So last week I swung by the police department. I’ve kept in touch, and been to the range to re-qualify, but this was the first time I went in past the lobby. The building itself stirred no strong feelings, but spending time with old friends was wonderful. I hung out for a couple hours, and while I was there one of my former troops presented me with my initial ID photos; he was on light duty due to an injury, and going through old files ensuring that no criminal histories had been left in the files.

Until a few years ago it was legal to leave hard copies of criminal histories, or the document confirming the absence, in PD files, but that has since changed, and like every agency in Texas we are manually purging thousands of investigative files and personnel records.

Anyway, this is me, September 1992, age 32, starting out in my third, and final, law enforcement agency.