Tony- Our cop

AZ Jim

AZ Jim

R.I.P. With Us In Spirit Only
Location
SURPRISE, ARIZONA
As a kid in Los Angeles we had foot patrolling policemen. All the kids in our neighborhood knew Tony and he knew us. He carried a nightstick and he swung it in circles as he walked our street. When we crossed streets usually Tony was around to make sure we made it to school safely. As a kid I always felt safe knowing Tony was nearby. We had a call box on our corner and Tony had a key and he would open the box and call in to the station often. Now, our officers ride in cars and are insulated from those on their beat and a whole different "climate" exists. I know that's progress and is a result of population increases but I loved the old days..
 

Yep, And the call box was across the street from us.

I also remember the carbon arc street light that hung at the corner and the maintenance man would come around, lower the light, open it up and sweep out the ashes from the carbon arc.

"Them" were the good old days; no war, hardly any crime, gas was around 2 bits/gal, we could play outside until the
street lights came on. NOW, look where we are; some +s but lots of negatives.
 
Break glass and pull handle was on those fire alarm boxes. A thing of the past. I can remember when the red lights only had two colors. Red and green. It wasn't long that they added the yellow.
Remember the spike steps on the telephone poles.? Anyone could climb them. As kids we use to go up a little ways.
 

There are many reasons why foot patrols were stopped. I think some of the smaller communities still use them, but it would be unsuitable for state police to go on foot patrols, if for no other reason than the large amount of area that each officer is assigned to cover.
 
When I was a youngster, our police would have safe bike riding courses. We would ride our bikes down to the station and a policeman would inspect the bike, for safety issues, give us a few pointers. For this we were given a small license plate to put on the back of the bike, with the promise that we would obey all bike laws.
 
911 said:
There are many reasons why foot patrols were stopped. I think some of the smaller communities still use them, but it would be unsuitable for state police to go on foot patrols, if for no other reason than the large amount of area that each officer is assigned to cover.
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There were highway patrols in the days I refer too but as you say they were in cars. Our cop was in Los Angeles. The reason the foot patrol stopped was a police department could respond faster to a scene and cover more ground than the beat cop walking his beat. When I lived up in South Dakota I had a fishing buddy who was the local trooper. He covered (alone) about 100 square miles. He often had a 40 mile run to a call on one of the highways. Up there YOU were usually the first responders unless you lived in a town or city.
 
I was 28, really a partier, drank and drove all the time. Lived in a small town, everybody knew everybody, but it wasn't my hometown. So later I realized the only people I knew were my mom, sister, my sister's family, and the rest of my bar-fly friends. I was a 21-dealer, and was headed for destruction in a lot of ways, both with the men I was choosing, and the lifestyle.

I was loaded up after work one night, and decided to "rescue" some guy that probably asked for it, but I didn't like all the guys gangin up on him. So I jumped in my car and headed right at the crowd. I was crazy drunk, and definitely had no fear (or a functioning brain) They scattered and I yelled at him to get in. He was more then for it. So then I started peeling around corners laying as much rubber as I could. I turned up a one way street (me going the wrong way of course) and stopped when I realized my mistake. The keys just fell out of the ignition, so I started looking around for them on the floor. When I sat back up, a cop was looking at me with his flashlight. I knew him vaguely, and I'm sure he had seen me around.

Anyway, I was busted, taken down to the jail in cuffs, blubbered my eyes out because I was so freakin vain I didn't want my picture taken. My boss came in and bailed me out, I don't know how he knew, hell, everyone knew by then. So, I ended up in what they called diversion back then, I got off too easy. But what I wanted to say, was that when I sobered up, I never was more grateful. It hit me that way, I never drove a car again if I did drink, and I stopped drinking completely. I went down to the cop-shop about a 3 months later after I really knew my life was changed forever, I believed it was, and it was it turns out;) So yes, I went to the cop-shop, found Dave (the officer) hugged him and thanked him for my life. He was so humble, and happy it worked out, he knew he was appreciated.

Today I can joke about it, that small town when I visited there after moving on, put a new highway through, tore out all those bars I frequented. I laugh and say that they did that in hopes I would never come back:)
 

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