I Need a Police Scanner!

I can remember being with my aunt on South Padre Island and visiting some older friends in their condo. The condo was a nightmare little space packed wall to wall with clutter. No place to perch without sitting on a pile of newspapers. The focal point of the condo was the police scanner. It squawked night and day. The old couple knew all the codes and would comment on everything that came across the scanner. They had a hard time ripping themselves away to go to dinner. My aunt and I thought it was fairly pathetic.

Yesterday evening as I was walking Saby on the edge of the neighborhood, I noticed two Chandler police cruisers creeping along the edge of a dirt field at a distance from an abandoned house on the dairy farm across the main road in the next mile section. They appeared to be lurking waiting for something. I thought maybe they were casing me to see if I'd bag the pooch poop! Earlier in the day, I'd noticed police tape around the front of the house and thought that was odd. And now there was police tape around the entire perimeter of the yard. Part of me wondered if they could be getting ready to do a raid? But I dismissed it because nothing happens around here!

After walking Saby home, I decided to return some movies to Blockbuster. Pulling out of the neighborhood, I noticed police cars had multiplied by ten and were lined up all around the property with men in uniform ringing the area. What the heck? Could it be a drop house for illegals or meth lab? On the way back,I couldn't believe it! They had spotlighted the area with huge overhead lights mounted on generator trucks. I could see it from a mile away! The area was now swarming with police and SWAT teams. I passed by slowly on the road with the windows open, but couldn't get any grasp on what was happening. After I got home, I rode the bike to the edge of the neighborhood to watch through the view fencing. I could see spotlights going through the darkened house, then I'd hear little explosions. Then groups would emerge in full gear, including helmets with visors down. After watching from two different locations for ten minutes, I finally went home. I still had no clue!

About 10 p.m., curiousity got the best of me again. Saby got another walk! The spotlights were still there, along with the S.W.A.T. team vehicles and police cars. I think the numbers had decreased, but I was still hearing loud explosions.

If only I had one of those damn old people police scanners! I'd KNOW what was going on over there! Mrs. Cravitz is going nuts! I'm a fire truck chaser at heart. Where I grew up, in a tiny berg, everyone in town would have known immediately what was happening! In fact, we would have all been standing across the street and not gone home until the last police wagon left!

This morning, I passed by again on Saby's morning walk. The only remnant of the action last night was police tape on the broken front picture window and the across the back perimeter. I'm now thinking it was a S.W.A.T training event? Here's a couple of camera phone photos.

Whatever it was, I bet it scared the holy crap out of the illegals who live down that road in trailers behind the dairy operation!