The real life of an American police officer: Winning over others with virtue

Chapter 73 That Damn Eric
It was almost nine o'clock in the morning.

The briefing room of the West Canyon Police Department's patrol unit.

Even though he had been bothered by Eric's phone calls for a while, Daves, who had at least slept for seven hours, stood on the platform without any signs of fatigue.

"Very well, one guy skipped today's morning meeting. He broke my rules and made my mood plummet. I hope you don't run into my line of fire today, or I'll let you experience firsthand just how hot it is inside a gun barrel."

Daves was speaking from the platform without even identifying the guy, but the patrolmen sitting below, both new and old, all knew who this guy was who had ruined the mood of the duty commander.

Will, sitting in the last row, subconsciously glanced at the window seat next to him. Although the good seat was empty, no one was sitting there.

He crossed his thick arms, shook his head, and didn't pay attention to Daves's words. Instead, for some reason, he seemed to envy this damn guy.

"Damn it!"

Among the three newcomers sitting in the first row, Annie, who exudes a cool and confident aura, sits upright with the naivety of a newcomer, sitting straight and attentively like a model student, but she also glances back at the empty window seat.

A complex look flashed in his eyes.

Yesterday, thanks to Daves's reminder, she knew she would be reassigned to another new training instructor today.

However, for some reason, I felt a great sense of disappointment.

Annie bit her lip slightly. The young man's charm was indeed quite outstanding; she had only spent a day or two with him to have such an experience.

"."

"But he didn't come without a price. I think he must be feeling very uneasy, anxious, and worried right now, waiting for the judgment of some mysterious organization."

As soon as Daves got to this point, the veteran patrolmen below all looked at each other and burst into laughter, causing a stir.

Daves didn't care, and instead looked at the newlyweds in the first row, and said.

"But because of him, the unfortunate newlyweds had a very special day."

He paused for a moment, letting the newlyweds absorb the meaning of his words before continuing.

"Because today, we're going to play a swap game. That's right, our new recruits will be swapping instructors and being redistributed."

Ignoring the exchanged glances between the patrol officers below, Daves looked at the first new recruit.

"Jonah, you will be working with Officer Aven."

Jonah instinctively glanced at Facre, the young black man next to him, who was originally his instructor, Officer Aven.

Fakley raised an eyebrow and whispered, "Not bad."

Jonah felt a little relieved.

“Fakere, you’ll be working with Officer Will.”

Upon hearing this, the young Black man's face fell, and he looked at Jonah, who had expressed his misfortune to him.

Everyone knows that Officer Will is the strictest of the instructors.

Daves made arrangements quickly, rotating all the teams except for Darren and Lucy who were still hospitalized, and then looked at Annie.

“Annie, you will be working with Officer Ruhr.”

Upon hearing this, Annie instinctively turned around to look for her new instructor for the day, only to find a rather old-looking patrolman gesturing to her.

She nodded silently in acknowledgment.

"You all know your instructors for today, right? Don't go to the wrong person," Daves said.

The three new recruits answered in unison, "Yes, sir!"

"Learning how to work with new instructors is not the most difficult challenge today. Before leaving get off work, all new recruits must learn about their instructors' personality traits and some personal information, and then stand in front of me to tell me their thoughts about their instructors. Only after you have told me your thoughts can you leave work."

Daves nodded in satisfaction, and seeing the newcomer's distressed expression, continued, "If you want to know some little things that people don't want you to know, you have to try your best to find a way. This is a test of your investigative instincts and your perseverance. The first place winner will be rewarded with a day off, and the last place winner will have to do warehouse search and sorting work on Saturday night."

At this point, Daves ignored everyone's expressions and said with his head held high.

"That's all. Good luck to you all, and I hope you don't break my rules."

But when he saw all the patrol officers get up and prepare to leave...

Daves suddenly said, "All the new and old teams, except for Officer Ruhr, stay behind for now."

After saying that, he picked up the documents and left.

At this moment, the old and new teams had just met and stopped in their tracks.

Annie looked at Officer Ruhr in front of her.

Officer Ruhr showed no surprise and simply addressed Annie.

"The reason I'm keeping you here is most likely because someone wants to ask you about that Eric guy. Just answer truthfully."

Annie paused, looked outside, and could indeed see Daves, who had just left, standing in the corridor, talking to a middle-aged woman.

“That’s District Attorney Viva Stein, I heard she’s new,” Officer Ruhr said.

"I'll wait for you in the lobby. Come over when you're done."

After saying that, he slowly left the briefing room as Annie nodded blankly.

Officer Ruhr was absolutely right.

Soon, led by Daves, a Q&A session about Eric was held in a small office that had been completely cleared out except for a table and two chairs.

Because of the important investigation, District Attorney Viva was sitting at a table looking at Will, who had been called in, and said, looking at his calm expression.

"Officer Will, I've heard you're getting quite close to Officer Eric?"

Will raised an eyebrow. He had been to too many places like this before. Without thinking, he said, "Yes, if I had to pick the patrol officers present today who is closest to Officer Eric, I think it would be me."

Viva has a masculine face and long hair that doesn't quite match her features, she said calmly.

"If you were to describe Officer Eric, how would you do it?"

Will laughed: "How to describe him? If I had to describe Eric, I would just say he's a complete damn bastard."

Viva's face showed interest: "Hmm?"

"His damn handsome face always makes us feel inferior, and even his damn gentleness makes us grit our teeth in hatred. He even helps others in a way that is more pleasing to the eye than we are."
Damn it, I paid for it, but the merchants are thanking Eric instead.

But you know what? I wasn't angry at all, because Eric made it possible for those small business owners who used to be bullied by thugs to stop being bullied. The street that used to be full of garbage became spotless, and Eric still insisted on spending money.
I'm sure you don't know what this means, but that's okay. I sometimes don't understand his thoughts either.

He often says, "Equal exchange," and I like that phrase.

Oh, by the way, although Eric has flaws in many ways, he also has one outstanding quality: he's so unlucky that he ran into the idiot who opened fire on the police station the moment he stepped outside.

My goodness, so many people are afraid to get too close to him for fear of catching the virus. To be honest, he's really pitiful."

As Viva listened, she shook her head, stopping Willa's seemingly venting complaints. She became curious about Eric and smiled.

"Officer Will, that's enough."

Will raised an eyebrow and said, "I have a lot more to say!"

“It’s okay. If I have the chance, I’ll listen to you continue rambling on without finishing your nonsense,” Viva nodded.

"Could you please call the next person in now?"

(End of this chapter)