Broken Shield

by Ryan Garner

  “I’m guessing the NAACP has absolutely nothing to say about this?” Todd stated with a slight chuckle and in a very sarcastic tone knowing full well that the organization would never actually do anything about the situation.

  “Not as far as I know.” Gelman responded before quickly trying to calm his squad by adding, “You will not be arresting people for some sort of “possession of religious material” charge.” he said. “Due to the recent religious extremist attacks federal authorities just want documentation of who is doing what.” The sergeant’s words did little to settle his apprehensive officers. Everyone knew that, “federal authorities” was simply a cover word for the National Governing Police.

  “Other than that I don't have anything else for you guys. Captain Davis was called to a homicide on the south side so he won't be video conferencing us today; let’s get to work and stay safe out there.” Gelman stated as he moved away from the podium looking a bit uneasy after passing on the disturbing information. Even though there was still some murmuring amongst the group all of the officers stood and began to head out to their patrol cars.

  …..

  “Hey Sergeant, can I talk to you for a minute?” Clarence Manson said as he tapped on the open door to his sergeant's office and stuck his head in through the doorway.

  “Sure...” Gelman said leaning back in his creaking chair and away from the computer monitor that was placed on his desk. Clarence walked into the office. The room was relatively small and was only made more cramped by the fact that Gelman was forced to share it with another Sergeant on an opposite squad. Other than a few certificates hanging on the walls and some personal photos there was little more than the two desks and some chairs inside the room. Clarence glanced around momentarily searching for a place where he could sit, but at the last minute deciding that he would rather stand.

  “What's on your mind?” Gelman asked.

  “Well sir...” Clarence said before pausing briefly to gather his thoughts and choke back some of his emotions. “I've been here for quite a few years now and in that time I've learned many things.” Sergeant Gelman immediately raised his eyebrows. He had been doing his job long enough to know when someone was beating around the bush preparing to give him bad news, but he allowed his officer to continue.

  “And one of the most important things I've learned is that when you can no longer tell the good guys from the bad it's time to get out.” Slightly confused Gelman crinkled his forehead as Clarence reached over to the left side of his neatly pressed black uniform and removed his badge. After detaching it he slowly placed it down on his sergeant's desk, there was a slight metallic clank when he released it from his hand. While the noise was subtle it seemed to resonate in Clarence's mind.

  “I'm resigning...” he said in a voice that echoed with remorse. Gelman was taken aback; he had been expecting something bad, but not quite this extreme.

  “Are…are you sure about this?” he immediately asked and still with some surprise in his own voice.

  “Yes I am.” Clarence said more solemnly before continuing, “I have actually been expecting this day for quite some time. As I have watched numerous different events unfold around this country, in our government, and within this department I came to the conclusion that it would only be a matter of time before I would be asked to do something that I knew to be wrong...though I didn't think it would happen quite this soon. Even though we are living in desperate times and it might seem to be necessary, this religious documentation for the NGP was the sign I needed to understand that it was time for me to go.” Gelman nodded his head in response.

  “The economy is not exactly thriving right now and jobs are pretty hard to come by, how do you plan on surviving, especially with a family?”

  “God will provide a way.” Clarence responded before extending his hand towards Gelman who after a moment's pause shook it.

  “It has been a pleasure to work with you Sergeant.”

  “You're a good officer...I'm sorry to see you go.”

  “Thank you sir...” Clarence said as he released Gelman's hand. “I regret that it had to turn out like this.” he said before letting out a long sigh, “I believe I will always miss this job.” Clarence added as he slowly turned and walked out of the office.

  …..

  John stood in the parking lot near the trunk of his patrol car loading in some miscellaneous pieces of equipment when Clarence walked past him. John immediately noticed that his badge was no longer affixed to his uniform. A subtle detail that some civilians would have easily missed, but to any officer it was a glaring omission to his attire; Clarence might as well not have been wearing his gun either. What John found even stranger was that he knew Clarence had been wearing his badge during the nightly roll call; it was obvious that since then it had been removed.

  “Clarence?” John said his tone slightly curious.

  “John...” he responded in a flat almost distant tone as he moved past the rear of the Dodge Charger. While he and Clarence had never been particular close, they hadn't been strangers either and John felt compelled to inquire further.

  “Is everything alright?” he asked before Clarence had the chance to get farther away from him. Clarence came to an immediate stop without saying anything for a brief moment. He then let out a long sigh before speaking.

  “I just resigned.” He said.

  “What?! Why?!” John asked as his fellow officer turned to face him.

  “Because I cannot be part of a department that would ask us to engage in such unethical behavior as we were just instructed to do.” John immediately assumed that Clarence was talking about the mandatory searches of individuals caught with religious material. While he had also found the order disturbing, he had tried to accept the idea based on the knowledge that he would not be charging anyone with any type of crime and was merely documenting his interaction with people. Nevertheless, he could not help, but see the logic behind Clarence's decision.

  “This country is headed down a dark path and I am afraid that things will only continue to get worse and at a much more rapid pace. As a department we have gone from operating within moral gray areas to carrying on in the realm of the outright unethical.” There was a brief pause before Clarence continued, “I am convinced that one day we will be ordered to do something truly evil and by that point it will be too late for any of us to turn away. I fear that you and many other officers have allowed this job to become who you are and not what you do and that when the day comes for you to separate the man from the uniform it will be impossible to do so.” John was momentarily speechless; the statement was disturbing, yet eerily poignant.

  “What will you do for work?” John asked being fully aware of the economic climate within the country.

  “I'm not sure.” Clarence said, “I have some vacation time built up that the city will have to pay me for and I’ll have to come in for a few days to do exit paperwork and interviews, but I have faith that my family and I needs will be provided for.”

  The words that Clarence had spoken were giving John an unsettling feeling. While he already did not agree with what was going on around him, it had now become almost glaringly obvious that things were about to spiral completely out of control. Clarence could be right. It might only be a matter of time before something gave way to the inevitable.

  Not sure of exactly what to say or do at this point John finally managed to speak in a voice that was a bit more raspy as he struggled to contain some of his own emotions.

  “Good luck.” he said, “I hope everything works out for you.”

  Clarence nodded his head, “Thank you...” he responded, “You are a good officer John and I hope that you will never be forced to one day make the decisions that I fear you will have to.” John took a hard swallow as he felt Clarence's statement could have easily been taken as a cryptic reference about his knowledge of Karina's involvement with Occupy Congress.

  “Always remember that this job is what you do and not who you are.
” Clarence added before turning and walking away leaving John alone in the middle of the parking lot.

  …..

  Chris had been riding with Jennifer for several hours now and to say that he was impressed with both her and the National Governing Police in general would have been an understatement. Their equipment was second to none and was a dream for any young officer to be exposed to. The bulletproof windshield of the NGP Tahoe acted as both a Heads Up Display and interactive touch screen monitor. For the moment the glass displayed an eerie, yet beautiful green glow after Jennifer activated the vehicle's night vision systems. Being within the city limits it wasn't really necessary to use such technology, but she did so to entice Chris even further. Small cameras located below the rear view mirror and on opposite sides of the SUV scanned every vehicle's license plate that came across their path. Along with conducting a stolen vehicle inquiry with the Department of Criminal Information the HUD displayed both the vehicle and registered owner's information along with the owner’s Department of Motor Vehicle photo.

  However, what impressed Chris the most was that by using a combination of X-Ray, RADAR, and Thermal Imaging technology the Heads Up Display was able to show an internal image of any vehicle that they were behind or depending on the circumstances buildings that they were in front of. Chris found the idea of being able to “x-ray” just about every person, vehicle, or building that he wanted to exciting, yet slightly frightening at the same time. With the NGP's ability to operate well outside what would have been the “laws” or regulations that governed normal police departments the need for things such as search warrants or the idea of invading someone's personal privacy appeared to now be mere afterthoughts.

  An even more impressive attribute that Jennifer had also mentioned to Chris was the vehicle's facial recognition programming inside the cameras which was combined with voice activated searches of CJLEADS. The onboard computer was even able to audibly read back suspect information so that the driver could remain more focused and not be forced to divert his or her eyes away from other things. The NGP Tahoe was a veritable rolling command center.

  The HUD could also display numerous camera feeds from a multitude of different sources including traffic cameras, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, and video feeds from other NGP and police vehicles. Touching the windshield and cycling through the different video displays Chris found that while Wilmington PD only had four working UAV's in the area the National Governing Police appeared to have at least seven flying in the sky above New Hanover County. In the back of his mind Chris wondered why there were so many drones in this seemingly insignificant location and if these UAV’s were the harmless multicopters that WPD possessed, or something far more aggressive such as Reaper or Sentinel military drones.

  Similar to WPD's vehicles there was a console that sat between the driver and passenger's seat that contained numerous different control panels and switches that managed all of the unique pieces of emergency equipment with which the Tahoe was equipped. However, unlike Wilmington's police cruisers the NGP did not use “clunky” laptops for computer access. Instead a sleek looking touch screen tablet mobile computer was linked directly with the vehicle's HUD and was affixed to pivoting joints connected to the dashboard. A separately mounted keyboard was attached to a swiveling tray should one actually choose not to use any one of the vehicle's numerous “touch screen” options.

  Directly behind Chris and Jennifer was a sheet metal “cage” where prisoners could be placed and inside the driver’s compartment attached to the metal partition was a weapon's racks where a Benelli M2 Tactical 12 gauge shotgun and an H&K 416 5.56mm rifle were mounted. Chris found he was almost “scared” to ask what might be in the rear cargo portion of the vehicle; a rocket launcher perhaps?

  Jennifer was quite amused as she watched Chris's enthusiasm grow as he spent the beginning portion of the shift scanning through the various systems at his disposal. It was all quite “cute” for her. Due to his inexperience and lack of knowledge about the full capabilities that were truly at both of their disposal the pair spent the first part of the night chasing what Jennifer viewed as relatively “minor” offenses; open containers of alcohol in “x-rayed” vehicles along with a few minor drug charges, but Chris was rapidly picking up on what the two officers could really accomplish.

  Watching Chris maneuver his way through the different camera feeds and other technical systems Jennifer could not help, but allow a seductive smirk to dance across her beautiful face. Chris was young, a little naive, and would be easy to influence. Jennifer knew she would certainly have “fun” with him, in more ways than one.

  CHAPTER 11

  John's patrol car's siren wailed as he pressed down hard on the gas pedal and heard the V-8 engine roar as he struggled to keep up with the black and silver Dodge Charger driven by the state trooper directly in front of him. The North Carolina Highway Patrol had become involved in the pursuit of a Toyota Camry and being as he was the only officer anywhere near close enough to help; John had become involved almost immediately as well.

  Along with his headlights the blue and white strobing LED light bar affixed to the roof of his vehicle helped to illuminate the darkened road as his patrol car turned sharply around each corner. John could hear the vehicle’s frame groan and feel its tires fight to maintain their grip on the roadway’s surface as the anti-lock brakes pulsated every time his foot touched the brake pedal.

  “North on College Road.” he said into his radio microphone, “I think he's going to take I-40 West when the road splits in about a mile.” John said before quickly placing the mic back into its cradle before grabbing the steering wheel with both hands again. The radio was a flurry of cross talk as officers, supervisors, and dispatchers attempted to relay varying types of information, sometimes cutting each other off as they did so.

  A clear voice then came over the radio, “3000 to 205David, disengage your pursuit.” John recognized Captain Bennie Davis’s voice immediately just as he was suddenly forced to weave his own police cruiser around a civilian vehicle that had carelessly pulled into his left lane of travel; John grimaced as he grappled with the steering wheel and his tires screeched as he fought to maintain control of the speeding patrol car.

  With North Carolina's budgets slashed to such an extreme degree John knew that the Highway Patrol was stretched even thinner than were the officers in his own department. It was likely that if any troopers were available for backup they would be dozens of miles away and would take an extended period of time to get there. Unwilling to leave a fellow law enforcement officer without help while in the middle of a dangerous situation John ignored his superior officer's command even though he knew it would likely infuriate the captain who was certainly not accustomed to having his authority questioned.

  “North past Kings Drive.” John said over the radio as he and the State Trooper blew past the small residential side street. Since it was not quite that late at night yet there was still a noticeable amount of civilian foot and vehicle traffic in the area. Of course the sight of a police pursuit only increased the danger as some people's natural curiosity caused them to want to investigate the matter further while others seemingly panicked when they saw fast moving police vehicles coming towards them. This often caused some people to react in bizarre and hazardous ways such as stopping their vehicle immediately in front of John's patrol car as he tried to steer around them.

  “205David, Highway Patrol has requested that you switch over to one of the mutual aid channels so that they can speak with you.” John clearly heard the male dispatcher say to him over the radio. Several radio channels throughout the state had been designated as what had become known as “mutual aid” channels. They were designed so that any agency could at any time use them to communicate with other agencies if a situation such as the one John was in arose.

  “Switching over...” John said back to the dispatcher as he reached down to his center console and rotated a knob on his radio, cutting off Captain Davis i
n mid-sentence just as he again yelled for John to end his pursuit. He knew the captain would not follow him in between radio channels. The man would be far too concerned with a potential FCC violation to try and interrupt him and the trooper on a state maintained mutual aid channel. The digital readout on the radio display switched from “Wilmington 1” over to “SHP Mutual Aid.”

  “205David is on SHP Mutual Aid.” John said into the radio microphone as he maneuvered his patrol car around another stopped vehicle before driving cautiously through an intersection. The second he cleared the roadway junction John slammed his gas pedal back down to the floor nearly burning out his tires as he tried to keep up with the state trooper.

  “This is Bravo640...” The trooper said back, “...thanks for staying with me brother. I think he's going to take the I-40 West split when we get to it.” John could hear the trooper's siren in the background as he talked over the radio.

  “Copy that...” John said, “I figured he'd do that as well.”

  “If I get the chance to PIT his car I will.” The trooper responded back to John as the suspect's vehicle merged onto I-40 West just as they had both predicted. The Precision Immobilization Technique was a vehicle maneuver used by the Highway Patrol where a suspect’s vehicle was struck at a certain angle so as to force the car to spin out, thus ending the pursuit. However, numerous other factors had to be taken into consideration before such a tactic could be utilized.

  After entering the interstate highway the suspect's Toyota Camry accelerated rapidly as did John and the state trooper as they pursued. John's heart was now racing; his hands and arms were almost shaking as he felt the full on effects of the adrenalin rush caused by the intense chase. He heard a low pitched hum as air was forced between the gap in the roof of the patrol car and the light bar itself; as a matter of habit John glanced down at his speedometer just in time to see it glide past the 100 miles per hour mark. At this point all the vehicles involved in the chase were passing people on the highway almost as if they were standing still and the broken white lane lines on the roadway had virtually become one solid line illuminated by John's headlights and LED light bar. Edging closer to the Camry, John watched as the trooper attempted to set up his PIT maneuver. At these speeds, however conducting such a technique was more likely to bring the chase to an end through a severe crash rather than a controlled spin out.