Oops

I was reminded yesterday of the importance of conducting a thorough search of arrested subjects. I made a traffic stop and noticed the passenger hiding a large can of open beer between his shins. I got him out of the car, discovered he had a warrant and arrested him.

I searched him and found nothing illegal. We brought him to the county jail and returned to our patrol. An hour later, the jail called me to come back and get some 'property' still in possession of the prisoner I brought in. When I got arrived, there was a baggie of marijuana the detention officer found in his front pants pocket. I thought I searched him well (his pocketes were even pulled inside out) but somehow I missed the drugs. I had to complete all kinds of additional paperwork for this mishap but I'll be sure to double search everyone from now on.

Novice Detective Award: An SUV involved in a hit and run was ditched at a car dealership and the driver fled the scene. I arrived and searched the car and found marijuana, meth, a large hunting knife, and a laptop computer. After a while, a guy walks up and says he wants to get his computer out of the car (his 1st mistake). He is not the driver but is a friend who lent his laptop to the driver and now wants it back. Our answer, "not a chance." We have no way of proving the laptop belonged to him but I asked for his ID for the heck of it and he gave it to me (2nd mistake). I copied down all his info and checked him for warrants but he had none outstanding.

I brought the items taken from the vehicle to the police station to impound them. I notice a small sticker on the bottom of the laptop that had the name of a company on it. I looked up the company name on the internet and found an office in Tempe. I called the company and sure enough: the laptop was stolen out of a car a week ago. Not only did the guy not get the laptop, but now the detectives have a name, birthdate, description, and address of an 'investigative lead' for vehicle burglary.

We returned the laptop to the grateful business manager in Tempe.

Tonight is my first night solo and I'm looking forward to it.