Citizens Police Academy- Scott on patrol

So the last couple of classes I am blending into one entry. We went to the CTECC which is the main communications center for all police, fire, ems, dot, fema, etc. for the greater austin/hill country area. They have one giant room which looks like the inside of the Denver airport, with all the 911 and dispatch call takers. HUGE screens with all the traffic cameras for the highways. Really interesting with a lot of action going on. We listened in on a few calls and toured the building.

But the greatest class so far was my ride along Friday from 4pm-2am. I met the officer at the South East Sub Station as he loaded up his car. Traffic cones, check. Bean Bag shooting shotgun, check. AR-15 assault rifle, check. Laptop, check. TASER, check. Loaded up, we hit the street. First call right out of the gate was two guys playing loud music and drinking in a park. Now this is East Austin, where parts are a little shady (nothing compared to Atlanta or other big cities). So we roll into this park and find two black males standing next to a G'd out Cady. As the officer directs the car in  a manner that the dash camera will record the entire deal, he says, "you might want to stay in the car until the back up officer gets here." OK?. Without the play by play, the stop went well, they poured out their beer and everyone went on their way. One thing I found funny throughout the night, is that no one carries i.d. on them. Every time he asked someone, " you got your i.d." the answer was no. come on people! who doesn't carry i.d. on them? So we spent a great deal of time driving around a loop of his sector, waiting for calls to come through. We were back up on about 5 other calls, but all in all it was a pretty quite night. He did show me all the hot spots in Austin for buying crack! I wasn't ever sure that was still a big deal, but apparently it is. Its a huge problem in this particular sector. The officer was a really nice guy, who had been on his own (no field training officer) for about a year and a half. Not your typical cop or perception of what a typical cop is. No mustache, didn't boast about roughing up people. Wasn't there to prove he was in charge, however if you push him- trust me he is in charge. He gave me a great glimpse into his personal background and why he became a cop and what it takes to do the job day in, day out. All in all, a great experience and I thank him for that.

Almost every police department will allow civilian riders and I highly recommend it. You will come away with a much different perception of what the police do and how its done. A++++++

Gussie's Birthday

Big Girrrrl is 10 years old and shares very well.

Citizens Police Academy

Last night was another week of CPA. We had a presentation from the Mounted Patrol and 6th Street Division. For those of you who ain't been to Austin, 6th Street is 10 blocks of bars, bars and more bars. Every Thursday-Saturday Nights and special occasions they shut down the street for foot traffic only and people spill out of the bars and walk the street and fight and throw up, and fall down, etc. Pretty fun I guess, if I hadn't already done that in the greatest city on earth, Athens, GA. We've never been down there for it but you can only image the jackasses that show up and all the crap the officers have to put up with. Lots of funny stories from this crew.

Cold Case unit was next. Now this is the one I've been waiting for. An officer that has been on the force for 32 years gave the presentation. It was very impressive and he talked about a few high profile cases, one of which I had seen on the Cold Case Files t.v. show. Unfortunately he ran out of time, but it could have listened to that presentation for hours. Three separate cases 10 years apart ended up being related and they caught the guy in Mexico.

Next week we're back at the academy for car simulator and someone will probably volunteer to be TASER'd, it won't be me. I've taken enough shocks of electricity while working remodeling jobs. THEN, it will be time of our ride-a-longs. Mine is Friday 11/21 from 4pm to 2am. I can't wait!! Maybe I'll get to sound the siren....

Bang, Bang.

Spent my first day out at the Austin Rifle Club on Super Tuesday. Its a semi-private gun club with 27 acres of land and 6 different ranges for all types of firearms. Ced, Alex, and I set up shop at the far right end of the range away from the hand full of people that were also there. One of the best things about ARC is that during the week and certainly in the morning there aren't a whole lot of people there. After a rough encounter with some yahoo in the sign up shack, AO was ready to throw some bows, we set up my target thrower and started some skeet practice. If you have never tried skeet/trap shooting it is a blast. Pun intended. After running through a box of targets, we did some pistols shooting from 3 and 7 yards. Ced's skills were impressive at both distances. Mine however ever not so good. The first 5 shots from 7 yards left the target blank. I don't think I was gripping the gun tight enough, because just a month ago I had a perfect score from 3, 7, and 15  yards to obtain my concealed permit. More practice to come..... The last was AO's 30.06 rifle. That thing packs a mean punch. It really jerks you back in your seat, however I was able to hit a bulls eye from 50 yards. Toot- toot.

There's a lot of talk about with President Obama in office, guns laws are going to tighten. I am a member of the NRA and believe that there should be some gun regulation. Most people would be shocked to know that if you go to a gun show (every city has them regularly) you can purchase a gun from someone walking around the show (not a dealer). And yes private citizens do walk around gun shows with duffel bags of guns looking for buyers. Here's the kicker- during a private sale from one person to another, there is NO background check required! I think that's ridiculous. When we were driving out to ARC we of course were talking politics and I asked "do you think there should be a limit on how many guns and ammo one person can own?" The response was "No, well how many are we talking about?" and I said "500 guns and 10,000 rounds of ammo". The response was "well yeah, who needs that much?" EXACTLY. There has to be a line between responsible gun ownership and "the stock piling of arms". 

I personally do not think that the right to own a gun will ever be taken away, and that's one reason I am a member of the NRA. However, I do feel that there is a middle ground between responsible gun ownership and federal regulation. Now if Obama does pass laws banning the sale of certain types of guns, you can get that my gun collection is going to go up right before the laws are passed. Maybe I'll get that AK-47 I've been wanting for Christmas!

Halloweeny

Happy November 1st! Last nights Halloween festivities were pretty tame compared to years past. The Dangle costume that was destroyed by Adam and then we stole (acquired) Rich's car, drove it home and then wondered how it got there. Or our first Fourhands Halloween  party where my costume exploded in a fireball when I threw it into the fire. Who knew pressed insulation was so flammable? I still haven't seen those pictures...

We went to the Hatches and did the trick or treat thing with their kids. At 9:30p they were running around freaked out of their minds on sugar and we packed up our stuff to head home, "well our job here is done, enjoy getting to bed anytime soon". Batman, Supergal, a ninja, football and cheerleader, a bank robber and of course the KING!

Looking forward to the UT game tonight and getting to work next week as an independent, small business owner.