Loud Music
Last Friday night sucked, I was not feeling well at all and considered calling in sick. I didn’t and it was a looong night. We were shorthanded; since we were shorthanded I was working two beats. It was a super busy Friday night. I went from call to call all night.
At the beginning of the shift I was dispatched to a loud music call not far from the station. While in route I thought I would locate the music give a warning and clear the call. It didn’t work out that way.
I arrived in the area of the call and did not hear any loud music, but I saw a male standing in the driveway to the house where the music was supposed to be coming from. When he saw us he started to walk inside. I could see a light on inside the truck that appeared to be coming from the radio. I also saw condemnation notices on the house.
My assist officer and I made contact with the guy in the driveway. I immediately smelled a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from him. I saw that his eyes were bloodshot and watery. I thought he might be intoxicated, but really did not care, he was in his driveway.
When I spoke with him I asked him how old he was and he told me 17 but he did not have any identification. Well that could be a problem. In most circumstances 17 year olds can’t drink alcohol. I asked him where his parents were and he told me mom was working and dad was out of town. That was a problem. It got worse though. I asked if there was anyone inside the house and he told me a friend that had been drinking and his 4 sisters that were in bed. I asked how old his sisters were and he told me the oldest was 14.
I had a problem. The boy was under arrest for minor consuming alcohol and there was no one to release him to. On top of that if I took him to jail there was no one to watch his sisters.
My assist and I found that the door to the house was open. We went in to check on the sisters inside. The house was dirty and nasty. It consisted of a kitchen, bathroom, living room and bedroom. We found the guys friend hiding from us in the bathroom. He was 17 and had been drinking so he was arrested. In the bedroom we found 5 people in bed asleep. We did not wake them up.
I went outside and talked to the first boy again. He said there was no one to call to come take custody of him or his sisters other than his mom. We tried calling mom’s cell phone several times and got no answer. That made the problem even worse. I had to contact Child Protective Services (CPS) to have them come get the kids.
After I spoke with CPS I waited on scene. While waiting the boy told me he was really 16. We were able to verify that this was true. That caused yet another problem. 16 year olds don’t go to jail, they go to juvenile detention. The problem is our county does not have a juvenile facility and sends them out of county. Since there is not a juvenile facility juvenile probation deals with juveniles but will not take custody of them in most cases. They just refer the juveniles to court. So now I had a 16 year old in custody for drinking no one to release him to and I could not put him in jail because of his age. I called juvenile probation and was given the answer I expected, they would not take custody of the boy even though he had been drinking and there was no one to release him to. They suggested releasing him to CPS since I had already contacted them. CPS won’t take custody of him because he had been drinking so I was really in a bind. It was looking like I was going to be a babysitter until mom got home.
We sat on scene for about 2 hours waiting for CPS. Just before CPS arrived mom showed up. Mom had not been working, or maybe she had, she had been at a bar with her boyfriend. I started to explain to mom what was going on using an interpreter when CPS showed up.
Since mom was on scene when CPS showed up they did not take the children. Maybe they will in the future. Obviously mom is not taking care of the kids and the living conditions were horrible. The boy was released to mom with a citation for minor consuming alcohol and I did a report charging him with failure to identify for lying about his age and birth date.
At the beginning of the shift I was dispatched to a loud music call not far from the station. While in route I thought I would locate the music give a warning and clear the call. It didn’t work out that way.
I arrived in the area of the call and did not hear any loud music, but I saw a male standing in the driveway to the house where the music was supposed to be coming from. When he saw us he started to walk inside. I could see a light on inside the truck that appeared to be coming from the radio. I also saw condemnation notices on the house.
My assist officer and I made contact with the guy in the driveway. I immediately smelled a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from him. I saw that his eyes were bloodshot and watery. I thought he might be intoxicated, but really did not care, he was in his driveway.
When I spoke with him I asked him how old he was and he told me 17 but he did not have any identification. Well that could be a problem. In most circumstances 17 year olds can’t drink alcohol. I asked him where his parents were and he told me mom was working and dad was out of town. That was a problem. It got worse though. I asked if there was anyone inside the house and he told me a friend that had been drinking and his 4 sisters that were in bed. I asked how old his sisters were and he told me the oldest was 14.
I had a problem. The boy was under arrest for minor consuming alcohol and there was no one to release him to. On top of that if I took him to jail there was no one to watch his sisters.
My assist and I found that the door to the house was open. We went in to check on the sisters inside. The house was dirty and nasty. It consisted of a kitchen, bathroom, living room and bedroom. We found the guys friend hiding from us in the bathroom. He was 17 and had been drinking so he was arrested. In the bedroom we found 5 people in bed asleep. We did not wake them up.
I went outside and talked to the first boy again. He said there was no one to call to come take custody of him or his sisters other than his mom. We tried calling mom’s cell phone several times and got no answer. That made the problem even worse. I had to contact Child Protective Services (CPS) to have them come get the kids.
After I spoke with CPS I waited on scene. While waiting the boy told me he was really 16. We were able to verify that this was true. That caused yet another problem. 16 year olds don’t go to jail, they go to juvenile detention. The problem is our county does not have a juvenile facility and sends them out of county. Since there is not a juvenile facility juvenile probation deals with juveniles but will not take custody of them in most cases. They just refer the juveniles to court. So now I had a 16 year old in custody for drinking no one to release him to and I could not put him in jail because of his age. I called juvenile probation and was given the answer I expected, they would not take custody of the boy even though he had been drinking and there was no one to release him to. They suggested releasing him to CPS since I had already contacted them. CPS won’t take custody of him because he had been drinking so I was really in a bind. It was looking like I was going to be a babysitter until mom got home.
We sat on scene for about 2 hours waiting for CPS. Just before CPS arrived mom showed up. Mom had not been working, or maybe she had, she had been at a bar with her boyfriend. I started to explain to mom what was going on using an interpreter when CPS showed up.
Since mom was on scene when CPS showed up they did not take the children. Maybe they will in the future. Obviously mom is not taking care of the kids and the living conditions were horrible. The boy was released to mom with a citation for minor consuming alcohol and I did a report charging him with failure to identify for lying about his age and birth date.
posted by TexasCop at 22:34
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