On Patrol!

A Day in the Life with Badge #407.

Tuesday has come and gone and again, I had my 'ride along' with the local law inforcement!

At 7 a.m Tony arrived in my driveway and blew the horn. He was ready to roll. I got in the car and of course, we were headed down to 'Bristol' once again to go fishin!

There were a few State Patrol boys playing in the sandbox as well, so we knew it may be harder to catch a bite, but as normal, it wasn't long before the line was snagged!

Here's our first catch of the day. The sun just up, the day had begun.
After pulling a few here and there on the 'Bristol' course, Tony said ..."Let's roll down to Talladega, Bristol is the small race track posted 35mph, Talladaga is the long track posted speed: 50mph, just east of Bristol". So away we went.
Now, you can pull speeders one at a time all day long, but if you're like Tony, he'll catch more fish on the same line then anyone I know! We were crusin on 'Talladega' when the radar hit on three cars, all following close to each other, the radar blinked in a bright red..reading 67 MPH. "WOW..three of them..now which one are you going to get?" Tony got all three!

He flipped the car around, got up behind the three cars, the back two pulled over to let him by as he cruised up behind car #1. When he motioned for car #1 to pull off, he kept his car in the road, brought it to a stop with sirens going and lights flashing, jumped out of the car and with a wave of his finger, pointed and motioned the next two vehicles over. They pulled in behind car #1. Tony backed the patrol car up till he was behind all three vehicles and pulled over to the side of the road behind the last vehicle.

Three fish, one line!
When I snapped the picture, I could only get 'two' of the cars in the photo, but trust me, there are three vehicles pulled over here. I watched as Tony went to each car individually, gathering the pertinent information..'license and registration please' and he came back to the patrol car and began the process. As we sat there writing up the tickets, one of the State Patrols drove by and came over the radio asking "407...Do you have a permit for that parade!?" Cops do have a sense of humor, never fear!

I had watched Tony for several days now and noticed that each time he walked past a car, he always put his hand, palm as flat as he could, on the back of each vehicle. I finally asked him "Tony, why do you touch the back of each vehicle you pull over?" The answer he gave me surprised me.
"I touch each vehicle so that my fingerprints are on it. Should something happen to me at this call, then there is evidence." Wow..I had no clue! He said they are trained to do that, and many do and just as many don't. (something new I learned today!)

We gave out many tickets this day, and our day was coming to a close when a call came in about a 'vehicle' fire in our area...Dispatch called again to add 'there are weapons and ammunition in the vehicle.' Tony whipped the car around and away we went, down backroads, curvy and straight gaining speed the whole way.
Oh yeah, here's another thing I learned today. When you're going 125mph..your ears WILL lay back and if you turn your head to the side, you can't focus on ANYTHING! OHMYGAWD! Oh yeah, you know those yellow signs that say 'curve ahead max safe speed 45'? Pfffft! Try them at 90! No..wait, don't try them at 90. DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!...I will say Tony has been trained to drive how he drives and he's never wrecked his vehicle.


We arrive on the scene, and here is what we see.











Oh yeah..on FIRE!!!


Tony gets out of the car, assesses the situation, moves everyone back and waits for the firetrucks to arrive. When the first fire truck pulls up, Tony strips his protective vest and prepares for the 'fight ahead'.











Oh yeah, just so you know, Tony was a firefighter for 10 years before becoming a police officer. Fighting fires is something he started many years ago as a volunteer first when he was in his early 20's.


Pulling a hose is not new to Tony.
The first truck arrives and without pausing one moment, Tony begins 'pullin' the hose. Once in position he yelled for the water and the fight was on!


He fought with the fire for about 20 minutes while the firemen were getting their gear on.



With this being a vehicle fire, one always has to be concerned with gas and any other items of a combustionable nature. Once he got the major flames under control, he slipped up closer to the truck to give it some needed close up attention, and a blast of cold water!

















The fire now getting under control on the truck, some of the area grass had caught and was spreading. By this time the firefighters had their gear on and were ready to take over the fight. Firefighting is hot tiring work. There is a lot of pressure behind that hose. It can take a man down if he's not ready for it! With the firemen ready, Tony handed over the hose and let them go at their job. His fight was over.



When the paper work, the details and phone calls made and finshed up, our day was done.
WHEW! Never knew that cops do it all did ya? Well, not all of them do, but this one does.

Tony's philosophy "Police; City and/or County, Fire & Rescue, EMT all of us..we are all the same team and should work together on all of it, so I do my best. I'm a deputy, there should be nothing I'm not willing to give a hand in to help."

Ride along with me next time "ON PATROL"..

Wow..never would have thought you could visit the farm and see such things did ya?? LOL...well, the excitment never ends around here one way or another! Come back and visit soon...you never know what we'll get into ...down on the farm.