Highway Patrol – Week 4 – Part 3

Good morning FFFs,

It's dark, cloudy, and chilly here. I didn't really want to get up this morning, but here I am.

Last night I went to a concert with my Grandpa, and my brother, sis-in-law, and two oldest nephews. (Nephew #2 wanted to go to the concert for his birthday. He's 9!!!!!) We had front row seats. As I sat listening to the first song, it felt that it was playing my life right now. I could feel the turmoil of unfinished projects, the stress of what to work on first, the frantic pace of the months as they relentlessly march forward toward the end of the year, but in the mist of it all, shining like a light, was the reminder of peace. A delightful, beautiful strain that spoke of God's goodness and his unfailing help. It was a reminder that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, that there is peace in the midst of the storms when you are in Christ. I think it was just what I needed. The rest of the concert was lovely too.

This week has disappeared very quickly. I did get a little bit written on Wednesday night. Otherwise I worked on this and that. I have music to practice, a story that needs finished, the 40's book of letters by my grandparents needs corrected so I can get it finished. I have a book to review, things to put away, another story that needs worked on, blog posts to write, preparing for a blog tour of His Law Is Love,  and the list goes on. I certainly won't be sitting around wishing I had something to do. ;)

I hope you enjoy this 2nd half of the report about the K9s.

Highway Patrol

Week 4 – Part 3

    Another traffic stop he did was on an RV. It was early fall of last year, and he saw this RV coming down the highway. Now, he knew it was not the time of year most people travel since schools are back in session and most older people don’t want to travel in the colder months. The driver also seemed a bit nervous at the sight of Cpl. Tim because he started driving on the rumble strip. Those were all red flags to Cpl. Tim. After he pulled the RV over and got the driver out, he started talking with him. The RV was rented. The driver said he and some of his buddies were just driving to St. Louis to see the arch. (They were from California.) Cpl. Tim asked where they’d be staying. “Oh, probably Holiday Inn.” Hmm, They have an RV but they are staying in a hotel. Cpl. Tim had already called for backup because he knew from the driver that there were 4-5 other guys in the RV and 2 pit bulls. He successfully detained the driver until another trooper arrived to help. As they were getting the guys out of the RV, two of them ran off into some woods. One came back, the other, a homeless drunk they for some reason had brought along, kept going. He later returned to the highway and hitched a ride back to California where he was picked up by the law there and returned to Missouri. (I don’t know what happened to the pit bulls.) Inside the RV was marijuana. A bunch of marijuana! I don’t know how many trash bags full Cpl. Tim said he had piled on the side of the highway. Once in the evidence room it was packed in 15 or more good sized boxes. It was a huge bust.
    • Observe the occupants – One thing Cpl. Tim said he likes to do is stop cars on rainy, cold, blowing days. He’ll ask the person to step out of the car and then he’ll tell them, “Why don’t you just have a seat in my car, so we can get this done and get you back on the road a little faster.” Usually the idea of getting back on the road faster is enough incentive to comply, as are cold, or rainy days. “It really does make things go faster,” Cpl. Tim said, “because I can ask all the questions I need to right then. I can also observe them and see what their behavior is like. Are they really nervous and fidgety? Do they sweat a lot? Because of Hugo I keep my car cool, so if someone is saying something about how hot he is, then I know something’s going on.”
    Also notice what the person is wearing. Does it match the weather? Does it fit where they say they are going?
    • Listen to what they are telling you – Do they ask a question when you ask them one instead of just answering it? Do they repeat the question? Do they change the subject and start talking about something else? Those are all signs that something is probably going on.

    “Can an officer legally require you to exit your vehicle?” Cpl. Tim asked the class. All but two of us said yes. He looked at the other two and said, “You’re wrong.” In 1977 the Supreme Court ruled that for officer safety a driver can be required to exit their vehicle. So, if you are ever pulled over and the officer, for some reason, requests you to step out of the vehicle, comply.
    Someone asked what happens if Cpl. Tim stops someone and can’t speak their language. That was something I hadn’t thought about before. Cpl. Tim said he does speak some Spanish, enough to communicate what he needs to most of the time. But if the person doesn’t speak Spanish or English, Cpl. Tim can always use a translator. There is a certain number he can call that has certified translators. He’ll set them on speaker phone and through them communicate with the driver. He can also use Hugo if he can’t communicate enough to get permission to search the vehicle.
    “We have to trust our dogs,” Cpl. Tim said. “There have been times when a car gets pulled over and your dog doesn’t alert on the car at all, but thirty miles down the road the same car is stopped again, and this time the other dog alerts on it and drugs are found. While you might think the dog that didn’t alert wasn’t doing his job, it could be a number of things, Perhaps the driver hadn’t turned on the AC or the heat until after your dog had searched. Perhaps the wind and air pressure were different thirty miles away. There have also been times when a dog has alerted on a car, but nothing was found. The drugs had been in there but weren’t now, but the smell still lingers.”
    Dogs don’t alert on money. Some people think that if a person is carrying a large amount of money in their car, the dog is going to alert on it. No, the dogs might alert if the money has been in close contact with the drugs and smells like marijuana, but they aren’t trained to sniff out money.
    When transporting marijuana or any other type of drug some have tried to hide the smell of it by putting it in a coffee can, or putting dryer sheets with it. While that might help keep an officer from smelling it, it doesn’t help with a dog. For example, you walk into your house and sniff. “Oh, we’re having soup for supper,” you say. A dog walks in and sniffs. “Oh, we’re having chicken broth, potatoes, carrots, onions, butter, pepper, seasoned salt, and there are three other spices that I don’t know the names of.”
    Dogs smell each individual scent.
    Cpl. Tim showed many pictures of drug busts he and Hugo have done, and then we were all taken outside to see Hugo.
    It was a chilly autumn night, and several of us hadn’t brought jackets. Sgt. Lueckenhoff took a cloth that smelled like marijuana and tucked it in the back of his truck tailgate. We got to watch as Hugo searched the truck. He found it right away and didn’t want to bother searching the rest of the truck, but Cpl. Tim insisted on it.
    There was a little more talk after Hugo was returned to his beloved patrol car. A few questions were asked, and then we were all dismissed. It was a little after nine when we left this time, but some of the other weeks we were let out early, so it all evens out.
    Next week is our final class; I hope you’ll be back for it.

Did you learn anything new here?

How has your week been?

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