​

​

​

  DIARY

​

​

The events in the life of a real Private Eye...
Is it "Fact" or "Fiction?" Like real life, it is often hard to tell...
Names and places may have been changed to protect the innocent.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

​

 

 

 

 

     1/

The day started clear and sunny, the promise of spring was in the air. 

 

AmFam Park would soon be open, a baseball stadium also filled with hope and promises, and a new landmark in the center of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  

It had been a hard past few months, work was busy, but love was fleeting.
I was searching for that woman who was searching for me, and who once found, could be something extraordinary together.

Tired of being disappointed by petty and small, selfish, people. But not feeling cynical, or even skeptical about love. Knowing it is real and watching it move in and out of peoples lives. Not something you can really hold, but something to be a part of, which then becomes a part of you, something you can give away, and yet at the same time, always a part of you.

So I was ready again, never quite disbelieving, but ready to dare the promise of love, and suffer the consequences of finding something else instead.

One must believe first, then dare to love, and finding less than that, laugh at the irony of it all, turn, and love again.

There was a whisper of hope in her voice. Just a whisper of hope that it was still all not true. That all those excuses could be trusted, that her instincts were wrong.

I wanted to tell her that she was probably right, that it was nothing to worry about, that her instincts had been fooled. But experience told me to hold my tongue, and I think we both knew better. Your instincts are knowing friends, speaking to you, and if you ignore them, you shape your own unhappy and artificial future.

But she still hoped, and had asked me to find the truth. She could not deny her feelings, and not knowing was worse than any reality.

So I would be as objective as possible, try to discover the truth, and then it would be her turn. To turn and run, or to fight to save the past, or to just ignore it and go on, decisions far too complex, far too important, and far too full of hurt to be considered yet.

Each of us has a right to keep a secret, and each of us has a right to know the truth.

If two people love each other however, both have equal rights to that truth. Whatever flaw or weaknesses we might share, true love forgiving most minor flaws, remains the same in sun or shadow.

It cannot survive behind selfish secrets and lies.

So now was the time to find the truth, and some kind of resolution to this agony that was also there, in her voice.

He looked more or less like any man. Nothing that unusual about him, or even his life, except today there would be one other man about his world, just waiting and waiting, to see him from a distance.

Surveillance is an interesting combination of great boredom and sudden excitement, and if you relax just a little too much, you miss what happens, in the blink of an eye.

Then there he was, was that him or not? Yes it was!  A sudden surge of Adrenalin and my car is moving without even thinking... He was driving as if he was in a hurry. His vehicle moved on city streets, on to the freeway, and then off again back on city streets. Lost him at the light. Then, there, a glimpse of something down one of the side streets. He makes a quick turn, another turn, and then into a parking lot. He parks in a spot next to a car all ready there, apparently waiting for him.

The woman he met may have just been a friend, or some kind of business associate, or was it someone worth risking a wife and kids for?

Who could tell?

Perhaps not even this man himself. Perhaps he was just a little unhappy, perhaps for good reason, and hard to tell, and not up for me to decide. I tried to give both him and his wife that benefit of the doubt, not knowing who was the villain, or if both were really somehow innocent.

I tried to keep an old wise knowledge about life, trying to see it in all its ugliness and all its beauty, the way an old married couple knows each other, the way you know a well worn shoe, and tried not to judge these people. 

 

You seldom get the real story anyway, even if you're promised the truth...

Just the real facts, what people do, not just what they say, this I could help with and for that, perhaps at least one of them, would be forever grateful...

​

Play Nice!
 

- Private Eye

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

                  By the way, this, and the other entries are real, and written entirely, by a Private Eye. 

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

     2/

​

It was an average day, and the world was moving in its usual way.  

 

For me, I can't remember what exactly it was, that I was doing a the time.

​

However, something caught my eye.

​

There were three males walking quickly to a parked car down the street.  They did not seem to be                doing much talking, but they did seem of deliberate purpose.   They climbed into their car and were            on their way... 

​

Just nothing unusual at all, but then again, there was something there, that just was not right,

something you can sense, but not really understand why...

​

I grabbed a pair of bino's and took a look. 

 

There is something warm and wonderful about holding a pair of your favorite binoculars. 

 

They bring the truth to you.  They focus hazy detail into crisp reality. 

 

After many years, it was a simple quick, reflex action, normal for me, and done without even thinking about it.  Others might find it strange to keep a pair of bino's, or a single monocular, constantly by your side, but it was Standard Operating Procedures for me.     

​

Nothing that unusual that I could tell, just three guys in a car.  I took the plate number and wrote it down anyway, using a notepad that served as a base for the binos, with it a pen in the spiral binder, always at the ready.   

​

Then, not entirely sure just why, but I found myself in my car, taking a quick tour of the neighborhood. 

Strangely and with great surprise, I came across my neighbor at the far corner looking distraught and agitated, and looking in every direction for something.

​

I stopped and rolled the window down, he ran over, and I asked him what was happening.  

 

He said three guys had just robbed a store at gunpoint.

 

I handed him the note card with the plate number on it and said, give this to the cops.

​

The rest of the day I wondered about the event, and if the information had been of any help.  

​

Later, I learned that the police had caught the guys with the stolen merchandise, and that some kind        of justice would be applied. 

​

All for one observer making an ordinary note, of an ordinary thing, on an ordinary day.

​

Listen, when your instincts speak to you. 

​

We should all take video, photos, or notes, and keep them handy just in case...  No excuse nowadays,

since we all have cell phones having such great abilities.

​

Funny, how just being able to record and document something can make all the difference in                          justice being served.  Video has transformed the way we know crime.  Often, it can now be seen

and recorded as it happens or has just happened.  Criminals are routinely identified and caught                    instead of hiding behind an anonymous attempt. 

​

Watch out for the world around you.  Take care of it, be good to it, even excellent about it!

​

Take A Note!  

​

​

 - Private Eye

​

​

​

​

​

​

 

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

     3/

​

I was working a surveillance on a quiet side street. 

 

Nothing much happening at the Subject Residence, and as usual, wondering just how long this might take before some action might occur there, just about a block away.  

​

Then suddenly billowing smoke and some flame from the side of a house, almost right in front of me, just a few houses down!

​

I started the car and pulled up directly across from it.  Sure enough, the side of the house was in flames!  I jumped out of the car, ran to my trunk and grabbed a fire extinguisher I kept there.

Then to the front doorbell, ringing it over and over and yelling that the house was on fire! 

A man came running out, I handed him the fire extinguisher, and he sprayed it all over the side of the house and under the siding. 

 

The little 6 year old boy standing there in disbelief said something about that he was just playing, as a fire truck came roaring down the street and the Firemen came running.  A quick spray to make sure all the flames were really out, and all was well again.

 

I will never forget the little boy, now very sorry and sitting on the front cement steps with a fireman who was huge in comparison in all his fire fighting regalia.  They spoke quietly for a few minutes, and I hoped it was a good lesson for him and that his father would not be too angry.

 

The father thanked me, and I was happy to have been there, just at the right time, in the right place, to help out.

​

He agreed to pay for recharging of the fire extinguisher, but never did follow through on it.  So I waited a few more days, then got it recharged.  It was made just like new again!  All shining and polished red with a fire gauge winking at you, smiling and ready to help, a good friend, now back in my trunk.  Something comforting and reassuring it was, having it there, and at the ready. 

 

All of us should spend some time to prepare for those rare but possible once in a lifetime events, so that we can respond immediately and in some excellent manner, before more harm is done.

​

Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarms, Fire Extinguishers, Fire Escape Plan, and Drills, Outside Meeting Place, Fire Ladders, etc., should be a part of your world, because smoke and fires do happen, and often with little warning.

​

Have A Plan!  Get Equipment!  Keep Equipment Ready!

​

Be Wise!  Be Smart!  Be Ready!

 

 

- Private Eye  

 

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

     4/

​

So, it was late in the evening. 

 

I had just left one of the downtown establishments, that had a little food and music to it, and was heading home, when I remembered that I was low on gas.​

​

I found my local gas station, and pulled up to the pumps.  It was closed, but I could still use my card and get as much gas as I wanted.  It was well lit, but as I got out of the car I noticed a guy hanging around the island of pumps on the far side of the station.  There was no car near him. 

 

He was moving around and then I noticed him just standing there with his arms crossed on top of one of the pumps, as if waiting for someone.  He seemed rather disheveled and I thought of him as one of the homeless guys that hung out downtown, and begged people for money.  At the time I was relieved that he did not approach me and was keeping his distance.

 

So I finished filling up, got a receipt, and got out of there.

 

Something, again, did not seem right with this guy.

 

Instead of getting on the freeway, and after thinking about it for a bit, I made a quick couple of turns, found a spot about two blocks away, and parked in the darkness. 

 

I grabbed my favorite bino's and took a look see back at the station.  I watched him for a while, still just hanging around and more or less avoiding the occasional car that came and went for gas.  I was just about to leave, when the station became quiet again, without any customers or traffic on the street.

 

Suddenly the guy ran towards the building and took a flying kick at the front door!  He bounced off like a ping pong ball, and fell back on the concrete!  He picked himself up and tried again, this time without running, but standing there trying to kick in the glass door of the station.

 

I fumbled with my phone but finally got 911 and told them what was happening. 

Quite literally, within two minutes, at least 7 or 8 squad cars came roaring into the area, and the cops jumped out of various cars squealing to a stop.  It was just like the Keystone Cop films of the old days.  There were at least half a dozen officers chasing this guy up and down and around the pumps, and back and forth for what seemed like forever!  Then he made the poor choice of trying to escape over a nearby bridge.  One of the closest cops made a leaping dive and tackled him before he made it to the other side, and that was that!  Wow!  What a show! 

 

I wasn't quite sure if he was actually a homeless guy, or somebody else just down on his luck or maybe even a career criminal by choice, but he wasn't getting the tools, or candy, or cigarettes inside that he wanted, at least not tonight!        

​

Trust Your Instincts!

​

​

- Private Eye

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

     5/

​

I think it was an early Saturday morning. 

 

I was cruising down the freeway with a light rain falling and my window wide open for the fresh air. 

Just done with a case, and music blaring on the radio. 

 

Suddenly as I came around a bend, there right in front of me, a wall of a semi-truck across most of the lanes!   I swerved wildly to the left and barely missed the front of his bumper in the far left lane, the only lane partially open!  I pulled over and jumped out of the car.  I found the driver of the jack- knifed rig sitting with his head in his hands on the grassy hill nearby, a bit shook up and sort of out of it.  He said he was okay, but I wasn't so sure.  I called it in to 911, grabbed some parking cones and flares from my trunk and ran back around the corner. 

​

Those bright orange fluorescent Safety Cones are just magnificent!  They can immediately alert you to some kind of problem, that something is dangerous!  I placed them on the ground in a diagonal pattern, slowly leading drivers to the safer left side of the freeway.

 

So too, there is nothing like the comforting sound of a chemical flare spurting into action, after scratching it alive!  It burns with a vengeance in a bright red color, and I was counting on it to get the attention of the oncoming speeding cars. 

 

I tried to wave the flare over my head and towards the left side of the freeway, trying to direct cars to that lane so that they would not experience the same surprise I had, of a semi-truck stopped dead across the roadway!  I put my hood up over my head and let the hot sputtering particles from the flare burn into the sweatshirt, instead of my skin.  It ruined my best sweatshirt, but I was happy to have worn it!  LOL! 

​

Soon a Sheriffs Squad arrived, and boy was I ever glad to see him!  The officer put out his own cones and took control of the situation.  The truck driver was not seriously hurt.

​

Sometime later I was surprised to discover that warning signs had been placed over each lane of the freeway, just before the turn, that would light up to warn people if they were going too fast for the curve.  Wow!  I hoped it would be enough to prevent further similar accidents... 

  

Watch The Road!

​

​

-  Private Eye

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

     6/

​

I gave her a brand new flashlight for her suitcase!  

 

It was a 3 D Cell Mag Light, tough and rugged, great for any kind of emergency.

​

The first cruise of my life it was... 

​

We were having a great time on the ship...  

 

As we were pulling out of a port on one of the islands, the ship suddenly jerked, the lights went out, and the ship stopped running!  It coasted a ways without power and then stopped dead in the water!

 

We looked at each other wide-eyed and I said "Grab your flashlight!  She just stood there staring back at me and stuttered, "I, I, didn't bring it!"  I said, "I gave it to you so you would have it!"  LOL!

It's funny now, and I chuckle about it every time I think about it, but at the time it was a very serious situation!

​

After what seemed like an eternity, the Captain announced that they were having some technical problems, but that we would be on our way as soon as possible.  At the time I was thinking about how

the Titanic had encountered some "technical" issues too, once upon a time.  

​

I grabbed her arm and said "Come On !"  She asked "Where are we going?"  I said, "We're going to do a quick inspection!"   She thought that we should stay where we were.  I told her that the Captain isn't going to say anything to start a panic, so we're going to find out what is really happening!

 

We took a quick walk around the deck.  It looked like a ghost ship!  Not a person or crew in sight!

It all looked quiet and normal.  At the rear of the ship I pointed my light down through the darkness.  To our surprise, a huge cloud of smoke was vigorously pouring out from the vents at the rear of the ship, trailing away into the night sky!  It was a dilemma to us if we should tell the other passengers or keep it to ourselves.  We felt as if we were the only passengers on the ship that knew the truth of the moment!  It was truly a heavy responsibility suddenly thrust upon us...  We decided that we would wait and see if things got worse and not risk starting a panic that might be worse than the fire itself.

 

The Captain announced that there were free drinks on the top deck.  I gave her one of those looks and said, "No alcohol!  We have to keep our wits about us!"  She agreed.

 

After a few long minutes the smoke went out, the Captain announced that a part was being flown out to fix things and we would be on our way as soon as possible.  Food was being served in the main dining room as normal.  The Captain never did mention a fire.  It seemed as if things were under control.  We went to eat in the main dining room.  I brought the flashlight with me.  There were only some small emergency lights running in the room and it was difficult to see clearly.  I used my light to help eat, and passed it around the table to help others.  Soon it was being passed from table to table all around the huge dining room. 

 

Then a crew member arrived and yelled, "Whose flashlight is that?"  I raised my hand and he bounded over to my table.  He said, "The crew can't find their flashlights, can we borrow yours for a while?"  I said, "Of course!"  but it did nothing to reassure me that all was well.  At least they were honest about it, doing the best they could at the time, and I give them credit for that.

​

Some hours later, the ship started running again and jolted into action.  My girl friend apologized for not listening to me about the flashlight and it was a classic "I told you so!" moment, although looking back on it now, this event still did not encourage her to take my advice more often, or to pay more attention to my ideas.  She is now happily married, and I'm happy for her.  They just recently went on a cruise too, I think.  I wonder if she even took a flashlight with her.

​

This is just one example of how one person, thinking ahead, and trying to be prepared, helped himself, the person he loved, and the thousands of other people on the ship to some degree, by one simple action, one simple tool.

 

Be Prepared !

 

- Private Eye

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

 

 

---

​

Since violent crime is being detected and recorded to an extent like never before possible, now we have to work on setting a standard for our cities and our states, just like we set a standard of peace and non-violence in our schools, work places, courthouses, and our homes.  The Pot Zombies and evil doers who routinely destroy others with their actions, must be evicted.  In no other way, and in no other reasonable action can a society wisely protect itself except by this method.  All other methods fail, especially the naivete, that demands that we allow evil among us, so that it may heal itself, when most often it has no intention, and probably no ability, to do so in the first place. 

​

Also, the new drugs that are illegally used apparently are physically changing the minds of the evil doers to be without any reasonable thought for the consequences of hurting themselves or others, as is plainly observed and documented by such video.  Without a city wide or state wide standard, and unless MilwauKEE, (Keep Evicting Evil), sets such a standard and has an export requirement enforced, evil and violence will flourish and become greater here, just like other major cities.  

​

You don't fight "crime", you fight evil.  You can't "fix" evil, only remove it.  The bad guys don't make "mistakes," they design an evil plan, or act without thinking at all, routinely and deliberately hurting themselves and/or others, and even bragging about it!       

           

Set a standard for the City or the State;

Identify the worse and most violent evil doers, by asking the police force for a list, since they are well aware of most of them, and even where they live.  Increase the police force.  Create and follow a standard, set a line that only the most evil would dare to cross.  For Milwaukee and Wisconsin, it should be known as; "Be Nice, Or Be Gone"

​

If they cross that line, Ask them to leave;

Instead of housing them in jails at our expense, or paying huge settlement costs, or allowing them back to prey on us, ask them to leave, tell them that they are not wanted here, even pay them to relocate, but never to return.  When some of them do return, because disrespect is in their nature, set a mandatory jail time.  Any kind of parole however, must be in some other place, not this place.  The innocent must not be an experiment to witness evil now corrected, or to see it fail, since that is the definition of fear, not knowing and wondering if, or when, it will reappear.  Studies show that most evil people never become nicer, but just hide their actions more thoroughly.   You don't fight evil with compassion, you provide compassion, but you don't allow the evil to use it against you, unless you're an idiot of course.  It seems that we are governed by idiots who deny the obvious.  LOL!          

​

Export the evil.  

Unless you place the good and innocent first, the Pot Zombies, angry violent people, the drug gangs, of a certain place, will slowly come to own that place and all will be in fear, instead of freedom.  They will use the laws and corrupt politics to ensure their existence. They will skunk pot stink up the entire city.

The only method that works is to export the evil and cage it if it returns.  All other reasonable methods have been shown to fail repeatedly. 

Increase the litter, graffiti, and drug laws, since people who litter or vandalize with graffiti, have no respect for anything else, and people doing dope destroy not just themselves, but entire families, even entire cities, and hurt all of us.   

​

Set a limit;

Set a real speed limit for the freeways and city streets.  Then hire enough sheriffs to chase and apprehend the speeders, or even install cameras to auto ticket anyone going more than 10 miles over the speed limit.  If they can prove an emergency at the time, excuse them.  Otherwise, if they are driving erratically, under the influence, or repeatedly speeding, evict them.  They are too dangerous, to be allowed in this place.  

Enforce the standards you set, export the evil, or it will grow until it owns you.  This is very obvious in Chicago and other major cities, including ours.  

It is in the people who make up a place, that are loving and kind, ambitious, and trying to make it a better drug free world, with the mostly absence of evil, that determines a great city, state, or country, nothing else. 

Those who deliberately hurt people have no right to share that space, that city, and force all the others

to live in fear.  In exchange for their freedom allow the greatest evil to leave, but never to return.  Sooner or later, wiser men to decide the bigger picture.    

​

Live in peace without fear. 

Milwaukee and/or Wisconsin, should have the courage to set a standard, enforce the standard, and become one of the nicest cities, or states, for its size in the world, which it mostly is now!  You try the experiment, if it works, carry on, if it does not, you try something else.  However, it requires someone to stand up to the bullies, the idiot druggies, the violent wife beaters, the car thieves, etc.  It requires courage, not just moronic talk.

Just like in our schools, work places, courthouses, and even, our homes, set a standard and enforce the standard:  "Be Nice! Or Be Gone!"

Help the police; Take video, report the bad guys, report the suspicious, protect yourself!

​

 ---

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                         Despite the world, despite the others, find and embrace the beauty all around you.

 

​

                        Keep an excellent view of the world, a good hopeful spirit, and some little wisdom...

​

​

                                       Enjoy the view and smile at the world....                             

​