On the way back, Jimmy and Jacob learned something about AP training. It sounds like 16 weeks is a lot, but it is actually very simple, because APs are volunteers, and most people have work to do, and they just come to participate in the training during their breaks. Very flexible and not too difficult.
"Jimmy, I never asked you, why do you want to be an AP? I heard Jon said that you only work a short-time job and don't even have a fixed place to live."
"Before yesterday, I had never thought about the definition of security. Before yesterday, I had not been pointed at a gun, handcuffed and sent to the police station. I had never even thought that I would die in a crossfire. Even if I When I was wandering before, I never encountered so many bad things."
Jimmy raised his hands, which were shaking a little as he spoke.
"I need some sense of security. When you talked about AP yesterday, I thought about it. Maybe I need to have some relationship with the police station and learn some self-defense knowledge. In a sense, AP is also a kind of police, right? .”
"Hahaha, Jimmy, don't be so nervous. This is Arkansas, not California. There isn't that much crime. Of course you may need a gun."
"Maybe, but now I can't get a gun license."
"Well, good luck to you."
Again, the daily life of the restaurant is boring and busy. Jimmy moved the tent to a green park near the restaurant and settled in a remote corner. At least he didn't need to spend 2 hours running back and forth every day.
On the second day of registration, I received a notice from the police station to start my 16-week training. It sounds like a long time, but in fact it just requires accumulating enough training hours. Jimmy is very attentive and mainly focuses on legal training and police training. For him, Speaking of which, he had learned first aid before and his physical fitness was not a big problem for a 19-year-old. Recently, he was working in a restaurant and there was no shortage of food. He had almost recovered from the physical deficit when he was homeless. Plus With his daily exercise, it can be said that he is already a strong young man.
Those who originally planned to work part-time have now become full-time employees of the restaurant, and of course their wages have also increased. After more than two months of work, both Jon and others were very satisfied with him. Jon was even willing to guarantee renting an apartment for him, about two blocks away from the restaurant, but it was a bit expensive, for a native like Jimmy. For the Chinese, it is terrible to have no money. They live in a tent and the restaurant provides two meals. He only spent the basics to buy a few clothes and a thick sleeping bag.
Most of Jon's salary has been deposited in the bank. For an insecure person like him, poverty is more terrible, or much more terrible. At the same time, he also got his first credit card.
…
It was close to December, and during Thanksgiving, Jon gave everyone a holiday, but left the restaurant to Jimmy, who could cook in the restaurant.
Thanksgiving has nothing to do with Jimmy. He was alone in the kitchen, looking through the ingredients in the refrigerator. He could barely make up a braised pork and a tomato beef, which were very good. Jimmy turned on the music in the restaurant and hummed a song he had recently learned. While making myself dinner.
The phone rang in the restaurant and Jimmy ran to the cashier to answer it.
"Hi, Jimmy, I'm Amy."
"Hi Amy, happy Thanksgiving."
"Happy Thanksgiving. Jimmy, are you free tonight? We need backup."
"Today? Now? Oh my God, is my first support mission going to be when everyone is celebrating the holidays?"
"I'm sorry, yes, today. You are the only one registered in AP who is single. Others can't come here on a day like today."
"Okay, wait for me for one hour, and I will be yours tonight."
Jimmy opened the second pressure cooker, threw the ingredients in one after another, set the timer for 40 minutes, then cooked rice for himself in another pot, and made a large vegetable salad while waiting. When the time is up, the tomato beef is okay, but the braised pork is basically boiled meat with added ingredients, so it’s not a big problem. Jimmy packed himself rice and vegetables with the food box in the store. After waiting at the door of the restaurant for a while, he got into the reserved taxi and went to the police station.
"Hi, Noah." "Hi, Jimmy."
Jimmy walked into the police station. Today was Thanksgiving. There were very few people in the police station. It was not shift time. Basically, more than half of the people were patrolling everywhere.
"Hi, Amy, would you like to try my cooking skills? I was cooking when you called."
"Oh, sweetheart, that's so sweet of you." Amy smiled and accepted the invitation.
Amy is the assistant chief of police and is mainly responsible for various documents and personnel management. To avoid misunderstanding, let me say that Amy is over 50 years old and has been in the police station for more than 20 years.
Jimmy opened the food box on the empty table next to him, took out the prepared paper lunch box, and prepared one for Amy and himself. Looking at the amount of food, it was estimated that there were enough for three people.
"Amy, there are more, about 3 servings. Who else is on duty today? Can you share it?"
"no problem". Amy walked out of her office with three pieces of food and returned after a while.
"It tastes good, I like this beef."
"Thank you for the compliment. What have you arranged for me tonight?"
"Follow Noah on patrol, it will take about 3-4 hours."
"OK."
…
Jimmy put on full equipment for the first time. The police uniform was that of a county police officer. He wore an AP badge, a pair of handcuffs, a swing stick, a flashlight, a pen, and a notepad. It was very simple.
Because AP has no law enforcement power and can only provide assistance, including cooperating with street patrols, security at large events, assisting in investigations, etc., it does not carry guns and does not use deadly force. Even if an individual holds a gun license, he cannot use his own weapon during AP service. Gun, all the force is just a stick.
At 8 o'clock in the evening, Jimmy got into Noah's car and started his first AP patrol.
Noah looked at Jimmy still holding the swing stick in the passenger seat and said with a smile: "Don't be nervous, it's just daily patrol. When something happens, you just need to pay attention on the road. You don't need to chase the suspect or enter the room." , anyway you are safe."
"OK, I'm trying to relax, no problem."
Jimmy put the stick back into his waistband and slumped in his seat as relaxed as possible. Calling out a police call in the United States is two different things than calling out a fire call in China. The fire call is focused on rescuing people and putting out fires, but here, what needs to be focused on is not putting yourself in danger.
"Noah, how many years have you been a police officer?"
"8 or 9 years, don't worry, I will take care of you, don't worry."
"Oh, what I want to ask is, is it generally more dangerous during the day or at night?"
"Of course it's at night, and it's fine before 10 o'clock. If you call the police late at night, it's very easy to have a firefight. This is the south, and guns are life, so we usually don't arrange for AP to provide support at night. It's more troublesome today. Several colleagues are on vacation. , there is a problem with the personnel arrangement.”
"Well, it seems this first patrol is not a good time."
"Adam47, vandalism to public property, West 11th Street, multiple people called the police claiming someone was spray painting the wall of the town square."
"Adam47 received."
Noah turned on his police lights and turned to the target location.
