Last nights excitement

(sorry for the lack of punctuation and/or paragrpahs, i was in a hurry when I wrote this)

I have done a few recoveries before, but this has been the most exciting so far.

About 2am My boss calls me and says, to meet him in -------, Arkansas. I didnt know the way , so gave me directions to a gas sation in town, I hop in the ole mini van and make my way there, we meet in the gas station, and he says "we'll take my vehicle"

My boss told me this might get a little dangerous, and little did I know he was right, we made our way to the address, wich was so far out in the woods, its was downright creepy, it was on a dirt road that no noraml vehicle could have traveled on, I'm gald we were in his 4x4.

the scene lookked like a Junkyard, i counted over 20 cars, and other various equipment lying around the property., also when wre got there
there were various spotlights set up facing the trailer, i knew something else was going on, and the nearest sheriffs department was about 40 minutes away, I knew this wasnt going to be good.


We find the address, and sit in the drive way for a minute, it was at this time about 3:30 am. All lights in the house were on, people were, goin in and out a a camper that was on the side of the trailer home.We pull up in the drive way, left the car running with the headlights on towards the house. A few moments later, people start running out of the camper in all directions, I wasnt worried about any of them, cause we were looking for a woman., I went and stood on the front porch, my boss went to the back door. A few minutes later I hear my boss yelling 'shes coming your way!". I sprint the the side of the house, and here in this girl running towards me in ther bed clothes, I grabbed her but she wiggled out from under me, and runs back towards the front of the house. By this time i'm in a full sprint with my cuffs in my hand, she already got inside. I then run to the front door, during this time, her mom had been barricading the front door, I then back off the porch and just wait it out in front of the door, about 30 minutes later, i hear glass breaking on the right side of the trailer, and run to the right side of the trailer, and the girl is trying to jump out of the window!, I point my mag light in her face towards her, and start yelling at her, to get back inside. I t was during this time that my boss was getting tired of playing games, he called the sheriffs office to come and help us kick in the door, they show up about 30 minutes later, the officers kicked and pushed their way in, at this point, i'm behind the officer, going inside he handcuffed her , after she calmed down, the officer took her into custody, and she gave the officer a fake name, we knew it was her though because we identified her by her tattoos.

after it was all said and done, the officer ran her info, and she ended up having 8 felony warrants from a few differant counties. Her mom is or will be arrestd for harbouring a known fugitve and obstruction of gov op's.

Damn... I am surprised you guys went in at that time and didn't have the sherrif's office on standby in that situation. I hate to monday morning quarter back, but low light conditions (night time) are not usually the best, especially when it is possible to monitor the only way in and out of that place and wait till about 5 or 6 am.

Good thing no one was armed.... a shot from the dark is hard to dodge.

_________________
-The Solution-
Indiana Agency #: PI20700211
Indiana Notary Public - Exp: 12/20/13

"Be without fear in the face of your enemies. Be brave and upright that God may love thee. Speak the truth always, even if it leads to your death. Safeguard the helpless and do no wrong. That is your oath."
- Kingdom of Heaven

Sheriffs were on standby, and by standby, I mean they wont come out untill called, and it took them about 30 min to get there, after we made the call, if thats any indication how far out in the middle of nowhere we were.

like i said, when people started scattering from the camper, i wasnt too concerned, they all knew what was about to happen, they were probably cooking dope in the camper, i would bet, but we didnt stick around long enough to find out after it was over.

but while i was watching the front door and windows, i was also scanning the yard as well, just to make sure, there wasnt anyone coming up behind me.

this place looked like a warzone, and it could have easily turned into one.

Sounds like a bad situation for only two guys. Was it well lit?

_________________
-The Solution-
Indiana Agency #: PI20700211
Indiana Notary Public - Exp: 12/20/13

"Be without fear in the face of your enemies. Be brave and upright that God may love thee. Speak the truth always, even if it leads to your death. Safeguard the helpless and do no wrong. That is your oath."
- Kingdom of Heaven

the only lights that were on were, coming from the trailer, the headlights from our car, and our maglights.

You guys were lucky.

Been lucky myself... don't much like relying on luck LOL.

_________________
-The Solution-
Indiana Agency #: PI20700211
Indiana Notary Public - Exp: 12/20/13

"Be without fear in the face of your enemies. Be brave and upright that God may love thee. Speak the truth always, even if it leads to your death. Safeguard the helpless and do no wrong. That is your oath."
- Kingdom of Heaven

If it were up to me, and its not,
I would have had at least two more people there.

but we got the girl, and went home without any major incident.

i suppose thats all that matters.

Yeah, good to know for next time though. Good things those guys weren't armed... One of my friends is a LE out in the "rural" area in Warrick County and he has been running across meth cookers who are better armed then the police... he has started carrying an "assault" rifle in his cruiser now.

In a sense it's kind of like golf... a hole in one is a hole in one, doesn't really matter how you hit the ball.

_________________
-The Solution-
Indiana Agency #: PI20700211
Indiana Notary Public - Exp: 12/20/13

"Be without fear in the face of your enemies. Be brave and upright that God may love thee. Speak the truth always, even if it leads to your death. Safeguard the helpless and do no wrong. That is your oath."
- Kingdom of Heaven

Rural operations are very difficult especially in the dark of night --plenty of woods to hide in and conceal bad guys with guns--luck was on your side that evening -- please do not count on it to be there again -- a good tactical op plan with at least 4 good people should be in place before hitting a place like that-- we also have that problem in northern nh, vt, and me---on one occasion the vt sp told us if we kill anybody just leave them outside and they will be there in the am to pick up the body -- they were serious just ask LAW-- the guy we were after had both the sp and local cops scared and niether would go after them-- I later found him in jacksonville fl and had him popped by a friend of mine and extradited to grafton county nh.he got 15 years

remember in these times meth labs pop up all over the place and as someone else said some of these cookers are very well armed and would kill in a ny minute to protect their stash

Were you with Tom? In rural Arkansas I always have alot of backup when I make the attempted arrest. I have been to many a place here that has junkyard looking yards and it is not safe. Most of the recoveries that I do here are rural. After doing your surveillance and determining your skip is there or making the decision to make entry I would have waited for the Sheriffs Deptartment before moving into action no matter how long it took for them to arrive. I understand that you were there with your boss and it probably was not your call. However when it comes to my safety I do not care who they are I will not put myself or anyone else in any more danger than this job already accounts for. Next time I would tell my boss that it is not safe and you need to wait for backup.

You may think it is easier said than done but, I promise you I have told my boss.. Not today on some cases when it was not safe. It made him mad but after awhile of pondering he knew it was the right thing to do. Whenever that hair raises on your neck and arms it is telling you that today is not the day.

As always this is just my opinion.