Kevin! Is it Really You?

There I was looking at my computer when up popped an add for Netflix. In the ad was the dashing hero seen to the right. That's right. Our man Kevin. But alas, upon further reflection, I have to conclude that it's just a look alike. Close though, don't you think?

Dining Room Before and After

Here are four views of our dining room. The first two are from about the same perspective as are the last two.

Story #2

Sometimes adaptability and thinking on your feet are as important as training when dealing with unusual lwa enforcement situations.

One morning I was called to the scene of a standoff between officers and an ADW (assault with a deadly weapon) suspect. The suspect was on the roof of the family garage in the backyard of the residence. He was holding a shovel and swinging it at officers who tried to get too close.

The suspect had beat up his brother a few hours earlier and was now cornered (so to speak) by the police.

So, we couldn't really shoot him because he was trapped and couldn't get away. We couldn't get close enough to use pepper spray or a taser. What to do?

One of the officers at the location noticed a garden hose and wondered if we couldn't just hose the suspect down from afar. It was a pretty cold morning for southern California and soaking the suspect actually seemed like a sound idea. So we hosed him down and about two minutes later (or sooner) he agreed to throw down his shovel and surrender.

Adam G. Partridge, Esq.

Our youngest son, Adam,who is an Officer in the Judge Advocate General (JAG) Corps of the United States Navy, found out this evening that he has passed the California Bar Examination. He also graduated today from Officer Development Training at the Navy War College in Newport, Rhode Island. After a stretch at home in San Jose and Long Beach during the holiday season, he will embark on his career as a Navy lawyer early next year.

We are proud of him and excited for him!

Story From the Streets of Southeast LA #1

In 1995, I was a happy motor cop working with my partner Bill Rugh in the Northeast Area of LA (Los Feliz, Highland Park, Silver Lake). I was 11M52 and Bill was 11M51. Life was good and then I was promoted to the rank of sergeant by then Chief of Police Willie Williams. On Saturday, July 15, 1995, I was 11M52. The next day, July 16, I was 18L70, a Field Supervisor in Southeast (Watts, etc.).

Don't get me wrong. I wanted to promote and I had quite a bit of experience in South Los Angeles, but it was an uncomfortable transition for the following reasons:

1. Motor Officers on LAPD earn two salary steps above what other officers of the same rank earn plus I was making "longevity pay" (one additional salary step) for having been on the job for at least twenty years. In other words I was earning three steps above base pay for a policeman. When you promote, the city starts you in your new rank at one salary step above your current base pay grade, not including the two steps I had been earning for being a motor cop, and you lose longevity pay. So essentially I went from a policeman plus three steps to a sergeant at two steps lower. A cut in take home pay of right at $100 a payday (2 weeks. You get it back eventually but it's difficult at first.

2. Motor Officers take their motorcycles home and don't have to pay any of the costs, such as gas. That was worth about $350 a month to me because we didn't need a second car for me to commute to work in. As a patrol field sergeant, I had to get to work on my own meaning I needed a second car.

3. The last time I was assigned to patrol as a policeman was in 1975. Since then, i had worked as a traffic collision investigator, research writer, legislative analyst, driver training instructor and thirteen years as a motor cop.

So there I was on a Sunday morning in one of the busiest, violent areas in the world and I was one of two field supervisors.

At about 10:00 AM, I was called to 104th Street and central Avenue. Two of our A-cars had responded to a bomb threat call at the County welfare office building there. The officers wanted to know if they should evacuate the four story building or not. I asked if we had met with the ranking person in the building yet or not. The officers had not. There was also a County security force stationed at the building. I requested that the officer in charge of that force and the highest ranking manager on site meet with me.

I explained that my position was that the decision was theirs as to what to do and that we would help them any way we could. we determined through contacting 911 that the call had come from a pay phone in the lobby of the building and that the pay phone was near a permanently stationed county security person. Based on that information and the nature of the people who frequent the facility (welfare recipients, some of whom are disgruntled for various reasons), I stated that I believed it was likely the bomb threat was a hoax but it was their call.

We did not evacuate the building but did a walk-through visual inspection finding nothing suspicious. That was all we did and fortunately nothing happened. Today, we would definitely have a bomb squad response but that was 1995. Things have changed.

Comment On Blogs

Several people have told me they read this blog and enjoy it (usually). One way to make it even more interesting is if readers provide "Comments" from time to time. I think that more often than not, my blogs don't inspire much in the way of responses or comments, but anyone who reads this blog is encouraged to comment whenever you can think of anything to add or a question to ask. It could add a great deal to making it even more interesting than it might already be.

Gas Prices going down... really down

Back on July 31, 2008, a few days after arriving here in Louisville, I saw that gas was a lot cheaper here than in California where the prices were around $5.00 a gallon in some areas.

We had begun feeling pretty good about the price of gas among other things.





Everyone who drives knows that gas has been going down everywhere (I hope), but this picture in this morning's Louisville Courier journal represents a level that we never dreamed we would see again.
I don't imagine it will last, but we can always hope.