Pat Jones

I’m drivin’ around in my patrol car as I hear the damn dispatch radio go off. "Sheriff Units respond to EDP, making assassination threats against the president. Suspect stating he has a bazooka. 21 Cross Street Unit A, Oxnard." I hear the dispatcher say. I hear 204 responding to the call. Damn, I feel like doing my due diligence as a deputy today. “Dispatch, this is unit 206. Show me responding to the call.” I say into my radio. I mentally prepare for a potentially deadly call and prepare to remain calm with the suspect. “Is there anything else I should keep in mind?”

I walk into the parade room and sit down at an empty chair, watching my surroundings and waiting for my new shift. I look at Patterson and Bruno, both of them I haven’t seen a lil while. The last couple of months had been fairly rough and busy, but I’m pretty happy with the fact that my home life is somewhat peaceful.

I arrive, cautiously approaches the scene, keeping a safe distance from the man wielding a sword. I maintain some communication with dispatch. “Dispatch, this is unit 206. I’m on the scene. The individual with the sword is in my sight. Requesting guidance on the next steps.” I say into my radio. ‘Sir, I’m Deputy Patrick Jones,’ I say, maintaining my distance. ‘Imma need you to step away from the road, I’m here to help. Cooperate and we can do this smoothly.’

I’m driving around in my car and I hear my dispatch radio go off. A man apparently got a sword and is threatening people with it. “Hey, dispatch. This is unit 206, responding to the scene,” I say, after I pick up my radio. “Is there anything else I should worry about, any other developments?”

Preparing for the rest of the fall, I enter the Lieu’s office and wait for my next call. I sit down, noticing the other deputies waiting for their assignments. ‘Yo, Lieu,’ I say, rubbing my face. ‘I’m here for a new assignment.’

I’m patrolling the neighborhood and I hear my dispatch radio go off. It’s Dispatch lookin’ for a deputy or two to come to a location in the Oxnard park. “Dispatch, this is 202. 202 heading to the scene. This flasher won’t be visible anymore.” I say into the radio. I put my radio down and head to the location.

I keep on searching through the bushes for more clues. I already noticed the camera and footprints, but I begin to think there is a deeper issue with this case. Sergeant Patterson and Ajax the dog were looking at me, searching for more information about the prowler incident. I don’t find much information about the incident anymore, given I have found a vast majority of creepy items used to spy on that poor woman named Dana. ‘Damn it!’ I exclaim, still searching the backyard. ‘We already found some goddamn cameras and footprints in this yard, there must be something more to this call!’

I saw some footprints near the bush. He had been here recently, this had confirmed it. Patterson and Ajax walked up to me. I decide to take a deep breath, just to remain calm with the situation. ‘Sarge,’ I begin. ‘He was here. There’s boot prints in the mud. I mean, they pretty faint, but they here, all right. I haven’t seen any cameras yet, but I’ll look through these bushes.’ I look through the bushes, just to see if there was a camera hidden somewhere. As I look through, I find myself touching an odd branch. I examine it closer and I see it isn’t a branch at all, rather a camera. ‘Sarge, I stand corrected. There’s a camera. This guy’s a huge creep, it’s recording and everything.’

‘Hey Jones, when we exit, do me a favor and go over to those bushes at the end of her yard for a second and tell me what you can see from them in terms of through the bathroom window and her bedroom sliding door. Ajax and I will wait here. See if you can see either of us, call it a hunch, and remember, we still gotta finish sweeping her yard too.’ Patterson said to me. Ajax was sniffing. ‘Copy that, Sarge. I got you.’ I nod in acknowledgment of Sergeant Patterson's request and proceed to complete our search of the house. We clear each room methodically, ensuring there are no signs of the prowler inside. Once we finished clearing the house, I step out of the master bedroom, where Sergeant Patterson and K-9 Max are waiting, and make my way toward the bushes at the end of the yard. “Dispatch, we've cleared the house, but we're conducting an additional assessment of the exterior. I'll report any findings.” I say into my radio. I carefully approach the bushes again, taking cover behind them to get a better view of the bathroom window and the bedroom sliding door. I peer through the foliage, attempting to observe Ajax, the dog, and Sergeant Patterson without being noticed. As I scan the area, I check for any potential vantage points that the prowler might have used earlier to peer into the house, keeping an eye out for anything suspicious. I can see them in the window, clearly for the most part, and it is clear that the prowler has been inside her house or yard at least once. ‘Sarge! I can see you and the dog. He's been here before, I can tell. What should we do next?’ I ask.

'I got your back, dont forget to check the corners, these guys hide in bushes all day or night sometimes, so, if he's here he's gonna try to sneak off or jump us and run.' Sergeant Patterson says to me. 'Roger that, Sarge.' I say, nodding. He and his dog begin going into the house, with me following after. The woman stays outside, knowing that she can holler to us in case she sees the man. I stay alert, keeping my head on a swivel, turning it to all angles, and keeping my ears open. Patterson and his dog are actively searching through the house, with the dog sniffing all over. I make my way to the kitchen, opening all cabinets and the refrigerator, looking for anything suspicious. We make our way to the backyard, looking through the bushes and other places that the prowler may be hiding. We also analyzed for any footprints or discarded items, but it was just trash left all over. Other than some chips in the doors or walls, there wasn't much sign of a forced entry - though anything was possible. 'Dana, our caller? She said that she had never seen our suspect in her house, but it's possible he's been inside whenever she's away,' I say to Patterson. Patterson's dog, who I was not familiar with, was still sniffing and actively listening to his surroundings. 'There could be a listening device somewhere, so let's search every nook and cranny to look for any microphones.' I kept looking around the house and out to the backyard. Dana was still outside, looking nervous, and we were, obviously, inside. This prowler was gonna go down, one way or another. I began thinking that, in order to catch this guy, we may need to lay down bait.

I see the Sarge pull up into the tight driveway, he walked up to me and asked me to put him up to speed. The woman was still in front of us, worried as ever. I realized that even I hadn't introduced myself, so I decided to do so. 'I'm real sorry, ma'am, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Deputy Patrick Jones and this is Sergeant Jason Patterson, he's one of the best. Sarge, to catch you up to speed, she was just about to show me the recording of the man.' 'Right, here it is.' the woman says. On her phone, we see a white man with black clothes outside of her house, in the dark, looking through her window on the sidewalk. It's clear that the woman is traumatized, and Patterson and I share a look. 'Ma'am, you're doing a brave thing, showing us this video, you know? It's essential to getting this man off the streets. Can you tell us when and where this was recorded?' I ask her. 'Last night at 11. He had...been looking through. I've seen him around, definitely not the best kind of guy. I saw him through my bedroom window...I was just about to take my clothes off and that's when I saw him.' the woman replies. I noticed she definitely had cold, scared shudders go throughout her body. 'You stay safe, right here, okay? What's your name?' I ask. Patterson is still standing next to me. 'Dana.' 'All right, well, Dana? You stay here in a safe place and Sergeant Patterson and I are gonna search your house to look for any signs of a possible break-in or anything like that, okay?' I say. 'If we happen to find anything or anyone suspicious in your house, we may have to you leave your home temporarily. Do you have any relatives or friends you able to stay with?' 'Okay, okay,' the woman responds with obvious quivers in her tone. I finish taking my notes. 'My mom, I'm able to stay with her, possibly.' "Dispatch, this is 202 and 230, we at the caller's home,' I say with my radio in my face. 'She showed us the video of our suspect watching her through her window. We're about to search the vicinity of the house for any signs of break-in or any other clues about our prowler. We'll keep y'all updated. We may or may not have to evacuate her from her home temporarily." I begin looking around the front-yard with intent of finding more clues about the case. We already knew the man was guilty, but we had to be sure he wasn't listening in on this conversation nor hiding somewhere in her house.

As I drive towards the home, I hear unit 230 speak into the Dispatch. I guess I have at least 3 more minutes until I arrive at the house, so I respond to his dispatch. "This is 202 again. My ETA is 3 more minutes until I get to the woman's address." I place the radio back down, as always, and continue my drive to 624 Chickadee. A few minutes went by and I arrived at the caller's home. As I walked up the path towards her house, I proceed with caution and looked around my surroundings just so I can try spotting the prowler. I knocked on the door, telling her I'm the police, only to see her open it. I pull out my notebook to write information down. I let dispatch know that I am on the scene. 'Hi, Ma'am. Are you the one that called about a prowler? I want to help you, can you let me know everything first? What does the man look like?' 'Thank God, you're here,' the woman said. 'White, dresses in black.' the woman finished. She had a worried look on her face. I felt sad and empathetic for her. 'I heard about you recording the event on your phone? If you don't mind, I'd like to see it?' I told her, with a gentle tone of voice.

I get another call regarding a prowler watching a woman in her bathroom and bedroom and decided that that call is more important than a shoplifter. Besides, I knew that there were cops already heading to the call. “Dispatch, remove 202 from the call. 202 is heading for the recent Prowler call, thanks.” I say.

My dispatch radio had went off. A new call was made. I grabbed my radio, preparing to accept the call. “Dispatch, this is unit 202. Go ahead and put 202 as responding.” I put my radio down, mentally and physically preparing for the call. I turned on the sirens and began making my way to the location. A prowler watching a woman? How low can a person go? I was gonna make sure that the prowler would understand true justice.

'Oh, really? How'd that all end?' Bethany asked. At first, I was debating whether to let or know or not. I mean, she's pregnant and pregnant women don't need that much stress. But she's also my wife - the woman I love. Telling her was more important. 'Terrible. It was all terrible. Three guys were reported to have been fighting in the library, Dispatch reported that one of the men had ran off to the bathroom. I get there and I clashed heads with one of the deputies who responded to the scene and...I accidentally let one of the guys go and he ran off,' I began. 'Anyway, he runs off, and luckily, two deputies caught his ass. Then I saw another guy sneaking around and I...thought he was the third guy. I mean, he looked so suspicious. Who sneaks in a library?!' I ask myself. I'm not a bad cop, never. I hate stuff like that, I tell myself. Bethany looked surprised, with a clear look of being the "quiz lady" dawning on her face. I had to mentally prepare myself for anything she was going to ask. The pregnant lady had some tricks up her sleeve for sure.