Dec 2023. Blues Vol 39 No. 12

BY LT. BOB EVANS
The Christmas That Almost Wasn’t
The following story is true.
No names were changed,
because no innocent people
were involved.
My story takes place on
Christmas Eve many years ago.
I had been a cop for more than
30 years and was a Lieutenant
assigned to nights. With all
the time I had in, I could have
been on days with weekends
off and pushing paper all day.
But I’d spent my entire life on
the street and it was where I
felt more comfortable. It was
my home, I guess. My kids
were all grown, and I had 4
failed marriages behind me.
Yeah, I could retire but I had
absolutely nothing to retire to.
The streets were my home,
and I couldn’t see myself anywhere
else….working or otherwise.
Hell, if I weren’t a cop,
I’d probably be homeless living
on the streets.
But despite my acceptance of
being here forever, the weeks
leading up to the night of this
story, were what seemed like
the beginning of the end for
me. Sounds confusing I know,
but let me start at the beginning.
It was early December in
the late 80’s. Like I said I was
the lieutenant assigned to
nights and in our department
the night shift lieutenant was
pretty much the night sheriff. I
oversaw everybody and everything.
But I had been doing
it so long that it really didn’t
seem like that big of a deal
anymore.
But more of the old guys
were retiring and every day I
had more and more youngsters
showing up at roll call.
The sheriff decided that to fill
vacancies, he would accept
lateral transfers from other
departments. Since we paid
more than the surrounding
departments, these kids (actually
young men and women
in their late 20’s) came over
in droves. Everyday there was
someone new and of course
they all came to nights.
The latest transfer was this
young man from a PD up
north. A real go getter. Reminded
me of me at that age.
His name was Randy Jones.
Jones was married and had a
brand-new baby girl. Wasn’t
even 3 weeks old. The boy
posted pictures of that girl all
over the station. He was the
proud papa for sure.
But he was from a PD, and
this was the sheriff’s department.
We did things differently
and Jones had his own idea
about how it ‘should’ be done.
I had to sit that boy down
several times during those first
few weeks and just say look,
‘If you want to stay here and
be successful, you must follow
the book. Otherwise, I’m
going to have to talk to the
sheriff and send you back to
the PD.” Broke my heart because
he was really a good
kid, just stubborn. Reminded
144 The Blues 40th Anniversary Issue