The Real Law and Order: Special Victims Unit
Preface: What you are about to read is a real tale from the CPD. While the accounts may make you think or remind you of yo' hood or your baby cousin or you or yo' baby's daddy, please read at your own discretion. The opinions expressed in this piece are not to be confused with those of Santiago or Blogger as an institution. This piece is by an anonymous author. In other words, no vayan a chismosiar por alli cabrones.
******Law and Order: Special Victims Unit************
Hello folks, I felt inspired to write to you folks because of what I encountered at work today. I hope you find it as interesting as I did. BUT, in order to TRULY get the feel of my job, strap on a Kevlar vest, sign away your life w/ a ton of waivers and take a ride-along. You won’t be disappointed. I’ve concluded it’s a front row seat to Jerry Springer, Maury, and Judge Mathis. ************************************************
You gotta hear about a job I went on.
While finishing up a “street stop” in our beat, we were dispatched to an elementary school to do a CSA- criminal sexual assault. I remember taking in a deep breath and letting out a sigh, thinking what could potentially lie ahead for my partner and I.
Before entering the school, we opened up our incident reporting guides, a listing of criminal offenses, to determine the classification of a potential CSA based on the age of our victim- 13yrs old. The remarks that were displayed on our radio/computer dispatch read that a 13yr old boy reportedly was raped.
Upon entering the school’s office, we met with the principal, counselor, and case worker, along with the mother of the child. I flipped open my notepad and began to jot down cliff notes of the account. According to the mother, she started to see a decline in his academic performance in January and a loss of general interest. About a week ago, the boy mentioned a man was bothering him. She set a meeting up to meet with the school’s case worker regarding this issue. On today’s date, the boy had been dropped off by the mother, but the boy never attended classes. He was approached by the principal at the end of the day when he reappeared at the school. The principal asked where he was all day, and that’s when the boy fell silent. He finally scribbled on a note pad that he was threatened by someone, made to smoke crack and was raped- three fragmented comments on a yellow notepad. That’s when we got called. The principal relayed what the boy told her, that two men had taken him to an apartment, made to smoke cocaine, and had forced him to have sex with another girl while they took pictures.
We gathered this info, called our sergeant and called the SVU- special victims unit. We got general info from the detectives and our sergeant was on his way over. My partner and I decided to talk to him before our sergeant got there. We started slow, asking b.s. questions, attempting to establish rapport. We took our time asking him questions, questions that led our investigation towards the direction of any criminal acts. We got to the point where he described being at an apartment with the two guys and the smell of an odd smoke… we were thinking it could be crack. He was not making eye contact, kept very still, and didn’t offer too much info.
When the sergeant arrived we filled him in. My partner stepped out for a bit, and I was left to talk to him for a while. I turned away from the investigation and began to talk to him about anything; school, sports and where he wanted to go to high school. My sergeant entered and that’s when his interrogation began. Unlike us, he was very direct, brought up comments the parents made and began to ask him questions. The boy began to talk, describing the first encounter with this man that approached him. Sarge began to grill him about little details, what was said, when it happened, who was around… shooting off questions as if the kid was an offender. It seemed a bit harsh at first, but he was directing the inquiry at a much faster pace than we were going. In hindsight, it would have probably taken us the entire day at our pace.
Well, I found out where he was going with his questioning after a while… our sergeant told the boy directly, "I believe you are lying". Sarge had pulled out a few inconsistent statements out of the boy and the boy started getting defensive. Our sergeant got to a point that he told the boy, "Son...I don't believe this story and I think it is time you start telling us the truth or you're about to face some serious issues". Sarge walked out of the room, by this time there was enough doubt to pursue it, but no real direction or motive behind his potential lies; sarge needed more info so he was checking facts with the parents and school officials. He sat back down with the boy and began to question him once more, this time stepping up the questions. More questions, more inconsistencies. It got to the point that the boy claimed that police had come to the apartment and had taken some guys away, and had driven him home.
His story finally unraveled in front of our sergeant that he offered an ultimatum to the boy. Sarge threatened him to have him arrested if he didn’t tell us (my partner and I) the truth when he left the room. The boy tried to defend himself by saying “I’m not lying” as Sarge started to make his way out the room.
…… about 2hrs had passed since our initial arrival……
My partner began to question the boy harshly, and the boy, knowing that he had been cornered and uncovered, confessed. This was the real reason that was uncovered:
He began to sell weed for the dope boys to get enough money to buy Xbox games. He would skip school, pick up “the work” and go about a block away from the school to sell weed. He would then get enough money over a period of time, walk over to a game shop down the street and buy video games. This story matched and explained the recent truancies on his school records. On those days, he would either be selling weed, or playing video games at home. Once done, he would make his way back to school. He managed to sneak out of the house on a weekend while mom was sleeping. (Mom, meanwhile is packing UPS truck for $10/hr providing for the family). Just image the school principal’s reaction when she found this out, we where using her office to interview the child. She didn’t say a word as she was walking around. SHE WAS PISSED. They were handling their reports before we got there, staying after hours. It was nearing 7p.m. and she was still at work. I imagine her day began right around 6 or 7 a.m.
We filled out a small index card documenting the event, called DCFS for a follow-up with the parent.
I walked away impressed by the dedication this kid had to his lies- talk about conviction. Ask yourself this, as a kid, did you have what it takes to lie to school officials and police officers for the better part of 2-3 hours?
I learned a tremendous amount of info about the streets of Chicago. I felt like I was a meteorologist chasing after the “perfect storm.” I got to witness first hand the formation of a drug dealer. This kid had just begun to sell weed, about 2 weeks ago and because of his lies, I had the privilege of witnessing the birth of a dope boy. The elements? (1) the boy and his personal character (2) single mom/absent father (3) the dope-infested neighborhood (4) older dope dealing brother (5) dealers always looking for new kids to sell (6) buyers, local and suburban (7) love for video games.
Depending on your beliefs, you may think of him as a victim of our broken society, or someone accountable for his life, choosing not to work (or remain in school).
I don’t take a stand on this debate; I simply think: JOB SECURITY!
I LOVE MY JOB!!
******Law and Order: Special Victims Unit************
Hello folks, I felt inspired to write to you folks because of what I encountered at work today. I hope you find it as interesting as I did. BUT, in order to TRULY get the feel of my job, strap on a Kevlar vest, sign away your life w/ a ton of waivers and take a ride-along. You won’t be disappointed. I’ve concluded it’s a front row seat to Jerry Springer, Maury, and Judge Mathis. ************************************************
You gotta hear about a job I went on.
While finishing up a “street stop” in our beat, we were dispatched to an elementary school to do a CSA- criminal sexual assault. I remember taking in a deep breath and letting out a sigh, thinking what could potentially lie ahead for my partner and I.
Before entering the school, we opened up our incident reporting guides, a listing of criminal offenses, to determine the classification of a potential CSA based on the age of our victim- 13yrs old. The remarks that were displayed on our radio/computer dispatch read that a 13yr old boy reportedly was raped.
Upon entering the school’s office, we met with the principal, counselor, and case worker, along with the mother of the child. I flipped open my notepad and began to jot down cliff notes of the account. According to the mother, she started to see a decline in his academic performance in January and a loss of general interest. About a week ago, the boy mentioned a man was bothering him. She set a meeting up to meet with the school’s case worker regarding this issue. On today’s date, the boy had been dropped off by the mother, but the boy never attended classes. He was approached by the principal at the end of the day when he reappeared at the school. The principal asked where he was all day, and that’s when the boy fell silent. He finally scribbled on a note pad that he was threatened by someone, made to smoke crack and was raped- three fragmented comments on a yellow notepad. That’s when we got called. The principal relayed what the boy told her, that two men had taken him to an apartment, made to smoke cocaine, and had forced him to have sex with another girl while they took pictures.
We gathered this info, called our sergeant and called the SVU- special victims unit. We got general info from the detectives and our sergeant was on his way over. My partner and I decided to talk to him before our sergeant got there. We started slow, asking b.s. questions, attempting to establish rapport. We took our time asking him questions, questions that led our investigation towards the direction of any criminal acts. We got to the point where he described being at an apartment with the two guys and the smell of an odd smoke… we were thinking it could be crack. He was not making eye contact, kept very still, and didn’t offer too much info.
When the sergeant arrived we filled him in. My partner stepped out for a bit, and I was left to talk to him for a while. I turned away from the investigation and began to talk to him about anything; school, sports and where he wanted to go to high school. My sergeant entered and that’s when his interrogation began. Unlike us, he was very direct, brought up comments the parents made and began to ask him questions. The boy began to talk, describing the first encounter with this man that approached him. Sarge began to grill him about little details, what was said, when it happened, who was around… shooting off questions as if the kid was an offender. It seemed a bit harsh at first, but he was directing the inquiry at a much faster pace than we were going. In hindsight, it would have probably taken us the entire day at our pace.
Well, I found out where he was going with his questioning after a while… our sergeant told the boy directly, "I believe you are lying". Sarge had pulled out a few inconsistent statements out of the boy and the boy started getting defensive. Our sergeant got to a point that he told the boy, "Son...I don't believe this story and I think it is time you start telling us the truth or you're about to face some serious issues". Sarge walked out of the room, by this time there was enough doubt to pursue it, but no real direction or motive behind his potential lies; sarge needed more info so he was checking facts with the parents and school officials. He sat back down with the boy and began to question him once more, this time stepping up the questions. More questions, more inconsistencies. It got to the point that the boy claimed that police had come to the apartment and had taken some guys away, and had driven him home.
His story finally unraveled in front of our sergeant that he offered an ultimatum to the boy. Sarge threatened him to have him arrested if he didn’t tell us (my partner and I) the truth when he left the room. The boy tried to defend himself by saying “I’m not lying” as Sarge started to make his way out the room.
…… about 2hrs had passed since our initial arrival……
My partner began to question the boy harshly, and the boy, knowing that he had been cornered and uncovered, confessed. This was the real reason that was uncovered:
He began to sell weed for the dope boys to get enough money to buy Xbox games. He would skip school, pick up “the work” and go about a block away from the school to sell weed. He would then get enough money over a period of time, walk over to a game shop down the street and buy video games. This story matched and explained the recent truancies on his school records. On those days, he would either be selling weed, or playing video games at home. Once done, he would make his way back to school. He managed to sneak out of the house on a weekend while mom was sleeping. (Mom, meanwhile is packing UPS truck for $10/hr providing for the family). Just image the school principal’s reaction when she found this out, we where using her office to interview the child. She didn’t say a word as she was walking around. SHE WAS PISSED. They were handling their reports before we got there, staying after hours. It was nearing 7p.m. and she was still at work. I imagine her day began right around 6 or 7 a.m.
We filled out a small index card documenting the event, called DCFS for a follow-up with the parent.
I walked away impressed by the dedication this kid had to his lies- talk about conviction. Ask yourself this, as a kid, did you have what it takes to lie to school officials and police officers for the better part of 2-3 hours?
I learned a tremendous amount of info about the streets of Chicago. I felt like I was a meteorologist chasing after the “perfect storm.” I got to witness first hand the formation of a drug dealer. This kid had just begun to sell weed, about 2 weeks ago and because of his lies, I had the privilege of witnessing the birth of a dope boy. The elements? (1) the boy and his personal character (2) single mom/absent father (3) the dope-infested neighborhood (4) older dope dealing brother (5) dealers always looking for new kids to sell (6) buyers, local and suburban (7) love for video games.
Depending on your beliefs, you may think of him as a victim of our broken society, or someone accountable for his life, choosing not to work (or remain in school).
I don’t take a stand on this debate; I simply think: JOB SECURITY!
I LOVE MY JOB!!
posted by Santiago at 8:56 AM
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