Day Shift!

I was told that I had until the middle of summer before I went back to patrol.  I stopped by the PD to see a Lt. that I respect.  Chief walks in and tells Lt.  that I will be starting his shift on February 26.  I went from having six months to wrap up my investigations to six weeks!  When I talked to Chief four days before it was still June.  The man can't make up his mind, but I don't care.  At least I'm not going to midnights.

Three Down, a Million More to Go!

I got called out today on a lab.  I tried to ignore the call since I wasn't on-call, but apparently they can't function on a lab scene without me.  They sent a patrolman to beat on my door.  What a wonderful way for my wife to wake up on her birthday!  I have decided that it is impossible to ignore a cop knock at six am.  I went to the scene and boy am I glad I did.  My replacement told me that he could handle it but he needed some vials for samples so I took him some.  When I got there he wasn't wearing PPE and was going to sample the lab without it.  He determined it was safe because they hadn't added lithium to the lab yet.  Two things:

1.  Still not safe.

2.  They had added lithium.

It took me fifteen minutes to sample the lab.  I could have saved five minutes by not suiting up, but I believe five minutes of prep is worth not dying of cancer.  What are these guys going to do when I am gone?  I am the only one that insists on safety, and often get made fun of for it.  Safety will go by the wayside once I go back to patrol. On the bright side, maybe I will get to knock on their doors at six am on their wife's birthday soon! At any rate, three more tweakers bagged and tagged.  Go team!

Ugh...

In the infinite wisdom of the jackass I call chief, one must not work in a narcotics unit too long or you will forget how to write wreck reports and harass soccer moms.  The old bastard hasn't hit the streets in twenty years, yet he knows what's best?  There are a few of us in the task force from my department.  He is pulling all of us out.  I really don't understand his reasoning.  We all love what we are doing and are very good at it.  The task force administration has invested thousands of dollars training us and among us we have about thirty years experience, most of which is in narcotics work. Now we will be wasting our talent, training and experience directing school traffic and shaking doors.  Apparently the chief wants to give other guys a shot at the training and experience.  Yeah, right.  Chief, we have friends in your administration.  Guys with whom we have shed blood, sweat and tears.  Did you really think they wouldn't tell us the truth.  We know that you have a couple of "chief's boys" lined up to take our spot.  Hurry up and retire, asshole, or die.  I don't really care which.

New Year, Old Me

I've had a really great time during the holidays this year.  I've spent some good quality time with family and friends, and I have been able to work on some things too.  Now that the holidays are over, it's back to business.  Starting today I am going back to the guy I used to be.  I'm not really making a New Year's resolution.  Nobody ever sticks to those.  They are just public proclamations to make you feel better about yourself.  I am talking about wholesale lifestyle changes.  Here's the plan:

1.       Get back in shape. 

2.       Grow my business.

3.       Stop dressing like a bum.

4.       Worry about myself more.

5.       Hunt tweakers with a vengeance.

Sounds simple enough.  Time to get to work!