Falling For Lucy

Epi 19 - The Checklist

"Alright, listen up!" Grey called out as he entered the conference room for roll call from the back. "Got some bad news for our rookies. Thanks to Detective Jenkins being placed on the Brady List, the department is tightening the rules regarding the field training program." Grey announced as he arrived at the podium and looked around at us.

Bishop, Lopez, and I shared a wtf look. What was Grey talking about? Nobody said anything to us about this.

"Bottom line is, every recruit now has to complete the training and experience checklist as a primary officer before they'll be allowed to take the 6-month exam," Grey said.

"You got to be kidding. I don't let my rookies be primary until the second month." I complained. Chen would be so behind if this was real.

"If our recruits experience an event, it shouldn't matter if they were primary. It's not fair to them or us." Lopez added.

"I agree. But this is 'cover your ass' time for the department. When the city gets sued, the first thing they look at is the officer training and experience. They've decided that experience can't just be 'I was standing there, too'." Grey replied. I rolled my eyes in annoyance. It wasn't that simple. Training rookies was dangerous. You never knew what kind of situation you were facing or the strength and will of the rook. This kind of policy could get someone killed. These officers were rookies because they had no experience on the streets. Hell, I was shot on Chen's first day and that easily could have been her instead.

"We can't start this with the next round of recruits?" Bishop asked and I nodded in agreement.

"The LAPD is a bureaucracy, Officer Bishop. The last thing they care about is a bunch of rookies." Grey sighed.

"So, how do we know how many cases we owe?" Chen asked the important question.

"Put your listening ears on Officer Chen 'cause I'm about to tell you. To complete your checklist, you still need to be the primary officer on an auto theft, carjacking, ethical dilemma, meth possession, a false ID, assault on a peace officer, and damage to city property." Grey informed her.

"That's like... 7 things." Chen sighed. I internally sighed with her. I knew she only needed a few good arrests and we could knock this out, but how much time did we have?

"What about us?" Lopez asked eagerly.

"Officer West needs a high-risk crowd control, meth possession, and a carjacking," Grey answered her.

"Piece of cake, boss." West confidently smirked until Grey gave him a stern look. "I mean, sir." West nodded.

Nolan meekly raised his hand, "I'm afraid to ask."

"So, Officer Nolan, the number of items you need on your checklist are..." Grey said, looking down at his clipboard. "Zero. You might want to thank your training officer for making you primary starting day one. And since we are ripping off the band-aid, here's the rest of the bad news. HR needs proof of completion by end of shift tomorrow. Otherwise, the recruits are extended in the program." Grey informed us. Of course Talia would do some rebellious thing like allow Nolan primary since day one. She was always about bucking the system.

"Meaning we fall behind." Chen summed up.

"Sir, there's no way we can control what experiences they'll get in the next 2 days," I argued. This was incredibly unfair. There was more to qaulity training than being primary officer. I had been training officers for almost a decade, I should know.

"Understood. Look, I know this is a tall order. But I believe in you." Grey smirked. "I've notified dispatch of the calls that are needed. They will funnel them to your shops if and when they come in. That's it, all right? Good luck, and be safe out there." Grey dismissed us.