Once again this time I was with Deputy Brian Amos, 14 year veteran of the Sherriff’s department, and his K-9, Jesse, a Belgian Malanois.

One of the more interesting calls of the evening was a stabbing in North Highlands. We were second on scene and arrived to find a guy lying in the doorway of his apartment with a paper towel covering his neck, where he’d been stabbed while “cooking a tuna sandwich.” (?) More entertaining than that was his claim that he never saw who stabbed him…in the neck…in his own kitchen! Clearly a gang crime. Dude was fine and has no doubt meted out some street justice by now.

Early in the evening we assisted another officer who had pulled over a pickup truck that had 4 people riding in the front bench seat of a pickup truck. Three of the four were on parole and/or probation, but it turned out they were just heading out for a fun evening of bingo (?). No arrests were made and they were sent on their way, but not before Deputy Amos uttered the line of the night. When we approached the vehicle there was an overwhelming odor…I asked Brian what it was and he looked at me and said “that’s the smell of probation.”

A quick hello to the Lieutenant that was on duty that night and is retiring in 2 weeks. Good for him.

Last time I did a ride along, Jesse never came out of the car. This time, he worked his ass off, including two full building searches to clear and make sure that bad guys who had broken in weren’t hiding (they weren’t…they were gone…but it’s quite a rush to be going room to room with a K9 cop and his cover officer with his gun drawn)

Later in the evening we responded to an officer needing assistance with an unruly perp he had arrested.

It turned out the guy was drunk and was banging his head and legs against the squad car window so the officers had to hog-tie him. I got to hold the flashlight while the 3 deputies tied him up.

This is what he looked like in the end, kinda. The best part was when he looked up at me as they were carrying him to the back of the police car and recognized me. It’s always a treat to interact with listeners.

Next up was a pretty intense traffic stop; Deputy Amos chased down a vehicle with two pretty shady looking characters inside (and a lame story to follow), but he knew he needed back-up before pulling the guys out so he called for another officer.

When the back-up officer arrived, it turned out he had a ride along with him as well. You should have seen the look on the guys’ faces as they were being handcuffed and escorted past this blonde bombshell watching the whole thing. Turns out she was a listener as well and asked me to keep the other details of who she was private. It was nice to meet a listener who was not a convict that night.

Later in the evening A guy ran away from us and into his apartment complex, so Jesse came out again to search for him.

But, in a funny moment, Jesse had been working so hard that when he saw the hose in the apartment complex he insisted on getting a drink before continuing the search. We later made contact with the guy and found out he was running because he had a suspended driver’s license.

While we were out that night there was also a safe robbery at a Walgreen’s and a convenience store that was held up at gun point. It turned out to be another busy, fun night with totally different experiences than last time. Yet again, I was reminded what these guys (and gals) do and how amazing the cops are to go from situation to situation and maintain their cool and keep us safe.

Click here to see Rob's 1st ride along with
Deputy Amos & his K9 partner Jesse.