Time for us to start sorting and packing up for the move back to San Francisco. I hate moving. You realize just how much crap you have acumulated. Its tons.

2 weeks left in the season and I, along with countless others, am still considering what am I going to get people?

I could go on a rant about how much I really am not into the season…or how the commercialization of Christmas has made things frantic for multitudes of people. But that’s been done ad nauseum.

So I guess its time to put that good face on and make with opening the wallet.

It’s been a while since the funeral. I haven’t been able to write about it due to a combination of being sick, working, Jackson and just general being busy.

I went to work thursday night after having woken up at 7am. I had a moderately full night but thank God I didn’t get stuck on a report. Me and my partner, Pat, went up to the locker room and doffed our uniforms of the night. The process began of changing into a fresh pair of pants, a fresh longsleeve shirt, polishing our stars, and getting our duty belts ready. Our Ike jackets were donned and our hats placed smartly.

A quick check in the mirror showed all was in order.

To avoid the projected traffic due to the rather large amount of officers that would be attending, we decided to drive to San Bruno BART and just ride the train in. I noticed while on the train the various pairs of eyes that were looking at us. I don’t know what they were thinking, it could have been anything from “Why are they dressed like that?” to “They must be going to the funeral.”

The train arrived at the Coliseum exit, and we both exited. There was a young lady exiting with us.

As we neared the stairs she turned to us and asked if we were going to the funeral. I replied that we were and she said “I’m sorry for your loss.” She then began to cry. I thanked her for her sympathy and condolences. Her reaction struck me deeply. She was a beautiful young African American woman. I make that distinction because after seeing this video that says that the African American community is occupied by an invading force of Police, and that the man who killed these four officers was standing up for the cause and was a hero in the community, it made me realize that this is not an idea held by everyone.

The idea that this was a racially motivated incident sickens my stomach and makes me angry. I myself do not know ANY officers that practice racially motivated policing. It boils down to we go after people that commit offenses…PERIOD. This idea comes from incidents that occurred decades ago, in another part of the country, when the thinking was different. There is NOTHING in our training that says certain races do certain things and that we should assume they are all criminals. What we do receive is training that allows us to be even more culturally diverse and sensitive. Every department has at least one General Order that addresses this issue.

The video also makes it a point to show that the killer was a father, a brother, a son. And what were the officers? They also had family, wives, children, friends and parents. We are all human beings that deserve to live.

Back to the post.

The walk to the Coliseum was a bit long. My flu was still in full swing. I was coughing and blowing my nose constantly.

I arrived at the parking lot outside of the entrance. It was a sea of blue. Officers from all over the country were present. All up and down the state, Reno, Las Vegas, Boston just to name a few. There were so many that it took us about 45 minutes to make our way into the Coliseum and get seating. As we passed through the interior, the screens on the wall were playing photo collages of each officer. I already had to begin holding back the tears.

The Coliseum was at almost full capacity, over 19,000 people in attendance.

Once we had our seats, OPD Chaplain, Father Jayson Landeza, gave a quick opening statement and then stepped down.

“Officers! Aten-HUT!”

The Coliseum stood at attention immediately.

“Officers! Preseennnnt…ARMS!”

Hands whipped smartly to brows. The bagpipes began to play. An honor guard began the procession. Each fallen officer, American Flags draped over their coffins, began the slow entrance. My arm began to tire. I fought off the feeling. If they can give their life, I can give up comfort during this time where we have all gathered to honor them.

After all the coffins were brought out and placed into position, the order was given.

“Officers! Ready…ARMS!”

We took our seats. Each officer had a member of the department present that related a story about their life with the department, their experience with them, their fondest memories. Then a family member would deliver the eulogy.

I have never cried so much. I had to keep wiping away tears. I had hoped that they would not be noticed.

The statements made, were to say the least, very powerful. There was a call to action, a call for change, a call for responsible media, thanks for the members of the public that helped during those horrific moments. Applause rang out.

Then came the presentation of the flags and stars. The folding of the flags was done ceremoniously, methodically, deliberately. They were then brought to the superior officer, inspected, and presented one by one to each of the families. A second flag, with each of the fallen officers stars, was also presented with just as much ceremony.

The end of the funeral arrived. We all stood up.

Honor Guard took their positions about the caskets. Each brought out one at a time. I had no more tears to give.

Rest In Peace.

In memory:
Sgt. Mark Dunakin
Ofc. John Hege
Sgt. Ervin Romans
Sgt. Daniel Sakai

Final Call

An angel in the sky must leave his place of rest,
Gently tucking his wings beneath his armored vest.
For duty has called, there is much work to do.
Little did he know, these ones are dressed in blue.

Arriving on the scene, he knows just what to say:
“Follow me, fallen brothers, I’ll show you the way.
Your duties have ended, your work is now through.
Come hang your hats beside mine. I’m a cop, too.”

Eric DeRenzis ©1999

I was driving to the local PG&E office so I could pay my bill (I’ve been locked out of my online statement thingy, so I was paying short on my monthly) and I got to the part of the road where there is a 3rd lane that goes onto the freeway. I am in the #2 lane, and directly up ahead there is a Mercedes station wagon that is blocking the lane trying to get into the #3 lane and get onto the freeway. I go around him and pull to the light (there was nobody in front of him). The light turns green, I start to go but I’m not racing away from the light. He starts to pull back into my lane behind me and lurches forward almost rear ending me! So he has the gall to start honking his horn, races around me, and gives me the dirtiest “I fucking hate you asshole!” look, all while using his cell phone. He then proceeds to get on the freeway, the whole time glaring at me.

What a fucking idiot! Doesn’t he know that there are people that will shoot you for looking at them wrong? Especially in Richmond? Road Rage is a huge issue nationwide and has caused a bunch deaths, all of them senseless.

I almost wonder if he was just “looking down” on me because he thought that since I’m not white, and was driving a pickup truck, that I was just some idiot who was driving without a license, day laboring type. Not that they are idiots, but that’s probably what he was thinking. I still know he’s an asshole.

Last week I got into this crazy ridiculous foot pursuit. me and my partner were rollin down the street and we see this guy riding one of those “Razor” type scooters that had the little two stroke engine attached to it. We roll up next to him just to tell him to slow down, maybe get off, I dunno..he wasnt wearing a helmet. He had two flashlights attahed to he front handlebars acting like headlights and a blinking red light attached to his leather jacket. We pull up and the guy turns, looks at us, eyes wide like saucers, jumps off, dumps the scooter and starts running the opposite way. The whole time yelling (I found out later he was just screaming “No no no no no no no!!!”) and flailing his arms! I jump out of the car and start running after him. It was like watching Benny Hill. The guy was running in circles, with me trying to catch him. My partner is running after both of us, doing his radio work and broadcasting what was up. The guy then runs across the street, and me in my fervor to catch him, plus the tunnel vision, just ran out with him without even looking to see if there was any oncoming traffic.

The guy then reaches the other side of the street, still yelling “nonononononono” the whole time. He does this crazy cartoon thing where he grabbed onto a telephone pole, swung himself around 360 degrees, and then kept running. The whole time I’m wondering what the hell this guy is running for, as he dumped something while we were running on the first side of the street earlier on…now this guy was no behemoth, but he was acting crazy, was about 6′ tall (which I know, me bein hella short means he’s much taller than me) so I pull out my baton, and finally catch up to him as he tries to run across the street again. I whapped him once and he dropped like a bag of rocks. I fell on top of him, my baton flying into the middle of the street, and locked him up till my partner could get there to help me cuff him. We got the cuffs on him, and pulled him up, and got him against a wall and did the regular customary search for weapons/drugs/contraband etc. Bunch of other units get there and it’s now all code 4.

I go back to see what he dumped, and it was a half eaten burrito. Beans and rice were all over the place. Wow. I ask him why he’s running from us and he tells me that he thought it was illegal to ride one of those motorized scooters. Plus he was on probation. He could have just taken his yelling, but he had to run. So, he ends up getting booked for some charges which became evident later on in the investigation, including riding without a helmet, riding without a license, resisting, and a few others. It was fun. Looking back, I should have looked for traffic before running out after him. But I was so focused, gotta control that for next time.

Onto other news…me and the Ramune are now officially engaged as of 1300 hours on 10-20-08. Tentative date in september. Hooray!!

Money is tight right now as I’ve got a bunch of things to pay for. My red light camera ticket, traffic school, replacing the ignition and catalytic converter for my truck after it got stolen, property taxes, xmas is coming, and there is really no overtime available for me in my current status. Sigh….tight tight tight.

Happy Halloween to y’all, be safe. I know I’ll be trying to stay that way.

Higher Love from the album “Songs Of Faith And Devotion” by Depeche Mode

It was just kill, kill, kill – cougar mauls 5 goats at Gilroy home

It saddens me sometimes when I think about what is allowed to happen in this world.  The article says that they issue about 200 permits to residents so that they can kill a mountain lion.  Mountain lions aren’t natural predators of humans.  If they are going after your livestock and/or pets, that’s what they do.  The residents know that these creatures live there.  I would think you would just make it harder for them to get to the prey they want so that they feed on the stuff that’s hopefully readily available in the wild.

I understand that people get scared, but c’mon people!!  We as human beings moved into what was originally a large ecosystem that did not include us!  Now we are here, great.  I like being a part of what this planet is.  Not going in and changing it completely to suit our likes or to assuage our own fears.

I do plan on having some children someday, and I would hate for there to be no more of any particular animal, especially one that is well known, for my children to see.