Page 20 - NIXBOOK

Many of my in-custody prisoners were released on their own recognizance for later court appearances and many were released
to parents, or spouses, or relatives at the police station. But I drove hundreds of them to the jail. Some cried the whole way
there, some slept, some swore and ranted, some begged for alcohol, cigarettes or a second chance. Some of them talked non-
stop and some were violent, requiring a little recalibration halfway there. Some were too drunk or too injured to be booked and
they had to go the hospital instead. A lucky few prisoners got a special strip search by the jailers at my request. Very few stayed
at the jail long enough for my personal satisfaction about any kind of proper justice and I wish I could say that it was just a cliché
but I did see way too many criminals get released back into the public before I could even finish typing my police report.

Most of my clients were resigned and compliant with getting arrested but many of them needed to be chased down first. At the
end of the chase some gave up from exhaustion, some were trapped, and a few wanted to turn and fight. I had to tackle and
subdue all kinds of resistive lawbreakers, ranging from young scrawny kids to violently aggressive criminally combative literally
insane lunatics. I tackled distraught spouses, fleeing thieves, and a few poor guys who literally did nothing wrong except turn
and run from me for no real reason, which is a really good attention-getter in my line of work. For the record - and unlike some
of my coworkers - none of my in-custody prisoners ever escaped from me once I got them restrained in handcuffs, or in the back
of my police car. Not all of my customers were stereotypical looking obvious criminals; more than a few were “normal” nice
looking old people, and some looked like everybody’s grandpa or grandma. You’d be surprised.

I interviewed prisoners at the jail and guarded injured ones in the hospital emergency room. I got injured myself here and there;
shed a little of my own blood on occasion, usually from scraped or cut fingers and knuckles. Bruises were not uncommon but
for me, nothing major. I tried hard to avoid getting other peoples’ blood on me but it did happen every now and then. On a few
occasions at crazy crime scenes my brain would blow a fuse bank or two and get completely overloaded, usually when normal
looking things were violently moved to other places in pieces; sometimes it was very confusing for a few moments. And a couple
of times I even got actual tunnel vision when dealing with super intense situations.

I had to deal with my share of random folks who were completely incoherent, unreasonably aggressive, mostly unconscious, and
all kinds of idiotic.