We Can’t Parent Your Kids

Butler, W.
02/02/2012

One of the things about being a cop is that friends always hit you up for advice. Mostly, it’s about how to get out of a speeding ticket. But since I’ve only written two speeding tickets in my career (both in my rookie year), I’m not much help in that regard.

They Don’t Fall Far

Butler, W.
11/27/2010

A 12-year-old kid kicked the shit out of his mother. That, in so many words, according to dispatch. “That’s fucked up,” I say to my partner, Al Pedersen. “What kind of asshole hits his own mother?”

Those Cheating Cops

Butler, W.
11/23/2010

Officer Juan Serrano. Married 13 years. Four kids–the oldest from a high school conquest, plus three from his wife, Marcia. Juan’s been ninja fucking Officer Linda Peters–two babies, two different fathers, married to Number Two. Juan and Linda play it discreet. But everyone around the station knows.

Future Felon

Butler, W.
08/20/2010

The little boy claimed to be 13 years old. He looked more like eight. Maybe he was just underdeveloped. Or maybe he was lying. I asked him if his parents knew where he was. “Yea,” he replied. Bullshit. He was riding in a van full of gangsters.

Bogeymen

Butler, W.
02/28/2010

“Look, the police are here,” says a mother to her five-year-old child. “They’re going to take you away if you don’t act right.”