North America Gunman Detective

After dealing with Dorch Mars's case, Jimmy continued his low-speed patrol en route and headed back to the police station. In the latter half of the night, Jimmy stood by at the station without any serious accidents requiring police dispatch, so he enjoyed a relatively easy time.

Come shift change in the morning, Jimmy headed home to rest.

Due to his shift rotation, he was on night shifts all week, sleeping during the day until the afternoon, then heading out to find some food. The night shift kept him from doing much during the day beyond sleeping and resting, so Jimmy didn't schedule activities like firearms practice for himself.

In the evening, he returned to the police station and started his second night shift.

Working the night shift as a police officer could be quite dull. In the United States, the vast majority of rural roads are unlit, with streetlights mainly found in cities, towns, and their immediate vicinity. Outside of towns, in the wilderness, visibility relies almost solely on one's vehicle headlights. It's worth mentioning that interstate highways also have long stretches without lighting.

For a rookie patrol officer like Jimmy, who needs to accumulate experience, the easiest little cases to handle are still "watching and waiting" near intersections, especially at midnight. If there were commissions for writing tickets, it's likely that patrol officers would all be staking out at intersections at night.

Staking out also has its advantages; it allows for a quick departure in response to dispatch center alerts, with all directions typically clear and open.

It wasn't yet 9 PM, still early, and Jimmy turned on his patrol lights without the siren to alert drivers to the police presence, reminding them to drive carefully. If drivers ignored the lights and intentionally ran a red light or committed other infractions, they couldn't blame him for being heartless in his enforcement.

American police officers have considerable discretion. Whether to issue a ticket for a violation is up to the officer's judgment. If you happen upon an officer in a bad mood, you might just be out of luck. Even without catching a traffic violation, they could stop you to say your window tint isn't translucent enough and conduct a test, likely leading to misfortune.

After spending over an hour staked out at the intersection, Jimmy had only issued one ticket, to a motorcyclist who ran a red light while turning left. All the other issues were minor, warranting just a verbal warning before letting them go on their way.

It's worth noting that in the year 2000, police cars were not yet commonly equipped with dash cams, officers didn't carry personal body cams, and mobile phones didn't have video recording capabilities. Unless you were unlucky enough to be caught by public surveillance cameras, enforcement relied mostly on cameras and video recorders for documenting infractions. Jimmy's gear included a camera, but it was intended for recording crime scenes, not for snapping photos of traffic violators on the road. He also didn't have a radar speed gun, so he had to rely solely on his eyes to determine whether to chase a vehicle by police car.

Having idled for a while, Jimmy drove onto a two-way road with two lanes, maintaining a speed of 35 mph. Anyone who overtook him from behind was speeding, a pretty accurate and hassle-free way to judge.

A car approached from the opposite lane at high speed. As they passed by, Jimmy flashed his patrol lights and siren, quickly turned around, and began the pursuit.

The vehicle ahead, upon seeing the patrol lights, accelerated quickly, forcing Jimmy to increase speed and follow behind. On the pitch-black road, only the area lit by the headlights was visible, leaving him chasing the tail lights of the other car.

With his limited driving experience, Jimmy didn't dare to push to the extreme speed of 150 mph in such conditions. After a few minutes of chase, he turned off his siren and gave up as he could no longer see the tail lights. Not far ahead was a small town with many intersections. The other car could simply turn off its lights after taking a turn, making it impossible for Jimmy to find it. During the brief encounter, he hadn't managed to note the license plate or the make of the vehicle.

The first unsuccessful stop of the day happened just like that, and Jimmy felt a spark of frustration, especially since he didn't even get the chance to perform a PIT maneuver or even catch up.

Jimmy drove forward slowly, aimlessly wasting gasoline, which he didn't mind since the police department reimbursed it. Whether chasing a vehicle or patrolling at leisure, he wasn't concerned about the fuel consumption. He just needed to pay attention to how much was left in the tank to ensure he could make it back to the station.

The county police's routine patrol was mostly between cities on highways, rarely ever venturing into the city since most cities had their own police departments.

The dispatch center's radio was often active, but most of the time, they were alerts for other assigned areas. Jimmy's area remained calm, with no serious incidents, so he was left to catch a few unlucky violators by the roadside to vent his frustration.

"Adam100, Adam7, Adam28, Adam47, gunfire exchange, Adi Town Police Department requesting backup, switch to channel 8 upon arrival."

"Adam28 acknowledges," replied Jimmy as he raced to the scene with his lights and siren blaring.

The recent announcement gave Jimmy an ominous feeling. Typically, backup requested for a town police department involved just one or two officers. This time, four patrol vehicles were notified, including an A100, which indicated Sheriff James' involvement. This suggested that the situation was not merely a local public order incident, and may involve inter-city and possibly even inter-county matters.

Another explainer: the County Sheriff, who is elected by local voters, is in charge of all public order cases outside of city and town police departments within the county, as well as security for county jails, courts, and government departments.

Usually, the Sheriff does not get involved in specific cases, focusing more on personnel management and communication and coordination with county governments and councils, as well as responding to requests for assistance from the state and federal governments.

Today's situation, with the Sheriff being directly notified over the radio, was quite rare indeed.

Although a newcomer, Jimmy was well-informed about the dispatch center and radio protocols, thanks to Noah's thorough briefing.

Upon reaching Adi Town, Jimmy found he was the first to arrive. Switching to channel 8, he immediately pressed the talk button, "County police officer Jimmy here, I've arrived at the south entrance of the town. Please guide me to the destination."

"This is Sergeant Sam, head from the central avenue to the north side of town. There's a factory on the left side of the road; I'll wait for you at the entrance," instructed the voice over the radio.

"Acknowledged."

Jimmy drove to the location and turned off the siren, though the patrol lights continued to flash.

A middle-aged man in uniform, sporting a sheriff's badge, was standing by the roadside—it was the local Sergeant Sam.

"You're the first to arrive. When can Sheriff James be here?" Sam asked.

"Not sure, I was patrolling nearby, so I got here quick. What's the situation inside?"

"There are four suspects inside, holding one of our own hostage, a woman named Jina. All four suspects are armed with handguns, and no automatic weapons have been seen. They caused a ruckus in the Green Parrot Bar, then ran here. But we only have three officers, and we can't handle it."

"Why do we need the Sheriff here? If it's just four people, officer backup should be enough," Jimmy inquired.

"One of them inside, I recognize, is a former county police officer, Sergeant Reina."