Allegedly True Police Stories – Series
POLICEMAN OF THE YEAR
> 6:45 am – Bladensburg
He opened his left eye to daylight streaming through the bedroom windows. For a second, all was right with the world. Then, “shit, I’m late,” he yelled out loud. The sun had risen at 6:31 am, and he was due for work at 7 am, a thirty-minute drive on a good day but just a tad longer during rush hour traffic.
Police Officer D.W. Forth had been with the Department for over a year. And during that time, he had been late for work 45 times. Even he was amazed when the District 1 Commander, John Lent, read out after number 45 to him during the two’s chat about his little problem. He would have been late to that meeting, but the Captain had dispatched two officers, Mike Putnam (6’2″ & about 220 ) and John April (6’4 1/2″ coming in at 247 ), to D.W.’s apartment to pick him up. All three walked into the Captain’s office an entire minute early.
It wasn’t his fault! He had never been on time in his entire life. He once explained his minor failing in a composition assigned by his 11th grade English teacher for being tardy, that there are parallel universes in the great cosmos. And that one of the other universes had, for some unknown reason, become just a little off, time-wise, from ours. And that the other D.W., in that other whatever universe, was the problem, not him. The other D.W. was late, so he had no choice but to be late. Mrs. Holsopple enjoyed the explanation but still issued D.W. two hours of detention. During his last year in high school, D.W. was late so often that he had to go to summer school to graduate.
Usually, being tardy so many times in one’s first year on a job would cause termination, much less a transfer and a shit mark on his record forever. But, there are always buts in police work. D.W. was the nephew of Charles L. Sanders, who was Chairman of the Board, CEO, Owner, and whatever else of the largest Bank in the State. Plus, he was very influential in County politics and, to top it off, a close personal friend of the Police Commissioner, and no one wanted to step on his toes. So his Sergeant, John Myers Lent, had few resources available to remove D.W. or transfer him to another district. But he did know the police union president, his third cousin on his mother’s side. So Lent invited his third cousin for a beer at the union lodge to discuss what was to him a serious matter.
Three days later, ‘third cousin’ had one of his staff call the Police Commissioner’s right-hand man, Albert George Clag. Mr. Clag was advised that the union would not be very supportive in the upcoming Contract Negotiations if he gave Lent any shit about transferring D.W. So at 5 pm on the first Friday after the little message, a teletype announced D.W.s transferred to District 3 for one of District 3’s Shit Birds, of course. Sort of a ‘quid pro quo’ if you will.
> 6:45 am – Riverdale
Squad 31 Sergeant Grover collected reports as usual at Riverdale Plaza after a very long midnight shift. The Squad was lined up in their cruisers to hand their police reports when all heard the sound of gunshots. For that one brief second, everyone wondered if they were gunshots. But there was no mistaking the sounds; they were gunshots.
The gunshots were coming from across the intersection at Route 410 & Kenilworth Avenue at the McDonalds. Ronald Pamp fired three shots from his Smith & Wesson into the head of Alex Wiff. In an interview later in the day at Major Crimes, Pamp stated that a grey 1957 Volvo, driven by the former Mr. Wiff, had cut him off in traffic while both were on Route 410 about half a mile west of US Route. He said he had followed the Volvo to the McDonald’s parking lot. Before Mr. Wiff could exit the Volvo, Pamp exited his newly painted 59 Ford Fairlane 500, a beautiful golden brown (5 coats), with a .38 caliber Smith & Wesson in hand. Pamp quickly walked up to the Volvo’s driver’s door. With malice aforethought, he shot the driver twice in the left temple, and as he returned to his vehicle, he fired one round into the rear trunk of the Volvo. Pamp got back in his car and took off towards the B&W Parkway. Once on the B&W, he headed south until the Annapolis Road exit.
The first Squad 31 car on the scene arrived 27 seconds [ it takes several seconds to throw one’s coffee out the driver’s window, start the engine, step on the gas, and then steer straight across the street ] after the shots and 13 seconds after the Golden Brown Ford took off up Riverdale Road in heavy traffic. The Officer in the first unit on the scene tried to give CPR, but Mr. Wiff was dead. The second unit, arriving a nano-second after the first, put out a BOLO of the suspect vehicle. Several squad cars from Squad 31 headed up Riverdale Road but were blocked by several minor accidents caused by a brown Ford darting in and out of traffic. Layman’s terms: Bad guy got away.
> Just about 6:51 am – Seat Pleasant Station
Sergeant Brady of Squad 51, District 3, waited patiently for his new favorite shirt-bird to appear for roll call. As usual, in cases like this, he was at the podium, humming Amassing Grace while tapping his left index finger on the side of his left leg. A sure sign he was pissed, unfortunately, shit-bird, aka D.W. Forth, was late, believe it or not, again for roll call. Two tardies in two days.
> Just after 7:01 am – Bladensburg
D.W. was stuck in traffic at 57th and Annapolis Road. D.W. had no gun, which he forgot as he rushed out the door and was on the wrong police channel, two instead of one, broadcasting in the area where he sat in traffic. General Order 32-178 stated that officers were supposed to be on the district channel in which they were located. So, of course, D.W. did not know about the shooting at MacDonalds or the broadcast for a golden-brown Ford.
As he waited for traffic to move through the intersection, he could only think of one thing: “I will be fired for sure.” Then, just as the traffic light turned green and he was about to press on the accelerator, he nearly jumped out of the driver’s seat when someone banged on his closed driver’s side window. D.W. looked to his left and saw the biggest handgun in the world pointed directly at him. By instinct, he grabbed for his forgotten service revolver. When he realized he didn’t have it, D.W. froze stiff and thought he was dead.
“No, No, Officer, I am not going to shoot you. I want to give myself up for shooting some guy.” said the voice coming from the gun. “Here, take it.”
D.W. sat there frozen, unable to move.
In a panic voice, “Officer, here, take my gun, I killed someone,” said Pamp. Then, getting no reply from the Officer, he reached inside the car and shook the Officer’s left shoulder. Then, finally, D.W. came to life. The tardier took the weapon very gingerly while hoping he had not shit his – well, you know.
Then, in a loud voice yelled, “Back away from the car and get down on your knees. Pamp complied. When he was on his knees, he started to shake.
D.W. did have his handcuffs and placed them on the wrist of the ‘bad guy.’ Then, without thinking, he grabbed his ‘mike’ and yelled out, “ID 4719, I just caught a murderer. I’m at 57th and Annapolis. Get me a backup, now”
Within two minutes, he had every patrol car in the sector surrounding him.
> 7:15 am – Seat Pleasant
Sergeant Brady happily completed the Squad’s daily roster and marked D.W. AWOL. He daydreamed about the police trial board and D.W. being fired. His daydream was interrupted by the station clerk Elizebeth Taylor with a news flash.
No, not that Elizabeth Taylor, but Elizabeth Taylor of Capitol Heights, Maryland, a Seaton Girls High School 1967 graduate, deemed most likely to make it big in the ‘Under Ground’ film industry. Well, she was on her way when she met a boy, who was 19, if that is still considered a boy, of her dreams, forgot the diaphragm, and still asked herself how that happened one hot and steamy summer night. Elizabeth lost track of lover boy when he joined the Navy. She settled into single motherhood and got a job as the District 3 station clerk, paying a tad better than minimum wage, but the benefits were great. Elizabeth was sleeping with her third and current District Commander. She had gone through two other station Commanders before the current ‘Mister Wonderful.’ With each Commander, her ‘lot in life’ improved. The prior two requested transfer soon after starting their courtship with MS Tayor. Oh, yes, The two dear departed former lovers had set her up. One paid for a two-bedroom apartment monthly and the other bought a new Buick, in her name.
Sorry, I got sidetracked there! Where was I? Yes, the Award Ceremony.
> Fast Forward 8 Weeks, 1 Day, and 13 hours – Department Headquarters Multi-Purpose Room
The crowd of precisely 68 people was seated, listening to the Commissioner extolling the virtue of heads-up police work. Truthfully, at least 51 attendees were always at any of the Commissioner’s speeches. The audience consisted of members of the Command Staff, Admin Clerks from various departments, on-duty custodial staff were assigned to attend, and a few current Academy Class members ( the larger the Academy Class, the more attendees! ). They sat in the back and clapped on cue. The real audience consisted of 17 regular citizens who were alleged family members and, of course, one local press member.
D.W. was given a medal for heroism and a plaque that will forever and a day hang in the Halls of Heroes at Headquarters. D.W.’s touched-up picture and above the plaque that read “Police Officer of the Year.”
