There are some days when you can tell something great is going to happen at work. You get fired up. As a cop you can tell because the guys are in high spirits, talking trash to each other about who will get the first Frank (Felony arrest); who will get the most dope or the first gun. It creates an air of excitement and competitiveness. In between the sounds of Velcro ripping on and off synching down Kevlar vests and the sounds of guys racking their slides to make sure they are fully loaded with one in the chamber and the sound of snapping keepers there is the excitement of taking the field in a football game. Guys tell stories about foot pursuits and fights from the night before. You can smell the fragrance of foot powder, sweaty t-shirts and vest covers that haven’t washed in a decade. There is laughter and joking (some ones lock was glued to the door or boots were nailed to the floor) and always bravado. Lots of it. Yeah, it’s going to be a good shift!
Tom J and his partner Mark P were fired up after leaving the sub. Line-up was out of control as usual. The relentless ribbing of a guy who came in with a few reports an FI and no arrests. As soon as lineup was finished it was a mad race to the fleet of black and white Ford Crown Vic’s with beefed up suspension, chicken bones under the front seat and sunflower seeds everywhere. I’m sure there was some Tobacco juice on the side of the car, probably over the “America’s Finest” logo, from some cop spitting out the window. The driver does a quick check of the back seat for discarded weapons or dope from the 10-16’s the night before, while the passenger officer jumps in the cockpit, fires up the on board computer and logs on.
I’m sure they sent a message to RC08, the dispatcher, “have 824King see the sergeant as soon as they log on.” You watch as they get out of the car and worriedly walk into the sergeant’s office thinking there is another CCF (Citizens complaint). They don’t remember cussing at anyone in the past few days. The parolee they punched deserved it. The message senders laugh as they pull out of the sub.
It was in this environment Tom J and Mark P pulled onto 43rd. Mark yells to Tommy, “Lets get some! Lets go! Yehaw! Tom is fired up too. The part time his school referee and full time crime fighter for emphasis punches the windshield. “Yeah!” When he does the windshield cracks then evaporates into small shards of popcorn. Shocked at what just happened they both begin to laugh. “How you gonna explain this to sarge?”
Well I’m fired up about something too. I’ve been spiritually challenged and am ready to punch out a windshield. There are a lot of cops who are cops in name only. They go out into the field, shag a couple of calls, write a report or two then go home. Not the Tom Joy’s of the world. They are on the hunt for 10 hours. You have to tell them to shut it down and go home. They are my kind of cops. While everyone else is having code 7, Tom is tracking down One Eyed Dave, an attempt murder fugitive that half of the FBI is looking for. Tom found him in upper Michigan hiding in a trailer. Its a long story for another day.
James the brother of the Lord wrote letters to his fellow Jews who were dispersed. There was intense persecution. Some were playing Christianity. They were Christians in name only. James calls them on it. In James 2 he rips into them and says, “Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action is dead.” There goes the windshield. Boom. Wait! What kind of action is God looking for? Read James and figure out what kind of action God expects of us…It’s time to get fired up.
Muy Fuego…Its time to get fired up!
A
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