A CLASSIC TALE: Searching for the "Fake Cop"

February 11, 2008 - Monday

My Patrols for the Current mood: discontent I didn't catch him tonight, Friends. -But MAYBE I saw him. I went on two separate driving patrols looking for the Fake Cop. One in the late afternoon and another in the evening. I'm afraid that I had to stop out of bordom, frustration, and my work hours tomorrow. A patrol like that can seem like nothing but driving, turning down little-known roads, listening to music and drinking lots of coffee. It does get boring to the point where you just have to stop for now. I couldn't make out a lot of the cars on the highway and on the smaller roads, there were no cars. This is a needle in a haystack search, given the hundreds of square miles of his activities. I'll still keep it up, as I can, though. I want this guy to get caught. Whether by me or the real police. But I may have sighted him. I'm not at all sure. I was driving down US 14 and I noticed two sets of car headlights on an off-road. Parked. One behind the other. I was going 65 mph, so by the time I realized what I was seeing, I was well-past them. It took me awhile to find a place to turn around and I had to take a round-about way to get back to the location. When I did, both cars were gone. I don't know if that could have been the Fake Cop messing with a victim, but both vehicles got away safely, if it was. I spent a long time looking in that particular vicinity (a 25-mile radius), to no avail. Then I went to Owatonna, poured my first cup of coffee and headed back toward my town, using zig-zags and barely-paved roads. Getting closer to my city (Where I don't think he'd want to try anything, since we have a pretty good police presence), I decided to call it a night. I only saw two real cop cars (parked and talking to each other) the whole night. And none at all during my daylight patrol. Nothing against the cops. We know they're understaffed. Especially on the county level. No wonder he stalks this area west of Rochester. Oh, and needless to say, that I drove through some of the higher crime areas on my way back through Rochester, just to check on things. -When in uniform... Nothing of note there, either. Now I've had too much coffee. Geist out.