"Alright, well, let's get things wrapped up here in the next few minutes, I know we all have a job to return to."
Rudy Olsen made no qualms about the fact that he wasn't overly enthused about Condon's new approach of having a meeting of all department heads every single Monday morning, to ensure everyone was on the same page.
Putting on a formality about something that was already happening at the water cooler each week wasn't received well by any party involved, but nonetheless, with growing interdepartmental infrastructure and the Mayor's push for better communication, Condon remained unyielding on the subject matter of the meeting, which cost every Lieutenant and Captain at the Police Headquarters a good hour per week.
An hour that could be spent chasing the bad guys.
Mike quietly leaned back in his chair, arms crossed, as he glanced over the assortment of co-workers along the wooden table of the brass meeting room. Their faces displayed the same tension Olsen's did, obedient, but unhappy about the change.
Although he wasn't thrilled himself, Mike had kept a straight face about the procedure; somewhere deep inside feeling that maybe there might be some benefit to be had from sitting on the same table and talking things through face to face, rather than gathering information via hearsay or water cooler talk.
In front of him was a black and white copy of a meeting agenda, listing recent cases that could pose a public concern, upcoming press meetings and interdepartmental cross training, as well as the yearly recert classes happening a month from now. It was a nice stab at putting some regulation into what used to be a rather lax approach at working together.
"So, eh robbery…Franklin and Guavrro closed that…that jewelry burglar case down on Geary last Friday, tell your guys good job, Harry.", Olsen said and sipped on his cold coffee, nodding at the Robbery Lieutenant briefly as he read off some notes in front of him, "Mendez, looks like Rodrigo is going to have his hands full with these…these four…Germans distributing alcohol to minors? I guess I've heard it all now. Condon was very pleased to hear about that, by the way. Looks like two solid indictments, the other two guys might get off on misdemeanors. Mike, did Keller survive his…his assignment?"
There was a slight smirk forming on Olsen's lips as he glanced up and made eye contact. Mike returned the smile, unwilling to go into any length of detail on how he spent the entire night tending his violently ill alcohol-poisoned partner.
"He's on the mend…", the Lieutenant answered cryptically, masking his dissatisfaction with the way the case had been handled.
Not a fan of making light of alcoholism to begin with, he regretted not listening to his gut the first time around when Louis Rodrigues had changed plans halfway through their Vice Gig, leaving Steve to fend for himself an extra hour, a move that in Mike's eyes was entirely unnecessary.
"Well, do tell him I appreciate him taking one for the team on this one. And rest assured, that will end your teamwork with Vice for a little while. Unfortunately, I received news this morning that Tanner will be on sick leave for at least two weeks, so Mike, I am assigning the Bay City Strangler case to you and Keller. Lessing has the file ready and will drop everything off in your office this morning. Be sure to sit down with him to discuss everything they figured out so far. There's going to be a press conference on this at 4pm today. I'll handle it while you get…read up on things."
Pursing his lips, Mike nodded, having guessed this development the moment Bill's wife called him last night to inform him that the African American Inspector had come down with pneumonia and would be off for at least ten days. He'd followed the Strangler case with great interest since it started a month or so ago, and his first action would be to get Lenny involved. Four bodies in six weeks demanded the psychiatrist's utmost attention.
"Also…", Rudy continued and ripped him out of his day dreams, "You will see a group of teens going through headquarters today, one department at a time. It's a new initiative that Mayor Johnson came up with in collaboration with Social Services. These are all endangered teenagers from troubled backgrounds, and the idea is to bring them and local law enforcement closer together. Ideally, we'd like to do this on a weekly basis, and hopefully create a sort of friendship/bonding experience in a mentor sort-of-fashion for any of these kids who are open to it. I know it sounds weird but this is modeled after a pilot-program started in L.A. three years ago and it was quite successful. Over three quarters of the kids who decided to spend an hour or more a week with a law enforcement mentor actually ended up in the police force themselves. That's a heck of a lot better than the alternative."
The grumbling in the room overlooking 3rd Street grew louder, and Olsen raised his hands to quiet down the troops.
"This is a test we're running for four weeks, guys, no need to panic. If it doesn't work out, so be it. If it does, we'll roll this out on a bigger scale and then we can get extra funding for this project as well. There's some information on your handouts about this program. I don't expect any miracle work, just you know…show these kids around, talk about your work in the same politically correct manner you would with anybody their age and see if you can get through to any of them. Remember, every single one of these kids we can save from the gang and thug life is one less robbery, Vice or murder case in the future."