Criminal - Ride-Along

Episode Date: November 2, 2018

We spend the day in a police car in Austin, Texas. For a transcript of this episode, send an email to [e-mail] with the episode name and number. Say hello on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Sign up for our occasional newsletter, The Accomplice. Artwork by Julienne Alexander. Check out our online shop. Criminal is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Please review us on Apple Podcasts! It’s an important way to help new listeners discover the show: iTunes.com/CriminalShow. We also make This is Love and Phoebe Reads a Mystery. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Botox Cosmetic, Adabotulinum Toxin A, FDA approved for over 20 years. So, talk to your specialist to see if Botox Cosmetic is right for you. For full prescribing information, including boxed warning, visit BotoxCosmetic.com or call 877-351-0300. Remember to ask for Botox Cosmetic by name. To see for yourself and learn more, visit BotoxCosmetic.com. That's BotoxCosmetic.com. Support for Criminal comes from Apple Podcasts. Each month, Apple Podcasts highlights one series

worth your attention, and they call these series essentials. This month, they recommend Wondery's Ghost Story, a seven-part series that follows journalist Tristan Redman as he tries to get to the bottom of a ghostly presence in his childhood home. His investigation takes him on a journey involving

homicide detectives, ghost hunters, and even psychic mediums, and leads him to a dark secret about his own family. Check out Ghost Story, a series essential pick, completely ad-free on Apple Podcasts. Well, it's 7.54 a.m.

I am standing outside of the Jamie Padron Police substation in North Austin. I got here at 6.30, but as I was told to, I got here at 6.30 but as I was told to I got here at 6.30 the Uber dropped me off it was dark and I called the sergeant and then the deputy sergeant as I was told to do

and they didn't answer so I found a police officer who seemed to be testing his taser on the top of his cop car and I asked if he knew where I went to go on a ride-along. And he took me inside and he said, wait right here. And then at 7.30, I started looking in any little window I could find in the abandoned police station waiting room.

And then at 7.40, I decided I'd go outside, which means now I've been locked out of the police station, and there are no cop cars here. And now I'm just standing outside of the police station. Well, I'm in here now. Someone came and got me. They thought I was a citizen police academy member, and so they said I got lost in the shuffle.

And I'm in an evidence room. It looks like an evidence-detailed room. I said I was with the media, and the deputy sergeant said no one ever told her someone was coming from the media today and so I'm just I'm just looking at all these different types of evidence bags for years I've wanted more than anything to ride along with a police officer,

just to see everything that happens, what the job is actually like. I'm very interested in work, what people do every day in their jobs. And so I was so happy to finally be at a police station in Austin, Texas. They told me I could see everything that happened in that car during an entire shift, 6.30 a.m. to 4.30 p.m. A patrol sergeant came and got me, introduced me to Officer Edward Ruff, and we started our day. I'm Phoebe Judge.

This is Criminal. Do you think that many police officers are wary of speaking with reporters and press? Yes. Why? Why? I mean, I wouldn't do it if I wasn't a police officer. I mean, it's just something I would not seek after to want to be on some kind of media format. I think that's just based on the individual. There's some guys that love, uh, social media and talking and all that kind of stuff. I'm a quiet guy. I don't really like,

I don't really, you know, I don't really do all that. And here I am here. I'm in this car with you, this big microphone. Don't get me wrong. I'm sociable. I don't mind conversing with anybody, but it's just, it can be a very uncomfortable feeling when a microphone, you know, you don't want to be misunderstood and all that kind of stuff. Do you ever talk to that, to try to reassure someone who you have in the back of the car you've had to arrest? Or do you not really talk i i tend to talk to them because i'm uh uh you know because i'm black and

unfortunately some of the people that we arrest are black um i can and i'm older so i have a tendency of talking to them and it a lot of times it brings them down. They calm down. They don't they're not as scared and prone to anger and violence when they see somebody that's talking to them in a manner which is very conversational. I say, man, you know, just relax. Everything's cool. You know, I'll let you get a phone call when you get to the, you know, all that kind of stuff, and just trying to reassure him that, listen, this is nothing personal. He don't want to go to jail, of course, but it's nothing personal, and, you know, we got to do what we got to do. Officer Ruff has been with the Austin Police Department for 10 years. He joined the department after retiring from the Army, where he served for 24 years. He's not from Texas, but Beloit, Wisconsin.

He moved down when he was stationed at Fort Hood. He patrols an area in North Austin. And while the computer in his patrol car had a virtual map showing him exactly where to go, he didn't look at it much. He knew his way around. I'm 10-8 and now 75. Incident is signed. All right, so we're getting ready to go to a call.

What is the campaign office? The campaign office, there's a threatening note, a pig's head, at the Beto O'Rourke office. Yeah, let's jump on that and see what that's about. We made our way to the campaign office of Democratic Senate candidate Beto O'Rourke. He's running against the incumbent Republican, former presidential candidate Ted Cruz. A person seen, advised. FBI was out earlier this morning for other threats. Wow.

Let's check it out. This is a controversial Senate race that Cruz and Beto O'Rourke. Yes, yes. I'm not a big politician guy, so I don't really follow that too. You know, obviously he's had a lot of commercials out campaigning for his election, so I know there's something going on, but interesting. We'll have to check that out.

Ready? Yep. There were already two officers in front of the office. We met with a staffer out front. The pig's head was found on a stake in front of the office with a note that read, Down with imperialist pigs. Elections, no. Revolution, yes.

Honestly, no one working there seemed too concerned. One high-level staffer just continued talking on his phone. When an officer went over to get his attention, he put his finger up. Just one minute, please. The officers made notes, the pig's head was cleaned up, and we got back in the car. Don't ever say it's slow right now, because if you say it, then you're jinxing yourself, and it's going to blow up, and everything's going to, you know. But for the most part, I'm saying it because it's almost 11 o'clock. People are going to start waking up,

all that kind of stuff. So that's why I'm saying that. Are you a superstitious cop? No, no. No, not. I've never really been a superstitious person. Not me. You? I think I'd like to be more superstitious than I am.

I think it's kind of... Well, I don't know. I think it's kind of fun to have... I think I'm too practical to be... I think that's our Midwest, you know, whatever. We'll deal with it. New waiting incident. It was now 11.31. We were headed to a probation office to pick up someone who had violated their parole.

Okay. So she just put out over the radio that the guy that we're going to pick up is supposed to be armed and dangerous. That's one of the cautions he has on his history. So we take that into account when we have to when we have to approach them and things like that. I'm clear. I just got the light heading northbound on camera from 183. So, um... Did you hear that over the radio? No, he's waiting for you. He's going to wait for me until I get there.

Apparently, this guy is, um... A little upset. Already. So, we want to go in there together. Apparently this guy is a little upset already. So we want to go in there together and deal with this. As opposed to him just going in there by himself. Because you're taking him to jail. Because he's going to be taken to jail. I'm not going to take him.

But that's what's going to happen. Well, I don't know if he knows that. That is what is. That's what's going to be taken in jail. I'm not going to take him. But that's what's going to happen. Well, I don't know if he knows that or... That is what is... That's what's going to happen. That's definitely what's going to happen. I guess I'd be upset too. I would too. Yeah. Yeah. She's with us. And you ready to go ahead and detain him? She's bringing him in not to see us.

And then he's going to be in the room and we'll go get him. She's going to bring him in here? No, in another room. And we'll go in the other room and just scoot him up and make us. That's the best way to do it. Yeah. Let's go behind him and each grab an arm and just scoop him up, put him in cuffs. That's the best way to do it. Just go behind him and each grab an arm and just... Yep. Let's do it. The man didn't put up any fight.

He looked tired. He was a tiny skinny man, maybe in his 60s, with a baseball hat on. He was put into the other officer's car. They checked to make sure his handcuffs didn't hurt him. He asked us to tell his friend waiting for him in the parking lot that he wouldn't need a ride home. Next, at 12.17, someone called about a naked man who was yelling. Typically, when somebody takes off their clothes,

that could indicate that somebody is on PCP. Because their body gets hot and they tend to strip off their clothes. And it's a very, that's a very serious situation because people on PCP tend to, they don't feel a lot of pain, and they're incoherent. They don't understand directions and stuff like that. So it'll be interesting how that calls. Your incident has been updated. Your incident has been updated.

And that's where we're on our way now. That's where we're on our way. What have you learned? What is happening? So far on this call? Yeah. That, give me a second here. Loud yelling in background. Subject is a black male. Complain to have an issue speaking.

For instance, has been updated. All right, they said the subject left on foot walking towards St. John's. Looks like they are coming this way, so... We eventually found the man, who had his clothes back on now, walking down an alley. Officer Ruff and another patrol car stopped him, kind of trapping him in a V-shape with the two cars. The man sat down on the curb. He seemed completely out of it, but kept refusing help. He was able to name the city we were in and the date.

EMS showed up, but he refused any help. So there wasn't much more to do. He hadn't committed any crime. He was not in any apparent medical danger. They're taking care of that. We got an animal service call. Let's see. Dog running around in this grass we're trying to buy. Small brown dog has not actually bitten anyone yet. Complain to us, doesn't need contact. All right, that is a, all right, we'll take care of that one. And what is this? Someone had called 911 to complain that a loose chihuahua

was running after people and trying to bite them. Okay. So now we're going to find the dog. We're going to find the dog. So. Well, no one could ever say it's a boring day. That's what I'm saying. So, you know, every day is different.

You know, some calls a little bit more the level of stress or not just stress, but concern. It's more than some of your typical calls. So we are 3405. So this is the area where that dog was seen. It was supposed to be a little brown dog. And the person that caught it, I think, came from 3405. It was 3404. You seen the dog?

That way. What kind of dog, man? What kind of dog? I didn't hear that real well. What kind of dog? It's a small little Chihuahua. He's laying down over there. He's laying down? Yeah. They used to belong to the neighbors that lived over here.

But they left and they left them there. And we feed them. Will he let you put a leash on them? Yeah. I'm going to give you a leash, and then you do it for me, because he's not used to me. All right? All right, go ahead.

Chihuahua doesn't seem that scary. I'm the worst one sometimes. Really? This one seems pretty calm. Oh yeah. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to call for which lets everybody know I'm good. So if you can push that green button for me.

This one? Yep, there you go. And then I'm going to call animal control to come out to our location, and then we'll come pick up the dog. Officer Ruff put the chihuahua in the back seat, and we waited for animal control. It took 30 minutes. Once you're assigned to a call, you have to stay,

no matter how long it takes. I mean, I guess there's no way you'd respond to a call, you have to stay, no matter how long it takes. I mean, I guess there's no way you'd respond to another incident right now with a dog. We're out of commission. Get the dog secured. Can you start animal control? So this is where it's a bunch of hurry up and wait. We sat there and talked about Wisconsin, where his family still lives, and his children. They kept texting throughout the day, group chats about dinner tonight and job applications and football games. He didn't answer most of them, but I would see them come in while he was typing on his computer or on the radio. By this point, it was one o'clock, and I was starving, but I certainly wasn't going to say anything.

Finally, an animal control officer showed up. Come here, Bobo. What's up, man? Come here. Come here, little one. You want to pick him up? We'll scan around his body. The animal control officer was trying to figure out if the dog was microchipped when the dog snapped. That would work, right?

Ooh, that one. Okay, well. Need a dog? I know. Not after I said that. That just confirmed all my thoughts about... Wow, that was a quick little... Do I want one?

I don't know if I want a dog anymore. Boy, he scared the shit out of me. Yeah. Alright. 14-year-old female that's conscious and breathing. 14? Yeah, we're going to go to that. See what's going on here.

So let's clear this call. And then... Incident is signed. 5908. So you just know that there's a 14-year-old who took pills? Yeah. Oh, sorry. That's okay.

Your incident has been updated. Why wouldn't they stop? Somebody in some... That's a good question. We weren't far from the middle school, and for the first time all day, Officer Ruff put on his lights and sirens. I'd always thought that when an officer is responding to any call, they have their lights on. That's not the case. It's actually a very strict procedure for when you use lights, when you use sirens.

You can get in a lot of trouble for using them when you're not supposed to. We were the first to show up. We parked in front of the main entrance. A hundred kids were playing out in the yard, soccer, running around. I stayed in the car for this one. Thirty-five minutes later, Officer Ruff came back out. He said the girl was going to be okay. She'd taken too many Tylenol, but he didn't think it was a suicide attempt. Her mother had arrived and would take her to the doctor. A lot of calls were starting to pile up that needed attention.

Officer Ruff checked them on his computer in his car. It seemed like they were all priorities. Where are we headed now? We are headed to that trespass urgent at the Hampton Inn. It's a hotel located not too far from here. What does that mean, trespass urgent? Trespass urgent is when a subject, male or female, is at a facility and they want them to leave and they refuse to leave. Support for Criminal comes from Apple Podcasts. Each month, Apple Podcasts highlights one series worth your attention, and they call

these Series Essentials. This month, they recommend Wondery's Ghost Story, a seven-part series that follows journalist Tristan Redman as he tries to get to the bottom of a ghostly presence in his childhood home. His investigation takes him on a journey involving homicide detectives, ghost hunters,

and even psychic mediums, and leads him to a dark secret about his own family. Check out Ghost Story, a series essential pick, completely ad-free on Apple Podcasts. Hey, it's Scott Galloway, and on our podcast, Pivot, we are bringing you a special series on Apple Podcasts. Kylie Robeson, the senior AI reporter for The Verge, to give you a primer on how to integrate AI into your life. So tune into AI Basics, How and When to Use AI, a special series from Pivot sponsored by AWS, wherever you get your podcasts. Do you think that people are scared of you, of police officers? Scared? I think some are.

I don't think scared in the sense of, you know, fear. Like a monster or anything like that, but more, there's a natural fear, like, you know, what did I do wrong, and am I going to go to jail, and of course, what's been going on throughout the country with the shootings and stuff like that. You know, a lot of mothers and fathers are concerned about their kids, so they're kind of hypervigilant about that. So there's, yeah, I think there's a segment of society that probably is, probably scared of what could happen under certain situations. How has that impacted you as a police officer just in your day-to-day life? Well, I'm a father, and I have kids, and, you know, I try to teach them what to do when encountered by a police officer so that, you know, so there's a, you know, I think any parent, I'm not fearful, of course, but, you know, there's a concern that when you have your child is pulled over. And I just teach them what to do to make sure that the turnout is safe.

And you teach them that even as a police officer yourself? Yeah. Oh, yeah. You know, I say, you know, when you get stopped, you know, keep your hands where they can see them. You know, make it where the encounter is not one where somebody is nervous because you're doing a bunch of, you know, reaching around and stuff like that. Just wait until the officer tells you to do something and then do exactly what the officer tells you. Are you worried about it?

Do I worry about my own personal kids? Yeah. Yeah. I don't worry about it,, I address it. So, no, I don't worry about it. I feel pretty secure that if they're encountered by the police, they know what to do. Two cop cars is not what I want to see when I'm checking into my hotel with my family. I would agree with that.

Can I bring this? Yes. Yes. Hello. Hi. I'll be right with you. Okay. When we got to the Hampton Inn for the trespass urgent call,

the woman at the front desk asked us to wait a minute When we got to the Hampton Inn for the trespass urgent call, the woman at the front desk asked us to wait a minute while she finished helping someone with a question about the coffee maker in his room. All day, I was surprised how nonchalant so many people were about the police. The hotel manager came out and told us that a homeless man was camping under the hotel sign. He said the man had been there for a while, that it wasn't his first time, and he wanted him to move on. Because this particular man had been formally warned about trespassing on this property before he was going to be arrested. So now this guy's on top of the front of the hood of the car being searched. And before he goes to jail.

He doesn't look very good. It looks really weak. They're checking all of his pockets now. He has six dollars. And now he's getting in the car. It was the first time all day that someone had been in the back seat of the car. Where do we go now? Now we go to the county jail, which is downtown.

315. So you're, at this point, you know you'll work later then? Yes. Yes. It just comes with the job. Ida 101. New waiting incident. 95 criminal trespass. We're go to Travis County and confirm on the warrants. New message. So all people who've been arrested go to the county jail? Mm-hmm, yep. Travis County Jail. I wasn't allowed to record or even bring my phone in.

Officer Ruff even had to leave his phone and his gun and pepper spray in the car before he brought the man in. You enter into a big open room. There were no jail bars, and after the man had been searched and put into a jail uniform, Officer Ruff took him back to the nurse's station. I was left to watch what was going on all around me.

Most of the people there seemed quiet. They would be called one by one to have their photo taken and be fingerprinted. There was a payphone in the middle of the room. It was cold, and a lot of people pulled their arms inside their uniforms to stay warm. A woman was brought in. She was yelling.

I wasn't sure if she was drunk. She kept saying it was all a conspiracy. They kept her in handcuffs. Finally, Officer Ruff emerged with a man. He put his street clothes back on. I didn't know what was going on, or why the guy wasn't in his uniform anymore. Officer Ruff motioned to me that it was time to go. What happened?

He, when he was assessed by the nurse, that it's more than they can handle at the jail, then we'll send him to the hospital, let them check him out, and then he can come back after he's been seen by the hospital. What does that mean for you? That means the time that would have been spent here booking and the arrest review would be extended out because now I have to transport him to the hospital from the wait while he's being seen and then transport him back to the jail to get rebooked, seen by the nurse again, and then go to arrest review and all that. So it prolongs the time that this is going to take. I couldn't bring my microphone into the hospital either. We parked in the ambulance bay and walked through the emergency room. The man's handcuffs were back on. His nose was running, but he couldn't wipe it because of the handcuffs.

Officer Ruff helped him take his shirt off and put on the hospital gown. And then the three of us waited for the doctor. At 7 p.m., I left. I had to go back to North Carolina. I asked Officer Ruff how long he'd stay, and he said he didn't know, as long as it took. A lot of his work is waiting, and he's good at it. He's patient.

In my ten hours with him, we met a dozen people, and most of these people are not the ones you would see on the show Cops. This wasn't a violent or dramatic day. It was just a day. Do you ever think, you know in some people, there are some jobs where at the end of the day, you can see what you've done, and, you know, if you're a the day you can see what you've done and you know if you're a carpenter you see what you've built and how this job you never really... You can definitely be jaded in your opinion about are we doing any good here? You know, your job is to do what you do.

Take your calls. If they're supposed to be arrested, then you arrest. So do your job. Keep it moving. ¶¶ by Rob Byers. Special thanks to Mary Helen Montgomery. Julian Alexander makes original illustrations for each episode of Criminal. You can see them at thisiscriminal.com or on Facebook and Twitter at Criminal Show. Criminal is recorded in the studios

of North Carolina Public Radio, WUNC. We're a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX, a collection of the best podcasts around. I'm Phoebe Judge. This is Criminal. Radiotopia. From PRX. forehead lines look better in adults. Effects of Botox cosmetic may spread hours to weeks after injection causing serious symptoms. Alert your doctor right away as difficulty swallowing, speaking, breathing, eye problems, or muscle weakness may be a sign of a life-threatening condition.

Patients with these conditions before injection are at highest risk. Don't receive Botox cosmetic if you have a skin infection. Side effects may include allergic reactions, injection site pain, headache, eyebrow and eyelid drooping, and eyelid swelling. Allergic reactions can include rash, welts, asthma symptoms, and dizziness. Tell your doctor about medical history, muscle or nerve conditions, See for yourself at BotoxCosmetic.com. radically changed by the tools we use to do it. So what is enterprise software anyway? What is productivity software? How will AI affect both? And how are these tools changing the way we use our computers to make stuff, communicate, and plan for the future? In this three-part special series, Decoder is surveying the IT landscape presented by AWS. Check it out wherever you get your podcasts.