Her name was Tracy. Doug and Stan almost jumped for joy when they found her in the beachfront bar. She was a pixie of a thing – barely over five feet tall and weighing about one hundred and fifteen pounds. She weighed just enough to be curvy; petite but not slender. Her short blond hair left her neck exposed and she made no secret of the fact that her neck was highly sensitive. She told them point blank that kissing her neck lit her fire and they’d better be ready for the inferno.
It was the day after the Fourth of July – a Tuesday – and they were almost out of time here in Oceanside. They had discussed their options and decided that it would be easier to make an additional stop on their way home to Massachusetts rather than extending their stay in the Virginia Atlantic coast city. On what they had decided would be their last night in Oceanside, they met Tracy. She was boisterous, funny, friendly, just loud enough to keep their attention and flirtatious beyond measure. When Doug finally invited her back to their boat, “Different Flavors,” she’d outright asked what they had in mind. Stan answered, “Just some more partying and anything that the three of us all decide we might enjoy together.”
Tracy took the bull by the horns so to speak and was much more blunt than Stan had been. “Well, that doesn’t rule out the threesome I was hoping for, so as long as you guys loosen up some, sounds like a good time to me!”
Back on the boat the party truly began. Tracy had been wearing a white cotton dress at the bar and under it she had on one of her favorite bikinis; a nude color thong below a barely-there semi-opaque top. Once she was on the boat with her first drink in hand she proclaimed that she was too hot and pulled the dress off, dropping it on one of the lounge sofas. Less than an hour later, all three of them were naked and doing anything and everything imaginable with each other. Tracy got off on the fact that Doug and Stan were bisexual lovers and she absolutely swooned over interacting with them while they did anything with each other.
Hours later as the sex and alcohol took its toll, the three of them fell asleep in the main salon’s master bed. Doug fell asleep wondering how many days of partying they’d get with Tracy before they had to dump her. Stan was wondering the same thing. Tracy fell asleep wondering how many days she could put up with these two men before she could rid herself of them. She enjoyed the partying and thoroughly relished the sex… but she had no other use for men in general and knew that her time with them would be limited. What would come after… she had no idea… yet.
- - - - - - - - - -
Thursday, July 7th
Two days later, Max was in roll call waiting for his midnight shift to begin. It was roughly 2230 hours with the shift running from 2300 to 0600. He’d seen the news before coming into work. He’d heard more on the radio. News stations were reporting that during a protest in Dallas, someone had started shooting. So far it sounded like whoever was shooting was targeting police officers.
This attack followed on the heels of two ugly days in America. In Baton Rouge, Louisiana, two officers had shot an armed felon – but that wasn’t how the mainstream media had portrayed the incident. In Minnesota, a woman had live streamed the aftermath of her boyfriend being shot by a police officer, with her own custom narration thrown in. The nation seemed to latch onto her every word and took it as gospel about what had happened prior to her live stream starting. Of course, the actual shooting itself hadn’t been included and there was zero information about what had led up to the police encounter.
Due to those two shootings, protests from a group called “Black Lives Matter” had been cropping up all over the nation. Max had mixed feelings about the group – BLM (which he had always thought stood for Bureau of Land Management). On the one hand, he got their point: it’s a shame any life should be lost and if there was ANY racial animosity that led to a killing, it was wrong. On the other hand, some intelligence reports had revealed that many of the BLM “protesters” were hired antagonists who were paid to start riots and produce civil unrest. If that were true then it undermined the integrity and moral value of the group’s intended message.
The recent shootings, the attack in Dallas and some strictly amateur predictions about the future seemed to be the only thing anyone was talking about in the squad room. Eddie walked in at precisely 2245 hours and found everyone already in their seats. The muted conversations that were being held were immediately ceased. The room fell quiet.
Eddie got situated at the podium, focusing on his roll call briefing papers – he always had several – and then he looked up at his squad. He took a minute to look around the room. As he scanned each man’s face his brain called up the individual’s ID number and unit number. He had developed the habit of thinking of the men in their patrol teams or pairs.
Unit 1095 – Max Breaklin and Sean Davidson – were to his right and in front where they always seemed to be. Both were military veterans with combat experience and had proven to be effective officers on the street. Max was recently back to full duty after recovering from two gunshot wounds he received when someone – someone that still hadn’t been identified or caught – had attacked the local, The Breakers.
Unit 1096 – The squad’s “twin towers of terror” – Mike Rakkie and Kyle Drummond. Both were six feet five inches tall. Mike topped out over 300 pounds and was strong beyond belief. Kyle was in the 260 pound range and was almost as strong. For as big as they were and as aggressive as their personalities were, they were both men who would prefer to talk a suspect into handcuffs. If talking didn’t work, they had no problem with Option B either. Still, they were both professional even if they were jokesters.
Unit 1097 – Sam Nichlaus and Dave Brick – Sam had previously been Max’s partner, was another service veteran with combat experience and seemed to be appropriately aggressive about doing the job. Dave was the senior of the two and, although he did the job well, he was also perfectly content to have a shift of no calls, no traffic stops and no citizen interaction. Eddie got the impression that Dave needed a vacation and had it on his list of things to talk to individuals about.
Unit 1098 – Pete Jerstopholus and Bill Herstal – Pete was a third generation officer and a widower. His wife had died young from cancer but Eddie knew that he was dating again and seemed to have gotten past grieving for his wife. He was a good officer although the influence of his family sometimes seemed to contradict the agency’s policies and protocols. It hadn’t been a big deal yet, but Eddie wondered if the young man wouldn’t be better off – professionally speaking – in a larger agency. His father and grandfather had both been county officers. Was the city big enough for Pete? Bill had gone to the academy with Eddie but hadn’t progressed past the rank of Corporal. He hadn’t even tested for it. Eddie knew that Bill was comfortable where he was, but the lack of motivation for advancement concerned him. Bill did the job and did it well, but Eddie worried about the example being set for the younger guys. That was another private conversation to be had.
Having scanned the room and met every man’s eyes, Eddie glanced down at the top sheet and then back up. “I won’t say good evening to you. It’s not. We all know what’s going on in Dallas. We all know it’s going to get worse around the country before it gets better. I don’t have to tell you to watch each other’s backs. I don’t have to tell you to be extra careful in your dealings with people. I will say this: Don’t look JUST for what will hurt or kill you. I want to encourage you to go out of your way to be courteous and friendly as much as you can. When you see anyone tonight, do your best to thrown in a couple extra ‘good mornings,’ or ‘how are you todays?’. Let’s put the best face on Oceanside PD that we can tonight.” Around the room, heads nodded.
Eddie continued after shuffling to the next sheet in his stack. “I have a directive here from the Chief’s office. His aid has been monitoring social media channels and has noted an uptick in traffic about how police ‘hassle’ people. In the interest of keeping the peace, the Chief’s directive is to reduce the amount we ‘hassle’ people to a minimum necessary level.”
“Hassle?” asked Bill from the back. “Could you define ‘hassle’ a little better for us, Sarge?”
“I wish I could, Bill,” replied Eddie. “I’ve seen some of this stuff on Facebook and Twitter as well. People – those who seem to be looking for any excuse to be critical of us – are complaining about being pulled over for anything they consider irrelevant or minor. Reportedly the guy in Minnesota had been pulled over for a busted tail light – at least according to his girlfriend in her video debut after the fact. The Chief doesn’t want us causing or creating any unnecessary interaction that might be aggravating to the public.”
There was silence around the room. “Unnecessary interaction” wasn’t a good term and they all knew that Eddie hadn’t used it lightly. It had to have been wording directly from the Chief’s directive. Eddie knew what they were all thinking. This type of directive from the Chief made them wonder how much of their job they couldn’t do for fear of the agency hanging them out to dry if anything untoward happened.
“Eddie?” said Max. Eddie nodded at him in acknowledgement. “What’s your take on this? I mean, traffic stops for safety violations are performed as much in the interest of the driver and any passengers as they are in the interest of the state. The state doesn’t even make any money on a repair order. It’s just a means of making sure cars are safe to drive – for the drivers, the passengers and the other drivers on the road. What do you think we should and shouldn’t be ignoring?”
Eddie and Max both knew that while Max wasn’t trying to put Eddie on the spot, that’s what was happening. The squad was more loyal to Eddie than they were to the Chief. If Eddie said, “Don’t make any traffic stops tonight,” then the squad wouldn’t. If Eddie said, “Obey the Chief’s memo to the letter,” then the squad would. The only difference would be whether it was Eddie’s directive they were obeying or the Chief’s directive. Where would the buck stop?
“Look,” said Eddie. “I won’t tell you to ignore every traffic violation, avoid public encounter and only answer your calls for service. I WILL tell you what I already have: The Chief’s office, per this directive, wants us to limit unnecessary contact. They are obviously concerned about anything that MIGHT happen during such contacts and, quite frankly, they’re scared of being the next sensationalized big media target. None of us wants or needs that. Just use your head.”
His answer left the restrictions on the Chief’s head. Eddie didn’t like it. The squad didn’t like it. They all understood it – but that didn’t change how they felt about it.
Eddie reviewed the other few items on his roll call list before cutting them loose with his usual, “Stay alert. Stay alive.” The patrol pairs flowed out of the room, grabbing their gear bags as they went, and heading out to their respective cars. Each team inspected their patrol vehicle before going out on patrol. Midnight shifts, in general, could either be wild or tame with the usual somewhere in between. Tonight was shaping up to be a strict unknown. If the Chief got his way, based on his memo, it would be exceedingly quiet and boring. The public had a way of making sure that the Chief didn’t get his way.
- - - - - - - - - -
Friday, July 8th: 0315 hours
“Unit 1098, dispatch.”
“Go ahead, 1098.”
“Hold us out at the Beachfront Shopping Center checking the premises.”
“10-4, Unit 1098.”
Bill and Pete were bored. Bill didn’t mind so much. He had near enough time in to file for retirement and he was, in general, tired of serving a public that he felt was so ungrateful. With five officers being reported killed in Dallas and reports of people actually celebrating that fact all around the nation, he had never felt less appreciated. Pete didn’t feel so beaten down. Sitting in the passenger seat, doing his best to focus on the surroundings on his side of the patrol vehicle, Pete was still hungry to do the job; serve the public; keep the peace… and enforce the law as necessary.
Bill slowly drove the vehicle up the length of the strip shopping center, shining the spotlight along the front of it, looking at all the windows and doors to make sure they were intact. Nothing seemed out of place and he turned off the spotlight, angling the vehicle to head for the exit of the parking lot. The coast was curved and Coastal Highway followed the shape of the coast. The Beachfront Shopping Center was situated in a straight spot but there were curves in the beach – and therefore the roadway – at both ends. As they were pulling up to the exit, a car came around the curve from the south – their left – and appeared to be traveling faster than the posted speed limit; a LOT faster.
Pete snatched up the RADAR unit that had been calibrated at the beginning of their shift and aimed it at the vehicle. The unit registered 72 miles per hour. The posted speed limit was 35 miles per hour. Pete looked at Bill, showed him the reading and waited. Bill started to activate the lights and step on the gas and then thought better of it. The roads were mostly empty. It was the wee hours of the early morning. So what if this one driver was speeding? Wasn’t this exactly the kind of thing that the Chief’s memo had been talking about? Sure, they could go pull the guy over. But what if he ran? What if he was black? What if he… well, anything. The ‘what if’s filled Bill’s mind and he decided not to pull the car over. Pete didn’t like it, but Bill was driving and Bill was senior partner.
Pete put the RADAR unit back into its case at the back end of the center console. Bill slowly pulled out onto Coastal Highway after the speeding car had gone past. Both of them had seen the car’s break lights flash, but only momentarily as the driver apparently decided he wasn’t going to slow down; he was going to continue to do more than double the posted speed limit and, essentially, dared the cops to do anything about it. Pete shook his head at the thought. That attitude seemed to be running rampant in America at the moment and he didn’t think it boded well for the country’s future.
As Bill pulled onto the highway, going south – opposite the direction the speeding car had been – they heard a loud crash behind them. Pete cringed, fairly sure that he knew what the noise had been caused by. Bill didn’t seem to react at all beyond pulling a U-turn in the cruiser and heading north to see if they could locate the source. Around the next bend, less than half a mile from the Beachfront Shopping Center, the driver of the speeding car had apparently lost control. The vehicle was off the road and had, based on the skid marks, slid across a grassy patch before entering a parking lot and hitting two parked cars. This parking lot served one of the local hotels and was packed full of cars.
Pulled the cruiser up to the curb, Bill activated the emergency lights while Pete called the accident into dispatch. Pete also asked for an ambulance to be started, just in case. That done, he and Bill grabbed their flashlights and walked up to the accident scene, looking to make sure the driver was okay and then to examine the struck cars for damage. Neither of them expected to see the body that had been trapped between the once speeding car and the two parked cars.
The driver of the speeding car was dazed. He had been punched in the face by his airbag and smelled like he’d probably been drunk before he got in his car anyway. Pete felt like he should do something to help the person… the pedestrian who had been struck, but it was pretty obvious that there wasn’t anything anyone could do. Whoever that individual was, he (?) had been hit by the speeding car when it left the road and crushed in between it and the other two vehicles. Pete couldn’t even figure out how the cars had ended up the way they were, but the body looked like it had been crushed on one and smeared onto the other. The entire side of one of the cars was bathed in red and bits of flesh could be seen ground into the dents and seems of both cars. It was a grizzly site and Pete had to bite back the bile rising in his throat.
Bill handled the radio, asking for an accident reconstruction unit and another ambulance. When the first ambulance responded to the scene, they immediately went to the surviving driver. One look at the body in between the vehicles and they shook their heads. No one saw a need to even check for a pulse.
Pete was stringing barricade tape up around the accident scene, trying to protect whatever evidence he could, when Eddie showed up. Getting out of his car, Eddie walked over to Pete and said, “Hey, Pete; what’s the deal here?” The look on Pete’s face said it all. He couldn’t even conjure the words to speak. Eddie took a quick look around and realized what had happened – at least basically.
Walking over to Bill, Eddie asked, “How’d you guys find this? Just roll up on it?”
Bill looked sick… as he should. “No, Sarge…” His voice was weak. “We saw this vehicle speeding just a few seconds before he wrecked.” His voice cracked and he had to take a few breaths before he could finish. “He was doing over seventy but he was the only car on the highway and, with the Chief’s memo and all, I decided not to even try to stop him.”
The impact and implications of Bill’s words struck Eddie almost as hard as they were Bill. This accident was potentially preventable. One person dead and another injured might have both been saved from harm if Bill hadn’t hesitated to do the job. But, thanks to a politically motivated memo from the Chief’s office, Bill HAD hesitated and two citizens had paid the price. That reality left a sour taste in Bill’s mouth and started a headache forming for Eddie. How in the hell was he going to write this one up? And he, for sure and certain, wasn’t going to leave it on Bill’s shoulders to do. As far as Eddie was concerned, yes, Bill was responsible because he chose not to pursue or stop the speeder, but he did that in consideration of the Chief’s memo.
Just then, one of the local news channel vans pulled up near the scene. Since it was the middle of the night, it was slow and the van’s crew had been listening to their scanner, just hoping for ANYTHING that would break up their boredom. “If it bleeds, it leads,” seemed to be the credo of every ‘news’ organization and this grizzly scene could certainly give them plenty to report on. Eddie didn’t think it needed to be on television though, so he went over to intercept them. It was going to be a long morning…
Editor’s Notes & Officer Survival Concerns
Officer Survival & other comments on Episode 12
Recent events have everyone in the country seemingly on edge. Stay alert. Stay alive. Don’t lose sight of why we do the job. Thank you to Elbeco Uniforms for sponsoring this story segment.
Officer Survival & other comments on Episode 11
Even out of shape people can present a threat. Never assume no fight or an easy fight when you got to arrest someone. ALWAYS be ready for a hard fight and you’ll have less trouble when things go south.
Officer Survival & other comments on Episode 5:10:
How often do you think we law enforcement professionals encounter criminals and we’re completely unaware that they are criminals? I’d be willing to bet it’s a lot. On those occasions, our “spidey sense”… that tingling sensation that makes the hair on the back of our neck stand up – it speaks to us and alerts us to the fact that something is wrong. That intuition can be invaluable and should never be ignored. If it happens to you, act appropriately within the law and your agency policy. Stay safe. Once again, we’d like to thank Elbeco Uniforms for sponsoring this episode!
Officer Survival & other comments on Episode 5:9:
Holidays definitely represent unique challenges for us in law enforcement. There are the usual drunk drivers and crowded highways, but there are also problems unique to each jurisdiction and even to each shift. Know yours. Learn from the experienced officers. TALK with your patrol partners and squad-mates about how various calls should be handled. Plan as much as you can… before the unexpected happens. Once again, we’d like to thank Elbeco Uniforms for sponsoring this episode!
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
