Oceanside Chronicles – PD: Season 5, Episode 8

May 28, 2016
Prom night means something different for coastal cities, and Oceanside is no different. Max’s first night back on full duty is eventful to say the least.

“It’s gonna be a zoo.”  The exasperation in Eddie’s (Sgt. Presser) voice was obvious.  The squad was all seated. It was roll call for the evening shift.  Eddie was half way through his roll call briefing and talking about the fact that it was Friday night; May 27th; prom night; a night full of frivolity… and stupidity, no doubt.

Eddie had opened the briefing by welcoming Max back to full duty.  “The doctors have finally given PFC Breaklin clearance to come back to full duty,” he said, receiving a round of applause.  “But we’re taking on faith that the head-shrinks will also eventually clear him,” he added on, getting a round of laughter.  From the announcement of Max’s (obvious) return, Eddie had moved into the usual roll call information about crime trends, assignments to help the detectives locate witnesses and suspects (if the squad encountered them), and the almost boring, “City council member so-and-so has requested that we…”

The final item on Eddie’s roll call sheet was prom night.  “The Chief’s office has put out extra officers specifically to work the Yacht Club (where the prom was being held) and they’ll stay within a few blocks of it.  The rest of us have to be on the lookout for the usual stupidity and crime that accompanies prom night.  We’ll probably see a few underage drinkers, some kids making out on the beach, someone inevitably driving on the beach and there’s always the likelihood of some vandalism at the school.  Keep your eyes open.  Show compassion where you can, but hook ‘em up where you must.  Make sure YOU stay safe and do what you can to help them do the same in spite of themselves.”  He looked around the room to see all squad members paying attention and some of them nodding their heads in acceptance of or agreement with his words.

After that, Eddie detailed specific patrol areas, as they’d been modified to take into account prom night idiocy and the added manpower that the agency had on the street.  Max and his partner, Sean Davidson, had been assigned a relatively small patrol area: Coastal Highway paralleled the beach front one block off the sand.  Atlantic Avenue paralleled that another block over and General Roberts Boulevard was one more block over.  Max and Sean were assigned to the area between General Roberts Boulevard and the beach, from the inlet – just below 1st Street up to 10th Street.  It didn’t sound big, but when you looked at it, it was 20 square blocks filled with commercial businesses, restaurants, bars, the boardwalk and the beach itself.

The thought rolling around in the back of Max’s mind was the JP was on shift as well. She was assigned to beach patrol and was somewhere out on the sand, on an ATV, in her beach patrol uniform.  Thanks to Elbeco Uniforms, which was the manufacturer Oceanside had selected when they upgraded all of their apparel, the beach patrol officers were wearing navy blue cargo shorts under a matching polo shirt.  Their body armor was concealed and their gunbelts were all nylon.  Max was most jealous of the fact that JP got to wear shorty socks – those kind that stop below your ankles – and tennis shoes! It was his hope that, if circumstances cooperated, he’d be able to grab dinner with JP somewhere on the boardwalk.  He had asked Sean if he’d mind and Sean had said, “Heck, no!”  His enthusiasm was caused by the fact that Max usually paid for his dinner if he accompanied Max and JP.

- - - - - - - - - -

On the beach, JP didn’t have a patrol partner.  What she had was a lifeguard every 300 yards in a stand that she could signal with a shout or a whistle.  She had thought it was funny when she was issued a second whistle upon her transfer to beach patrol.  Her first one was highly polished brass and was only worn with her dress uniform.  This one was plastic and she wore it all the time.  It hung from a short piece of paracord that she’d attached with a safety-pin up under her shirt collar.  Yeah, it swung back and forth a little bit but it wasn’t bad and it was always where she could get to it.  She was sweating under her body armor but she knew it was worth it.  With Max having been shot just a couple months back, she was all too aware of how real the possibility was. The ballcap she wore was the same navy blue as her uniform and although it protected her head from the sun, it also got hot, absorbing the sunlight. She had asked to wear a tan one but her sergeant had shot the idea down.

The beach wasn’t any busier than normal for the time of year, but JP was careful and didn’t go any faster than necessary across the sand. The last thing she wanted was to get a complaint or a lawsuit because she ran over some sunbather. She knew the visibility was going to get far worse when the sunset, but she also knew the beach would be a LOT less busy.  Most people who remained on the beach after the sun went down were either walking hand in hand along the water line, or they were surfing, or they were making out.  It was that last group she had to watch out most for.

As she drove / rode along, JP found herself pondering the evening and night.  Tonight was the first time she was going “home” with Max after their shift.  It was pure coincidence that they were both working and she blamed it on the schedule rearrangements that were spurred by it being prom night. She briefly thought about their separation when she’d panicked about losing him after he’d been shot.  She’d been to his place since then but lately they’d had more serious talks about moving in together.  She had left some clothes at his place and bought a toothbrush just to leave there.  She smiled at the thought that an extra toothbrush was the 21st century way of committing to someone.  Tonight, when she got off work, whether Max was off shift yet or not, she was going back to his place.  She’d either meet him there or be waiting for him when he got off work.  Either way, she looked forward to falling asleep with him and waking up with him.  It was a warming thought… which brought her mind back to the trickle of sweat that was running down her back beneath her bra and body armor. It was hot and it looked to be a long evening.

- - - - - - - - - -

They’d gotten dinner at a place called The Post Café.  It was situated above the South End Surf Shop – which was the shop Max and JP used to get their wetsuits and other ocean play equipment. Neither was a surfer, but there was far more available than surfboards at The Sound End Surf Shop.  Sean hadn’t complained about the “googly eyes” Max and JP made at each other through dinner.  It was worth it, he thought, for the free food.

After dinner, Max and Sean were back out on Atlantic Avenue on patrol when they saw a car that seemed to be having a hard time staying in one lane.  Sean got on the MDT to run the license plate while Max followed the vehicle.  The vehicle turned left and then, after a short wait at a traffic light, turned left again, so that it was now going north on Coastal Highway.  Sean had gotten the listing and the registration was valid; the vehicle was properly insured.  The driver had two priors for drunk driving though, and he sure looked like he might be intoxicated again.

After another half mile of following the vehicle, and watching it cross the lane divider lines twice more, Max activated the cruiser’s emergency lights and touched the siren.  The driver, with Max behind him, was going about 40 miles per hour. The speed limit on Coastal Highway was 35 MPH, so Max wasn’t too worried about the speed violation.  He was more worried about the potential for the driver to be drunk.  When the driver heard the siren and looked up into his rearview mirror to see the police car’s lights flashing, he stepped HARD on his brakes.  He came to nearly a complete stop in the middle of the travel lane, and only after he realized what he’d done did he signal and pull over to the side of the road.  Max positioned the patrol vehicle behind the target vehicle as Sean radioed in the traffic stop.  As Max and Sean got out of their patrol car the driver of the target vehicle also stepped out.

Max had been taught, in the academy, that a driver getting out of their car could present a threat; or s/he could just be being polite.  In this case, the man was probably just trying to be polite, but he was so intoxicated that when he got out of his car he fell down on the sidewalk as if he’d been hit in the head with a sledgehammer.  The car started to roll slowly away and Max realized that the driver had NOT put the vehicle in park before getting out. It was starting to roll – driverless – up Coastal Highway.

Finding a new gear and glad that his thigh was no longer sore from the gunshot wound he’d suffered two months before, Max ran up to the driver’s side of the rolling car, passing the fallen driver without a look, and jumped in to put his foot on the brakes and put it in park.  When he got out and looked back at the driver on the ground, he saw that the man was reaching into his pants pocket, but for what Max had no idea. What he DID know was that bad guys keep weapons in their pockets and if a police officer can’t see a suspect’s hands, then bad things can happen.

Just a few feet to Max’s right was a steel container that held one of the city trash cans.  Max side-stepped right to get behind it, using it was cover, as the guy on the ground pulled his hand back out of his pocket.  In his hand was a pack of gum.  As Max watched, with Sean doing the same on the other side of the man, the suspect took his time getting a piece of gum out of the pack, unwrapping it, and then stuffing it into his mouth. He cast the wrapper aside (littering) and then worked hard to get the pack of gum back into his pocket.

Shaking his head, and with Sean approaching from behind the man, Max stepped over and offered the man a hand up.  Once the man was on his feet, Max positioned him so that his hands were on the hood of the patrol car.  Max asked the man if he’d been drinking.  The man, with a big smile on his face said, “Nope. Smell my breath.”  And then he tried to exhale straight into Max’s face.  Thankfully Max saw it coming and stepped back so he didn’t get a face full of the man’s now fruity smelling vodka laden breath.

A half hour later, Max and Sean were doing paperwork as the man slept in a holding cell.  He’d taken an intoxalyzer test and his blood alcohol content (BAC) had been measured at .26.  The question was whether he was “coming down” from his max level? Or was he still on his way up?  In another half hour, he’d be tested again and that information would all be part of the evidence package that went to the State Attorney’s office along with the charging documents for Drunk Driving.  The paperwork would take another half hour past the second BAC test and then Max and Sean could get back out on the street.

- - - - - - - - - -

It was after sunset before Max and Sean got back out on the road.  On the beach JP was patrolling near the city’s long and tall – from the beach’s perspective – pier.  There were lots of shadows under the pier and it was a favored place for folks who wanted to hide to smoke some weed or drink anything it was illegal for them to have on the beach.  Going slowly in among the pylons, JP was startled when she saw two bodies jump up out of the sand, mostly in the shadows… but it wasn’t so dark that she couldn’t see what was going on.  It was a male and a female and they were frantically pulling on bathing suits as JP approached on her ATV.

By the time she’d gotten over close enough to talk to them they were adequately dressed, looking ashamed, holding hands and trying to look like they’d been walking along and nothing else.  “Good evening,” JP said to the couple. “Everything going okay?”

“Yes, ma’am,” replied the man.  He looked in his late teens, thought JP.

“And you, ma’am?” JP asked the woman.

“Oh, yes, ma’am,” replied the young lady.  JP thought she also looked in her late teens.

“Either of you have ID on you?” JP asked.

“Why would we need ID?” the young man asked.

JP hated questions like that.  On the one hand she really didn’t like having to ask people to identify themselves just because she’d encountered them.  It came too close to feeling like she was asking them “for their papers.”  On the other hand, when she encountered someone in a suspicious circumstance, knowing who she was dealing with was a good idea.  But how to answer the young man’s question?

“Well,” said JP, “if I’d just come across you up on the boardwalk walking along holding hands, I wouldn’t ask you for ID. But since I’ve come across you under the pier and you had to put your bathing suits back on in a hurry before I got to you, and it looks like you’re both pretty young, I figure it’s part of my job to make sure everyone is okay and everything is legal.”  She gave that a moment to be absorbed before continuing. “So, how about pulling out whatever ID you have and letting me take a look.”  It was phrased as a suggestion but her demeanor and tone of voice made it clear that it wasn’t an option.

Both of the young people looked forlorn. The young man’s shoulders fell as he reached into the pocket of his bathing suit.  JP was actually impressed that he had an ID on him.  Not many people carry an ID in their bathing suit.  The ID that he offered up had a date of birth that made him just shy of his 18th birthday.  He had another month to go.  The young lady had things easier: she reached into left side of her bathing suit and pulled her ID out of one breast cup.  JP refrained from shaking her head.  No matter how common such usage and actions were, she still considered it trashy to pull anything out from where it’s been rubbing up against your boob and handing it to anyone, much less a total stranger.  The young lady’s ID showed that she was closer to 17 than 18. She had about another ten months to go before she’d be a legal adult.

Still, neither of them was 18 and nothing JP’d seen them doing was illegal, so unless either of them had been reported as a run-away or had any open warrants, they’d be free to walk on.  That’s exactly what they were doing about twenty minutes later.  As JP watched them walk away, she wondered if she’d come across them again before the evening was over.  MAYBE, she thought, being interrupted by a police officer was enough to kill their mood; but maybe not. They were young and focused after all.

JP started her ATV back up and continued on with her patrols.  Her watch read 9:35 and she idly thought that within two to two-and-a-half hours, she’d be comfortable at Max’s.  Knowing she was going to his place for the night made the evening much nicer, she thought to herself.

Discuss Episode 5:8 (this episode) on our forums

Editor’s Notes & Officer Survival Concerns

Episode 5:8 forum link

Officer Survival & other comments on Episode 5:8:

The incident with Max, the drunk driver and the vehicle rolling away is, like so many other incidents described in The Oceanside Chronicles, a true story.  Instead of being drunk, the driver had been quite elderly and as he tried to get out of his car – on a busy residential multi-lane road – he stumbled and fell, and his car began to accelerate away down a hill.  The officer involved had to really turn on some speed to run and catch up to the rolling car; get in, stop it and put it properly in park.  The old man wasn’t hurt but he was pretty embarrassed.  A retesting order for his driver’s license had been issued.  Keep alert for the unexpected (as always).

Officer Survival & other comments on Episode 5:7:

For this episode we need to thank Elbeco Uniforms for their sponsorship and support.  Stay safe!

Episode 5:6 forum link

Officer Survival & other comments on Episode 5:6:

Police Week is an important part of the law enforcement family experience.  If you’ve never gone to the National Law Enforcement Memorial, you should make the time to go visit.  It’s an energy filled place and, especially this week while you can visit with tens of thousands of your Thin Blue Line family members, it can truly move you.

Thank you to Elbeco Uniforms for sponsoring this episode.

Episode 5:5 forum link

Officer Survival & other comments on Episode 5:5:

We often don’t pay attention but uniform comfort can play a big role in how efficiently we do our jobs.  Elbeco makes a wide variety of uniform designs to fit every need.

Episode 5:4 forum link

Officer Survival & other comments on Episode 5:4:

We’d like to thank our sponsor, Elbeco, for supporting this on-going fiction crime-drama.  Check out their full line of uniforms and apparel on their website.

Episode 5:3 forum link

Officer Survival & other comments on Episode 5:3:

With the end of spring and launch of summer there are usually a lot of bar openings, special events on beaches, etc.  They all bring with them particular risks and threats that we can only avoid or minimize so much.  Temptation grows to play hero, lone gunman, whatever.  Remember the Ten Deadly Errors and stay on your guard. The imperative is going home whole and healthy at the end of your shift.

Episode 5:2 forum link

Officer Survival & other comments on Episode 5:2:

No officer survival comments on this one except this: We ALL have emotional turmoil that enters our life. It IS very distracting. We can’t safely work distracted like that. Talk to someone if that’s where you are in your head. Get it sorted out. DO NOT go to work that distracted and unfocused.  It can get you killed.

Episode 5:1 forum link

Officer Survival & other comments on Episode 5:1:

Few outside our profession can relate to the fears and complications associated with any shooting situation.  They’re not usually aware of how politics can impact police work in all the wrong ways.  As we can see in this story, the significant other (JP) of an injured officer (Max) is having her doubts about the relationship due to her own fears of lost stability. We also get to listen in on the conversation between the Mayor and the Chief and see how their concerns are different.  Be that as it may, the Mayor’s concerns WILL impact how the Chief acts or reacts because ultimately he answers to the Mayor. Please remember to visit our supporter for this episode: Elbeco Uniforms. Great products to cover you in all your uniform needs.

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