Posted: 7/29/2011 4:23:59 PM EDT
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This morning, my lieutenant calls me and asks if I could use a recruit today. We have an academy class starting in two months, and hire on a rolling schedule, so it's not uncommon for recruits to have as much as four months on before their class starts. They typically alternate between helping the PD catch up on the boring stuff like paper shredding and organizing the uniform room, and riding with officers.
My AFIS officers are perpetually several months behind on their paperwork and filing, and a recruit with a decent grasp of basic math is perfect help. Sure, I say, send him up. Five minutes later, there's a knock on the office door. The recruit's here. I give him a nickel tour and a quick chat-up. Associate's degree, 27, no .mil time, five years helping run a car parts store....generally pretty decent background. I was running late for court, so I issue easy instructions. Help my AFIS guy with paperwork, and if he has to go anywhere, jump in with my dayshift crime scene officer (we usually have two on at once but due to vacations only had one) and bag calls. My only order was that he not be left alone in the lab. I knew the AFIS guy had some meetings later, so I figured it would be an hour or two of paperwork then some street time with the other officer. Nice hot day, so it will go by quick. I head off to court, then some meetings about a murder trial coming up. I'm gone until about 2:30. When I get back, the crime scene officer and the recruit walk in right behind me. The recruit makes a beeline for an open computer and starts hammering away on a .word document. I peek over his shoulder, and he's typing his resignation. Four days in LE and he wants out. "Where the hell did you take him?" "The Medical Examiner's [coroner] office." "WTF for?" "Autopsy for that traffic fatality yesterday." "Oh yeah." [my squad has to go to every autopsy, and with the recent body count there have been a bunch] I motion the recruit into my office, and kick the door shut. Against my better judgement, I talk him out of quitting tright then and there. I give him my cell number, and told him to call me Sunday night with his final decision, or any time before that if he just wanted to talk. I also call the academy director (one of my FTO's and a long time friend) and tell him the situation, and he's cool with it. Personally I'm thinking 80:20 he's gone. |
My introduction phase FTO (street clothes, read the P&P Manual type stuff) took me to an autopsy on day 2 or 3 - he and the Coroners Investigator like to try and scare the new guys....... They were both a bit surprised when I offered to buy sushi after the autopsy I was damn hungry - the autopsy ran into my normal lunch time.
Brian |
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My introduction phase FTO (street clothes, read the P&P Manual type stuff) took me to an autopsy on day 2 or 3 - he and the Coroners Investigator like to try and scare the new guys....... They were both a bit surprised when I offered to buy sushi after the autopsy I was damn hungry - the autopsy ran into my normal lunch time.
Brian I think I got you beat. My first day in Field Training, well actually my first call, was an officer who had committed suicide. Talk about an eye opener. |
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My introduction phase FTO (street clothes, read the P&P Manual type stuff) took me to an autopsy on day 2 or 3 - he and the Coroners Investigator like to try and scare the new guys....... They were both a bit surprised when I offered to buy sushi after the autopsy I was damn hungry - the autopsy ran into my normal lunch time.
Brian I think I got you beat. My first day in Field Training, well actually my first call, was an officer who had committed suicide. Talk about an eye opener. OK that would suck. My first traffic fatality was an off-duty officer from the next town over. I had never met him, but he was a good friend of my FTO. |
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Offhand I am not sure how i would take going down to the ME office. Seen plenty of blood over the years and other stuff. About the only thing I can think of atm is asking if I can tell my wife the (soon to be) Funeral director, and asking what is better 9 v 45.
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Third phase of FTO, final week, I am with this fat old Sergeant, lazy ass fuck. We get the call. "Respond to Marv's Mobile Manor on a report of the manager hasn't seen the tenant of a trailer for three weeks and there's an odor issuing from the trailer". Oh goody. It's late June, hot, and the trailer is a 1970s unpainted steel sided single wide.
We arrive and the windows are covered with the biggest flies I've ever seen. We meet the manager and he's wringing his hands. We call out, check all the windows and doors, and finally make entry. Fat Sergeant almost breaks his shoulder trying to break the trailer door. I grab my Stanley Fat Max FUBAR and pop the door open (Great tool BTW). The stench would gag a maggot. Now, I'd never seen a gooey dead body, but saw some fresh kills in the service. I clear the filthy kitchen, just seeing a pile of dirty laundry and trash, then begin to clear the living room. I glance back at the pile of dirty laundry and it's a body, gray, gooey, and looking fake as hell lying there on the floor. My Sergeant turns on his heels and says over his shoulder as he waddles back to my truck, "Yup, obvious natural causes". A senior deputy, who had been my 2nd phase FTO, is beside me and says, "I don't EVER want to hear you say the fucking word OBVIOUS, ever!".No amount of Vicks could get the stench out of my nostrils. |
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DARN! He's lucky!
Despite my varied background, I've never seen a post mort.......and these days, as I have found out, it is practically impossible to observe one as an individual, even with my credentials. You have to be part of an agency. Quoted:.......
My Sergeant turns on his heels and says over his shoulder as he waddles back to my truck, "Yup, obvious natural causes". A senior deputy, who had been my 2nd phase FTO, is beside me and says, "I don't EVER want to hear you say the fucking word OBVIOUS, ever!".No amount of Vicks could get the stench out of my nostrils. That reminds me of the lesson that the head of a public safety diver conference was trying to get through everyone's heads. Ie, why is it that whenever a car or a body or a gun or whatever is found underwater, everyone acts like it got there through natural causes? Quoted:
Offhand I am not sure how i would take going down to the ME office. Seen plenty of blood over the years and other stuff. About the only thing I can think of atm is asking if I can tell my wife the (soon to be) Funeral director, and asking what is better 9 v 45. There's a picture in the Practical Homicide Investigation book of someone who took a high powered rifle shot under the chin.It essentially exploded his skull and turned his head into a pizza. While I'm no expert on bullet wounds, I would say a lot of it depends on the velocity of the round and where it enters the body. If in anything else, keep in mind that snipers use high velocity rounds as well and if the place they shoot explodes the skull, it isn't going to be too good for a nearby hostage (as it is, I know something of aim points for snipers, so we need not go into that talk). __________________________________________________ ("The stiff....er, the deceased......he's your brother, Mr. Franks?"––head of the Slumber Inc. Brain Trust, (w,stte), "Diamonds are Forever") |
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When I did my internship with Texas Highway Patrol (73) one of the first calls was a highschool boy flipped his truck and drowned in about a foot of water, just a mud puddle. Body was transported to funeral home. They laid him out on a metal table that emptied into a sink. Trooper had to collect a blood sample to determine if alcohol was involved so they cut an artery and collected blood. The funeral home director then polked a half inch stainless hollow metal tube into his abdomen and sucked out all the internal organs.
Next week we had another highschool boy missed a 90 degree curve and hit an oak tree. Dam trees dont move. Another fatality both boys about 4 yrs younger than I was at the time. Had one that was about 22 dressed in a suit and hung himself neck was about three ft long when we got there. An acquantance of mine's teen kid shot himself with dads target 38 with 38 wadcutters and was flopping around 8 hrs later when I broke the door down. Ive seen some nasty ones over the years 6 people killed in a Dodge Charger 440 with a 6 pack bent it L shape hit a bridge abutment. Multiple murder scene nude female laying in the middle of the road shot & run over her 12 yr old daughter tied wth electric chord and shot layin in a bar ditch nearby. I was first arriving officer when my Lt. was murdered. Convenience store clerks shot for a few dollars. One fag cut up his fag lover and he flopped around all over the place with EMS trying to save him, blood everywhere one of the deputies told me hold down his arm so I put a boot on his arm and held it down. Deputy looks at me and says " youre a cold hearted son of a bitch". Could be but I didnt catch AIDS. Lots of suicides and a few murders - Cops do a lot of things the public really isnt aware of. And they think all we do is eat jelly doughnuts drink coffee and write speeding tickets. |
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DARN! He's lucky! Despite my varied background, I've never seen a post mort.......and these days, as I have found out, it is practically impossible to observe one as an individual, even with my credentials. You have to be part of an agency. Quoted:.......
My Sergeant turns on his heels and says over his shoulder as he waddles back to my truck, "Yup, obvious natural causes". A senior deputy, who had been my 2nd phase FTO, is beside me and says, "I don't EVER want to hear you say the fucking word OBVIOUS, ever!".No amount of Vicks could get the stench out of my nostrils. That reminds me of the lesson that the head of a public safety diver conference was trying to get through everyone's heads. Ie, why is it that whenever a car or a body or a gun or whatever is found underwater, everyone acts like it got there through natural causes? Quoted:
Offhand I am not sure how i would take going down to the ME office. Seen plenty of blood over the years and other stuff. About the only thing I can think of atm is asking if I can tell my wife the (soon to be) Funeral director, and asking what is better 9 v 45. There's a picture in the Practical Homicide Investigation book of someone who took a high powered rifle shot under the chin.It essentially exploded his skull and turned his head into a pizza. While I'm no expert on bullet wounds, I would say a lot of it depends on the velocity of the round and where it enters the body. If in anything else, keep in mind that snipers use high velocity rounds as well and if the place they shoot explodes the skull, it isn't going to be too good for a nearby hostage (as it is, I know something of aim points for snipers, so we need not go into that talk). __________________________________________________ ("The stiff....er, the deceased......he's your brother, Mr. Franks?"––head of the Slumber Inc. Brain Trust, (w,stte), "Diamonds are Forever") Yeah, we had a guy take his head off with a .22-250 the other day. He'd gotten married less than a year ago and had business problems and the bills were adding up. Drove out to a local horse arena and did the deed. He had 4 dogs with him in the cab of the truck and they sat there for 6 hours before we found him. His head exploded with such force that skull fragments shattered the windshield. Poor dogs were covered in blood and brain matter, but otherwise alright. Sad. |
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If he decides to stay I'd wonder how he's going to react when he shows up to a fatal crash with body parts and brain all over the highway.
sights can be prepared for smells can't Some people aren't cut out for either. ok maybe not totally cut out for either......but at least desensitize and give a shot |
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Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: If he decides to stay I'd wonder how he's going to react when he shows up to a fatal crash with body parts and brain all over the highway. sights can be prepared for smells can't Some people aren't cut out for either. ok maybe not totally cut out for either......but at least desensitize and give a shot Yeah, uh, no! |
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I give him a 90:10 of making it. My brother started working for a tiny town in the early 80s. First shift started at 2200. He showed up a little early and the shift sergeant told him, "Your FTO called out sick tonight. There a train vs pedestrian at XXX. You've been through the academy, so take a car and go handle it. Call me from a payphone if you have any questions." 
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Several years ago,a new guy started. We let them work a little before school starts. They could work for a couple months pre-academy. So we put him to work on cells.We used the right amount of help,just let him open the door and call out names. This one has a murder. That one has 5 rapes. He's a drug dealer. All "nice people". He also got to walk with us down the hallway to see if these fine young men get public defenders.Next morning New Guy come in a little early to work. In blue jeans. Carrying a paper bag. Drops bag of uniforms on desk " you guys are fucking nuts!" Never saw him again.
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Several years ago,a new guy started. We let them work a little before school starts. They could work for a couple months pre-academy. So we put him to work on cells.We used the right amount of help,just let him open the door and call out names. This one has a murder. That one has 5 rapes. He's a drug dealer. All "nice people". He also got to walk with us down the hallway to see if these fine young men get public defenders.Next morning New Guy come in a little early to work. In blue jeans. Carrying a paper bag. Drops bag of uniforms on desk " you guys are fucking nuts!" Never saw him again. Yup, detention deputies get to see some crazy shit, literally and figuratively. |
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Several years ago,a new guy started. We let them work a little before school starts. They could work for a couple months pre-academy. So we put him to work on cells.We used the right amount of help,just let him open the door and call out names. This one has a murder. That one has 5 rapes. He's a drug dealer. All "nice people". He also got to walk with us down the hallway to see if these fine young men get public defenders.Next morning New Guy come in a little early to work. In blue jeans. Carrying a paper bag. Drops bag of uniforms on desk " you guys are fucking nuts!" Never saw him again. Did he think people in jail were somehow decent people? The old cannard about jails being full of low level minor offense people like drunks just drying out for a week or two hasn't been true in some time. The libs who want all pre-conviction people back on the street because :"they have families and jobs that need them" always get a strange look from me. |
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Several years ago,a new guy started. We let them work a little before school starts. They could work for a couple months pre-academy. So we put him to work on cells.We used the right amount of help,just let him open the door and call out names. This one has a murder. That one has 5 rapes. He's a drug dealer. All "nice people". He also got to walk with us down the hallway to see if these fine young men get public defenders.Next morning New Guy come in a little early to work. In blue jeans. Carrying a paper bag. Drops bag of uniforms on desk " you guys are fucking nuts!" Never saw him again. Did he think people in jail were somehow decent people? The old cannard about jails being full of low level minor offense people like drunks just drying out for a week or two hasn't been true in some time. The libs who want all pre-conviction people back on the street because :"they have families and jobs that need them" always get a strange look from me. Yeah we had a guy in the jail when I first got hired who'd killed 4 people. He was an Eastern European (Bulgarian) trucker out of Chicago. He was coming down the summit and plowed into a small pickup truck stopped in a line of vehicles on the highway that had two grandkids and their grandparents driving, plus their dog. The impact compressed the truck into a chunk of metal 27 inches thick. The trucker got 4 years in county jail, 1 count each of negligence. Killed 4 people because he wasn't paying attention and only got 4 years of county time. |
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Yeah we had a guy in the jail when I first got hired who'd killed 4 people. He was an Eastern European (Bulgarian) trucker out of Chicago. He was coming down the summit and plowed into a small pickup truck stopped in a line of vehicles on the highway that had two grandkids and their grandparents driving, plus their dog. The impact compressed the truck into a chunk of metal 27 inches thick. The trucker got 4 years in county jail, 1 count each of negligence. Killed 4 people because he wasn't paying attention and only got 4 years of county time. Ouch for the victims IIRC ( been a long time since I was a CO ) our state only allows two consecutive years at the county level. Only knew one guy from my time inside who drew that bid, and he intentionally killed himself a week after he got out by driving his cycle into the guardrail at 60 MPH. Normal max sentence at county level is a year or less. Didn't matter; on any given day you could walk in and look at the pop board and half the names were the same. It was a great way to learn who was who in the local criminal population. No ETOH or other impairment issues in the case you mentioned? |
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Yeah we had a guy in the jail when I first got hired who'd killed 4 people. He was an Eastern European (Bulgarian) trucker out of Chicago. He was coming down the summit and plowed into a small pickup truck stopped in a line of vehicles on the highway that had two grandkids and their grandparents driving, plus their dog. The impact compressed the truck into a chunk of metal 27 inches thick. The trucker got 4 years in county jail, 1 count each of negligence. Killed 4 people because he wasn't paying attention and only got 4 years of county time. Ouch for the victims IIRC ( been a long time since I was a CO ) our state only allows two consecutive years at the county level. Only knew one guy from my time inside who drew that bid, and he intentionally killed himself a week after he got out by driving his cycle into the guardrail at 60 MPH. Normal max sentence at county level is a year or less. Didn't matter; on any given day you could walk in and look at the pop board and half the names were the same. It was a great way to learn who was who in the local criminal population. No ETOH or other impairment issues in the case you mentioned? Nope, just poor driving skills and F=MxA, inattentive shitty Russian Mafia truck driver. |
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That reminds me of the lesson that the head of a public safety diver conference was trying to get through everyone's heads. Ie, why is it that whenever a car or a body or a gun or whatever is found underwater, everyone acts like it got there through natural causes?
I did e few years as a recovery diver. It is possible to process a submerged scene somewhat but it isn't easy, especially in zero visibility conditions. The best you can generally do is scoop up as much of the bottom material under and around the piece of evidence as possible. There's a picture in the Practical Homicide Investigation book of someone who took a high powered rifle shot under the chin.It essentially exploded his skull and turned his head into a pizza. While I'm no expert on bullet wounds, I would say a lot of it depends on the velocity of the round and where it enters the body. If in anything else, keep in mind that snipers use high velocity rounds as well and if the place they shoot explodes the skull, it isn't going to be too good for a nearby hostage (as it is, I know something of aim points for snipers, so we need not go into that talk). The skull exploded in suicides with rifles due to the gas pressure rather than the bullet impact. If the muzzle is not in contact with flesh to form a gass seal, there is much less damage.
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That reminds me of the lesson that the head of a public safety diver conference was trying to get through everyone's heads. Ie, why is it that whenever a car or a body or a gun or whatever is found underwater, everyone acts like it got there through natural causes?
I did e few years as a recovery diver. It is possible to process a submerged scene somewhat but it isn't easy, especially in zero visibility conditions. The best you can generally do is scoop up as much of the bottom material under and around the piece of evidence as possible. I know, but the more the better. We had a nasty car jacking/murder case here the last century where the victims were put in the trunk and the car was pushed into the lake. The DA wanted to go for the DP but couldn't because there was a major dent on the hood of the trunk and no one could positively say if it was there before the car was recovered or afterwards. Mind you, this is what was told to me about the case and I'm doing it from memory though given my nature, I probably did take notes that are around....somewhere. Hence for a situation like that, record as much as possible about the physical condition before bringing it to the surface. In another situation, we were shown an IR camera system for a body recovery, I think it was Lake Travis, and the image was as clear as B/W TV glass. Of course, there is always the concern about money (to us, LCRA must be on Santa's wish list) and I don't know how that thing would work in lakes that silt up at a blink of an eye, under falls in a bubble out, or a feed tank.....but still. Finally, just as a note, it might be worthy to, if one can, to bring it back in a container of the water it was found in; check with your forensics. _______________________________________________________________________ ("We've lost contact with our spy ship, the St. Georges, off of Albania. We sighted floating wreckage this morning."––Admiral "My God, Jack. How deep is the water there."––Defense Minister Gray "Not deep enough, I'm afraid!"––First Sea Lord, (w,stte), "For Your Eyes Only") |
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We never had much luck with IR camera's in bayou water. Lake Travis has a lot less particulate suspecnded in the water. Sector-scan sonar will ocassionally pick up surface textures like major dents in a vehicle. The hand-held sonar system that the team acquired shortly before I left could create VERY detailed images, but was very touchy. The tiniest movement of your hand and the inage would disolve into random noise. It also wasn't set up to record.
We did submit evidence submerged in the water where it was found. Our procedure was to scoop underneath the evicence with a water-tight container while disturbing the silt and water as little as possible. We would lift up the container and seal it while submerged. We would get a few inches or dirt and a couple of water. The evidence was never exposed to air until it reached the lab. I did accidentally create a complication in one murder case. I was so careful about scooping up the dirt under a weapon without disturbing it that I did not know I had scooped up a second weapon buried directly under the first until I saw the lab report. |