911:: Gangs & Worries

[Guest guest]

Been a hoppin' full-moon end-of-summer Labor Day Holiday week-

end featuring my favorite Asian gangs. Lots of fun. Nights

are busy enough that I get here, then see my relief come thru

the door. " Is it that time already? Geez, that twelve hours

went by fast.

A local Vietnamese club imported a popular (among those of

Viet heritage) singer and her band from California. We had

dozens of fights and lots of arrests in the wee hours of

Saturday morning. Saturday night was even more fun. One

of our local gang bosses, newly out of state prison after

serving a few years of a 5-life for malicious wounding,

tried to intimidate a member of a gang from Baltimore, MD

(by urniating on the man's shoe). The young man from

land and his friends objected to that insult and 'beat

the cr+p out of [name deleted to protect the guilty].'

So, after breaking up the brawl, our officers found local

gang leader bleeding and beaten. Does he want to make a

complaint? Of course not. " We will take care of it

ourselves. " Rumor is that both gangs procured a variety

of firearms with which to 'defend themselves' against any

further loss of face. So...

I not only have my full shift but lots of plain clothes

folk, dressed up to blend in with gang members. Let's see.

Gang members with guns. Police officers with guns dressed up

like gang members with guns to watch the gang members with

guns. Adjacent jurisdiction with extra uniforms from their

gang unit a couple of blocks away and some unknown number of

members of the regional Asian Organized Crime Task Force,

also in costume to blend in.

So I'm sitting here in dispatch, listening to silence on

the radio as marked cruisers circulate round and round the

parking lots of the Galaxy and Eden Center, breaking up

the clusters of gang members outside and walking through

the clubs to try to keep things calm by 'presence.' No

traffic stops, no routine BS. Just waiting. I hate

waiting.

I also dislike having so many law enforcement officers in

plain clothes wandering around and trying to blend in with

gang members who, very likely, are armed with firearms.

It's a lot easier for everyone being able to shoot at

anyone with a gun who's not in a police uniform. In a

situation like this, it's too easy for a plain clothes to

take fire from uniforms when the stuff hits the fan.

Waiting, feeling the acid eating holes in my stomach. By

morning, I'm going to need to burn up a whole lot of

adrenolin. Gotta get to the gym if things don't blow up

tonight. Gotta get to the gym it they do, too. Waiting

for something. Waiting for the radio to crackle. Wishing

it was a normal night again. Oh, the boss just let me

know that intelligence units in two other departments let

him know that they independently got info that there's

going " to be lots of shooting at the Galaxy tonight. "

Great.

Radio still hasn't crackled. Still waiting. Maybe I should

call for a radio check, just to be... Nope. K-9 unit just

marked out to walk her dog before it gets too close to

closing time at the Galaxy. The radio works. More

waiting. More antacids. I hate waiting.

Always take good care of yourself and yours,

Calls occur randomly.. all at the same time!

R J 'Tree' Greenwood

doctree@...

doctree@... on 911-Talk

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