Well, right now here in north central Ohio we're getting some significant snowfall accompanied by gusty winds, meaning it will be drifting. Since the wind is howling out of the north, that means east/west roads will be subject to some large drifts. Our local Sheriff just declared a Level Three snow emergency, meaning only emergency vehicles are permitted on the roadways
The Sheriff, J. Steve Sheldon, has been a good friend since the early 1980s, when I was a pup at Ontario PD and he was a road deputy on midnight shift. We'd often eat lunch together at Denny's at around 0400 hours. Off duty, we got into more than a few capers together, usually involving alcohol. All I'll say is, I'm glad I stopped drinking a few decades ago.
Back in those bygone days, most smaller law enforcement agencies didn't have 4-wheel-drive vehicles in their inventory; I clearly remember, though installing chains on our cruiser tires in order to get around. Hey, you did what you had to do to get by. I also remember Sgt. Lou Bemiller, who was in charge of vehicle maintenance, chewing me out for going too fast with chains on, which caused one of the chains to come loose and beat the crap out of the rear fender. Lesson learned.
One weekend night shift, during which it was snowing like crazy, the Chief ordered everyone to double up instead of riding solo. I was paired with a guy named Rex Knee. Rex was a nice guy who was four years older than I, very laid back, who absolutely loved Neil Diamond and eating the British burgers at the aforementioned Denny's.
He was also, as I would come to find, very cold-blooded. Not in the sense of being ruthless, he just had a hard time staying warm. The entire shift was a fight over the heater settings and me opening my passenger side window. Rex had the inside of that cruiser feeling like a blast furnace, to the extent that I felt like I couldn't breathe.
That one lands in the top three longest-8-hour-shifts-ever.
At Mansfield PD it was a different story. We had a street crew who actually did a pretty fair job at making the streets passable; the real issue was boredom. On those very slow, snowy nights when nothing in the city was moving, five or 6 of us would 'coop' in the city parking garage, which once stood right next to the municipal building. We'd park, side-by-side, five cruisers across; most times, one or two of us would stay awake to monitor radio traffic while everyone else slept. If someone napping got dispatched to a call, we'd wake them up and away they'd go.
Yes, coppers do sleep on duty. Not every guy I ever worked with, but a large number of night shifters.
It's not only the coppers working nights. Several years ago there was a long-time dayshift officer who was found sound asleep in his cruiser...in the middle of the day...in the parking lot of a busy shopping complex. He retired a short while later.
I mentioned boredom earlier. When a young police officer is bored, the mind runs wild, and no time during the year is more boring than winter on night shift during/after a heavy snow and/or extremely low temperatures.
One night, while I was training a young officer, we were cruising the northwest end of the city and pulled into the parking lot of a closed restaurant. We sat idly chatting about the job, life, who was stepping out on his wife....whatever it was, when we heard another unit call in a dead possum in the roadway. Yes, that's how boring it was. The dispatcher replied that she'd put it on the street department's list for pick up.
Out of curiosity, after we were sure the other offer had left the area, we drove the short distance to where the animal was located, finding it in pristine condition...well, for it being dead and frozen solid.
"Grab the yellow emergency blanket out of the trunk", I told my partner, "We're gonna do something with this."
Gary scooped it up, wrapped it and in the trunk it went.
So began the legend of The Possum Drag, which is a story for another time.
Things sure were a lot more fun back in the day, is all I'll say.
