So there I was, 6:30 on a Saturday morning at one of the Rochester City Police Departments, sitting in on role call. It was quite the early morning for me, waking up at 5:30 to get there on time. I had no idea what to expect but I was excited and a bit nervous at the same time for what was lying ahead of me. All the officers were dressed in uniform and filing in, joking around with one another but still holding their poise as intimidating individuals protecting our city. Once role call was complete, everyone quickly got up and left, leaving me scrambling as I still didn't know who I was supposed to be with for the shift. I asked around and was directed to Officer Daren, who welcomed me to the second platoon shift of the Rochester City Police Department, where I'd spend the next few hours following in his shadow while he does his job.
I had no idea what to expect, but I had anticipated we'd jump right into a car and do whatever it is a police officer does during their shift. First stop for us: a family diner just down the street for breakfast with two other officers. It was clear that this was a routine because they ordered "the usual" and the waitress knew them all by name. So we spent the first hour of the shift sitting, eating and discussing anything from gay marriage to interesting stories of thrilling experiences they've had as officers.
After leaving the diner, he introduced me to a lot of the high tech gadgets inside his police car. One of the computer systems lets him simply put in a license plate and check the background of the vehicle and the owner. He chose a random car we were driving near to put into the system just to show me how it works but the registered description of the car didn't match what the actual vehicle looked like...before I knew it, Daren was putting his sirens on and pulling the car over. After investigating a bit more, everything was cleared and the driver was on his way (he just hadn't gone to the DMV to update the plates after getting a salvaged car).
(I've been told this next one is like CSI so brace yourself...) Our next call was to a bank that said there was a car that the employees didn't recognize with tinted windows and a door ajar. We headed over to the bank and Daren searched the car once we got there, finding a wallet with cash and IDs plus an ipod abandoned in the car. We found it kind of odd that someone would leave that behind in their car, but couldn't make any assumptions about the situation. After talking to the bank teller and realizing they couldn't provide any immediately useful information, we drove over to the girl's house whose wallet was inside the car (her name was on the registration of the car). No luck at the house, but we got in contact with her mom through the landlord of their building. It was scary to see the mom show up some time later so frazzled and distressed to the point that she couldn't think straight to provide some useful info to us other than the fact that she couldn't get a hold of her daughter and that her daughter had gone to a fair the night before with some friends. Eventually, she left with her former husband to go to some of their daughter's friends' houses to see if they could help. Meanwhile, Daren and I headed back to the bank to talk to the employees there to see if they could give us any more info... unfortunately they don't have a security camera outside on the parking lot, but only have them on the ATMS and such, so that was a failed source. Regrettably, Daren couldn't do much more because the house of the girl and her friends' was in a town outside of the Rochester City Police district that he patrols. Essentially we had to wait for the parents to call us back with any leads that they get from reaching friends.
In the meantime, we headed over to Sacred Heart Cathedral, where there was a "protest" with about five people holding signs. They were particularly protesting because recently a man who is married with six kids was ordained as a priest, something that is considered against tradition for Catholicism. Their protesting was entirely legal, but the police were required to show up to ensure that they didn't interfere with church services that were going on inside or that it didn't turn into a violent protest. We ended up just sitting outside of the church in the car pulled up next to a couple other officers. We spent over an hour just chatting away with the other officers, waiting for the nonviolent protesters to leave the area. I quickly learned how much camaraderie there is within the police force, which makes perfect sense since they spend so much time together and go through a lot of trying situations together.
Back to the other story, eventually the parents found out that their daughter had had too much to drink and pretty much parked her car in the bank's parking lot and went home with a boy who neither of the parents knew or could locate very easily. In the end, the family was reunited; in the end, whether it was happy or stressful is not significant. This whole situation really showed me how much parents care about their children and how they fear anything happening to their beloved child. It makes me treasure how loved I am so deeply loved by God, my parents, family and friends. I feel very blessed to have such a loving extended caring community!
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