TPD: Drugs, a Mother and an almost Fire

Friday 5 March 2010

It’s Friday night and I have big expectations. Something hectic better happen tonight, I think somewhat guiltily. I don’t want anyone to get hurt but I’m quite anxious to see how the volunteers respond to a real crime situation. Tonight I’m patrolling with Simon* and Andrew*, two big guys who like to drive fast. They’re both polite and I chat for a long time to Andrew, a fellow photography enthusiast, about our beloved DSLRS.

I’m also feeling a bit under pressure as it’s the first night that I’m shooting with the camera. As an inexperienced camera operator, it’s quite a challenge getting good quality sound and visuals, at night while chasing around in cars, as well as still ensuring that the subjects are comfortable in front of the camera. This was almost impossible. I hope that with time my camera technique will improve.  I’ll just have to go on more patrols to practice.

I don’t have to wait long until we are called to a scene involving drugs. Feeling a little bored, the guys contact the police on the radio to find out if they need support. They tell us to meet them a few minutes away at a scene where a young mother is threatening to burn the house down.

We arrive first and Melanie* a CPF volunteer, former police officer and trauma counselor enters the house with the police to try and calm the woman down. The grandparents of the child are currently taking care of the young mother’s child. She wants to take the child back and is threatening to burn down the house if her parents don’t give it to her. This is why they called the police. The woman was hysterical and had to be controlled by the police. They searched her room and found drugs in her possession.

While this was going on inside the house, a group of more than 20 CPF volunteers and local residents were waiting outside, chatting with other police officers. I try to get closer with the camera to document the conversation but the police move out of the shot. Clearly they don’t want to be filmed.

The woman comes out of the house with her hands handcuffed behind her back. She’s crying so loud that we can hear her. It’s hard not to feel sympathy for her. Clearly, the police feel the same when they decide to let her off with a warning instead of arresting her for possession as initially intended.

This is much to the dismay of the locals. They want drugs out of their area. They think that this woman is going to cause more trouble in the future, which she does, the very next day but that’s a whole different story.

[Via http://nightwalkingtruths.wordpress.com]