Brian Jettinghoff
SS Methods
Dr. Helms
2/12/07
Police Ride Along
As you notice, this activity was completed quite early in the quarter. There was a good reason for this. First, let me begin by saying my driving record is clear. It has been clear since I was sixteen. I was always proud to say I wasn’t familiar with the red and blue flashing lights in my rear view mirror. However, it was a cold Wednesday evening. I was heading home from the Fairborn Girls Basketball game against Xenia. There was a truck in front of me and in front of the truck was a police car. I was thinking, to myself, that the truck in front of be was far from legal. The bumper was nearly four feet off the ground, far above legal standards. I was thinking that the police should notice this, but the truck driver was smart enough and backed off, then turned. Now, it was my turn to be behind the police officer. I was a good distance behind him and coming up on him quick. I got closer and found that there was another police car in front of him. I was thinking that wow two police officers missed that truck. Then I started thinking that if I got pulled over I can figure out what to do about this police ride along project. It was just about that time that the first police car turned and the second police car pulled to the side of the road. I passed him and within seconds the flashing lights were behind me. He approached me and wanted to know why I had my bright lights on. I didn’t but realized I never had my lights adjusted. Background information, I bought my 2005 car, totaled and then re-built it myself. So he gave me a warning and wanted me to get them fixed. However, he had to document it, so I had to go the police station after I got them fixed. Before he sent me on his way, I made sure I got all the details for the police ride along and who I should talk to. So, my first time EVER being pulled over was beneficial to myself, this class assignment, the community and whoever was in front of me.
Now its time for the fun stuff. Growing up I always had three things that I wanted be. First, I wanted to be a teacher, second a small planes pilot/instructor, and third a police officer. I quickly ruled out being a pilot/ and instructor because I can easily do that on the side of any profession I pick. However, it was a tough decision whether to be a teacher or police officer. I decided to be a teacher because everybody told me growing up that I would be a good teacher and it’s a better environment to work in. This is all true. However, being a police officer is still my mind at some point in my life, maybe a good summer job?
I got a call from the Sergeant giving reporting time. It was 7p.m on Friday, February 9, 2007. It was not the best time, but I made arrangements. I had a basketball game before and figured I could leave early and do the ride-along. The problem was that I couldn’t go too long because I had a literacy read-in at 8a.m the next day. Looking back, I could have very easily missed the read-in (should have) and been ok. Anyways, a little after 7 an officer came out to meet me. Her name was Kara. At first, she seemed not to be very talkative. However, my “social” background I knew I could get her to break. Before we got in the car, I succeeded and knew it was going to be a great night.
We were known as the cover car. The cover car was not assigned to any particular district. We could go wherever we wanted and do anything we wanted without staying in a particular district. Our first call came in as soon as we started out the drive way. There was a suspicious man walking down 675. We went to check it out and found nothing. Chances are his car broke down and his walking to get help, or, according to the officer, he got hit and is now lying on the side of the road, and if that’s the case we will get another call later. We got off the FairbornHigh School exit and made our way to the BP to get some drinks. Then, it was pretty calm for awhile. We were just driving around, finally our drinks go the best of us and we stopped by the station to go to the restroom. I was thinking that I was never going to get to experience the lights and especially the sirens. However, leaving the police station, there was a car backing down the road. He saw us and started going straight and pretended he didn’t do anything wrong. Quickly, the lights came on and over he went. His excuse was he missed his turn into the apartment complex and was backing up to turn. We checked his status, he was from Cincinnati, and wouldn’t you know he was listed as a “sex offender,” but no warrants. The officer gave him a hard time about meeting his “friend” and sent him on his way.
After that, we received a call about a possible drug deal going down. We got to the scene to see a car pull out, which the owner was driving without a license, and registration, but we had to go inside and couldn’t take time to stop him. We couldn’t find anything so we left to hunt down the car, but the car was already parked so we couldn’t do anything about it. Next, we received a call notifying us that a man, who has a warrant, was at his mother’s house. The call was probably made by someone who made by someone who was mad at him. There was a chance he would run so we surrounded the house. He gave in and we were off to book him in jail. This was a long processand a lot of paperwork involved. There weren’t any male officers available so we could un-handcuff him. We decided we would leave and get the cuffs back later. We went to check up on other officers that stopped a stolen Corvette. All the officers were at the scene so we continued on our night. We had to go check a suspicious car at Fairborn Primary, possible illegal drugs. We got there and the car was gone. We took a little break there and met up with another officer to get the handcuffs back. The break didn’t last long because gun shots were reported and we had to respond. There were many calls coming in saying about eight gun shots were heard. We jumped on it pretty quick and turned on the lights, no sirens, and went to the area. We could not find anything or hear anything, but traveling 60-70 mph in a 30 mph zone was quite fun.
Things slowed down for a bit. We had a few disturbance calls to check out and officers to back up. However, nothing was out of the ordinary. We then were to report to a possible drug scene. A call came in reporting a disturbance in an apartment complex known for dealing drugs. The people listed could have been young college students or high school students. I was happy because I wanted to see a reaction of one of my students seeing me. We got there in time to see many people scatter, but because it wasn’t at the specific location we had no proof. We kept searching. About the time the person who called in the call came out to direct us a call came over the radio for ALL officers to report the Fraternal order of the Eagles where all subjects inside were reported fighting. So we had to disregard the call and respond. I knew it could be fun when the officer asked me to hold a few things that she was holding. The lights came on, as well as the sirens. This made my night. We were on the opposite side of town. We started going through lights and swerving through traffic. We ended up on a long city street. The best part was going nearly 100-110 mph down the street. We had another police car in front of us. It was fun. However, a pick-up truck driver pulled in front of us at an intersection, even though he clearly saw us. A side fact, the officer has road rage. HaHa. We got to the call and most subjects were fighting, but the others on the scene had it under-control. Only one person was arrested from that incident.
The rest of the evening was minor things. We had one other traffic violation that we responded too. The problem was that the car didn’t have a front license plate. We only pulled the car over because its mirror was about to fall off. This was fun because we did a u-turn and stopped traffic. I like this power involved!! Then we responded to a failure to use a turn signal incident. Another officer pulled over this car that didn’t use a turn signal. It turned into a big problem, drugs were suspected. It ended up with my officer pulling a subject out of the car; ripping his shirt, cuffing him, and laying him face down in the snow. We put him in the car to sort everything out and he asked what county he was in, we said Greene, and he responded by saying “is that close to Cincinnati?” He was quite drunk, but not the driver. We let him go after he calmed down. He just got out of the Montgomery County Jail and even had is little bag with his toothbrush and other items with him. They found a knife in the car, but since it wasn’t concealed they did not have a reason to search the car. Even though they knew dope was in the car. They allowed us to search the trunk, but not the car. He was ticketed and sent on his way.
At this point, it was about 2:30 in the morning. Keep in mind, I should have left about 12 to get sleep for my read-in. It was a great experience, and I had a blast. I would have problem kept going, but I didn’t want to stay too much longer because I had to get some sleep, and the officer was planning on taking some “comp” time to leave early. I loved the experience. I wish I could do that more. Now I know, if for some ungodly reason teaching doesn’t work out for me, I will pursue a career in law enforcement.