Back on the street and lovin' it!

Well it has been a long time coming but Big Daddy is back pounding the pavement!!! Yea baby, I'm putting bad guys in jail again! Yesterday was my first day back on the street. It started with the swearing in ceremony at 8am. Aza and her dad were there and that's all I cared about. We all walked into the Sheriffs office where I received and gave the oath. After that the Sheriff handed me my badge and said congratulations and welcome aboard. I was so pumped and excited. The best part of all for me really was that Aza pinned my badge on for me. I can tell you that I could only hope that some of you have a support system as good as I have. I just can't brag enough about her and words really aren't enough to fully understand the depth of love and respect I have for her and her dad. I call him dad because in my heart he is my dad. I go to him for advice and he has and always will be there for me and his daughter. I got a text from him later in the day that just simply said, “I'm so proud of you”. It doesn't matter how old you are those words meant everything to me. The really neat thing was that Aza said it to me as well just prior to that. Like I said, what an amazing support system.

So they left and I got the grand tour of the department. It is very organized and well put together. I had to laugh though, I walked around there for 2 hours and they hadn't given me any ammunition! I felt like Barney Fife for sure! I did finally get 48 rounds of 40 caliber ammo so I felt complete and ready to go.

The department had a policy on tattoos that if they were visible they had to be completely covered. Well I had no choice so I showed up with my entire right arm covered because I have a full sleeve (from the top of my shoulder to my wrist) tribal tattoo. When my F.T.O. showed up I noticed that he had a half sleeve and it was uncovered. I said, “Hey, how come you aren't covering your tat up?” That's when I heard those beautiful words!!! The Sheriff changed the policy. Wooo-hooo! Let em fly, so I did. I immediately hit it off with my F.T.O. He looks just like me, shaved head and tats. I got in his car which is a K9 unit. They have non aggressive K9's that are drug, bomb, etc. dogs which is cool. Of course as soon as I got in there that bastard starting passing some serious gas. This dog sh@t on me all day and laughed about it, so did his daddy. Whew it was bad, but God was it good to be the POLICE again. I had to laugh at my first call- a horse running loose! Are you kidding me really?!? Okay, so we didn't find lil horsey running around but hey, it was a call. We handled some domestics which are all about the same anywhere you are. Then the first alert tone came at about 1230, accident on the interstate, over turned van with serious injuries. Hell yea baby, lights and siren!!! Now its been awhile but I remembered how to yell and scream at stupid idiots that panic when they see a police car coming. So after sorting through a few F bombs we got there to find a van full of guys all cut up, bruised up and scraped up. Of course no one was wearing a seat belt. Making things even more of a pain in the butt, they were all Mexican and none of them spoke English. One of them had a right arm arterial bleed and massive blood loss. There were several paramedics there so no need to get bloody. I finally felt productive again and respected. We really only provided traffic control for the Highway Patrol but man did it feel good! We left that and handled a few more calls ending the day with me actually handling another crash but this time the at fault driver had a suspended license and a warrant. Jackpot! I get to put an ass in jail again! Man that was fantastic!!!

I was welcomed with opened arms by everyone. I was respected by command staff as well simply because they know that I have 28 years of experience. I was treated like a man again and not like somebody that just can't do any better or make it on the street. I know with time and learning their system I am gonna love it! The best part is I get to share it with my girl who is the love of my old ass life. I know I have a lot more days behind me than I do ahead of me but I sure am excited about sharing it with her and all of you again! I'm Out And We'll Talk Later!