Officer Jan's Front Row Seat

Wade Grey summoned for Officer Jan to join him in his office. "Jan, I just got out of a meeting where the higher-ups let us know that their body cam and shop cam pilot was successful, and now they want every officer in every LAPD station to wear them."

"Body cams, sir? Those spy cameras?" Jan asked to clarify.

"Some officers won't like 'em, but the pilot proved the footage can be helpful to offer a good third-party perspective on a call, and those shop cameras are good in case something happens within or right outside the shop."

"To make sure cops are doing their job well," Jan supplied.

"Exactly. Now, I want you to help with this change."

"Sir?"

"At the end of shift, when our officers return their body cams to the docking stations, and the shop cams are turned off, I'll need you to check that all the footage was automatically uploaded properly. It should only take a few minutes to make sure the upload was successful, but for your efforts, you'll earn your Sergeant's stripes."

Jan had taken the test and hoped that some day he would find a Sergeant's position, but with his mediocre score, he was not high on the list. At least he was not the lowest scoring officer like his friend, Smitty. He was finally being presented with the opportunity he had been waiting for. "Th-Thank you, sir. I won't let you down."

"I know you won't," Grey smiled and dismissed him.

With a pep in his step, Jan exited the office looking feeling hopeful about his new responsibility.

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At first, it was a boring, tedious end of day task to click on each officer's body camera video file or shop's camera file and ensure the screen showed that something was captured. A few officers seemed to have forgotten to turn their cameras on (mostly Smitty), while others quickly adopted the change, and their cameras always worked properly.

Until one day, as he was clicking through the videos, Training Officer Angela Lopez's shop camera footage from the day started to play. It was quiet at first, then it showed her adjusting the car's mirrors and logging into the shop laptop. Soon enough, Tim joined her wordlessly.

Jan should have turned it off, but just as he was about to close out of the video file, he heard Angela's voice.

"I'm not trying to push, Tim," Angela promised.

"Seems like you're pushing," Tim shot back grumpily.

"I know you used to mean a lot to Isabel, but she's changed, and you haven't seen her in like a year. No one would fault you if you filed for divorce."

"I'm not quitting on her."

"Divorce doesn't mean you're quitting. It just means things are different now, and that's okay."

"You can't convince me to divorce her. I won't."

"So, you plan to stay married to someone you haven't seen in forever and probably won't see again unless she needs money or ends up getting arrested?"

"She could come back. I could convince her to go to rehab. Get things back on track." He spoke with false hope, because the scenarios she provided were the ones that kept him up at night as they seemed more realistic than a happy reunion with Isabel.

"Do you really believe that?" Angela asked and turned to him to see the seriousness on his face.

"I do," Tim nodded, committing to his lie.

She pursed her lips and stopped speaking, aware that she would be unable to convince him.

Sergeant Jan finally turned off the video when they answered their first call. It seemed invasive but also entertaining. And though it might have been eavesdropping, he could not promise that he would stop doing it.