7 On-Duty Eating Experiences
On-duty cops are often forced to eat on the run. They not only consume food in a hurry, but at times in the strangest places.
In general, I like to eat healthy, and do so more often than not. But as we all know, consuming food on-duty can occur at strange times and unique locations. Here are a few that I remember:
- Sharing Tommy’s hamburgers, using the trunk of a police unit as a table, with partners on the graveyard shift behind the Sports Authority complex. Repeating the practice with Guadalupe’s Burritos. (By the way, the poor schmuck on day watch assigned a car that visited Tommy’s during the graveyard shift had the joy of experiencing it over and over again.)
- Eating a chicken bowl in my undercover vehicle with my partner at midnight, while “sitting on”—watching—a drug-money-launderers stash-pad, waiting for a judge to sign a search warrant. (This seemed to be a weekly occurrence working narcotics.)
- Once again working graveyard, each officer brought a different item to work in order to have a full blown BBQ cookout in the basement of our parking garage—minus the beer.
- Hundreds of occasions eating fast food in the report writing room at the police department, working after hours to complete arrest reports.
- A narc partner would frequently deliver a Costco dog while I sat at my computer typing a search warrant affidavit. When the table was turned, I delivered coffee since that was her nutritional staple.
- Working uniformed patrol at a Fiesta in town, which was like a county fair, many food vendors offered freebies. As a result, we would consume “grilled this and fried that.” Once the eclectic food combination hit our digestive system, we needed to slurp a bottle of Pepto-Bismol.
- Having pizza delivered to a suspect’s house while involved in hours of searching and collecting evidence during a search warrant service.
Not mentioned are hundreds of occasions snacking on granola bars, etc. while sitting on a perimeter, or engaged in a tactical callout.
Consider reading this article, Overtime Eating: 3 Nutrition Tips for Extra Work Hours, if my illustrations have made you nauseous.
These are a few of my “fine-dining” experiences. What are yours?
– Jim McNeff, editor-in-chief, Law Enforcement Today
