Dredged from the mud of my memory
I actually wrote a whole long post a couple of days ago, but somehow there was an error and blogspot ate it without vomiting it onto my blog. Bah. So I'll give the gist of it now.
Early Monday morning I got a call from one of the two guys that does bicycle patrol in my area. He said "There's a guy on your site, would you like to come out and meet up with us?"
Of course I would! :D
So I went out back. It was one of the butt collectors.
These are guys that will scavenge the filters that people throw down in the hopes that there's a bit of tobacco left. I can only assume that they dry them out, cut them open, and attempt to roll their own with the dregs. I'd hate to think they're trying to smoke a two millimeter butt. :P
We also are of the opinion that the smash and grabs that have been done in the neighbourhood are mostly the work of the butt collectors, although we can't prove it and we don't know which is which.
Except it wasn't going to be this guy, not tonight.
He was... fucked up. Not drunk, not exactly stoned, just fucked up. Intoxicated with something. It had been misty during the night, and cold, and there was a needle spray of fine rain falling, which was also cold. This guy was wearing his jacket (which was open, with no shirt underneath), some sort of pants which were impossible to identify, and some socks. And he was on a bike that appeared to be constructed out of rust.
I guess the bike patrol had found him behind one of the buildings, and had been keeping him moving along and out of our area, and when he meandered onto my site decided to tip me off as a courtesy.
I got out there in time to hear the funniest exchange:
DERELICT: "I'm hurt! [clutches side as though his appendix was on the left] Can't you just let me smoke?"
PATROL: "No man, you can't stay here. You'll have to move along."
At this point, I should mention that the patrol guy speaking is from India. Specifically, he's a Sikh from Punjab but he doesn't wear any sort of head covering or any other visible sign of this.
DERELICT: "Buddha forgive you, 'cuz you're not getting reincarnated!" [gets three-quarters of the way through crossing himself and falls off bike]
Looking at this written down, it doesn't seem so funny but believe me, the three of us were trying not to laugh our asses off at this dude. The patrol guys shepherded him out of our area eventually, and we kept repeating it over and over to our great amusement. :)
Tuesday morning there was another encounter, and it could have gone badly.
There are two bike patrol guys on, and each of those positions is covered by one of two guys. One of them is on from 1800 until 0600, and he does interiors of buildings as well as patrol on bike. The other guy is on from 0000 until 0800, and he is strictly bike patrol, as he can do his rounds much faster than the other guy, and also to maintain a visible presence.
So... it's 0615 and the experienced guy has gone home. I've just unchained a door at the back to let in the flow of employees to my site, and I've come back into my area in reception. Through the glass doors I can see the bike patrol guy urgently gesturing for me to come out and join him. So I do.
A little background on this guy first. He's nineteen and from Poland, although he's been here in Canada for several years now. He also speaks the way that little kids do when their mouths are still forming. Like how they'll say "wuv woo" instead of "love you". That sort of thing. Between that and his accent, the Indian guys had a hard time understanding him at first, but it's still easier than understanding a Newfie. ;)
He's also been in security for exactly three weeks. And every shift he talks about wishing he could "take somebody down". That's kind of a problem.
It's a problem because that's the last thing we want to do. It's dangerous, and it's not really what we're there for. So... myself and the other patrol guy concoct little scenarios for him and ask how he'd respond.
Aggressively, it would seem. An example:
"You see a guy running across the street in the middle of the night with a laptop under each arm. What do you do?"
"I stop him and demand to see ID."
Wrong! It's perfectly legal to go for a sprint in the middle of the night with both of your lawfully purchased laptops. And the street is a public place.
At best, he could have followed the guy and radioed in the situation.
In fact, one of the examples they gave us in basic training was "What do you do if you come across a door that's obviously been broken in, and as you're looking at it a guy comes running out with a laptop (it's always about laptops)? You might ask the guy for ID, but even if he refuses there's nothing much you can do. Why?
Because you haven't observed a crime being committed. He could be an employee that always leaves by this door, and always takes his laptop home, and has a hate on for security guards. No crime there.
Our job isn't always simple. :P You'd often have a better time of dealing with people if you didn't have a uniform on, since then you have fewer restrictions. Ah well.
Anyway, this young bike patrol guy wants to be a hero.
So he tells me about this guy, says he's around back, so I said "Come with me" as I was going to let him cut through the building (he doesn't have access on his own) so we could head the guy off. He wanted to use his bike and circle around. Fair enough.
I run through the building (actually, we're not allowed to run. On my reports I'm to write "moved with deliberate speed" instead of run :P ) and out the recently unchained back door. I seen nobody. A moment later the patrol guy zings around the corner and we meet up. He points to where the guy hopped the "fence" (really a concrete wall) and vanished.
So the patrol went to check out the other nearby buildings, while I shone a light through the dark bush on the other side. Nothing. I went through the brush at a different spot (where there was a vantage point) and saw nothing. I concluded that whoever it was, he was gone. I went back inside.
After about twenty minutes I saw the patrol guy come back, so I went to ask him what it was all about.
He said that he'd just come back from a patrol and was in front of my building when he saw a suspicious person walking by. The reason he thought he was suspicious was because he was walking fast and constantly looking behind himself. Fair enough.
He didn't seem to see the patrol guy though, and he cut up onto my site. The patrol followed him around the corner, when the guy looked back, saw the security jacket, and bolted. That's when the patrol came back to get me.
Turns out the guy had smashed a lobby window two buildings down at a place the patrol had been at five minutes before. Yes folks, it happens that fast. He was inside attempting to pry open a vending machine when the first employee (the one that shuts off the alarm) drove up and saw him through the window. She flashed her lights at him, and he took off. That was when our patrol guy saw him.
The patrol guy was talking like he should have taken the guy down, that he should have cut in front of the guy and confronted him.
I asked him for a description so that if I happened to see the guy wandering around, I'd know to keep an eye on him. So he rattled off his vitals, and when he imitated how the guy was walking, I said "It looks as though he was holding something."
The patrol said "He was."
I said "Maybe what he got from the vending machine?"
The patrol says "No, he didn't get anything. He was holding the meter-long crowbar he was using."
SHIT!
I told the patrol how glad I was he didn't try anything with the guy. I don't care how cocky you are, that's how you get hurt.
But he didn't, and all's well. :)
This will be old news by now, but not smiling for passport photos? Not even without showing teeth? What's next, standing on one leg and belching out the Star Spangled Banner?
I've been telling people (older than me) for years that we're safer now than we were before. They usually don't agree, thinking that there is more crime and lawlessness than before. All I can say is nyah nyah nyah! ;)
Early Monday morning I got a call from one of the two guys that does bicycle patrol in my area. He said "There's a guy on your site, would you like to come out and meet up with us?"
Of course I would! :D
So I went out back. It was one of the butt collectors.
These are guys that will scavenge the filters that people throw down in the hopes that there's a bit of tobacco left. I can only assume that they dry them out, cut them open, and attempt to roll their own with the dregs. I'd hate to think they're trying to smoke a two millimeter butt. :P
We also are of the opinion that the smash and grabs that have been done in the neighbourhood are mostly the work of the butt collectors, although we can't prove it and we don't know which is which.
Except it wasn't going to be this guy, not tonight.
He was... fucked up. Not drunk, not exactly stoned, just fucked up. Intoxicated with something. It had been misty during the night, and cold, and there was a needle spray of fine rain falling, which was also cold. This guy was wearing his jacket (which was open, with no shirt underneath), some sort of pants which were impossible to identify, and some socks. And he was on a bike that appeared to be constructed out of rust.
I guess the bike patrol had found him behind one of the buildings, and had been keeping him moving along and out of our area, and when he meandered onto my site decided to tip me off as a courtesy.
I got out there in time to hear the funniest exchange:
DERELICT: "I'm hurt! [clutches side as though his appendix was on the left] Can't you just let me smoke?"
PATROL: "No man, you can't stay here. You'll have to move along."
At this point, I should mention that the patrol guy speaking is from India. Specifically, he's a Sikh from Punjab but he doesn't wear any sort of head covering or any other visible sign of this.
DERELICT: "Buddha forgive you, 'cuz you're not getting reincarnated!" [gets three-quarters of the way through crossing himself and falls off bike]
Looking at this written down, it doesn't seem so funny but believe me, the three of us were trying not to laugh our asses off at this dude. The patrol guys shepherded him out of our area eventually, and we kept repeating it over and over to our great amusement. :)
Tuesday morning there was another encounter, and it could have gone badly.
There are two bike patrol guys on, and each of those positions is covered by one of two guys. One of them is on from 1800 until 0600, and he does interiors of buildings as well as patrol on bike. The other guy is on from 0000 until 0800, and he is strictly bike patrol, as he can do his rounds much faster than the other guy, and also to maintain a visible presence.
So... it's 0615 and the experienced guy has gone home. I've just unchained a door at the back to let in the flow of employees to my site, and I've come back into my area in reception. Through the glass doors I can see the bike patrol guy urgently gesturing for me to come out and join him. So I do.
A little background on this guy first. He's nineteen and from Poland, although he's been here in Canada for several years now. He also speaks the way that little kids do when their mouths are still forming. Like how they'll say "wuv woo" instead of "love you". That sort of thing. Between that and his accent, the Indian guys had a hard time understanding him at first, but it's still easier than understanding a Newfie. ;)
He's also been in security for exactly three weeks. And every shift he talks about wishing he could "take somebody down". That's kind of a problem.
It's a problem because that's the last thing we want to do. It's dangerous, and it's not really what we're there for. So... myself and the other patrol guy concoct little scenarios for him and ask how he'd respond.
Aggressively, it would seem. An example:
"You see a guy running across the street in the middle of the night with a laptop under each arm. What do you do?"
"I stop him and demand to see ID."
Wrong! It's perfectly legal to go for a sprint in the middle of the night with both of your lawfully purchased laptops. And the street is a public place.
At best, he could have followed the guy and radioed in the situation.
In fact, one of the examples they gave us in basic training was "What do you do if you come across a door that's obviously been broken in, and as you're looking at it a guy comes running out with a laptop (it's always about laptops)? You might ask the guy for ID, but even if he refuses there's nothing much you can do. Why?
Because you haven't observed a crime being committed. He could be an employee that always leaves by this door, and always takes his laptop home, and has a hate on for security guards. No crime there.
Our job isn't always simple. :P You'd often have a better time of dealing with people if you didn't have a uniform on, since then you have fewer restrictions. Ah well.
Anyway, this young bike patrol guy wants to be a hero.
So he tells me about this guy, says he's around back, so I said "Come with me" as I was going to let him cut through the building (he doesn't have access on his own) so we could head the guy off. He wanted to use his bike and circle around. Fair enough.
I run through the building (actually, we're not allowed to run. On my reports I'm to write "moved with deliberate speed" instead of run :P ) and out the recently unchained back door. I seen nobody. A moment later the patrol guy zings around the corner and we meet up. He points to where the guy hopped the "fence" (really a concrete wall) and vanished.
So the patrol went to check out the other nearby buildings, while I shone a light through the dark bush on the other side. Nothing. I went through the brush at a different spot (where there was a vantage point) and saw nothing. I concluded that whoever it was, he was gone. I went back inside.
After about twenty minutes I saw the patrol guy come back, so I went to ask him what it was all about.
He said that he'd just come back from a patrol and was in front of my building when he saw a suspicious person walking by. The reason he thought he was suspicious was because he was walking fast and constantly looking behind himself. Fair enough.
He didn't seem to see the patrol guy though, and he cut up onto my site. The patrol followed him around the corner, when the guy looked back, saw the security jacket, and bolted. That's when the patrol came back to get me.
Turns out the guy had smashed a lobby window two buildings down at a place the patrol had been at five minutes before. Yes folks, it happens that fast. He was inside attempting to pry open a vending machine when the first employee (the one that shuts off the alarm) drove up and saw him through the window. She flashed her lights at him, and he took off. That was when our patrol guy saw him.
The patrol guy was talking like he should have taken the guy down, that he should have cut in front of the guy and confronted him.
I asked him for a description so that if I happened to see the guy wandering around, I'd know to keep an eye on him. So he rattled off his vitals, and when he imitated how the guy was walking, I said "It looks as though he was holding something."
The patrol said "He was."
I said "Maybe what he got from the vending machine?"
The patrol says "No, he didn't get anything. He was holding the meter-long crowbar he was using."
SHIT!
I told the patrol how glad I was he didn't try anything with the guy. I don't care how cocky you are, that's how you get hurt.
But he didn't, and all's well. :)
This will be old news by now, but not smiling for passport photos? Not even without showing teeth? What's next, standing on one leg and belching out the Star Spangled Banner?
I've been telling people (older than me) for years that we're safer now than we were before. They usually don't agree, thinking that there is more crime and lawlessness than before. All I can say is nyah nyah nyah! ;)
posted by Rimmy at 20:54
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