"Alright, listen up!" Grey called out as he entered the conference room for roll call from the back. "Got some bad news for our rookies. Thanks to Detective Jenkins being placed on the Brady List, the department is tightening the rules regarding the field training program." Grey announced as he arrived at the podium and looked around at us.
Bishop, Lopez, and I shared a wtf look. What was Grey talking about? Nobody said anything to us about this.
"Bottom line is, every recruit now has to complete the training and experience checklist as a primary officer before they'll be allowed to take the 6-month exam," Grey said.
"You got to be kidding. I don't let my rookies be primary until the second month." I complained. Chen would be so behind if this was real.
"If our recruits experience an event, it shouldn't matter if they were primary. It's not fair to them or us." Lopez added.
"I agree. But this is 'cover your ass' time for the department. When the city gets sued, the first thing they look at is the officer training and experience. They've decided that experience can't just be 'I was standing there, too'." Grey replied. I rolled my eyes in annoyance. It wasn't that simple. Training rookies was dangerous. You never knew what kind of situation you were facing or the strength and will of the rook. This kind of policy could get someone killed. These officers were rookies because they had no experience on the streets. Hell, I was shot on Chen's first day and that easily could have been her instead.
"We can't start this with the next round of recruits?" Bishop asked and I nodded in agreement.
"The LAPD is a bureaucracy, Officer Bishop. The last thing they care about is a bunch of rookies." Grey sighed.
"So, how do we know how many cases we owe?" Chen asked the important question.
"Put your listening ears on Officer Chen 'cause I'm about to tell you. To complete your checklist, you still need to be the primary officer on an auto theft, carjacking, ethical dilemma, meth possession, a false ID, assault on a peace officer, and damage to city property." Grey informed her.
"That's like... 7 things." Chen sighed. I internally sighed with her. I knew she only needed a few good arrests and we could knock this out, but how much time did we have?
"What about us?" Lopez asked eagerly.
"Officer West needs a high-risk crowd control, meth possession, and a carjacking," Grey answered her.
"Piece of cake, boss." West confidently smirked until Grey gave him a stern look. "I mean, sir." West nodded.
Nolan meekly raised his hand, "I'm afraid to ask."
"So, Officer Nolan, the number of items you need on your checklist are..." Grey said, looking down at his clipboard. "Zero. You might want to thank your training officer for making you primary starting day one. And since we are ripping off the band-aid, here's the rest of the bad news. HR needs proof of completion by end of shift tomorrow. Otherwise, the recruits are extended in the program." Grey informed us. Of course Talia would do some rebellious thing like allow Nolan primary since day one. She was always about bucking the system.
"Meaning we fall behind." Chen summed up.
"Sir, there's no way we can control what experiences they'll get in the next 2 days," I argued. This was incredibly unfair. There was more to qaulity training than being primary officer. I had been training officers for almost a decade, I should know.
"Understood. Look, I know this is a tall order. But I believe in you." Grey smirked. "I've notified dispatch of the calls that are needed. They will funnel them to your shops if and when they come in. That's it, all right? Good luck, and be safe out there." Grey dismissed us.
We all exited the room in haste and I could tell Chen was tense. She had the biggest checklist by far, even I was slightly worried we wouldn't be able to get them all in 2 days, but I had a plan. We quickly grabbed our gear and hit the streets. I knew exactly where to go first.
...
We had been on the streets for about 10 minutes when I finally found who I was looking for walking down the sidewalk in his leather jacket. I flashed our lights and pulled over.
We got out and I instructed Chen to search Fred, a notorious meth addict, and she did. After a few seconds of patting him down, I could tell by the look on her face something was wrong.
"He's clean." She declared as she finished patting him down and stepped back. The street was empty and so were his pockets.
"I'm really sorry." Fred apologized with a shrug, but it wasn't necessary.
"You're always carrying Fred, what happened?" I asked him curiously. I was both proud of him and also disappointed that I couldn't give Chen this slam dunk.
"Oh, uh..." He picked up the token off the shop hood, "I got my 30-day chip." He explained, holding it up and showing it to us.
"Wow. Congratulations." I said, looking at it with a nod. I was genuinely happy for him that he was getting his life together.
"I feel bad. I let you down." Fred replied.
"It's all good. Say hi to Wilma for me. All right, you're free to go." I said to him, releasing him. Fred wandered off and I looked at Chen. She was dejected and I felt sympathetic.
"You said he was a sure checkmark for drug possession," Chen whined, clearly disappointed we didn't find him carrying.
"What can I say? He got clean." I shrugged. "It's inspiring actually." I added, waving my arm at him as he walked away down the street.
"Well, forgive me if I don't appreciate the human interest story. I mean, Jackson at least has a chance with only three calls, but seven?" she ranted in panic. She was already letting this challenge get to her.
"Okay, people win the lottery every day, with higher odds against them. There are 18 million people in the greater Los Angeles area. We just need 7 of them to break very specific laws." I explained frankly.
Dispatch came over the radio then, "7-adam-19 store owner reporting customer trying to pass counterfeit bills near your location. Hispanic male, brown hair, blue suit."
"7-adam-19, responding." I radioed back.
"I don't need a counterfeit case," Chen whined.
"Look on the bright side," I sighed at her pessisim, "you do need assaulting a police officer. Maybe he'll take a swing at you." I shrugged and we headed back to the shop.
She actually scoffed and smirked as we got back into the shop.
We had made it to lunch and still hadn't checked anything off of Chen's list. She handled all of our calls like a pro, but it wasn't anything we needed.
"The pressure is getting to them." Lopez was telling me about Jackson's calls and how poorly he was handling it. The kid had his problems, but he was also a bit cocky about the job.
"It's getting to me. Never had a rookie make it this far and not qualify for the exam," I replied, eating my food. I was known for being a tough training officer but I was never intentionally unfair to my rookies, and at this rate, if Chen didn't complete her checklist and got held back from the 6-month exam it would be all my fault.
"I think Nolan's over there giving them a pep talk," Bishop said. I glanced over and sure enough, Nolan had his dad hat on, trying to cheer the other two up.
"How can you tell?" Angela asked, glancing over at the group.
"Cause he's been trying to give me one all day," Bishop replied. Last week she got in trouble after admitting a piece of information she omitted from her job application and now she was waiting to find out the punishment for that action.
"He's right. You're gonna be fine." I said to her. Bishop was a good cop, a great one even and one foster brother from over a decade ago shouldn't affect her ability to do her job.
"Well, either way, I'm off the fast track. No more making chief by 40." Bishop sighed.
"Thank God. Being brass sounds awful. I mean, it's all politics and stats." I complained, sipping my soda. I never wanted a job in the force like that. I liked working the street, where the action and people were. "Might as well work corporate." I internally shuddered.
"All units, we have a 215 in progress, carjacking, Beverly Drive at Oakwood." Dispatch came across the radio.
I quickly snatched mine up and responded. "7-adam-19 show us responding."
"7-adam-7 show us responding for training purposes." Angela also radioed.
"The hell you are, Chen needs it more," I argued with Lopez as we got up from our table at the same time.
"Like hell, we're primary," she argued back.
"Not if you don't get there first," I replied and started to run to the shop. "Let's go, Chen!" I shouted out to her as Angela and I raced each other to our shops.
"Boot! Get to the shop!" Angela yelled out to West.
Chen followed behind me and we jumped in the shop. We raced Angela and West to the scene. We arrived at the same time and Chen and West got out at the same time to race to the scene.
Angela and I followed behind the rookies. "Police! Get out of the way!" Chen shouted as she ran through the crowd.
"Police! Get out of the way!' West shouted running right behind her..
Angela and I were following them but when we arrived West was with the victim, his face badly beaten, eyes bruised shut.
"Ben?" Chen asked. "Oh my god." she gasped as she recognized the victim. The name sounded vaguely familiar but I couldn't place it.
Wait, Ben? As in the Ben that Nolan lived with? I looked to Angela and she nodded. We needed to call Bishop and Nolan and let them know what happened. Out of respect we turned the case over to them and proceeded with the rest of our shift. Chen still hadn't checked off any of her to-do's and that wasn't making either of us feel any better.
It was already starting to get dark and we had resorted to running plates as we drove down the residential streets during our patrol.
Chen sighed as she kept typing in license plate numbers and nothing was coming up. "Ugh," she groaned. Today had not been a good day for her. "Every license plate I run is coming up clear. There's no way I make this deadline."
"Not with that attitude," I replied. I knew this wasn't going to be easy, but a little faith goes a long way sometimes. We just needed one or two good arrests and we could clear this list in no time.
"We're almost at the end of shift. I haven't checked a single box all day." She complained.
"Look, a buddy of mine at the 77th said there been more stolen cars in this one neighborhood in the last month than all of Mid-Whilshire last year," I replied. There had to be something here.
"I hope so." she sighed as she continued to run numbers. We were coming up to a stop sign and there was a car in front of us. She ran that plate and then looked at me. "Those plates don't match that car." There was a flicker of hope in her eyes as she said it.
"And that's how you find a rolling stolen. Light 'em up, Boot." I smiled back at her. Finally, we got something.
She flicked the lights on and we got out and approached the vehicle. She took contact as I took cover with my flashlight out, lighting up the scene.
"License and Registration," Chen said as she approached the driver's side window.
"I know why you pulled me over... Wrong plates. I'm so sorry." The female driver immediately said as she handed Chen her paperwork.
"The plates stolen or the car?" Chen asked.
"Neither, they are mine. I mean my husband's." The driver replied.
"Why are your husbands plates on your car?" Chen asked, reviewing the paperwork.
"My husband and I could only afford to register one of our cars. It's been a rough year. When the one we registered broke down, I didn't know what else to do. I have to get to my night job." She explained.
"It's illegal to use liscense plates from a different vehicle." Chen explained.
The woman began to cry. "I'm so sorry, and stupid. I should have known better."
"Alright, give me a minute." Chen said then walked to the back of the car where I met her.
"I can't do this. She is just trying to get by." She explained to me.
"Case like this, it's your call. You can cite her for the false plates and check a box or cut her loose and risk not being able to take the final exam." I explained, leaving the decision up to her.
"I don't want to be that cop. This whole thing is pissing me off. It's just... I don't want to do it this way. Running around trying to tick off boxes. It's not me." She replied and I agreed. This was a terrible way to be an officer.
"Okay, then give her a warning." I said.
Chen went back to the woman and gave her the paperwork back and let her off with a warning. "All right, listen. I'm not gonna write you up, but you can't ever do this again, okay?" She explained.
"Thank you." The woman replied gratefully.
"Drive safe," Chen said and the woman left.
I walked over to where Chen stood.
"So you want to know the good news? This counts as an ethical dilemma. Which means you have checked a box." I informed her with a proud smile.
"Only six more to go." She sighed and walked back to the shop.
I nodded and followed her. Yeah, but now we know how to find the rest. We need to do it Chen's way.
...
The next day we were back on the grind. Chen still needed 6 cases to check off while West only had one left and Nolan was put on front desk duty.
"Make a hole, coming through," I announced, pushing myself and Chen to the front as we left roll call to get to supply first. We didn't have any time to waste.
"I should just throw in the towel. There's no way we're gonna check 6 boxes in one day," She complained as we waited for our gear.
"I'm not training a quitter, Boot. We fight until the bell rings. There's no other way." I replied checking out our war bags while she grabbed them.
Dispatch radioed, "7-adam-19, you still need destruction of city property?"
I radioed back. "Roger that."
"911 just got a call. 2 blocks over from Wilshire and Pine. Single car accident while driving on the sidewalk." Dispatch informed us.
"What'd I tell you?" I said to Chen. "We're still in this." We grabbed our gear and headed to the garage where we loaded up the shop and headed out to the call.
"7-adam-19, show us responding." I radioed in reply.
We arrived to the scene in about five minutes. The car was crashed into the light pole and parking meter.
"Control, 7-adam-19, can you run plate 5-paul-charlie-ida-410?" Chen radioed into dispatch as we got out of the shop and approached the scene.
"Ma'am, were you driving this vehicle?" Chen asked the dazed woman who looked drunk standing on the side walk .
"Yeah..." she answered, then shook her head, "no..."
"It's destruction of city property." I said.
"That's one more box checked." Chen smirked at me.
"5-paul-charlie-ida-410 just reported a 10-8-51. RP says girlfriend took his car without permission 20 mintues ago." Control responded to Chen's request.
"That bastard!" the woman scowled.
"And Grand theft auto brings your total to three. It's your lucky day, Boot." I smirked. This was exactly the kind of arrest we had been looking for. The woman suddenly stole a scooter from a kid filming everything a few feet away on the sidewalk.
"Hey! Stop!" Chen shouted as the woman hit the fire hyrant a few feet down the sidewalk and tumbled to the ground.
"That's technically a carjacking. Thing has a motor. It counts." I said as we approached the woman who was struggling to get to her feet.
"Ma'am, do not attempt to run away again. What's your name?" Chen asked her.
"Alexander Hamilton." She replied.
"False ID to an officer brings us to five." Chen nodded to me. "I'm gonna need to see your driver's liscense, please." Chen said to the woman.
The woman threw the scooter at me and hit me in the shin. I gasped, it actually hurt quite a bit.
"Assault on a police officer, that's six." Chen smiled at my pain.
The woman tried running again, but this time ran straight into a chalk sign on the sidewalk and tumbled to the ground again.
"Not bad, Officer Chen, go get her." I replied as I ignored the shooting pain in my shin where the scooter hit me. She smiled and happily arrested the woman that was likely high or drunk.
____
I found Chen at the supply desk returning our gear.
"The hell you doing, Boot? You're still one shy on your checklist." I said to her.
"It's too late. Shift's over." She replied.
"Shift's over when we punch out, and we're not punching out until we got you a meth possession. Come on, Grey's approved OT. Let's go," I said and we headed back out. It took a few hours but Chen finally found a meth possession and all 3 rookies would be moving on to take the 6-month exam next week.
________________
Author's Note:
Tim is a real softy sometimes for Lucy. It's so cute. 🥰
Anyways we are almost to season 2 so stay tuned!
Like the music I have picked for this story? Then check out my Spotify playlist titled Falling for Lucy: Chenford. All the music I have included in this story can be found there in chronological order! If you have any music suggestions be sure to drop them in the comments!
Glossary:
Brady List: is a list compiled usually by a prosecutor's office or a police department containing the names and details of law enforcement officers who have had sustained incidents of untruthfulness, criminal convictions, candor issues, or some other type of issue placing their credibility into question. The name comes from a 1963 US Supreme Court case called Brady v. Maryland, the first case to establish them.
10-8-51 - California Vehicle Code 10851 makes it a crime to take or drive someone else's car without their consent. Commonly referred to as joyriding, prosectors can file this either as a felony or a misdemeanor.
RP - Reporting Party
Music:
Doomtree - Bangarang
Kina - Get You The Moon
Radio Codes:
Code 2 - Urgent, No Lights or Sirens
Code 3 - Calls for immediate response with lights and sirens
Code 4 - No Further Assistance Needed
Code 6 - Unit is conducting a field investigation and no assistance is anticipated
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