Chronicles: Alan B. Rowley II - Success Warrior - ECoach - P90X

My Most Memorable Valentine's Day

In 2003, I had a Valentine's Day that stands out from all the others.  I'm not good at remembering dates and events and I even had to look up on the internet which year this happened in order to write this post but I remember the events of this day.

Tia and I went out for a nice dinner and then she treated me to a movie.  Daredevil.  I collected Daredevil comics during high school and had developed quite the collection.  Like so many other people, I sold off the collection later in life and now wish that I still had them.

When I saw that the movie was coming out, I knew that I would have to go.  I wasn't planning on going on Valentine's day but my wife knew how much I wanted to see it so we went.  That's true love.

I turned off my cell phone and pager when we went in so that I could just enjoy the movie.  Well, enjoy it as best I could.  I'm not going to go into a movie review here but it was disappointing.

When we got back in the car, I turned my phone and pager back on.  Both of them started going crazy with pages and voice mails that had been left.  I checked the numbers to see who I wanted to call back first.  I called dispatch.

A Friend had to Shoot Someone

A guy that was wanted for questioning regarding an armed robbery that he had committed decided to stop in to police department on his own.  Instead of invoking his right to silence, he decided to shoot off an AK-47 in the parking lot.

Police responded and when the shooter stopped shooting into the air and brought the gun down to point at officers, he was shot.

Tia and I want this deputy to know that we are thinking of him and if there is anything that we can do, we're here.

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Ask a Cop: August 6th, 1993 - Part 11

On August 6th, 1945, the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.  It was an act of violence that changed the world and the way people thought from that point on.  48 years later to the day, I was involved in an act of violence on a much smaller scale that nevertheless changed me and the way I thought from that point on.

There's a saying that cops involved in shootings will be out of law enforcement within 5 years.  Some quit, some get fired, and some kill themselves.  One way or another, they get out.

That first week, I seriously considered quitting law enforcement but it didn't make much sense.  The damage had been done.  If I didn't want to be in a shooting, I should have quit the week before.  It would be the equivalent of tightening up lending standards so that even good risks had trouble getting a loan after the housing bubble burst.  Too late and not the appropriate response.  I decided that I would just stick it out and stay a cop.

I have concluded after living through this event that there are three things that cause the 5 year theory.

Ask a Cop: August 6th, 1993 - Part 10

On August 6th, 1945, the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.  It was an act of violence that changed the world and the way people thought from that point on.  48 years later to the day, I was involved in an act of violence on a much smaller scale that nevertheless changed me and the way I thought from that point on.

Monday morning, I went to work in plain clothes.  The chief took me out to breakfast at Denny's. 

Have you ever had the feeling that everyone is looking at you?  I have.  That morning at Denny's.  Most of the people were probably travelers and had no clue who I was but that didn't stop me from thinking that they were all looking at me.

We had breakfast and then went back to the office.  I don't remember what I did that day or the next.  I was in plain clothes and probably just hung out in the office doing nothing but killing time.

I do remember what happened Monday night after I was home.

Ask a Cop: August 6th, 1993 - Part 9

On August 6th, 1945, the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.  It was an act of violence that changed the world and the way people thought from that point on.  48 years later to the day, I was involved in an act of violence on a much smaller scale that nevertheless changed me and the way I thought from that point on.

When I got home, I went to the bedroom.  The peeked out the blinds and looked up and down the street.  I don't know what I was looking for.  Everything was quiet out there.  I took off my uniform and got ready for bed.  Before I climbed into bed, I peeked out the blinds again.  Still quiet.

From that day on until we moved our bedroom into the basement, I would peek out the blinds every night before I went to bed and first thing every morning.

I climbed into bed and fell right to sleep.

I have only woken up 3 times in my adult life screaming from a nightmare.  This was one of those times.

Ask a Cop: August 6th, 1993 - Part 8

On August 6th, 1945, the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.  It was an act of violence that changed the world and the way people thought from that point on.  48 years later to the day, I was involved in an act of violence on a much smaller scale that nevertheless changed me and the way I thought from that point on.

After I had told my story, I went to the patrol officer's office while everyone did their work.  I did a little bit of work too, which lead to something a bit weird.

We wrote down the days activities on a log sheet that we carried around in our car.  When we got back to the police department, we would enter all the information into the computer.  I hadn't been given any instructions about what to do so I was just hanging out in the office while everyone else worked, trying to figure out how to investigate a police shooting.

I decided to put in my log entries, except the for the last one.  I left that one for the chief.  I had done a couple things before having dinner with Jorge and I entered the information into the computer.  As I was sitting there typing, the phone rang.  Out of habit, I grabbed it and announced who I was.  On the other end was the dispatcher.  She let me know that Doug, who had been life-flighted to major hospital, was dead.  I hung up.

Ask a Cop: August 6th, 1993 - Part 7

On August 6th, 1945, the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.  It was an act of violence that changed the world and the way people thought from that point on.  48 years later to the day, I was involved in an act of violence on a much smaller scale that nevertheless changed me and the way I thought from that point on.

The chief and I walked into the police department.  This building must have been built in the 60s, I swear.  It had orange counter tops and yellow chairs that had the foam padding showing through the worn out material.  The desks were hundred pound steel army surplus things where the drawers squealed in protest when you opened them and sometimes had to be kicked shut.  The whole place was handmedowns.  Other departments would order new equipment and we would take the old stuff that they were going to throw in the dumpster.  The chief was proud that he was always able to come in under budget though.

We went to the interview room where I sat on the plastic chair reserved for criminals.  It was from the 60s as well but had no cushion so we were able to sanitize it after some drunk that had pissed his pants sat on it.  The chief got the seat where the cop always sat. 

Out of everything, this one thing bothered me more than anything.

Ask a Cop: August 6th, 1993 - Part 6

On August 6th, 1945, the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.  It was an act of violence that changed the world and the way people thought from that point on.  48 years later to the day, I was involved in an act of violence on a much smaller scale that nevertheless changed me and the way I thought from that point on.

I sat in my car.

The department was so small that I just had to sit there.  No one could be spared to babysit me somewhere else.  I can't tell you what went on.  I don't remember much of it.  I didn't really watch anything and if I did, I didn't really see anything.  Cops were walking all over the place, I'm sure.  There were probably rubberneckers.  I don't know.  I just sat there.

This was the first time that this kind of thing had ever happened in Tinytown and there were lots of things done in a manner that would be considered wrong by today's standards.  They all did the best they could with the knowledge they had.  I went on from this incident to study up on what should have been done, both from the admin side and from my side.  I point this out for all the cops reading this because you will no doubt be shaking your head at some of the things that happened.  Everything went well because this was clearly a justified use of force.  Thinking this, I just played along with everything that happened.  If it happened again today, things would be different.  Live and learn.

Here are some things that I remember from my little sit in the car which today feels like I was there for hours.  Maybe I was.  I don't know.

Fast Food Makes Adults Stoopid Too

I don't know if you caught this story so let me give you the short version before we discuss the mentally degenerative affects of Big Macs.

A McDonald's employee spilled some salt on a bunch of hamburgers.  Her and a couple of ohter employees tried to "thump" the salt off and then cooked them and served them.  One was served to a cop and he got sick.  He returned to the McDonalds, found the employee that spilled the salt and arrested her.  She was taken to jail where she bailed out for $1,000.

Where to start with this is the hard part so we'll just in chronological order.

How much do hamburgers cost McDonalds?  With several gazillion sold each year, there has got to be a pretty good bulk rate discount.  Knowing this, if I spilled salt on McDonalds burgers, I'd just chuck them in the garbage.  McDonalds can afford to lose a box of burgers rather than risk more bad publicity or pissing off Chief Wiggums and having an employee hauled off to jail.

Fair enough.  Let's move on.

If you're burger is so damn salty that it's going to make you sick, wouldn't you notice that?  Wouldn't you take one bite and go, "Holy crap!  What did they do, spill all the french fry salt on this thing?"?  Then wouldn't you go back and get a replacement burger?  Does one bite of salty hamburger really make people sick or does it just piss them off?

Do McDonalds burgers taste so bad that you can't tell that there is an extra box of salt on them?  But he must have noticed or how would he have known to go back and ask who put all the salt on his burger?

He couldn't arrest her for putting salt on his burger because he can't prove intent so they are charging her with serving the burger knowing that salt was spilled on it.  A supervisor was called over the spilled salt and must have made the command decision to go ahead and try sneaking them past the customers.  Wouldn't it be the supervisor that would be arrested for serving the burger?

We don't know the whole story of course but doesn't this just look like an abuse of power to arrest a 20 year old girl for spilling some salt?

The idiocy doesn't end there though.

Chief Wiggums hamburger has been sent to the state crime lab for testing.

"Yo Bob, can you put a hold on the blood sample from the homicide?  I need you to check the salt content of this burger."

"Ummm, why?"

"Apparently someone got sick from eating this hamburger.  I need you to see if there's anything wrong with it."

"Sure thing.  Let me have a look.  Oh yeah, here I see the problem.  This is in a McDonalds wrapper.  I'm not surprised that who ever ate this got sick."

The girl made a mistake.  The cop's actions are completely lame.   

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On a somewhat related subject, today's Success Warrior post is Should Obese People Pay More For Health Insurance?

Ask a Cop: August 6th, 1993 - Part 5

On August 6th, 1945, the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.  It was an act of violence that changed the world and the way people thought from that point on.  48 years later to the day, I was involved in an act of violence on a much smaller scale that nevertheless changed me and the way I thought from that point on.

The trooper arrived and asked what happened.

"The guy came at me with a knife so I shot him," I said.

About 10 years after the incident was the first time this trooper and I talked about the shooting.  For those 10 years, I had pretty much concentrated on how the shooting affected me.  He was in our office one day after I had started to focus outward and I asked him what he thought about the day.  He said that the thing that really stood out for him was how matter of fact I was when he asked what had happened.  It's not something that anyone in that rural county expected to happen so he was caught off guard when I told him.  We only talked about it for a few minutes and never brought it up again.

I finally noticed the guy that had come to help me.