“Hey, Lieutenant, are we having mid-watch roll call down here in your office or upstairs?”
Tony looked up from the burglary report he was reviewing and saw one of the mid-day watch officers. He glanced at the clock. The mid-watch shift started in fifteen minutes. “There’s only four of you. We’ll have it here.”
“Roger that. I’ll let the other guys know.” The officer left.
Tony scribbled his signature at the bottom of the report and wrote his serial number next to the scrawl, then put the paper in the box for the Records clerks to pick up and reproduce.
He picked up the Rotator, a notebook which contained updates on the latest crimes, any new special orders or policy changes, and set it in front of him.
An officer at the front desk in the lobby poked her head around the corner. “Call for the Watch Commander on line two.”
He nodded and took the call.
“Lieutenant Mancuso, may I help you?”
“Is this the guy in charge?”
“Yes, sir. How can I help you?”
“I just want to tell you why it’s no wonder crime is exploding all over the city. This morning, I saw three of your patrol cars parked outside of the donut shop at Woodley and Devonshire Street. A bunch of cops all standin’ around with their thumbs up their ass. Tell those bums to stop wastin’ time, and go out and catch the guy who broke into my car last week.”
Tony sighed, clenched his teeth, and picked up the arrest report he’d just approved. “Thank you for bringing that to my attention, sir. But you should know the officers were investigating a commercial burglary that occurred last night in the flower shop next door to the donut shop. I just approved the crime report.”
He spun his chair to the computer where he could input the incident number of the radio call and it would display what units had responded, and how long they were at the scene. The information would also show the disposition of the call by each of the units.
“You tellin’ me it takes five or six cops to investigate one crime?”
“No, sir. Two of those units were from our overnight shift, and one of them was from day watch. The graveyard shift officers paired up to conduct the investigation so the primary unit wouldn’t go into overtime.”
There was silence on the line, so Tony continued.
“I haven’t talked to the day watch officers, but they probably rolled on the call to see if they could take it over from the graveyard units.”
“Yeah, well, that doesn’t make up for the fact you haven’t caught the guy who swiped my wallet from my car.”
“I understand, sir. Would you like to talk to the detectives handling your case? I can transfer the call.”
“Nah, never mind.” The complainer hung up.
“Another satisfied customer,” Tony muttered.
After the mid-watch roll call, he went to the communal coffee maker and grabbed a fresh cup of brew.
As he sipped his coffee, he thought back to how sharp he’d been with Romanelli at the day watch roll call. Normally, he would have pulled Greg aside privately to correct him away from his peers. But Tony was worried about pairing up Romanelli and Dallas Cruz together.
They were both solid officers, and they knew it. Additionally, they used their collective good looks to spend much of their workday pursuing women. He’d wanted to put Romanelli in his place, and hopefully the scolding had made an impression.
Of course, his public chastising in roll call probably piqued the curiosity of that female probationer, Price. Tony was confident her partner would clue her in about his shooting history. Bender was known around as one of the biggest gossips at the division—and that was saying something.