Gunrunning in Gangland
“She’s going to kill us both.” The big man at the other end of my gun glanced over to see my partner pointing her gun at him—at us—the barrel bouncing in her shaking hands. He said, “I’m cool, man.”
Tag: Sheriff
The First Assignment
Baptism by Fire Before I had a chance to grab a cup of coffee or discover the location of my desk, I was given my first assignment as a homicide detective. A 16-year-old boy had been killed by a train in the City of Industry. It was a chilly fall morning, and I made the…
The Fugitive Detail
Fugitive apprehension was filler work for SPI/Metro. The nature of our assignments was responsive: someone was kidnapped, we’d go to work; a prisoner escaped, we started a manhunt; a judge was threatened, we’d set up around-the-clock protection while investigating the source. And so on.
Baby Vanessa
Three Basic Rules to Successful Policing 1) Don’t Go Hungry Far too often though, we would. Not by choice, but by activity. In my day (at least), we worked eight-hour days on patrol. There was no lunch break. You ate when you could. When and if it quieted enough to do so, you scarfed a…
Thanksgiving Day Melee
The unincorporated county area of Watts is policed by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. From 1955 to 1994, deputies assigned to the area worked out of the legendary Firestone Station. I had the privilege to be trained there in 1986, and I remained until the doors closed in 1994. The eighties saw the height…