Your emotions while serving search warrants range from anxiety and excitement to routine boredom. Falling into routine boredom gets you into trouble. Not from an officer safety standpoint, even the most experienced investigators once they are in the stick (lined up to assault the building), are tapped up with guns at the ready warp into hypersensitive intense war machines. It’s after you gave your knock and notice at the top of your vocal capacity; the door knocker gets thrown to the ground after leaving the cheap door in splinters; you flowed through the fatal funnel; you’ve run the walls and dug the corners looking for lethal threats; you’ve screamed get on the ground in English and Spanish only to be looked at like you are from Mars; you’ve pointed you gun at people who see the intensity of your demeanor, you’ve handcuffed everyone in the house and rendered it safe…that’s when it gets dangerous.
The case agent divides up the duties for the team. Billy, search the back bedroom. Wayne you search the kitchen including all the cereal boxes. They hide rock cocaine in Rice Puffs. Marc, take the living room and watch the prisoners. When you find product just leave it in place. I’ll come and photo graph it and collect it for evidence. Billy began his search and found something interesting, but he did not call it out to the case agent. It was about three feet tall, 8” in diameter, had a cone over the top, a long stick coming out the bottom and a fuse. What the heck is this? It’s not the 4th of July.
Across the canyon the balcony was filled with on lookers. People frequently gather around to watch the festivities of their neighbors, possible competitors getting cuffed and taken away. You never know you might happen to catch a police shooting on your iPhone and sell it to the local news station. They yell a few obscenities at the officers; poke fun at those cuffed up and are silently grateful it’s not them who sold to a UC. After the dynamic entry and screaming is over they filter back into the honey comb apartments to watch their soaps, get their drink on or cook up a cookie of rock cocaine.
Detectives work inside out. Once the house is done you check the yard. Guns under the dog house, money buried under the tree (hence money tree) dope in the discarded washing machine is not uncommon. Every once in a while you find a crook hiding under the tarp or in the dog house. While the detectives are in the back yard, Billy went back in the house. One of the remaining detectives cynically said, “Figures, Billy has to go the bathroom again when there’s work to be done.” Cops pee in some of the most awful places on Earth.
A few seconds later he came back out with his prize possession. He stuck the tail stick in the ground and began patting his pockets looking for matches. He found a lighter. That will do. Half laughing and part pleading, Marc and Wayne pled with Billy not to light the fuse. Too late, they could see the sparks falling from the 3’ tall, commercial grade pyrotechnic rocket. Billy ran from the scene as Marc and Wayne stood there, frozen in awe and fear. The rocket rose slowly from the ground to an elevation of 20’. It slowly turned horizontal and accelerated to the speed of sound eastward. It headed directly toward the balcony of the honey combed apartments. Fear turned to panic as all three detectives ran for obscurity. Too late...Kaboom! The explosion of purple, red and green sparks lit up the apartments in the closest display of fire works the residents had ever seen. Kids shrilled with delight, mothers scrambled for children and gangsters hit the floor. (They are conditioned to do so with any loud gun sounding noise.) The detectives checked for injuries and promised to identify the persons responsible for this travesty. Thankful no one was hurt or killed the detectives yelled at Billy who promised not to get bored so easily.
I’ve often thought about why 5,000 men came to the edge of the sea of Galilee to hear Jesus speak. They stayed there so long Jesus needed to feed them. John 6. I know he spoke with authority they had never seen before. That he healed the sick and hurting. That he called men to forgiveness and then forgave their sin. They stayed because all of that boiled and created excitement. Yet too often we are the bored detective in the backyard looking for man made excitement and pleasure. The people of Jesus’ day watched a revolution in progress. Nothing is more exciting than revolution. There are political revolutions, personal revolutions and spiritual ones. That revolution is still available to each of us today. Just light the wick of commitment to the Savior, and watch the fireworks of what God can do through you.
Kaboom! That’s the Christian life I want.
The case agent divides up the duties for the team. Billy, search the back bedroom. Wayne you search the kitchen including all the cereal boxes. They hide rock cocaine in Rice Puffs. Marc, take the living room and watch the prisoners. When you find product just leave it in place. I’ll come and photo graph it and collect it for evidence. Billy began his search and found something interesting, but he did not call it out to the case agent. It was about three feet tall, 8” in diameter, had a cone over the top, a long stick coming out the bottom and a fuse. What the heck is this? It’s not the 4th of July.
Across the canyon the balcony was filled with on lookers. People frequently gather around to watch the festivities of their neighbors, possible competitors getting cuffed and taken away. You never know you might happen to catch a police shooting on your iPhone and sell it to the local news station. They yell a few obscenities at the officers; poke fun at those cuffed up and are silently grateful it’s not them who sold to a UC. After the dynamic entry and screaming is over they filter back into the honey comb apartments to watch their soaps, get their drink on or cook up a cookie of rock cocaine.
Detectives work inside out. Once the house is done you check the yard. Guns under the dog house, money buried under the tree (hence money tree) dope in the discarded washing machine is not uncommon. Every once in a while you find a crook hiding under the tarp or in the dog house. While the detectives are in the back yard, Billy went back in the house. One of the remaining detectives cynically said, “Figures, Billy has to go the bathroom again when there’s work to be done.” Cops pee in some of the most awful places on Earth.
A few seconds later he came back out with his prize possession. He stuck the tail stick in the ground and began patting his pockets looking for matches. He found a lighter. That will do. Half laughing and part pleading, Marc and Wayne pled with Billy not to light the fuse. Too late, they could see the sparks falling from the 3’ tall, commercial grade pyrotechnic rocket. Billy ran from the scene as Marc and Wayne stood there, frozen in awe and fear. The rocket rose slowly from the ground to an elevation of 20’. It slowly turned horizontal and accelerated to the speed of sound eastward. It headed directly toward the balcony of the honey combed apartments. Fear turned to panic as all three detectives ran for obscurity. Too late...Kaboom! The explosion of purple, red and green sparks lit up the apartments in the closest display of fire works the residents had ever seen. Kids shrilled with delight, mothers scrambled for children and gangsters hit the floor. (They are conditioned to do so with any loud gun sounding noise.) The detectives checked for injuries and promised to identify the persons responsible for this travesty. Thankful no one was hurt or killed the detectives yelled at Billy who promised not to get bored so easily.
I’ve often thought about why 5,000 men came to the edge of the sea of Galilee to hear Jesus speak. They stayed there so long Jesus needed to feed them. John 6. I know he spoke with authority they had never seen before. That he healed the sick and hurting. That he called men to forgiveness and then forgave their sin. They stayed because all of that boiled and created excitement. Yet too often we are the bored detective in the backyard looking for man made excitement and pleasure. The people of Jesus’ day watched a revolution in progress. Nothing is more exciting than revolution. There are political revolutions, personal revolutions and spiritual ones. That revolution is still available to each of us today. Just light the wick of commitment to the Savior, and watch the fireworks of what God can do through you.
Kaboom! That’s the Christian life I want.
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