The art of Kevin Blythe Sampson

THE ART OF
KEVIN BLYTHE SAMPSON

7/31/09

Stories from my police day’s ...........the street kings

Warning

cops have a rather flavorful way

Of describing things

So if you are offended by foul language,graphic imagery

Then pass on this one………..i am speaking in tongues………

Testing the waters to see what I can get away with …..lol

All of this talk of bad cops

Reminds me of well good cops

And

not so good cops…………..hell  it reminds me of the good ole days

Anyway

 

Tales from the past

So where was I it was about 1975

I was a 20 year old cop

Yes they dropped the age requirement

back in the day

18

was the law of the land and for a short while

15 was the bar age

At least that how old I was when I started hanging out in night clubs

hey any one remember the scene in Sayerville, NJ

anyway

I Used to want to be cool

And the drink of the day

Was a slow gin fizz

This was when drinking was still fun

20 with a gun

And I wasn’t stupid with it

The academy gives you some sense

we were out of the police academy for  three months

Before one of the nicest guys in the class

Accidently killed himself with his own gun

shot himself in the head

my first cops funeral

Damn true story

But I wasn’t the best shot any way

that’s for sure

So guns and me

I am always leery of them

Even drunk

I love them

but like women

I am just a bit

In awe of them

Anyway

where was I

Proud

macho

I did really well in the police academy

Even though I played my way through it

I spent most of the days in class

Back then I didn’t know I had a

Addd. Yes addd

I couldn’t sit still

So I drew cartoons of everyone in the class

I was never really the best cartoonist

That I freely admit

But I was a asshole

I cracked up the class

And pissed off the proctors

Who were other cops

Superior officers

Anyway I made more than a few

Life long friends in this strange new world

My father loved me being a cop

It was a respectable job

But some where inside me

I always knew that I wouldn’t stay more than 20 years

I always knew this

Anyway

I got out the police academy

It was so long ago

That in my department

We carried 6’

Yes six inch smith and westerns

They were accident

In fact my gun was so messed up

That my partner

And cohort

Actually used his pencil to punch holes

In my target for me

So I could pass the shooting course

Later one of the instructors

Tried to shot my gun

This guy was a master

He couldn’t hit the bull eye with my gun

Turned out my barrel was bent

This instructor and some of the others

Called up my department

And read them the riot act

That gun and its holster

Which was a snap on was dangerous

But this was a time when

You weren’t suing folks

That gun would always want to stay in the car

If you got out too fast

And many a day I would look and find that my

Gun was missing

My heart would pound

I would run to the car

And there it was

Horrors of horrors

Rookie loses his gun

You lose your gun

Or your hat

Which I hated and never wore

And you were done

Ok back to the ranch

Finally we got new guns

With speed loaders

Smith and western

357 Mag

A wonderful strong mean gun

When we finally went to 9 millimeters

Many of us cried

That gun would pick you off

You feet

Sigh

Loved it were was I

Ok

I was a city boy

Working in a small town

A town with lots of dark roads

The big city cops

Would look at us some times

As if we were really cops

Because we were in the burbs

But let me tell you

City cops

Yea they got the numbers

But here

In this town you could have 1/3 of a 10 mile town to yourself

If you got into real trouble

You had be able to fight

Or shoot

Or run like hell

So we small town squirrel chasers

Pound for pound

Were just as tough as any one

We didn’t see as much

But that ok

I am crazy enough anyway

We drank

The police academy

Separates you from

Society in many ways

It makes you a outsider

Detaches you

I have never been to war

But I can imagine on a smaller

Scale male bonding or lack of male bonding

We the other of the day

Piss contest

Manley bores

Some times

And drinking

I would get off the midnight shift

8 clock in the morning

We worked rotating shifts

Means every five days

Day off then you would change

For day shift

To 4-12 shift

To midnight shift

No holidays rookie

Drink to sleep

Coffee to wake

I don’t know how we worked

Like this for so long

But It couldn’t have been healthy

Me if I didn’t go to the bar with the guys

Then I would drink from the bottle of scotch

That I always kept under the front seat of my car

I had no fear of every getting arrested

And even cops wives

Who were meaner crazier

Then the men they married

Were immune to arrest

My ole lady

Could throw down beers with the best of them

Get in her car

And she drove much faster

Than I ever did

Boy my old lady could drive

Better than almost any one

I have even known

But lock her up for drunk driving

Yea right

We were the street kings

I was so wild at one point

So drunk and crazy

That I would hook up with other friends

Who were correction officers

And head for new York

We were so wild

That after a point

We would head to new York after the 4-12 shift

Do you remember new York

In the 1970’s

When the whores would line up near the Holland tunnel

Hookers half naked

When new York was new York

When the village was the village

Anyway we were so wild

That after a while

The new York city detectives

Knew us

They would even drink a beer or take a swing of

The liquor that was always a fixture in my car

Then they would tell us

In that nasty new York accent

Laughing……….but not in the eyes

Ok boys time for you guys to get out of town

Man

I ain't lying

But they would have never arrested us

Beat our asses

Maybe those new York cops

Back in the day were simply

The meanest

Nicest

Best police officers around

Ok back to jersey

Back to work

Bleary eyed

But not alone

About a year into the job

You don’t even have your sea legs yet

Hell I never had any sense of direction

And you had to know every inch of your town

It took me like 3 years to get the town down

Ok longer than that

My stomach used to flip

Where you would get that heart attack call

And you know you had to get there in minutes

Anyway you survive and get over it

Anyway

I remember early one morning

My sergeant called me over

To see some thing

My partner drove me just over the line

Into the next town

Their was a sear store there

And in the parking lot

Their was a car facing in the wrong direction

A convertible

My sergeant was out talking to the sergeant

From the next town

He motioned me over

While I was walking

I was looking at the convertible

When I got close

Enough to the car

I realized

That it wasn’t a convertible

The roof of this car

Was torn off

Now dumbass

Realized that their were three occupants of the car

One was laying on the floor of the back seat

A young kid, blond dead face down

The girl sitting up right in the back seat

With a smashed head

Red like a tomato

My brain froze

And things started moving in slow motion

Anyway finally I looked to the front seat

Where their was a black kid

Probably

18 the driver

I kept looking at him

But my brain couldn’t quite seem to register

What I was seeing

Then it dawned on me

This kid was missing the top of his

He had a ditch where his brain should have been

It took me a minute

No longer than that

Anyway I slowly turned

A bit in shock

And found several guys from two different departments

Watching this rookie

I did the cop thing

I cracked a joke

I don’t remember what it was

But there is a old saying

I know I am not saying it right

But how do you know

When some one is dead

There are seven cops standing around laughing

A cops sense of humor is his greatest armor

Anyway my partner and the sarge

Took met the dinner for breakfast

Every one order scrambled eggs

And they made me order a plate

My partner pour ketchup on my plate

And said eat

They both watched me

And although I had never put ketchup

On my eggs I was suddenly hungry

And I am not dumb

I know what they wanted

But they didn’t know the kid

I could pick up a dead body and eat chips

On their chest

I could sift through any thing offensive and not get sick

Hey why do you think I became a found object artist

That shit don’t get me

But let me tell you a secret

If some one vomits

Near me

Then its on

I will throw up right with them

Right away

My wife used to laugh

For torture she would make me pick

Up my dogs mess

She didn’t mind doing it

But knew how sick it made me

Dog shit

Vomit

But not dead bodies

My partner said

Your ok kid

And I was in

And they wonder why cops are a bit different

Could you imagine seeing this

Over the course of 30 or so years

Can you imagine how and why our soldiers

Come back made

The more I write about cops

The more I want to forgive them

Yup those were the days

And racial profiling

Back in those days

They would beat your ass

And send you home

I remember one night getting into a big fight

At a bar with suspected members of the pagans

Yes we had a biker problem back then

The pagans and I cant remember the other group

Anyway some smart asses

Got their foul asses beat by ohhhhhhhhhh

Some cop

No not me…………so don’t start

Anyway these people came into my police headquarters

And started screaming about harassment

Started yelling about being beaten

My chief back then

Who a certain Irish cop

Called the Mushroom

Because he was at pearl harbor

A scary man when he wanted to be

Kind of like the godfather I kid you not

He pulled out his sapper

You don’t know what that is

Is a lead lined tube

Covered in leather

Can cops still carry these things

Oh they have taster now

The sap was much more affective

Anyway the chief pulled out his sap

And told them to get the fuck

Out of his office

Before he beats the shit out of them

And locks them up

These were bikers

They fled in horror

And the chief almost had to be restrained

If any one had the courage to try that one

Anyway

We got called in

I didn’t do any thing

I swear

And the chief

Yelled at my partner

And punished him by taking

Away his sap

Which he had begun to use more

Frequently than needed

I fear

Anyway that was his punishment

Now get the fuck out of my office

Yes master

This negro is gone

My partner got his sap

Back about a week later

And that was the end of it

I couldn’t be a cop now

Too many rules

Anyway a couple years in the life of

This mad man

Hey this is fun

I miss telling my war stories

And hey most of these guys are dead

So there

And remember

I didn’t do shit

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