My New Beat

I just finished my first week with my new squad. My new patrol area is from SR-51 to 28th St from Thomas to Campbell. This is almost entirely residential with a few businesses along Indian School and Thomas.

On Saturday, I missed out on the capture of a serial burglar in my beat area.

I had just arrested a driver with no license on an outstanding warrant and was transporting him to jail when I heard a 'hot call' of a pursuit of a stolen vehicle taken in a burglary right in the middle of my area. The driver bailed and ran through the neighborhood jumping fences until my squadmates lost sight of him. They set up a perimeter, called the helicopter and started checking all of the houses in the area. Just as the hunt was being called off, a few officers found him hiding under a bed in someone's house. He was arrested and confessed to several burglaries in the area. As I returned from the jail, I was dispatched to the house where he stole the truck from. The homeowner was in Hawaii and his house-sitter discovered his truck gone. The burglar stole a small safe with about $15,000 in cash and jewelry (which he later sold to some other chud on the street).

**Tip: if you have a small safe containing your valuables, make sure it is bolted to the floor or VERY well hidden. Having a small safe sitting on the floor of your closet will be the first thing taken in a burglary. Burglars know where to look for hidden goods (like dresser drawers, closets, linen cabinets, bathroom and kitchen cupboards, garages, desk drawers and file cabinets) so be very creative or rent a safety deposit box at the bank. Be especially careful with documents like birth certificates, checks, anything with a SSN, credit card balance transfer checks, and passports. Crystal Meth users (aka 'Tweakers') are notorious for fraud, identity theft and other document crimes and usually have an easy time finding these in your house.**

Here's a picture I took at the Madison jail downtown.
This is the final holding room used before prisoners board an armored bus and are taken to the other various prisons or jails. It's hard to read but each arrow lists the mileage to each respective jail. This is also the exit the officers use after dropping off a prisoner. Often times this room has a line of prisoner daisy chained together wearing the black and white striped pajamas with pink slippers Sheriff Joe requires.

**Tip #2: if you're arrested and on the way to Madison jail, try not to take any money with you since Sheriff Joe charges prisoners for everything and deducts it from any cash they happen to bring in.**

Wearing black nylon pants with a bullet proof vest in the summer heat has given me a whole new sense of discomfort. I can't believe how much hotter it's going to get and how dreadful it will be to work outside. At least I have an air-conditioned car, though: the traffic cops ride motorcycles all summer long wearing long sleeves without A/C.