Last night I went on a Ride-Along with the Carlsbad Police Department. Those guys are a ton of fun, and I'd gladly do it again.. Although next time I plan on going on a Friday or Saturday night downtown so I can see some of the more crazy action.

When I first got to the station, I arrived just in time to sit in on a report made by this teenager who was beaten the crap out of for his iPod. A big gang jumped him, and one of the perps even stomped on his head! Ouch! The poor kid was struggling to give an accurate description of what happened, but it was obvious that he was really fuzzy headed from being bashed around so much. The officers wanted everything taken care of as soon as possible so they could get a warrant to get the guys.

Then I got in a car with one of the officers to go out on patrol. The first thing we come across is this SUV trying to turn around in the middle of a busy street, but not doing a very good job of it. Finally the vehicle got turned around, and started traveling all over the road, really slow. So we pull him over. The minute the SUV parks, the guy behind the wheel GETS OUT OF HIS CAR and starts walking towards the patrol car. The officer yelled at him to get his ass back in the car, and at first the guy didn't seem to understand what she was saying. When she pulled out the gun he scrambled back into his seat. Turns out he was from Germany, spoke VERY little English, and was completely lost. Idiot.

After that we go to a supermarket where another officer is taking a shoplifting report and reprimanding the girl who did it. She was a complete wreck, crying so hard she couldn't even speak. The store manager let her off easy, telling her she was welcome back in the store only if she started paying for stuff instead of stealing it. It was pretty obvious that she had a serious eating disorder. She was skinnier than Calista Flockhart - complete skin and bones (AND TALLER THAN ME). Her jeans were barely hanging off of her, it was so sad. The officers were trying to convince her to get some help if she couldn't help but steal stuff all the time. When both of the officers and I left the grocery store, I explained to them that she probably was a binge-and-purger, judging by the size of her body and all the candy and fatty snacks that were stuffed in her purse. Then I told them what would happen to her body if she continued. They turned a little green on that one lol.

Then we responded to a theft call at a restaurant. A Marine who had just returned from Iraq walked out from having dinner to discover that his brand-spanking new motorcycle was NOT parked where he left it. That has to really suck. Hopefully they'll find it in one piece.

After that it was random stuff like speeding, registration issues, noise complaints, yadda yadda. Oh, and we also made a recruit walk into a grocery store in full uniform and buy us some Peeps (those sugar-covered marshmallow easter things) just for the heck of it. Someone else had some Jelly Bellys, so we were feeding random flavors to other officers and watching their reactions. Hard work, huh?

All in all I had a really great time. The people in the department are all really cool and FAR from uptight, which is always a plus. I highly recommend anyone to go on a ride-along, even if it's just for fun. Very entertaining stuff.