An Officer and a Brother-in-Law

This past Friday, Deputy Derek "Big Guns" Minker had the chance to take his brother-in-law, Aaron "Big Mouth" Cooke out for a ride along with the Cecil County Sheriff's Department.  The following is an excerpt from an interview that took place throughout the night:

Aaron: so what occurs during a typical shift?
Derek: "well, on 3-11 at night we see the most activity and I'll usually get the greatest amount of calls for service on those nights."
Aaron: what type of calls?
Derek: "usually a domestic dispute or a DUI, those are the most common."

in the middle of the interview, Derek received a code 10-46 (disabled vehicle) for which he promptly pulled a u-turn and sped to the scene.  Once there, he grabbed a flash light to direct traffic and get motorists safely around the piece of trash car that was broke down.  Upon getting back in the police car, the interview continued:

Aaron: Do you have to stay until the tow truck comes?
Derek: "yeah, you need to secure the scene and make sure the vehicle is clear."
Aaron: Do you find that type of call particularly exciting?
Derek: "it's part of the wack attack."

later on we went for his customary patrol of the beautiful (and ghetto) town of Crystal Beach, which over looks the Chesapeake River.  

Once there, we encountered a mysterious looking car all alone on the dark shores of the beach.  Derek went into high gear and strategically pulled up behind the vehicle with his lights blinding them.  After some questioning, they went free.  Apparently it was only alleged....


Aaron: so, it that situation, what would prompt an officer to come out with their gun drawn?
Derek: "I would have to feel that life of someone in the vehicle or that of myself was threatened.
Aaron: would it have been legal for me to smash one of their tail lights so you could cite them?
Derek: "unfortunately, no."

after a few more hours of driving around and two stops at Royal Farms for donuts (seriously), the ride along came to an end.

Aaron: thanks for having me, this was alot of fun
Derek: "get out of the car"



here's some photos from the adventure:

derek's police cruiser waiting for action!

here we are being instructed how to breach a room filled with democrats terrorists.

as you can see here we were attempting to get a truck out of a river.  you will see derek on the hood trying to pull it to safety using a tree branch

Derek and his K9 German Sheperd Snoop Dogg