August 2004

A Police Rookie's Heart Skipping Day
by Gary Leineweber

During the 16+ years I was in law enforcement, I had many occasions to teach recruits fresh out of the academy. I was classified as a field training officer and one of the sections of training I would pass along to the recruit was "transporting in-custody persons". This training would consist of both hands on and verbal instruction. Along with the verbal instruction, I always told the following true story which happened to me . . . and hoped that it was shocking enough to my recruit that he/she would remember it their entire career.

On an early evening in my rookie days we got a call to a sporting goods store for a burglary in progress. Dispatch had advised that a silent alarm had come in and oddly enough, this sporting goods store was one that I had worked at and was owned by my uncle. I was working with a senior partner who had a few years on me and as he drove up to the scene, he stated that he thought he saw two subjects on the roof. My heart started to pound and my mouth became dry, as I knew this was not a false alarm. The building was surrounded and the canine unit was called in.

After a long search inside, the canine unit did come out with one suspect in custody. A second suspect was never located. I noticed that this suspect was handcuffed behind his back and another senior officer brought him over to our squad and placed him into the back seat. I asked this officer if the suspect had been searched and he stated he had. I then asked this officer if he wanted me to put my handcuffs on the suspect so he could have his back, and he said no, leave them on and he would get his at the jail. I then asked my partner if we should search this suspect, because the cardinal rule was, whenever a suspect is placed into your squad car in custody, you should search him for weapons or contraband. My partner said no it was not necessary because the other senior officer stated that he had already searched him.

We started driving back to the jail and it is at this point in the story, no matter how many times I tell it . . . I still get chills run up and down my spine. The suspect starts talking and laughing non-stop about all sorts of things. He then stated that he really respected our profession, because we were true professionals. He stated that we should respect his profession as well. I asked what his profession was. He stated that he was a professional burglar and was very good at what he did. I said you must have been slipping up because you were not very good tonight because we caught you. He said that if it weren't for the police dog finding him, he would never have been caught.

I should explain at this time, that the squads we drove were Jeeps. These Jeeps had plastic screens that separated the front seat section from the rear area where the suspect was seated. These screens had a small sliding window in the middle that the officer could either keep open or lock close, depending on the security threat level.

In my excitement, (we had traveled probably 3 or 4 blocks) I suddenly realized that I had forgotten to close the screen window. I for some reason had a very uneasy feeling in my stomach. So, I quickly reached back to close the window and looked at the suspect. I observed to my horror and amazement, that the suspect was now sitting with both hands in front of him and one hand un-cuffed. I yelled to my partner to stop the squad because our suspect was un-cuffed. I jumped out of the car, opened the back door and pulled him back out of the squad and onto the ground and re-cuffed him again.

As I placed the suspect back into the rear of my squad, my heart skipped another beat. On the floor next to where the suspect was sitting, my briefcase was lying open. Next to the briefcase was my slimjim that I had kept inside it. A slimjim is a long piece of metal that has a hook on the end of it. They were used to get vehicle doors unlocked.

I knew right away, before I even looked at the suspect, and the suspect confirmed it. As I looked at him, he looked me straight in the eye. Without even a hesitation he laughed and said, "I told you to respect me, you were lucky you closed that window when you did".

Shivers went down my spine as I looked at his cold black eyes staring right through me. Had I not looked back when I did, I'm sure the suspect's next move would of been to have tried to escape by trying to kill one or both of us with that very sharp slimjim. There was no other reason for it to be out of my briefcase and just that fact means the suspect had it in his hands. I then asked him how he got out of the handcuffs. He laughed in my face so hard and said, "A true professional never gives up his secrets".

We continued on to the department and this time I sat in the back seat with him. The entire time he just looked at me and grinned and shook his head back and forth. He said nothing and neither did I. My stomach was in knots and I was sweating. It was killing me because I knew he knew what I wanted to do, and I just had to sit there and watch him.

We finally got to the jail and we advised the jail staff of everything that he had done. I went back down to the squad and searched the back seat area where the suspect sat. I found stuffed between the folds of the back seat area a wadded up piece of duct tape and a very tiny handcuff key. I unfolded the piece of duct tape and the impression of a handcuff key could be seen on the tape side. This impression eventually matched perfectly with the handcuff key as well. I then went back up to the jail and asked the jail staff to look over the suspect's body to see if any marks could be found. They did in fact find a small red mark on the hollow of the small of the back, which matched in size to the size of the duct tape.

Most of my recruits after hearing this story sat there just stunned, and I guess that's the affect I wanted them to have. If they can learn from my near fatal mistakes and remember what not to do, then the streets will be safer for them, and I will feel glad that I played a small roll to that degree.

Gary Leineweber
http://www.LeinesHideaway.com/