An Old Cop Stands Down

On this, my second day of retirement from the police department, I woke up at 3:30 AM in preparation for a day shift I no longer have to work. I guess it will take some time to adjust my sleep patterns.

Yesterday, Debbie and I met with the Chief and his command staff. I was given my retired identification card, my retired badge, my Glock handgun, and a nice display case with all my badges, ranks, awards, etc.

This morning, I went to the monthly breakfast of retired police officers from our agency. To be honest, it still doesn’t feel like I’m retired – only like I’m on vacation. After breakfast, I drove to the PD where I turned in all my uniforms, equipment, weapons, and other gear.

There are things I will miss about being a cop, but there are surely things I won’t miss. Here are a few of each:

* * *

Some of the things I’ll miss

Having coffee with my fellow squad members in the morning – including the jokes, the gripes, and the general good feeling of being with people I trust to watch my back;

The memorable arrests over many years of robbers, thieves, burglars, and other human predators in society who prey upon innocent people;

The opportunity to make little differences from day to day as you help people face and resolve some of their problems;

A few of those things I won’t miss

Department politics;

Twelve-hour shifts;

Dealing with petty thieves, punks, drug addicts, drunks, wise asses, professional transients (who love being transients), domestic violence calls, dead body calls, and a host of filthy, dirty, slimy situations involving people who just don’t get it.

* * *

Now I have to take a deep breath and discover what it’s like when you don’t have to punch a clock every day. After all, for the last 43 years it’s been either college, the Army, or work. Yes, I know I’m lucky to even have the chance to retire.

For me, it’s on to the next adventure – whatever that may turn out to be. I’ll also work on promoting the book, try to finish another one, and enjoy some carefree time with Debbie.

Stick around; this old man ain’t done yet……

Charles M. Grist
www.MyLastWar.com

American Ranger - The New Road Ahead

Well, the final countdown is on. I will retire from the police department at the end of this month, which means only twelve more workdays because of our 12-hour shifts.

I know I haven’t had many postings on “American Ranger” recently. For that, I apologize. However, I have been re-evaluating how I will handle the blog after I retire. I started it in 2006 in preparation for my last two years on active duty. At that time, I anticipated I would deploy again to Iraq or even to Afghanistan.

Unfortunately, my unit would never release me to deploy, and I spent those last two years training and mobilizing the soldiers who did go to war. Yes, training is an important job, but there is still nothing like being “at the front” with your fellow warriors, doing the job you were trained to do.

Now I will be a retired cop as well as a retired soldier. But I’m still a “full-time” American, so there is always much to be done – even as a civilian. The only thing really happening is that one door is closing even as another opens. This old warrior cop will never really retire.

For now, I plan to spend more time promoting my book, a lot of time writing the next one, and a little time reflecting on where I am in life. I also plan to spend more time with my wife, Debbie, and together we will walk this unknown, exciting path into our future.

Trust me, “American Ranger” will continue. I will continue to support America’s warriors (whether soldiers or cops), and I will work to spread the word of what America is all about. Like most of you, I am concerned about the direction upon which the current administration has embarked. Real Americans will ultimately fix the problem, and that fix must begin with the Congressional elections in the fall.

Thanks to all of you who have read and supported “American Ranger.” Join me in the next phase of my life. Call it “American Ranger Unleashed”, if you will.

The adventure of life goes on.

Charles M. Grist
www.MyLastWar.com

An Old Cop Gets Ready to Retire

I reached a milestone today when I took my last wellness/physical testing as a police officer. For most of several decades, I have had to take PT tests every April and October for both the military and the police department. After this, I will still exercise, but there won't be a "grader" standing nearby.

The paperwork is in, the decision has been made, and I will finally retire as a police officer on May 31, 2010 at the age of 61. Like the old cop in the cartoon on the left, I must admit that I am watching the calendar day by day. I am still on "A" Squad, working uniform patrol on those wonderful 12 hour shifts.

I keep thinking what it will be like to wake up on June 1 and, for the first time in 42 years, I won't be working at a job, getting ready to start a job, going to college, or serving in the military.

It will be a strange feeling, but liberating in a lot of ways. I plan to work more on promoting my current book, I have an outline for another one, and I want to share more of my days and nights with my best friend on earth, my wife Debbie. Lord knows she has put up with me for all these 36 plus years, but she has always been there, and she knows how desperately I love her still.

Retirement means different things to those who begin this new phase in their lives.

For guys like me, it simply means that the next adventure awaits.

* * * *

I thought a lot this past Easter weekend about all the things I've experienced as a cop. One unique memory also happened on an Easter morning a long time ago.

Another officer and I responded to an apartment complex where a man was waiting with two young boys about 6 and 9 years of age. The boys were the man's nephews, and they had spent the night with him after a basketball game. When the man brought them home, the boys' mother didn't answer the door, even though her car was parked out front.

The man and the boys waited at a nearby apartment while the other officer and I obtained a key from management and entered the apartment. The place was spotless, and we moved from room to room calling the woman's name. As we entered the hallway to the bedrooms, we finally saw her.

Through the door to the master bedroom, I saw her legs folded as they must have been when she was sitting on the edge of her bed. When I reached the door, I could see that she was lying on the bed on her back, with a pool of blood under her head. Her right hand hung off the side of the bed; just below her lifeless hand was a silver revolver lying on the carpet. I seem to remember a woman of about 30, dark hair, pretty dress, with a horrible expression on her face. I checked her pulse, but she was obviously dead and had been for several hours.

On the dresser in front of her was an ashtray with a cigarette that had burned down to the filter. A glass next to the ash tray held the remains of an unfinished mixed drink with the ice melted. A stereo was behind the glass and the ashtray. It was still on, but the cassette tape had played to the end.

As any cop will tell you, although it appeared she had committed suicide, such deaths are homicides until all the facts say otherwise. (We would eventually learn that she was distressed over the breakup of her marriage.) Leaving the scene undisturbed, we walked to the other end of the hall to her sons' bedroom. At the foot of each bed was a large Easter basket filled with candy and other treats. These were her final gifts to her sons.

After the detectives and the crime scene technicians took over, I left the apartment and drove to a fast food restaurant for lunch. Couldn't help it; after hours at the apartment, I was starving.

I took my place in line behind a man in a suit, a woman in her Easter finery, and their small daughter who was wearing her own brand new Easter dress. I was only five minutes from the body of the dead woman, so I was a little surprised when the mother of the little girl asked me, "Hello, officer; and how is your Easter going today?"

I smiled at this beautiful family and said, "Fine, m'aam, just fine."

I guess this is what it's like to be a cop. One minute you must endure one of life's worst moments; minutes later you have the opportunity to witness one of the wonderful things that life has to offer.

After all, it is the job of a cop to try and shield the innocent from the horrors and the evils of this world.

I have been honored to be part of such a profession.

Charles M. Grist
www.MyLastWar.com

A Fellow Cop Retires

He's a private guy, so I'll just call him Gary. By the time I joined our police department, he had been there for ten years. He retires this week after thirty years on the job. Before he made the decision to become a law enforcement officer, he courageously served his country as a door gunner in Vietnam, one of the most dangerous jobs in the Army.

When you think of a cop, this is the guy. He's worked patrol, risked his life on a motorcycle as a traffic cop, hunted down burglars and car thieves as a street crimes officer, and solved murders, robberies and scores of other crimes as a detective. Only recently, Gary and a couple of our other officers apprehended a bank robber only a block from the bank, recovering the money, the gun, and making sure not one single innocent person was hurt.

Except for his first few years, he's been a cop at the same police department for his entire career. As he has watched the older officers retire, Gary has mentored the younger cops who followed them. He is respected by his peers, by the citizens he has served, and even by the bad guys he's put in jail.

We will all miss him. I will miss our breakfasts at McDonalds, we will all miss his sense of humor, and the department will never be the same after his departure. We've talked about the fact that one door may be closing, but another will open. There is no doubt he will continue to serve his family and his community in some important way.

Gary reminds me that my own retirement is not far behind. As it was for me in the Army, so shall it be for us old guys at the police department. It is time to turn it all over to the young lions - the new, energetic cops who have followed us into a challenging profession. I'm not ready to go yet, but it won't be that much longer for me either.

Over the years, I have taught soldiers one important thing. Throughout history, there has always been one segment of society who was willing to protect everyone else; one group of men and women willing to stand between the innocents of the world and those who would hurt them. This part of society is the Warrior Class; the soldiers carry the weapons they must use against foreign enemies - the cops carry the guns that must sometimes be used against those who would hurt us here.

Gary has spent his life as a member of the Warrior Class. We should all be thankful for his service. I am grateful for his friendship and for his personal example of what a cop should be.

Godspeed, my friend...

Charles M. Grist
www.MyLastWar.com

American Ranger ALERT: We Must Hunt Down This Cop-Killer

All Americans, especially those in Washington state, need to keep a lookout for MAURICE CLEMMONS, the alleged murderer of four cops in a cowardly ambush killing. The following article is from Fox News:

* * * *

Police Seek Ex-Con in Ambush on Wash. Officers
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Fox News

A man with an extensive criminal past — including a lengthy prison sentence commuted by former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee nearly a decade ago — was being sought Sunday in a deadly ambush on four police officers who were gunned down inside a coffee shop.

Pierce County sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer told reporters that Maurice Clemmons, 37, was believed to have been in the area around the time of the shooting, but declined to say what evidence might link him to the shooting.

Clemmons has an extensive violent criminal history from Arkansas, including aggravated robbery and theft, the sheriff's office said. He also recently was arrested and charged in Washington state for assaulting a police officer, and second-degree rape of a child. Using a bail bondsman, he posted $150,000 and was released from jail last week.

Still unclear was why a man entered the coffee shop and gunned down Sgt. Mark Renninger, 39; and Officers Ronald Owens, 37; Tina Griswold, 40; and Greg Richards 42.

We have no motive at all," Troyer said. "I don't think when we find out what it is, it will be anything that makes any sense or be worth it."

The four officers were with the 100-member police department of Lakewood, which adjoins the unincorporated area of Parkland, where the shootings took place.

Richards' sister-in-law, Melanie Burwell, called the shooting "senseless."

"He didn't have a mean bone in his body," she said. "If there were more people in the world like Greg, things like this wouldn't happen.

An impromptu memorial of an American flag, flowers and candles decorated the front yard at Renninger's home. His family declined to speak with reporters.

On Sunday night, a motorcade of dozens of police cars and motorcycles with lights flashing escorted the bodies of the four officers to the medical examiner's office.

Troyer said investigators believe two of the officers were killed while sitting in the shop, and a third was shot dead after standing up. The fourth apparently "gave up a good fight."

"We believe there was a struggle, a commotion, a fight ... that he fought the guy all the way out the door," Troyer said. "We hope that he hit him." Investigators were asking area medical providers to report any gunshot wounds.

In 1989, Clemmons, then 17, was convicted in Little Rock for aggravated robbery. He was paroled in 2000 after Huckabee commuted Clemmons' 95-year prison sentence. Huckabee, who was criticized during his run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008 for granting many clemencies and commutations, cited Clemmons' youth. Clemmons later violated his parole, was returned to prison and released in 2004.

Troyer said the gunman entered the coffee house and walked toward the counter as if to place an order. A barista saw a gun when the man opened his jacket and fled out the back door. The man then turned and opened fire on the officers as they sat working on their laptops

Troyer said the attack was clearly targeted at the officers, not a robbery gone bad.

"This was more of an execution. Walk in with the specific mindset to shoot police officers," he said. "There were marked patrol cars outside and they were all in uniform."

Troyer said the officers were catching up on paperwork at the beginning of their shifts when they were attacked at 8:15 a.m.

Two employees and a few other customers were in the shop during the attack. None were injured. All were interviewed by the Pierce County sheriff's investigators.

There was no indication of any connection with the Halloween night shooting of a Seattle police officer.

Authorities say the man charged with that shooting also firebombed four police vehicles in October as part of a "one-man war" against law enforcement. Christopher Monfort, 41, was arrested after being wounded in a firefight with police days after the Seattle shooting. He remains hospitalized in stable condition, the hospital said Sunday.

The officers killed Sunday were a patrol squad made up of three officers and their sergeant. No threats had been made against them or other officers in the region, sheriff's officials said.

"We won't know if it's a copycat effect or what it was until we get the case solved," Troyer said.

The coffee shop, part of a popular local chain, is on a side street near McChord Air Force Base in Tacoma, about 35 miles south of Seattle. The shop is in a small retail center alongside two restaurants, a cigar store and a nail salon.

Investigators were checking surveillance video from multiple sources, trying to identify a possible getaway car, Troyer said.

"We lost people we care about. We're working to find out who did this and deal with him." Pierce County Sheriff Paul Pastor told reporters at the scene.

* * * *

This guy needs to be brought to justice ASAP....

Charles M. Grist
www.MyLastWar.com

A Cop's World: Sometimes It Ain't Easy

The old woman died while her husband spent the night in the hospital. She was 83; he was 87. They had been married for over sixty years.

Shortly after the paramedics pronounced her dead, the old man arrived home. Along with another officer, I met him at his car and informed him of his wife's passing. He was stoic but obviously shaken.

I stood by with a social worker while the funeral home prepared to remove the old woman's body. Then the old man asked if he could see his wife one more time.

We walked him up the stairs to his apartment. Just climbing those stairs was tough for the old man because time has taken its toll. Walking is difficult, even with a cane. With halting steps, he entered the bedroom where his wife had been found; we waited by the door.

The old man walked up to the woman with whom he had shared over sixty years. He touched her face, her neck, and her hand. We had learned that there were no other family members and, at their age, the elderly couple had outlived all of their friends. The old man was now completely alone.

After a couple of minutes, he slowly turned and started to walk out of the bedroom. Then he stopped and turned to look at his wife again. With halting steps aided only by the cane, he walked up to her for the last time. He touched her face, looking at her as if he were waiting for her to open her eyes and smile. To tell you the truth, I was starting to have a tough time myself because the emotion of the moment was affecting all of us. Yeah, cops have feelings too.

The old man came out of the room and sat in a living room chair. Looking up at the social worker, he said, "What do I do now?" I looked around the small apartment and, even though I had never met the couple, the place now had an eerie emptiness about it. There was an unfinished sandwich on the kitchen counter. Next to the television was a stack of old movies from the 1940s. I looked at the small loveseat and pictured them sitting together, holding hands, and sharing memories while they watched some old Fred Astaire movie.

There was a time when they were young, when they danced to the music from some big band, when they looked into each other's eyes and shared their hopes and dreams. They had lived that future, but one of them was destined to be the first to die. The old man must now walk alone into a hazy, solitary future.

The rest of us will gather with our families on Thanksgiving. We will laugh, share food and memories, and savor the joy that fills our homes on holidays. The old man will sit alone, grieving for his lost love, and pondering the uncertain days ahead.

When we say our prayers before our Thanksgiving feast, give thanks, but also remember those whose own holiday will be a lonely one.

Remember the old man...

Charles M. Grist
www.MyLastWar.com

Night Shift is a Health Risk for Cops

The following article appeared in today's Orlando Sentinel. Anyone who has had to work overnight shifts will relate to this:

* * * *

Health risk for cops: Night beat

By Jeannine Stein, Tribune Newspapers

Midnight shift workers often find it hard to get enough quality sleep on a consistent basis. Police officers are not exempt, often working late shifts and overtime as part of their jobs.

A new study suggests that their schedule may cause cops to develop metabolic syndrome, a cluster of symptoms including high blood pressure, insulin resistance and high triglycerides that advance development of such conditions as stroke, cardiovascular disease and Type 2 diabetes.

The research, published in the current issue of Archives of Environmental & Occupational Health, focused on 98 police officers who were part of the Buffalo Cardio-Metabolic Occupational Police Stress study, which began in 2003. The participants had their blood pressure checked, took a blood test and had their waist circumference measured. They also filled out a questionnaire focusing on lifestyle choices such as sleep habits, physical activity, smoking and alcohol use.

Researchers discovered that in general, those on afternoon and midnight shifts were younger than those working during the day, and predominantly male. Overall, 30 percent of the police officers on the night shift had metabolic syndrome. In the general population, that number was 21 percent, taken from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The younger officers on the night shift (average age 36.5 years) also had higher rates of metabolic syndrome than their age group in the general population.

* * * *

For those of us who have worked these shifts, such information really comes as no surprise.

Charles M. Grist
www.MyLastWar.com

American Ranger the Cop: An Old Case Springs to Life

The one thing about being a cop is that you never know when some old case is going to raise its head once again.

Several years ago, my squad located an armed robber in a house near the crime scene. I managed to get a post-Miranda confession to the robbery from the suspect, he was identified by the victim, he was convicted, and he was sent to prison.

While one of our detectives was interviewing him at the police department, I checked on an arrest warrant for the guy from another state. I called the detective who handled the case, got the details of the major crime, and managed to get the robber to confess to the crime in the other state.

Now the trial in that state is finally happening, so I have to testify about the confession.

That's okay; glad to do it. Anything to keep a bad guy off the street.

Charles M. Grist
www.MyLastWar.com

Soldiers and Cops: It’s All About Teamwork

The guy entered the bank dressed like someone on vacation. He was casual with a comfortable hat, sunglasses, and an expensive briefcase.

Then he pulled the gun, a sissy little 25 automatic.

The tellers gave him what he wanted, several thousand dollars in cold, hard cash. He ran for the door, and the bank employees called 911. They gave a very accurate description of the robber.

The police lieutenant works in an office now, but he was a great street cop. As the call went out, he drove his unmarked car into the parking lot of the bank, just as the bad guy was driving out. Since the driver-in-a-hurry matched the description exactly, the lieutenant called it out over the radio to the responding patrol vehicles.

The robber headed west, even as the lieutenant followed him. Of course, the bad guy didn’t know a cop was right behind him, so he tried to blend in with traffic. As suddenly as he committed his crime, there were multiple marked police units behind him – patrol cars, motorcycle cops – and they all turned on their emergency lights at the same time.

The bad guy with the weenie pistol was overwhelmed with fear, so he stopped his car right in the middle of traffic. In a textbook felony stop, he was handcuffed and taken into custody. No one was hurt, the money and the gun were recovered, and the incident came to a close.

This was how I spent part of my shift today with my squad, a great bunch of professional police officers. I am very proud to be part of this team.

Whether soldiers or cops, the teamwork of well-trained warriors is a thing of beauty to behold…

Charles M. Grist
www.TheCobraTeam.com
www.AmericanRanger.blogspot.com

The Ranger Cop Catches Up A Bit

The world of police patrol hasn’t changed much. A variety of calls – good guys and bad guys – including shoplifters, domestic violence victims and suspects, suspicious people, illegal aliens, transients, victims of identity theft, burglars, wanted felons, and a multitude of others.

From the C.O.B.R.A. Team: Cobra 3 (Higginbotham) is back in the States, Cobra 2 (Aaron Self) met Cobra 5 (Kristi Self) for a vacation before heading back to their respective assignments, Cobra 4 (Doc Actis) was in California (the last time I heard from him) doing the acting thing as “John Ceallach”.

I’m not real happy that our new president is being so buddy-buddy with dictators and other slimy international thugs.

How the heck did Obama think he could even propose that wounded warriors pay for their medical care with their own health insurance? Thankfully, even his left-wing supporters in Congress didn’t buy off on this stupid idea. Tells you where he’s coming from though, doesn’t it?

It’s just plain wrong that the government won’t let some of the large financial institutions pay back their government “loans”.

Florida still remains near the top of the list in lost home values and foreclosures. I can’t sell my rental house now because it has dropped in value so much. Guess I may as well hang on to it.

The unemployment problems have hit close to home for just about everyone. Members of my own family have lost their jobs or have had their hours drastically cut. It is painful to see those you love having such problems when the whole thing wasn’t their fault in the first place.

I’m angry that the Democrats are spending the future income of our children and grandchildren with no concern for the inflation that is sure to cripple us down the road. A big “high five” to those who put together and attended the Tea Parties around the country.

Our “politically correct” new administration in Washington doesn’t have the guts to protect our borders. More illegal aliens enter our country every day to take jobs from Americans and pay no taxes. But they use our health care and education systems for free.

Caught a Mexican guy who was about to illegally dump a load of landscaping waste. His only identification was his Mexican driver’s license. He was driving, so he went to jail for not having a Florida driver’s license. I had to call a Spanish-speaking officer to translate for me – “You’re under arrest, amigo…”

Debbie and I haven’t decided whether we will move out of Florida or not when I eventually retire from the police department. We’ve looked at Tennessee, Idaho, and Utah, but we’re still not sure. I guess it will depend on the economy.

The final editing of my book is complete. I had the help of a really professional editor from my publisher. Next week it will move to the production phase, so hopefully it will finally be available in six to nine weeks. My author’s website is also almost ready, and I will also have a “book trailer” on the site. I’ll keep you posted.

I read a quote from a famous writer. He said that, with all the revisions, corrections, etc., that he probably re-wrote his book seven times. I kind of feel like that myself, but I am proud of the final manuscript.

I’ll try to do better in making entries to the American Ranger blog. Thanks for checking in…

Charles M. Grist
www.TheCobraTeam.com
www.AmericanRanger.blogspot.com
Email: TheRangerCop@aol.com

Police Tragedy in Oakland, California

There is no such thing as a “routine” traffic stop. This horrible tragedy proves once again that cops are at risk every moment of their work day.

The victims were Sgt. Mark Dunakin, 40, Officer John Hege,41, Sgt. Daniel Sakai, 35, and Sgt. Ervin Romans, 43.

This story is from the Associated Press:

* * * *

Gunman Kills Police Officers in Oakland

Some Bystanders Taunt Police After Slayings

By TERRY COLLINS and LISA LEFF, Associated Press

OAKLAND, Calif. (March 22) - A police officer shot during a traffic stop has been pronounced brain dead but remained on life support, police said Sunday, retracting an earlier statement that he had died.

Oakland police spokesman Jeff Thomason announced the death of 41-year-old Officer John Hege earlier Sunday but later said that Hege was being kept alive while a final decision was made about donating his organs.

Police said a 26-year-old parolee wanted on a parole violation opened fire on Hege and Sgt. Mark Dunakin, 40, during a traffic stop Saturday afternoon, killing Dunakin, police said.

Lovelle Mixon, the suspect, was slain later Saturday in a gunfight with police that left two more officers dead. Thomason identified those officers as 43-year-old Sgt. Ervin Romans and 35-year-old Sgt. Daniel Sakai.

Oakland police said never in the department's history had so many officers been killed in the line of duty in a single day.

People lingered at the scene of the first shooting. About 20 bystanders taunted police.

The violence began when Hege and Dunakin, both on motorcycles, stopped a 1995 Buick sedan in east Oakland, Thomason said. The driver opened fire, killing Dunakin and gravely wounding Hege.

The gunman then fled on foot, police said, leading to an intense manhunt by dozens of Oakland police, California Highway Patrol officers and Alameda County sheriff deputies. Streets were roped off and an entire area of east Oakland closed to traffic.

Around 3:30 p.m. officers got an anonymous tip that the gunman was inside a nearby apartment building. A SWAT team entered the building when the gunman opened fire, police said. Romans and Sakai were killed and a third officer was grazed by a bullet, police said.

Officers returned fire, killing Mixon, Acting Oakland police Chief Howard Jordan said.

"It's in these moments that words are extraordinarily inadequate," said Mayor Ron Dellums at a somber news conference announcing the slayings.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger ordered flags at the state capitol flown at half-staff Sunday in honor of the slain officers. He arrived in Oakland on Sunday afternoon to meet with Dellums and members of the police department.

"All four officers dedicated their lives to public safety and selflessly worked to protect the people of Oakland," he said in a statement. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of those lost, the Oakland Police Department and law enforcement officers throughout California during this difficult time."

Police said Mixon used two different weapons: a gun at the first scene and an assault rifle at the apartment building where he was hiding.

"(Mixon) was on parole, and he had a warrant out for his arrest for violating that parole. And he was on parole for assault with a deadly weapon," said Oakland police Deputy Chief Jeffery Israel.

Police said they did not know why the officers initially stopped the suspect, but said it apparently was a routine traffic stop. Thomason said Mixon had an extensive criminal history and was wanted on a no-bail warrant.

Reached by telephone late Saturday, Dr. John S. Hege said his son loved being a policeman and recently became a motorcycle traffic patrol officer. "He liked excitement," he said.

Hege said the slain shooting suspect "was evidently terribly desperate. It is a sad story."

LaTasha Mixon, 28, of Sacramento said Sunday that her cousin was "not a monster." She said her family's prayers were with the slain officers' relatives. "We're devastated. Everybody took a major loss. We're crushed," she said.

* * * *

Our thoughts and prayers go out to these men, their families and their fellow law enforcement officers.

Charles M. Grist
www.American Ranger.blogspot.com
www.TheCobraTeam.com

Just Another Cop On The Street - And Loving It

My first two weeks back at the police department were about what I expected. Working with professional cops, getting the feel of the city, and dealing with a wide variety of people. Most of the citizens I come into contact with are terrific; there are still the other kind - those from the "underbelly" of society.

The first day ended with over two hours of overtime because of a late arrest. That was really a positive thing because it got me writing reports, taking statements, processing evidence, and getting back in the general patrol routine. The arrest was just an average shoplifting arrest, but when a local deputy caught the guys based on a witness description, I got a chance to use my “interrogation” techniques once again. There are only three things that can solve a crime: physical evidence, witnesses, or a confession. In this case, we had the physical evidence and the witnesses, so a confession would be icing on the cake.

Some cops will leave it alone once they have sufficient probable cause to make the arrest. I happen to enjoy the icing on the cake, so I always try to get a post-Miranda confession. If I am successful, it simply polishes off a good case. I guess that philosophy is left over from my detective years.

In this particular crime, the arrestee was a man who was recently released from prison after a six year sentence. With a wife and kids to support, he didn’t go out and get a job as one might expect. He and a buddy decided to go into business stealing armloads of women’s purses from retail displays. I guess prison time just doesn’t teach common sense to everyone.

After I got the confession, I took him to the county jail, the first time I had been there in over two years. I turned my unrepentant criminal over to the booking officers and finished my report.

The rest of my first two weeks included multiple calls to various situations as either primary or backup officer. Suspicious persons, false business or residential alarms, a young man threatening to kill himself with a knife, a senior citizen who keeps letting her drug addicted adult son move back home, a sex abuse case, a variety of disturbances or domestic disagreements, and, of course, a handful of traffic tickets.

It ain’t Baghdad, but there’s one thing about police work that keeps a type A personality like me going.

You never know when the big one is going to happen.

* * * *

For those who are curious, the book is coming along fine at the publisher. In two to three weeks, it will move to the final production phase. This is where the cover will be designed, and the final layout will be completed. With luck, it should be available around June.

Charles M. Grist
www.TheCobraTeam.com
www.AmericanRanger.blogspot.com

Warrior Cops Train New Iraqi Police

The following article discusses the invaluable assistance that American police officers are providing to the new Iraqi police. I am also a cop and I will return to my police department in February. I am extraordinarily proud that my fellow law enforcement officers are willing to enter the world of war to make a difference, just as they are willing to put their lives on the line back here in the States.

I met many of these DynCorp Interternational instructors when I was in Baghdad in 2004 as the training of the Iraqi police was just getting underway. Several DynCorp police contractors have been killed or wounded during their own tours and our thoughts and prayers are with them, their families and their law enforcement communities.

Regardless of what some might say, police officers are warriors too and they put their lives on the line here and overseas. When people are threatened, these brave men and women use skills that range from effective and peaceful communication to the other extreme of deadly force. They stand between us and both foreign and domestic “bad guys” and that makes them members of America's elite warrior class.

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Los Angeles Times
October 4, 2008

U.S. Civilian Cops Offer Expertise To Iraq Police Force

By Doug Smith and Saif Rasheed, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers

RAMADI, IRAQ — Like most days in the field for Atlanta cop Brian Acree, this one was shaping up as a polite but determined competition between the Army way, the Iraqi way and the Georgia way.

Acree, a towering, slow-walking, shaved-headed police investigator, was crammed into an 8-by-10 office with three U.S. soldiers, three Iraqi policemen and an interpreter. As the air conditioner weakly rumbled in the background, U.S. Army Sgt. Chai Kim lectured his Iraqi counterpart on the proper role of a logistics officer.

"They keep the numbers on the vehicles. They don't fix them," Kim said through the interpreter. "How many trucks? Who took it out? How many miles? What purpose?" Iraqi police 1st Lt. Mushtaq Talib answered dourly.

"The motor pool, they have a guy for that," he said.

"That is going to change," Kim replied. "Being a logistics officer is about money management."

Acree stayed silent. But later, he let Mushtaq know that he thought Kim might have been a little inflexible.

"You know how to get your job done and I know you know," he had the interpreter tell the young Iraqi officer.

A key assignment

Acree, on leave from his post with the Georgia state police, is in the capital of Anbar province as a civilian consultant to the Ramadi Police Department. Eighteen months after the insurgent group Al Qaeda in Iraq was run out of town, his job is to help rebuild a key institution in the western province.

Acree is one of about 800 civilian police officers working under a military contract with DynCorp International. Unlike the thousands of civilian contractors who have come to Iraq to supplement the military, Acree and his colleagues don't provide security services. They're here to impart their experience in urban police work to a young and inadequately trained and equipped force.

The consultants, whose pay starts at $134,000 a year, are assigned to U.S. military police units and travel in convoys of Humvees. Acree and two other DynCorp contractors bunk with a company of Marines in an abandoned warehouse on Ramadi's eastern outskirts.

The cops weren't authorized by DynCorp to give interviews, but the military police unit allowed The Times to come along for two days to observe the training program. The unit has been teaching neophyte Iraqi policemen, known as shortas, basic skills such as arrest procedures, traffic control and field communications. DynCorp runs formal classes on specialized subjects such as detective technique at the main military base, Camp Ramadi.

Acree and his roommates also make the rounds of the city's police stations to work with more senior officers, trying to improve procurement practices, discipline and accountability.

Like many of his colleagues, Acree, 37, is older than the MPs he works with and sometimes has more tolerance for the tradition-bound style of the Iraqi police, even as he pushes them toward a Western model.

Long-range view

Acree, who arrived in Ramadi in March, has made a commitment to stay in Iraq a year and expects to sign up for a second year. Because U.S. military units often deploy for less than a year, Acree was working with the Ramadi police before the arrival of the 914th Military Police, the unit he stays with, and will remain after it's gone. That, combined with his languid Southern style, gives him a longer-range view of his mission.

At times, a deep tolerance for frustration is Acree's most useful skill.

One morning, he and the MP unit commander, Staff Sgt. Jeff Klein, were dumbfounded by the timing of a request from the commander of the Adala station on the southern edge of Ramadi. The previous week, a worker using an earthmover had discovered 11 bodies in a shallow grave. An Iraqi lieutenant colonel asked Klein to send a forensic team to the scene.

Incredulous, Acree said it was far too late.

"Next time he finds a crime scene, if he needs our help, he needs to call us immediately," Acree told the interpreter.

Later, Acree told the Iraqi officer he was alarmed when he saw two mopeds enter the station without being searched.

"Ask him who searches people at the police station," Acree said. "There needs to be one on the ground and one in the tower. The guy in the tower may know the guy in the moped. But how well does he know him? He needs to at least stop him and look in the moped."

Then, catching himself, Acree acknowledged the limitation of his authority.
"Tell him I'm not demanding, just asking," he said.

Gentle persuasion

Later in the day, Acree adopted a more understanding tone when he teamed with Kim to counsel Mushtaq, the young logistics officer he obviously respected and liked. After Kim grilled Mushtaq about his job duties, Acree moved on to what he considered a more serious problem: the station's armory. AK-47 assault rifles were stored in a room at the end of a hallwhere detainees were lined up each day to wait their turn in the bathroom.

Worse, the ammunition was stored in the same room, and the shorta assigned to guard it was unarmed.

"Why do you have shortas in charge of the armory when he doesn't have a gun?" Acree asked. "I think he needs to have a Glock on his side."

"You have to be an officer to have a sidearm," Mushtaq told Kim.

Kim then instructed Mushtaq to assign his pistol to the guard each day, a prospect that put a sour look on Mushtaq's face. Noticing that Mushtaq didn't even have a holster for his gun and stowed it in his desk drawer, Acree found a way to defuse the tension.

"Ask him if he has a holster for his gun," he told the interpreter. Mushtaq shook his head.

"Tell him tomorrow I'm going to give him a holster that's mine," he said. A brightened Mushtaq then led them to the other side of the station, where the departing Marine unit had lived. It was going to be the new armory, he said. Seeing a look on Mushtaq's face that seemed to crave approval, he told the interpreter: "Tell him if I didn't like him I wouldn't be here with him."

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I am proud to be a soldier as well as a police officer and it is an honor to serve as a member of America’s warrior class.

Charles M. Grist
www.AmericanRanger.blogspot.com

My Mission Continues - For a Little Longer

I am writing this from a less-than-great motel on the plains of Oklahoma. Shipped to the west along with a bunch of my comrades, we are again responsible for doing the pre-mobilization training for a large group of soldiers who will deploy to one of the war zones sometime during the next year.

As I have mentioned before, this is one of my last active duty assignments, but it is always just as important as it always was. Other than fighting the battles and serving on the ground in war, nothing is more important than getting these youngsters ready to face a war of IEDs, ambushes, urban warfare and convoys.

It will be tough to leave this behind after so many years. Just six months from today - December 3rd - will be the 40th anniversary from when I entered basic training as a 19-year-old young man.

That's O.K. It's been a helluva ride and the police part of my life will continue. Yeah, I'll probably be the oldest cop in my police department, but I guess someone has to be!!

SFC Chuck Grist
www.AmericanRanger.blogspot.com