Necessary Chances

Norman Duchesneau

Description

Contained in this book are 50+ stories of actual events told exactly how they happened to the author. The stories span more than 30 years in the field of law enforcement. They cover everything--from answering the phone to murder investigations. The author's truest intention is to tell the stories so that people might better understand the day-to-day life of a police officer. As often as possible, the stories are told in a humorous manner because we all deserve to laugh. The author hopes that this book might inspire one good man or woman to take up the shield. In today's world of miscommunication and misunderstanding, the author hopes that somehow, somewhere, a dialogue might open that wasn't there before.

Sujets

• Lettres et linguistique

Informations

• Publié par: Austin Macauley Publishers LLC
• Date de parution: 31 juillet 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781645364627
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Necessary Chances
Norman Duchesneau
Austin Macauley Publishers
2019-07-31
Necessary Chances About the Author About the Book Dedication Copyright Information Acknowledgement Start with a Joke (A Good Joke) Never Double Denim Tools of the Trade Men Don’t Scare Me, Babies Do Thank You All for Serving Put the Wet Stuff on the Hot Stuff Sometimes It Comes Around Come in Control Mommy Ewwwww! At Least the Bugs Are Gone My Wife the Hero Off to Work We Go and Home Again I Can’t Get No How I Broke My Leg Are You Kidding? I’m Still Standing Who Would Do That on Purpose? Many Parts Make a Cop, Not All Are Visible Never Forget a Sunrise I Would Rather Be Rich Than Good Looking (Crap, Is There a Third Option?) He Is Just a Boy Domestic Violence I Always Wanted to Be Cool What the Hell Happened Here? Drunks Are Dangerous (And Funny) You Cops Rick Grimes Would Be so Disappointed in Me I Read Books Too Sergeant J and the Burning Car You Never Forget Your First Time Good Thing We Aren’t in Kansas Anymore Parking Tickets Trick or Treat What a World The Plan Talking to the Police The Chair Shot One Brave Little Boy Finger off the Trigger You Don’t Need the Police (But You Sure Need Help) Someone Needs a Hug In the Long Ago (Before Google) I Think I Broke the Rookie
About the Author
Norman Duchesneau has worked in law enforcement since he was 19 years old. His career has wound its way through many roles: call taker, cadet, patrolman, investigator, detective, and trainer. Of all of these, he is most proud to have been a patrolman because it was that role where he was able to affect the most lives, and believes that he helped the most people. It is also where he has had the most fun.
He loves his family and pets, and credits his wife, Michelle, with much of his success. “It is because she believes in me that I find the courage to do what I do,” he often says.
Norman is a nerd and wears that badge as proudly as his police badge. He loves comics and superheroes—Batman most specifically. His on-going love of Tabletop RPGs has lasted longer that his career. It started before and if he has any say in the matter will continue beyond. He still works the streets, and if it is late at night, when you read this, he may well be patrolling his city now. He hopes you laugh as you read this. He does love to get a laugh.
About the Book
Contained in this book are 50+ stories of actual events told exactly how they happened to the author. The stories span more than 30 years in the field of law enforcement. They cover everything—from answering the phone to murder investigations. The author’s truest intention is to tell the stories so that people might better understand the day-to-day life of a police officer. As often as possible, the stories are told in a humorous manner because we all deserve to laugh. The author hopes that this book might inspire one good man or woman to take up the shield. In today’s world of miscommunication and misunderstanding, the author hopes that somehow, somewhere, a dialogue might open that wasn’t there before.
Dedication
To Michelle, the best wife a man could hope for and my constant inspiration.
Copyright Information
Copyright © Norman Duchesneau (2019)
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher.
Any person who commits any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
Ordering Information:
Quantity sales: special discounts are available on quantity purchases by corporations, associations, and others. For details, contact the publisher at the address below.
Publisher’s Cataloging-in-Publication data
Duchesneau, Norman
Necessary Chances
ISBN 9781641826891 (Paperback)
ISBN 9781641826907 (Hardback)
ISBN 9781645364627 (ePub e-book)
The main category of the book — BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Law Enforcement
Library of Congress Control Number: 2019907818
www.austinmacauley.com/us
First Published (2019)
Austin Macauley Publishers LLC
40 Wall Street, 28th Floor
New York, NY 10005
USA
[e-mail]
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Acknowledgement
The writing of this book has been inspired by far more people than I could hope to name. It certainly would not have been possible without the love and support of my beautiful wife. My brother, who is far more talented and creative than me, has shown me that there is truly only one way to fail, and that is to not try. My brother and sister are officers who have had my back and listened to my stories for decades, these are people who have hopefully learned from me (both from my successes and my failures) and are people that I have learned from and continue to learn from every day. My small circle of very dear and brilliant friends, who have repeatedly said to me, “You should write a book.”
To them, I say, “Hey look, I wrote a book.”
I would specifically like to mention David. David is a clerk at a convenience store where I very often get my coffee at the beginning of my shift. Seeing him three to four times a week has led us to have many deep and philosophical conversations. Okay, maybe not deep and philosophical but conversations nonetheless. One night, many years ago, as I was walking out the door, David said something that stuck in my head. As I opened the door, he said, “Good night, Officer. Don’t take any unnecessary chances.”
On a whim I replied, “Unfortunately, sir, they are all necessary.”
Police officers are a rather suspicious bunch, and because the night he said that to me went rather smoothly, I now insist that he says it every time I see him. It’s kind of like a baseball player who must touch the door jam on his way to the field.
When I told David I was starting a book, he would constantly ask how I was doing and he would say, “A writer writes.”
David, my friend…I wrote.
Start with a Joke

(A Good Joke)
My smart mouth, and urge to make a joke, has not been restricted to my time on the streets. Each year all officers have to attend a week of what is known as in-service training. This is usually conducted over several days and contains several standard classes, such as legal update, traffic law update, first aid/CPR, and defensive tactics. Each year a random topic is also added. On occasion, they have been informative and interesting. Mostly, they’re schlepped together and pitiful. The classroom is a perfect environment for a smart mouth like me, especially when it’s a classroom full of bored cops. I do love a captive audience.
One year, a woman was brought in to speak on the subject of race relations. This was a long time ago, before the Rodney King incident, and things were not so tense. The woman giving the class was of Cape Verdean descent. For those of you who don’t know, it is an island off the coast of Africa. It has been colonized by many countries, but most of the people are a mix of African and Portuguese. They tend to have a caramel complexion. They tend to speak a version of Portuguese. Almost exclusively, they do not consider themselves black.
Someone must have told this woman to start her class with a joke. They neglected, however, to tell her to start with a ‘good’ joke. I was seated in front of the class directly in front of the podium. I could easily see that she was nervous. She fidgeted with her hands and her eyes darted along the back wall rather than make eye contact with the 20 or so alpha males in front of her. The fact that she was a beautiful woman, wearing a tight skirt and a low-cut blouse led to some of the men leering at her like a starving wolf stares at the lamb. I’m sure that this added to her anxiety. The following paragraph contains the ‘joke’ she chose to open her race relations class with.
“God was baking cookies. The first batch He burnt and that was the blacks. The second batch He underdid and that’s the whites. His third batch came out a perfect golden brown and that was the Cape Verdean’s.”
She was treated with a deafening silence, as none of us knew exactly how to react to this somewhat ridiculous attempt at a joke. I couldn’t help myself; I raised my hand, and she nodded to me. This was her second mistake of the day.
“But what if He was out to make dark chocolate fudge? Then, you are underdone too. If He were out to make vanilla wafers, then you are burnt as well. And if He were out to make mint chocolate chip, we are all pretty much screwed. Not to mention you completely left the Asians out of the baking equation.”
Yes, I agree, I was mean and unfair to the young, inexperienced teacher, but I got my laugh, and really, that’s all I was looking for. To her credit, she continued on with her class and seemed rather unflustered by my interruption. About 45 minutes into the class, she decided it was time for some role-play. She also decided that since I had embarrassed her, she would attempt embarrassing me (Really, embarrass me? Like that could possibly happen). She moved a chair to the front of the room and had me sit facing the class. She informed me that I was going to mimic going to a call. She informed me that the call notes were that there was a group of minorities disturbing. She told me to grab the imaginary steering wheel and drive to the call. I did her one better and buckled my seatbelt first. I then began to mimic driving to the call. I turned my imaginary steering wheel. I used my imaginary directional. She asked me, “What about the sirens?” I told her that I work midnights and never use them. I hit the brakes. I attempted to exit the car, remembered my seatbelt, unhooked it, and stood up. She stopped me and asked me what I