Homicide With A Side of Suicide, Anyone?

Soooo.....yesterdays roll call started out great and then....the Watch Commander said "I need a unit to go right now to relieve the unit at a homicide scene." My hand shot up. I have a new officer I'm training and they need the exposure. Crime scene logs, maintaining crime scene security, seeing and speaking with detectives...the whole green grocer.

On the way out the door, one of my past probationary officers sees me and tells me that the homicide is strange one...the victim is buried in the backyard. I get to the scene and sure enough, victim is partially sticking out of the backyard. No, no kidding, I see an arm and a leg. Welcome to the City of Angels.

Lots of pictures of the deceased in the house - this was a good person whose family loved them - but the body is just a shell now. It has become THE grass-and-dirt covered destination for the single-file column of ants arriving from parts unknown. The rest comes later. The coroner team has to meticulously unearth the body, we have to keep a few family members away. Detectives have to gather leads, info, evidence from the body and the dirt. Luckily this all happens on a quiet street so we avoid any media.

LAPD makes great detectives. You work for years in patrol, narcotics, gang unit, what have you and then turn that bachelors or masters degree to work at detectives. And they bring all that experience to bear, with respect and dignity for the victim, and the mission is to get that suspect. But most of us, patrol, gangs, detectives, we're used to the gangster shot dead in the street. POW! Shooting call comes out, victim down, we show up and "Li'l Boo Boo" is shot dead in the street. Some freakin' street lizard admitted gangmember that you stopped a bunch of times, that you arrested for robbery, that was still out on the street, honestly - fuck that guy. He had to know that Heaven was never going to be a destination on his bus pass. And the trip wasn't coming easy. I'm more worried that a stray bullet from that fool's shooting might hit the mother of three, playing with her kids two blocks over.

But the dead victim in the backyard. We give her the respect. She didn't deserve what she got. Everyone I saw come by their house was crying...crying like they lost everything. Men and women. This person was taking care of people. And how they ended up? Just not right. Not right. Yeah, we can be cynical, clinical, professional. But you know we do this because we want to help people and we can't help this one.

And as I drive away from that one, late in the afternoon, about three hours left to go home, two shooting calls come out. Because a bunch of guys who tried to rob a marijuana store botch it. And the security guard gets one of the suspects in cuffs and Suspect-2 tries to free his homeboy, but guess what, the guard shoots his ass. Good for you, guard. And they both flee but get caught in their car. And this generates about 10 radio calls! So when I go to help the units out sitting on the abandoned suspect car, I think "Man, great training for the new kid!" And I'm telling them all about tactics and crime broadcasts and preserving the scene and How-a-victim-could-really-be-the-suspect.

So as we are standing by, the officers at scene open the suspect vehicle and it is full of blood in the backseat-Bingo! "See here, kid, this is how we preserve evidence. Get some photos in place. Get some paper bags so the bloody shirt can be recovered...." The radio cuts in, BEEP-BEEP-BEEP (Code 3 call coming) "(Insert Division Here) Units, handle the ambulance suicide just occurred, 1234 Blank Ave" I gotta buy that call. We're two blocks away. It's my assigned car area! What the hell? The day started on death, let's end it on death and go home with some balance. We got a few hours left. Put that call in my Stack. "Show me handling, responding Code 3 from the corner of Walk and Don't Walk Streets." Yeah, this day will be good training for the rookie.