The Job: True Tales from the Life of a New York City Cop by Osborne Steve

Author:Osborne, Steve [Osborne, Steve]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
ISBN: 9780385539623
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2015-04-20T16:00:00+00:00

8.

Stockbroker

I was hanging out behind the desk in the Ninth Precinct staring up at the clock. It was 1:50 a.m. and in ten more minutes I could sign out and call it a night. As hard as we tried, we came up empty. Me and my guys had been looking all night for a collar, but nothing worthwhile came our way. I was thinking it was time to switch to plan B—go have a beer.

Some nights it just turns out that way. My guys were good cops and the Ninth was a busy place but anti-crime cops are only allowed to make quality arrests, like robbery, burglary, grand larceny, grand larceny auto, assault, rape, and of course, gun collars. Sometimes we make a couple of collars a night and everybody gets on the “sheet.” And sometimes no matter how hard we look we come up dry. Tonight was one of those nights.

Anti-crime cops are usually the best cops in the precinct—or, as we say, the most active. They’re the cops that like to go out and do the job and don’t mind rolling around on the ground once in a while with some bad guy and getting a little dirty. We’re the cowboys in the precinct who go out in the street and come back with the best collars.

The only ones who will argue with that are the guys who tried to get into A/C and didn’t make it. And for all that enthusiasm and good work, we get to ride around in unmarked cars and wear plainclothes while we cruise the streets looking for trouble.

We’re not allowed to answer radio runs or take a collar from a sector car just because they don’t want it. All our stuff is self-generated. Our job is to go out and hunt. And it is like hunting—very much so.

All night long we ride around searching for bad guys who are looking to commit a crime. Our job is to find them before they commit the act, and be there when the crime happens. There’s nothing better than spotting a guy who you know is looking to do a stickup. You can almost see the lightbulb go on over his head—he has a great idea. It’s in his eyes, he’s on a mission, he’s looking to make money. Then you follow him, sometimes for hours, while he looks for just the right victim, and then you jump him when he’s in the middle of doing his deed.

If we’re good at what we do, and we usually are, he never knew we were there. He never had a clue he was being followed. Then when he attacks—we attack. The predator suddenly becomes the prey.

I often equate it to a submarine. The only time anybody sees us is when we surface to attack. The perp only knows he was being followed after it’s too late. Over time you become an expert at following people through crowds and busy streets, but it’s not as easy as you might think.

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