Tickets, Meth Labs, and Warrants

Today, Friday, March 2, was a very interesting day. I had the opportunity to go on rounds with a uniformed mobile police officer. Most people know this as a ride-along. What started as a slow morning turned into an exciting adventure. I knew it would be worth my time to roll out of bed.

At 9 am, an officer picked me up at my home in a squad car. Talk about an early morning shock to the neighbors. Oh well, they probably needed it.

The morning started off with a few warrants to be served. We were sent on a wild goose chase for the first warrant. Her mother said one thing and her biological father said another. We ended up off of 7th and Malang, a trailer park. We were told to look for a trailer with a black truck, large grill, and a riding lawnmower. There turned out to be several trailers with those items. Sergeant Ganz and I decided to ask around and see if anyone knew of our suspect. The first man we spoke to had no teeth and his gums were rotted out. We took his license and found out that he was wanted for a meth-lab. However, we didn’t have an arrest warrant and couldn’t take him in. Ganz told him that if he cooperated then we wouldn’t send out another trooper or officer that day. The man complied. He told us exactly where our suspect was.

Ganz had me go and knock on the door. He had me knock because if he was seen the lady wouldn’t open her door. To my surprise it wasn’t a lady that answered the door. A drunk, old man answered the door and was on probation and parole. Being drunk was not in his favor. Ganz told the drunk that we were with the Jasper County Sheriff’s Department and then entered the trailer. We questioned the man about his daughter. To our surprise, he didn’t know where she was. Ironic, I think not. Oh well, just another day in police work right? Ganz and I left the trailer and told the man that if he knew where his daughter was hiding and didn’t tell us he would be placed under arrest for aiding a criminal. After we placed that situation on the man, we went on our merry way.

We then got a call about a house that had the door left open for three days. The neighbors were concerned that someone had broken into the house or that the owner was hurt or dead inside. Ganz called backup because I didn’t have a gun or a Kevlar vest on. I couldn’t clear rooms because I wasn’t a threat and could potentially be held as a hostage. That was the last thing I wanted. So I said it was just fine if we waited on another officer. Officer Terry arrived a few minutes later. We went inside with Officer Terry. They cleared the first room and I was allowed inside. We went through the rest of the house. No one was inside. Nothing was in the house. I looked at the window and noticed a piece of paper taped to it. I told Officer Terry and he said to take it off and see what it was. It was a notice of eviction. The house had been busted earlier this year for a meth lab inside the attic. That was the reason that no one was home. The door must have just blown open. We locked all the doors and the windows. We taped the notice back on the window.

Next, we made traffic stops. One man we stopped had a cracked windshield. Ganz wanted to stop him and just give him a warning to have it fixed. However, the man decided to be a real jerk. That was his first mistake. Officer Ganz decided that he would then get a citation. When we asked for insurance information, the man didn’t have any. Mistake number two. Officer Ganz then wrote him a ticket for no proof of insurance. The man threw a hissy-fit and ended up getting his citation turned into a ticket as well. (Note to self- never back talk a cop, they will get mad at you.) It was only 10:30: I had another three hours.

Within a matter of minutes, we had another person pulled over. He had a child in his car and she wasn’t in a car seat. This little girl was only two or three years old. The man was driving a pick-up truck with its license plate in the wrong spot and he was speeding. Officer Ganz was only going to give the man a speeding ticket; however, the man turned out to be a felon. This felon was on probation and parole and one of his conditions was not to drive. We had to call for back-up. Two other squad cars showed up. Then we got the call of the day over the police radio.

Two men decided to rob and hold up a convenience store. The white, Dodge truck needed to be pulled over and the men inside needed to be arrested. The two men inside had already held up the store once in February. We left the two other officers to take care of the felon and his daughter. This was important and had to be taken care of by someone who wasn’t a rookie or a newer member on the squad. We spent the next hour looking for this truck. We followed several different trucks tracing tags. Our efforts proved to be fruitless. However, as we were looking for this truck, Ganz showed me several things. We drove by some many meth houses and dope givers that I lost count. Ganz showed me the houses and trailers that he had busted within the last month. I was in shock. He told me that to sell meth in the four state area was asking to be arrested and to spend a long time in jail. He kept calling these people vulgar names and worthless bags of humans. I didn’t say anything even though it bothered me that he was making these comments. Those people were human. Yes, they had and are making some very bad decisions, but they can go to rehab. I wouldn’t have gone as far as to call them worthless. Yes, they are and were scumbags, but that doesn’t mean that they are necessarily lower than trash.

We continued to move around the county. We went up and down old highways and streets that needed repairs so badly it wasn’t even funny. When we crossed Maiden Lane, Ganz came to a screeching halt and then whipped his squad car around. I was completely confused. I heard nothing on the radio and didn’t see anything wrong. Ganz had seen a drug transfer. He went to go pull over the truck that left a dope house. However, when Ganz went to frisk the man and search his vehicle, he found nothing. The man had just sold the dope. We couldn’t bust him on having money because we didn’t have any hard, physical evidence. The guy got away.

We were back to making traffic stops. On one country road we pulled over a man for exhibition of speed and speeding. Another squad car was coming down the road at us. He didn’t stop to ask if Ganz needed back-up. He was pulling over another man. This cop happened to be what I now consider a pig.
I had never been the one to call an officer a pig. However, after today the word pig had a new meaning. Someone can be an officer of the law, but they can also be a pig. A pig is a cop that is a jerk. They will go out of their way to pull someone over or to arrest them. An officer of the law pulls someone over because that person is endangering the lives of average civilians. Officer Ganz is not a pig; however, one of his officer friends is. This man shall remain nameless, but I will tell you just what makes him a pig. This man pulled over a driver because they gave him a strange look. This man gave this driver a ticket that he didn’t deserve because he didn’t look at an officer the ‘right’ way. That to me was complete and total bull. I learned that there are good cops and bad cops; cops that do things the right way and cops that do things the wrong, immoral way.