An action filled Saturday night

This is a similar vehicle that I was in for my ride-along

Wow!  Wow!  Wow!  I couldn’t have asked for a better ride-along with the police department.  I was so stoked I’d love to do it again, but nothing could top this one so I’d likely be disappointed.  And after comparing notes in my citizens’ police academy class, I think I had the best one so far.

I’m not going to mention any names here because I really don’t think it’s my place to say too much about this experience and I don’t want to step on any toes without permission.  Let’s just say it was better than any TV show, or the movies.  After all this was happening in real life and right in front of my eyes.

We did a lot in three hours.  That police radio goes off constantly.  I really don’t know how the guys and gals keep it all straight because the reports come in non-stop and they change every few minutes.  I learned so much from the officer I rode with that night.  He was careful to explain all the equipment and let me look at the laptop that’s mounted partially over the passenger seat.  Luckily, I’m small enough to fit in the tiny space that’s left.  Everything is computerized these days and there are little gadgets hanging everywhere. 

Of course I had instructions to stay inside the car for my safety when he made traffic stops, but I was able to bring him up on the tiny monitor mounted above my window and actually listen to him speaking to anyone when we made stops.  He also explained to me how the radar mounted on the dash worked.

Our first stop actually turned into an arrest of a drunken man that we later drove to the jail after he was handcuffed, read his Miranda rights, and frisked down right in front of me.  Wow!  The officer placed him in the backseat behind me.  Of course there’s a Plexiglas window between the seats.  So that started things out on an exciting note.  After that he took calls for two domestic disputes, stopped a lady for speeding, and then to top the night off he took a call for a stolen vehicle.  That was a crazy experience with about five cars in on the chase to apprehend this person.  I’m not going to go into any more details here. 

Once I got back to the station, I was ready to go out again, but the officer had reports to write up and I needed to come home and wind down.  Needless to say, I was still wound up for the next couple of days.  I don’t think I’ll ever forget this.  It was the most exciting Saturday night I’ve ever had in my life.