Page 162 - NIXBOOK

Back in the days when we had to hand-write traffic tickets on small triplicate forms I could scratch one out in about 6 minutes.
When we upgraded to bar code scanning/typing/printing on our mobile computer terminals, I could do one in less than 2.

Me, in a contractor’s garage, where about $10,000 dollars’ worth of power tools had been stolen. Me, getting distracted by the
very large painting on the wall showing the backside of a naked man, reaching up into the sky. Naked guy looked a lot like the
contractor. Like me, you have questions now. Unfortunately, I did not ask those questions, so this story ends here.

One night an alarm company reported an alarm activation at a big vehicle service center/tire store. I responded and the other
night shift officer got there first, found an open door, and starting poking around inside to look for burglars. None were found,
but I did get his heart rate going a bit when I showed up a minute later on the other end of the building and saw him creeping
around in the dark. From a hidden position I got my taser out and switched it to the ON/STANDBY/READY mode, which meant
the red laser sighting dot came on. And I put that dot on the wall by the officer, a good 100 feet away. He never saw me but he
sure saw that laser dot in the dark and it took a few heart pounding hilarious seconds for him to realize it was me messing with
him.

There I am in a bar; a crime has occurred and I got called. It’s after-hours, which for a bar in this case is about 9 am on a Sunday.
The manager is upset about a burglary but I’m kind of distracted and transfixed and focused on the open bins of ice cubes that
the bartenders used to scoop for the drinks. Because the bins had no covers on them. Apparently everybody there was okay with
the ice being uncovered 24/7, within breathing of (and breathing-0n) distance from the bar patrons. But I was there because a
burglar had snuck in during the night and used some power tools to cut open the small cash machine in the bar; the thief knew
exactly where to attack it; it was cut open pretty much right where the cash drawer holder thing was. It was not the first cash
machine I’d seen that had been violated. But the ice…that was a new one for me.