Night Shift. Graveyard. Midnights. Whatever you call it, it's pretty much the same. You go to work when it's dark, it stays dark for your entire shift, and you get off work when it's dark. It's usually the slower time of the day, especially from about 0100 to 0500.
So what do cops do during this "down time"?
Well, unfortunately some cops sleep. I have never slept on duty, and I wouldn't.
So, cops being children at heart, sometimes we play.
One game we sometimes play is spotlight tag. I'll shine my spotlight at another officer, then I'll drive away. They have to catch up with me and "tag" me with their spotlight, then they drive away. It can go on for a while if it's a really slow night.
One of my favorites is hide and seek. Usually, the rules are that you cannot hide behind a locked gate or chain, once hidden you can't move to another place, and you have to truthfully answer three yes or no questions. Once an officer (with patrol car) is hidden, he or she will send out an MDC message to the other officers. Sometimes with a clue, sometimes with a time limit.
Usually the three questions consist of two general direction questions (such as "Are you north of Main Street?" or "Are you in Beat 3?"), and the third question is just a guess based on the first two ("Are you in the park?").
The first officer to find the hider gets to hide next. I have some pretty wicked hiding places. I once hid on a public street and wasn't found for 45 minutes.
Some folks will read this and be absolutely appalled at the thought of their tax dollars paying for such antics, but I disagree. I have found some of my best arrests while looking for other officers. I mean, really, we are still patrolling, right? I mean, I'm looking into every crack and crevice for whoever is hiding there.
Just because we're having a little fun at work doesn't mean we aren't doing our job...
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13 comments:
rotfl That's hilarious!
Ooooh, can't wait 'til the chowsky dude gets ahold of THIS post. LOL
I'm very curious now as to what our local boys do...
I'm going to have to ask.
Hey...whatever it takes to stay awake and alert.
So very true! ;) Just don't give away ALL the hiding secrets!
No problems from this civvie. Stay awake, stay alert... sounds like the games are skill builders, anyway. The best ones are.
LOL! I wondered how you guys filled up your time at night:)
lol Just don't do that when there's a ride-along!
That's awesome! I think its great that you guys do this on taxpayer money. Keeps you alert and keeps your mind sharp. My son wants to be a cop in a couple of years (17years old now) and I hope he has fun while he's working, too!
Working in a rural area, there are lots of down times, not just on the midnight shift either. So I know exactly what you mean. Their downtime is usually just BSing at a gas station, the cop hang out.
I'm going to have to tell my hubs about cop car hide and seek though, that sounds so fun!!
Ooooh, can't wait 'til the chowsky dude gets ahold of THIS post. LOL
Here, like in the previous post about having the windows down and the a/c up there is nothing to be appalled about. Interesting posts, but I just don't see a problem with either thing. Officer Smith explains the benefits of the hide and seek game well, and, as long as it doesn't get out of hand (and I have no reason to believe it does get out of hand), then it sounds just fine to me.
Hide and seek sounds like a great time! I'm envious...
Ooooohhh....I'm jealous! Sounds like a lot more fun than sitting around the station. Some nights, I'd prefer that over sleeping, then again, I pace a lot because we're so slow.
Oh I'm SOOOOOOOOO glad that Davey approves!!! Goodness knows that without that approval, your games might have to end!
Ok, sarcasm over. I thought this was hilarious. I called my husband over to read it and after the 2nd paragraph or so he said something about "tax dollars" so he chuckled when he got down to where you said that. :) Sounds like y'all keep your job fun! :)
Keep up the good work! :)
Let he who has not screwed off at work in an attempt to stave off mind-numbing boredom, cast the first stone.
As long as you're not so wound up in finding your fellow officer that you miss something going down right under your nose, what's the problem?
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