Bad Boys Bad Boys, Whatcha Gonna To Do......

I haven't written about work since I got hired. It's been over a year now and I love the job and the department I work for. I've come to find out that everyday has the potential to be the "busiest day." Take for instance the last 3 Sundays I worked. Each have yielded really good arrest. Two weeks ago there was an armed robbery by 3 black males outside of one of our residence halls. The call came out that there was a gun used and the 3 males were on bikes. At the time I was writing a report at the department, but was told over the radio to get a squad and circulate the area. After an initial pass of the surrounding area I began to head west trying to predict their course of travel and the given time since the incident actually occurred. We got lucky as some Student Patrollers (paid students who are extra eyes for the department) spotted the three about as far west as you can go on campus. I was the first on scene and met up with the Student Patrollers in a U of I minivan. They stated they had lost the three, but they knew they were in the area. We parted ways and as I did a U-turn they radioed out that they spotted them just around the corner. As I came whipping around I saw the minivan heading north and then I caught sight of a bicyclist traveling east a block a head of me, at full speed. I gunned my Dodge Charger and gave chase. As I speedily approached the fleeing felon, he dumped the bike and began sprinting south between the apartment complexes. He had a good lead on me and as I took the chase to the ground I only had a direction of travel to go on. One block south I spotted a student on the corner who pointed south and still between the apartments. Another block south I ran through the street and into an alley way. I slowed and drew my gun since I had no idea if this was the one with his own gun. I turned around and was alerted by another student who said he just saw a black guy jump into some bushes at the corner of one of the apartments. We ran to the corner of the street and he pointed in the general direction. I cautiously came up to a series of tall bushes that lined an apartment complex that spanned a block. I was at the southeast corner with a flash light and my gun aimed in at the bushes. I have a light on the gun as well so the area was lit up, but I could not see anyone hiding. I yelled some verbal commands to come out, hoping the felon wouldn't call my bluff. Two squads rolled up and I pointed for the first to talk to our witnesses. As I frantically searched the officer returned and over the radio told me the guy was right where I was looking. Actually, he was 50 feet north, at the next corner, where he was pulled out at gun point. The other two were chased down by both U of I officers and Champaign City Officers. All three were identified by the victim. The stolen articles and gun were recovered along the flight path of one of the felons. The gun was actually a pistol BB gun. The one that used the gun admitted to 3 other armed robberies and implicated the other two individuals. The boys were 18, 17, and 16.

This last Sunday I pulled a hat-trick. For those that aren't familiar with this term, Wikipedia defines it as such: A hat-trick in sports is associated with succeeding at anything three times in three consecutive attempts. Well I achieved this in arrest in one shift. The first came just after I pulled out of the motor pool and drove 2 blocks south of the department. I passed a newer Buick Lesabre with chrome 20 inch rims and both occupants not wearing seat belts. It was too tight of a street to do U-turn and the next block was a one way street, so I looped around back towards our department and was lucky enough to catch up with them where there was no traffic. The vehicle was stopped and the driver was subsequently arrested for driving on a suspended license. There was a small amount of cannabis in the rear passenger ash tray, but not enough to really care about. We'll leave that for the next stop so a dog can run around the car and hit on it. The next arrest came when I had a ride-a-long and was radaring a mile stretch south of campus. It was just after dark and I got an 87 Chevy caprice doing 60 in the posted 45 mph zone. The car was copper with a blue top and sat on 24 inch chrome wheels. When I approached the driver he gave up that he knew he was in trouble. He was a gang member who had been arrested some 40 times. He was 29 and had never had a drivers license. He had 3 warrants and the one we booked him on was failure to appear in court on a aggravated battery to a police officer charge. The final arrest came just before the shift ended. I observed a vagrant/homeless man yelling at a student and then attempt to haggle some money off of some girls. I have a strong dislike for these panhandlers and after one raped an intoxicated MALE student the other week, my goal is to stick to these low lifes like glue until they leave the area. The guy ended up giving us a false name that wouldn't come back when looked up. We put him cuffs and explained he wasn't going anywhere until we found out his true identity. He consented to a search and a new baseball hat with a security tag still attached was found amongst his many layers of clothing. He stated it wasn't his. These guys have no real business on campus other than to beg, steal, and be intoxicated. I took him to the jail on a felony obstructing justice charge since he was lying about who he was. We still didn't know who he was but hoped the deputies at the jail might recognize him. They did, and they were able to provide a mug shut with several alias this guy used. Still no real reason for lying about who he was so as I left the jail I ran his alias through my computer in my car and boom...a warrant was found. I confirmed it and then went back inside where this guy was still being processed and delivered the bad news. No bond, full extradition. I got a kudos memo in my record book for that one.