Read Online We Are the Cops by Michael Matthews - Free Book Online
Authors: Michael Matthews
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because he was so small – and gets the guy right in the calf. Beautiful! Beautiful bite.
So the guy’s like, ‘AAAAARRRRGGGHHH!’
I throw him to the ground and I kind of got saved tremendously because he ended up having nine warrants, because other than him running, I didn’t have anything.
The K-9’s in New Jersey, the way they fell in the force continuum was, if I could spray you, I could bite you. If I could hit you with my baton, I could spray you, I could bite you. But at thesame time you had to weigh it out because pepper-spray lasts a few hours – a day maybe – but bites and scars last forever.
But this guy didn’t fit the profile, so to speak, of the city. He was a white guy with a black male passenger, so the chances are – and as I found out were correct – number one, he was there to buy drugs and number two, he had nine warrants.
Now, he’s got this tattoo on his calf. He leans over and he goes, ‘Yo man, you fucked up my tattoo!’
And I just started laughin’. I was like, ‘Well, you should have “Raider was here” tattooed on your leg now, as your conversation piece. And then you can say that you got bit by a Camden K-9.’
But this guy didn’t care about the warrants. He didn’t care that he just got bit by a K-9. His whole thing was, ‘Wow! You just fucked up my tattoo.’
****
People hate you in the projects in Baltimore. And the people who do like you are never going to say anything – that’s dangerous for them.
People yell, ‘Five-O’, or they whistle. People stare at you; they hate you. But I have to tell you, my whole career I have been carrying a gun and people might not look at you, they might move away from you, they might give you an evil look or something. You could walk down the street and the reaction was pretty much the same; unless someone was running from you, you’d just get hard stares. Very few people would smile or talk or anything else. But being a K-9 cop, you got that dog out of the car and people were running! Like, running away from you. Crossing to the other side of the street to get away from you. In those neighbourhoods,people feared the dogs. People would run up onto their porches and then they still wouldn’t be far enough away and then they’d run into their house to get away from you.
My opinion is, that the concept was that they know you can’t just walk down the street and shoot them. They’re very aware of the fact that we can’t just start taking people randomly off the street by shooting them but they’re not exactly sure what you can do with that dog, and when, and what the circumstances have to be.
I think part of that is cultural – with the race riots and dogs being used – people grew up seeing that and they were taught to be afraid of the dogs. And then in other respects, I think with the ‘use of force’ continuum, they weren’t really sure when you could use the dog. So rather than stick around and find out, they would literally vacate the streets. And I’m walking down the street everyday with a gun on my hip and people aren’t running away from me. But you get a dog out of the car and walk that dog down the street and people are just losing their minds. It’s hysterical.
****
I worked downtown sometimes – when we had special events – and people would let their kids come up and grab my attack-trained German Shepherd. Who in their right mind thinks that that is a good idea?
People would sometimes say, ‘Can I pet your dog?’
And I’d say, ‘No, you can’t. He’s a working dog.’ But they would do it anyway.
I mean, seriously, what part of ‘attack-trained German Shepherd’ makes you want to throw your hand in its face?
4
Death
A lmost all of the officers that I spoke to for this book were total strangers to me; only very, very few had I met before. For this reason, it was important to gain their trust and to ‘warm them up’, so to speak. Asking them to simply start talking about their
So the guy’s like, ‘AAAAARRRRGGGHHH!’
I throw him to the ground and I kind of got saved tremendously because he ended up having nine warrants, because other than him running, I didn’t have anything.
The K-9’s in New Jersey, the way they fell in the force continuum was, if I could spray you, I could bite you. If I could hit you with my baton, I could spray you, I could bite you. But at thesame time you had to weigh it out because pepper-spray lasts a few hours – a day maybe – but bites and scars last forever.
But this guy didn’t fit the profile, so to speak, of the city. He was a white guy with a black male passenger, so the chances are – and as I found out were correct – number one, he was there to buy drugs and number two, he had nine warrants.
Now, he’s got this tattoo on his calf. He leans over and he goes, ‘Yo man, you fucked up my tattoo!’
And I just started laughin’. I was like, ‘Well, you should have “Raider was here” tattooed on your leg now, as your conversation piece. And then you can say that you got bit by a Camden K-9.’
But this guy didn’t care about the warrants. He didn’t care that he just got bit by a K-9. His whole thing was, ‘Wow! You just fucked up my tattoo.’
****
People hate you in the projects in Baltimore. And the people who do like you are never going to say anything – that’s dangerous for them.
People yell, ‘Five-O’, or they whistle. People stare at you; they hate you. But I have to tell you, my whole career I have been carrying a gun and people might not look at you, they might move away from you, they might give you an evil look or something. You could walk down the street and the reaction was pretty much the same; unless someone was running from you, you’d just get hard stares. Very few people would smile or talk or anything else. But being a K-9 cop, you got that dog out of the car and people were running! Like, running away from you. Crossing to the other side of the street to get away from you. In those neighbourhoods,people feared the dogs. People would run up onto their porches and then they still wouldn’t be far enough away and then they’d run into their house to get away from you.
My opinion is, that the concept was that they know you can’t just walk down the street and shoot them. They’re very aware of the fact that we can’t just start taking people randomly off the street by shooting them but they’re not exactly sure what you can do with that dog, and when, and what the circumstances have to be.
I think part of that is cultural – with the race riots and dogs being used – people grew up seeing that and they were taught to be afraid of the dogs. And then in other respects, I think with the ‘use of force’ continuum, they weren’t really sure when you could use the dog. So rather than stick around and find out, they would literally vacate the streets. And I’m walking down the street everyday with a gun on my hip and people aren’t running away from me. But you get a dog out of the car and walk that dog down the street and people are just losing their minds. It’s hysterical.
****
I worked downtown sometimes – when we had special events – and people would let their kids come up and grab my attack-trained German Shepherd. Who in their right mind thinks that that is a good idea?
People would sometimes say, ‘Can I pet your dog?’
And I’d say, ‘No, you can’t. He’s a working dog.’ But they would do it anyway.
I mean, seriously, what part of ‘attack-trained German Shepherd’ makes you want to throw your hand in its face?
4
Death
A lmost all of the officers that I spoke to for this book were total strangers to me; only very, very few had I met before. For this reason, it was important to gain their trust and to ‘warm them up’, so to speak. Asking them to simply start talking about their
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