. He asked if I locked it and I said no. He then said that wasn’t good. I then saw him get on the phone and I knew we was going to tell the grader for my scene to fail me. I was not a happy camper. I was hoping I would be wrong about that, but I didn’t have good feeling.

A little while later I went out to the field interview. The problem was that I still didn’t know if I passed or failed the DV. I know the scene I did well, it was just the issue with the patrol car.

On the field interview I watched the suspect from a distance for a bit to see what he was doing. The call was for a suspicious person in a parking lot doing something to a truck. While I was watching the truck hood was open and he was standing near the front of the truck. I made my approach and ran the license plate. We were not allowed to wear ear pieces, so I didn’t want the return to come back over the radio so the suspect could hear who the truck belonged to incase he was trying to steal it.

When the dispatcher came back I said hold the return unless there was criminal information I needed to know. There wasn’t so I contacted the suspect. I got him away from the truck where he had a hammer, pliers, and a couple other tools laying out on the truck. I asked him if he has any weapons. He said he had a knife and started to go for it. I told him to not touch the knife. I put his arms behind his back and got the knife and patted him down for other weapons. I found a screw driver in his pocket as well. I removed the weapons and then continued to contact him. At first he gave me some information that was not correct because I ran it and it came back no record found.

I talked to him some more and found out he gave me his first name and middle name backwards. I still didn’t know what the problem was with the situation. It came back that he was clear. I made my way closer to his truck making sure he kept away from the front of it because of the tools that could be used as weapons. I looked in the back and then in the windows of the truck. I couldn’t see anything that concerned me. When I got to the front I found a small gun. I took it and ran it to see if it was stolen. I then tried to see if he had a history of DV’s, which would make it so he could not possess the firearm. Nothing.

I was still lost. But then I thought about the ID again. I thought he could have been lying about it. I asked for physicals. It turned out it matched the suspect. So now I was really confused. I started to go down the road that he was near the jail with a gun. I was thinking that maybe it was something down that path, but that was also a dead end.

I though maybe I should get a tow truck to have it towed away because it was blocking a driveway, but that was a dumb move as soon as I made it. The tow truck driver was there and he wasn’t helping the situation. I got him to leave but he wanted me to sign his paperwork saying the sheriff’s office would pay for his response. Then the suspect said if I was not going to arrest him he was going to leave. I didn’t have anything to arrest him on. So I let him walk away.

I was standing in the parking lot holding onto a gun with a truck with the hood open and tools laying around trying to figure out what to do. The grader came up to me and said that the guy was now in a car on his way to Spokane. He then said the RO of the truck called in saying it was stolen. I was thinking that I totally blew it. He asked what I was going to do now. I said that I would be writing an arrest warrant. He concurred. Then he asked if I thought I passed. I said no. He walked through what I did and said that I really did the big things good. I was safe in my approach and dealing with the guy. I found the weapons. I got his name and confirmed his information. I got the bad guy away from the scene and stopped the problem from happening. I also knew who it was so I could get a warrant for him. He said that I did pass it. I felt good that I passed, but I felt so silly for not getting it while I was on scene with the bad guy.

I then talked to Cooper about the car being “stolen” from my DV scene. I explained what I did and he said why I was wrong. I went back to the staging room to wait for my next scene. When the grader from the DV scene came down he pulled me out to explain the grading.

He said we did excellent. He said that we passed everything and did it right, but due to my patrol car being “stolen” I failed. I was mad because my partner left her vehicle the same way and passed. I felt that if they checked one car they should check everyone. It wasn’t fair only to check some people on things and not others. So I tried to tell that to the grader, but he said I needed to talk to Cooper.

A little later Cooper came down and talked to me. I pleaded my case. He explained what I did wrong and why I deserved to be failed. I understood where he was coming from, but I still didn’t agree with the whole assessment for the failure.

Just before lunch he came back and called me out one more time. He said that he felt I understood my mistake and that if I wanted, instead of redoing the scene, he would pass me on the condition that I write a fifteen-hundred word paper on why it is important to always lock the door of the patrol cars. I took the paper for the pass. I felt a little better. I think that is a decent compromise.

I went to do a building search with Rich. We went to the area of the building and spoke to the RP. I was the lead on this call. We went to the building itself and I knocked and announced. After doing it twice we made entry. Rich went down an area between two old fi
re engines and a wall. It was so small I stayed near the door to offer cover from there. I had moved away from the doorway. I never cleared behind the door. When Rich came back he saw someone in the small space behind the door. He yelled at the guy. I turned around and I guess I turned white. I didn’t realize that someone was even there and he could have shot me easily. We got him arrested and taken outside.

I stayed near the door on the outside to watch Rich and to monitor the building as well as I could. I could hear some noise, so I looked inside and I saw the suspect getting off the top of a fire truck from across the building. I started to yell at him to come to me. He didn’t. I got down to see where he went but I couldn’t see him after he went to the far side of the patrol car at the far side of the building.

I had to decide whether I would wait for my back up to complete the search or to go for the bad guy before he got into a barricaded situation. I decided to go for the bad guy and I made my way to his position carefully, but when I got to a place where he was I would put myself in pure danger getting to him. I decided to stop there and retreat until my partner caught up. Once he was there we ordered the guy out of the room and arrested him. I searched him and found all the things hidden on him.

We went back into the building and did a complete search and found no one else. We radioed dispatch that we were clear and complete. That was my final scene and we passed it. So I was done, but we had to wait for others to finish their scenes as well as their re-dos. When it was done it was after six in the evening. We are going to have to do the traffic stuff on Tuesday.

We completed the day by doing two hundred push-ups because someone forgot to give some of the props back after a scene and that was the punishment for the class.

It was a long day and I headed home. I stopped at Cougar Country for a treat for myself.