Ride Along

Ride Along

On February 12, 2009 I had my ride-along with Prince George County Police Department District Two. When I entered the police station I was a little nervous because this was my first time being inside a police station. I always see them on television but it’s nothing like actually being in that atmosphere. I walked to the front desk and told the lady sitting behind it my name was ______ and I was here for my ride-along. She told me to have a seat and an officer would be with me as soon as they finished roll call. I didn’t know what to expect because I never had any personal time with an officer. Ten minutes later a black officer walked up to me; I shook his hand and we introduced ourselves and he introduced himself as Officer Rawlings.
As we walked to his vehicle he asked why it was I scheduled a ride-along. I told him it was part of my criminal justice class and that I would have to write a paper about my experience. Then he asked what my major was and what I planned on doing with my degree. I replied by saying, “My major is sociology with a concentration of criminal justice. I plan on going into the military for 8 years and then pursue a career in one of the federal police departments.” His next question was would I be able   to handle seeing dead bodies, blood and possibly taking some one’s life and I told him I understood what comes with the job and that I would only feel uncomfortable if I had to deal with a situation that involved my family or some one close to me. We got in the car and it wouldn’t start at first. He explained he was a rookie and all the rookies got the broke down cars. I figured it would be something to do with being new on the force.
The beginning of the ride was filled with alarms from warehouses or homes. The first exciting call we got was for a shooting at a high school. The dispatcher reported that one kid was shot and another assaulted and after speeding 110mph the dispatcher called 10-22 meaning cancel request (there...