Last night I had the great privilege and pleasure of getting to “ride along” with a Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department officer. I joined her for the “swing shift,” which began with a briefing at the command headquarters. After that, we headed out onto the streets in a black-and-white cruiser. By the time I headed home at midnight, I had witnessed a nonstop blur of police work. I’d seen shoplifting averted at a Wal-Mart Superstore, and I’d watched a trespassing drug dealer get checked in at the city jail. A teen-aged girl who had threatened suicide before running away was apprehended in a grocery store parking lot and taken into protective custody. I observed ... (more...)