A short update, so you know I'm still working on it. ~J~
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"Do you want me to cuff her too?"
During the two months that they had been working together, Larry Kasak had been naïve, inquisitive, embarrassed, apologetic, despondent and over excited, but he had never been insolent. He stood there holding the arm of the crying woman daring his training officer to force him to "hogtie" the grandmother. Not that Jim Reed didn't consider doing just that, but that wouldn't teach the rookie anything.
"Just put her in the backseat with the other two until transport gets here to take them off our hands." Inside, Jim was seething, but he remembered what Pete had told him. "You will want to strangle him at some point, but it's bad form to kill your trainee. Teach him."
The frightened grandmother tried to back away and Larry stood there, hesitating. Reed took a deep breath, then ordered him to use the temporary cuffs and put her into the unit. Kasak did as he was told, then slammed the back door shut with a muttered curse.
"Follow me". Moving to the front end of the car, Jim turned on Larry, not bothering to hide his anger. "Who do you think you are? I give you an order boy and you obey it. You got that?"
"Yes sir, but…"
"No "buts". That woman is under arrest and it's your fault that she is now wearing cuffs."
"Do we have to arrest her? She's a grandmother!" Larry had let his emotions get the better of him. If he were honest with the rookie, this arrest bothered Jim too.
"Did she or did she not purchase marijuana?"
"Her grandson said he'd take the blame. Can't we let her go?"
"That's not our decision to make. Who provided the money?" He had to make Larry understand what his limitations are as an officer.
"She did, but…"
"Are you an investigator, a prosecutor, a judge or a member of the jury?" Jim paused, took off his hat and ran his hand through his hair in frustration. "You aren't. You are a patrol officer. You see a crime and arrest the perpetrator. That's it. What happens to the suspect after that is out of our hands."
"Yes Sir." Larry looked back at the woman in the unit. "It bothers me to have to do this. I didn't join up to arrest old women."
"If it helps, I don't feel great about this either." Jim reached out and put his hand on Larry's shoulder. "This job isn't easy and you will have to do more things you personally find distasteful, but it's what you signed up for. We have to trust that those we hand her over to will treat her fairly. You can only be involved to a certain point otherwise you'll drive yourself up the walls."
"I…understand." During transport, booking and writing up the report, Larry was quiet; still trying to process his emotions. Jim knew this would come up again.
