Graveyard Blues

From midnight to 0200 are the hours that the streets are usually still moving with the bright headlights, from mostly cars flashing in the one direction and the red taillights flashing about in the other direction, giving the darkness an eerie and sometimes grotesque mingling of flashing multi-colored neon lights of businesses with the haze of streetlights. The excitement of the night to come is highlighted with the manmade Aurora Borealis of dancing hews.

At 2 a.m. the bars close down, therefore, the restaurant’s alcohol drinks stop flowing. Now the streets are less filled with the kind of traffic that started that morning. Most of the business lights are dimmer, but not all. Mixed with a small amount of employees returning home from their late night shift are the cars returning from the bars.

When graveyard begins and when the day darkens, many peace officers fall or are killed in the course of their job to protect the public while you are in your home safe. The hunt begins for criminals and we find them with handguns, knives, and all kinds of weapons. This is the time the drug addict’s dope is taken.

This book describes the danger for the officer when he must solve the problems before he leaves to handle another call. The reader will understand when darkness arrives; the danger increases. It is a lonely shift as the deputy slowly drives his patrol unit while looking for criminal activity in his area. Now the cat and mouse game begins as he is fighting fatigue and trying to stay alert for the next call.

There are people out there who want to kill you or disable you rather than face arrest. You call for backup for help when you are arresting a dangerous person like a cold-blooded killer and especially when you are completing graveyard shift.

As you slide under your warm blankets that cop is working the graveyard shift. Sleep peacefully and remember the road warriors are chasing crooks out in the neighborhood. And the war on crime begins again in the dark of night.

-- Phillip Danna