When it comes right down to it, I spent more time working narcotics than I did uniform patrol and that may have colored my perception. Some suspects that I have arrested have been allowed to finish their beer on the way to jail. It is not outside the realm of possibility that one or two obtained a Big Mac on the way to jail. Narcs just have a different way of looking at things.

Lincoln man cited for drinking alcohol in back of police cruiser

By Eddie Dowd | Posted: Thu 10:17 AM, Sep 27, 2018  | Updated: Thu 10:21 AM, Sep 27, 2018

LINCOLN, Neb. — Lincoln Police cited a man for drinking an alcoholic beverage in the back of a police cruiser.

The incident happened just before midnight on September 26th near 17th and A Street.

LPD said they found 38-year-old Rubin Rollins intoxicated on the street, trying to get to his brother’s house.

LPD offered him a ride, that’s when they heard a can open in the back of the cruiser and saw him drinking Hurricane Malt Liquor.

He was cited for having an open container of an alcoholic beverage. He was sent to Bridge Behavioral Health.

Usually, when we catered an arrest it was the result of a “buy bust.” A buy bust is an operation during which a suspect sells a quantity of drugs to an undercover officer. It most often comes about because of one of three reasons. The quantity of drugs (price) is more than the boss is willing to spend. Secondly, the target is susceptible to pressure and will hopefully “flip” once he is arrested. Flip means that the suspect will cooperate and provide information leading to the arrest of his co-conspirators. Lastly, the suspect is a pain in the ass. The buy bust takes him off the board and allows the team to go on to other things.

Buy busts take place in the undercover officer’s car, parked in a shopping center parking lot. Here is a secret the statistic whores don’t take into consideration. The location for the deal is almost always chosen by the police. The little pins, on a map, showing known drug dealing locations, are based on arrest data. Many of the pins reflect places the cops picked.

As an aside, our task force would occasionally drag a suspect from San Antonio, Bexar County to Comal County, just north of San Antonio. The suspect had no prior connection to Comal County.

In San Antonio, the suspect could probably expect probation, upon conviction. In Comal County, the same suspect on the same charge was guaranteed prison time. If the suspect took his case to trial, Comal County juries would sentence him to death, even when it wasn’t an option. When told by the judge that the jury couldn’t order him executed, they would opt for the next best thing, maximum sentence. A plea bargain was a bargain when the DA offered half the max sentence.

Getting back to the buy bust. There is a dope dealer union rule, at least in San Antonio, that a dope deal cannot proceed until all participants have a beer in hand. The undercover and the crook meet, have a beer and then the transaction takes place. The undercover gives a prearranged signal and the bust team begins to move in to make the arrest. The undercover has one last chore. He has to direct the crook’s focus to Cadillacs, titty dancers and blow jobs. If he is successful, the first time the crook knows he is not going to sleep in his own bed is when the passenger door opens. From that point until his face slams into the pavement is about three seconds. In fifteen years no crook ever spilled a beer during an arrest.

Every crook is given a “come to Jesus” moment. Most are too distraught to take advantage of that moment. One sign of rational thought is when the crook says,”Can I finish my beer? It’s the last one I’m gonna get for a while.” This is an indication of a person who fully understands his predicament. To an outsider and a patrol officer, a concession on this point, would shake the very foundations of law enforcement. To a narc and the crook, it is the opening gambit on establishing a working relationship. It may not pan out, but it is a start.

The request for a Big Mac? It tells me and my fellow narcs that the crook is  familiar with the operation of the jail. Given the time of arrest, he knows he will miss dinner. A Big Mac, no fries, and a beer on the way to jail makes for a great story, if nothing else.

A final point about the story that started this reminiscence. The guy was not under arrest. He was drunk. No drunk ever got in the back seat of my patrol car without being frisked first. How did they miss the beer?