Officer Who

What I Anticipated In a Police Ride Along

My first question to coordinator, Lieutenant Gaines, was:
 
How much danger will I be in?

I live near 21st and PCH in Hermosa Beach and I occasionally hear sirens blaring, speeding away to one crisis or another. I remember last year's news of a tragic hi-speed collision near PCH and Torrance.

It is also reported that the movements of fugitive, Christopher Dorner, were tracked near Hermosa Beach. Two women driving near here were mistakenly shot and wounded because of the aggravated tension of the circumstances.

In Hermosa Beach proper, police reports of deaths by murder or suicide are not unusual, I have learned. Arrests for fighting, domestic abuse, rape, public misbehavior, thefts, burglaries and even robberies are all common matters before the Hermosa Beach Police Department. Investigations also uncover other common crimes such as extortion or embezzlement. 

"Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting"
                                   -Elton John 

In The Patrol Car With Dectective Mick Gaglia

Some of the public, including me, may have entertained a perception of cops is as hard-hearted, mean, suspicious, fun-haters, who enjoy busting people.  At times I have been guilty of these thoughts, particularly when I have seen the red, blue and white lights flashing behind me.  

"Don't you have better things to do? Criminals to catch? But a traffic ticket...?!!  (Cops generally will not answer a lot of questions at this time, however.)

Others, whose law-breaking ways may be greater than my own, may also have even more to say. But despite some apprehensions, I have always wanted to know what cops are thinking while riding around in that car...the one in my rearview mirror. So, when the opportunity came for a citizen's ride along, I intended to find out for myself just who is behind the wheel of the patrol car.

On a very dark Saturday night I walked into the small outer office of the Hermosa Beach Police Department.  I told the officer behind the glass that I was the scheduled ride-along: 10pm until 2am.  She took the information from my Colorado Driver's License and after a short wait, I met with Detective Mick Gaglia, a 19 year veteran of the force.  

He was engagingly professional and I liked him right away.  He introduced himself as "Mick," and after a few minutes talking about our common interest in Ukulele music, he lead me to his patrol car (he recommended an Eddie Vedder CD).  I have never been in the front seat of a cop car...the back seat either, for that matter. We sat for a few moments talking while he radioed his intentions to others on the police band.  "I have a ride along," I heard him say, and someone acknowledged. That was, however, the last time I heard any radio communication that concerned us.  

Now buckled, settled and comfortably warm, we began driving from one end to the other of downtown Hermosa Beach, creeping through alleyways, sitting in darkness on The Strand, and making the rounds along known trouble spots.  It was unusual, Mick said, but during our stretch, we encountered no criminal action. It turned out to be a quiet night on the streets of Hermosa Beach giving him time to answer questions. And so, it is how I came to know more about Detective Mick Gaglia.

He is the Redondo High graduate who wanted to stay in the community he loves.  He wanted find a way to serve the people he has known. He is a resident and citizen who wanted raise a family in the place where he grew up. He chose the police academy and an exacting intellectual, physical, and emotional price was necessary to graduate the school.

A select group of applicants are chosen to represent the Hermosa Beach Police in a beautiful small city with often peaceful but often difficult streets. Difficult because although the population of Hermosa Beach is roughly only twenty thousand souls, certain holidays can swell the city to as many as eighty thousand people. Each weekend, too, brings an influx of tourists and party-goers from around the local region. Making sure residents and visitors alike are protected by the law requires officers who are able to effectively engage any individual they encounter. Even the most disorderly and belligerent individuals must be treated with evenhandedness and calm. It is the commitment made by the officer who is driving this night and made by all the others in the department. From the Code of Ethics, a framed document I noticed in the station, I lifted these words:

"As a law enforcement officer my fundamental duty is to serve mankind, to safeguard lives and property, to protect the innocent against deception the weak against oppression or intimidation and the peaceful against violence or disorder and to respect the constitutional rights of all persons to liberty equality and justice."

"I will never act officiously or permit personal feelings prejudices animosities or friendships to influence my decisions. With no compromise for crime and with relentless prosecution of criminals, I will enforce the law courteously and appropriately without fear or favor malice or ill will never employing unnecessary force or violence and never accepting gratuities."

"I recognize the badge of my office as a symbol of public faith and I accepted as a public trust to be held so long as I am true to the ethics of the police service."


    Now, it always seemed to me that the patrol car carried an officer who was lurking, looking for someone or something. That, behind the dark windows and the dark glasses, behind the wheel of the black and white (which is surely following me just to SEE if I will make a mistake) was a man who secretly   wanted to see me go down.   Or if not me, well then, someone, anyway. I asked Mick about this perception of mine and it surprised me that I had not anticipated his answer.  Of course, he agreed, there are certainly some cops who look for trouble. Some of necessity. But in Hermosa Beach are officers like Mick who are also keen to the danger that lies in any trouble or confrontation on the street. Officers want to go home to their own families after work like everyone else. Trouble and confrontation, he said, simply present themselves. And to be sure, most people are stopped in traffic situations because of their obvious traffic violations, rather than that a cop targeted them. 

Detective Mick Gaglia is a guy who never had a fight in high school. He learned 
fighting as a condition of his work. He lives with his wife and small children. I 
see little motivation to pick fights or to start traffic confrontations that could put 
him unprotected, near fast moving cars. I wonder that I thought little of the 
families that officers leave to face troubles I would rather avoid. And that, on 
my behalf.  

Yes, I got a different perspective that quiet Saturday night. Riding along with 
Mick, I found him to be an example of a cop who I would like to believe is 
behind the wheel of every patrol car. He upholds an excellent standard in an 
excellent police department. 

The next time I ride, Detective Gaglia said, I may catch a night when there is the kind of ride along action that makes a movie.  It happens.  And, I will probably do it. But for now, I am happy just to know more about who is behind the wheel of the black and white in my rearview mirror.