All in a Day’s Work to Follow Bouncing Call

Officer Lynn Rydalch reported for work at the Central Division station about 2:30 on a recent Thursday afternoon.

The 26-year-old patrolman attended the station lineup, then stopped in at the supply unit. He next headed for his patrol car in the garage, drove out of the station at 3:30, and headed west toward his harbor-area beat.

He never made it there. During the long night ahead, Rydalch, a 4-year veteran of the San Diego Police Department, was dispatched to areas all around the Central Division, bouncing from a traffic accident to the arrest of a drug addict to helping out a stabbing victim. He never once had the time to perform any pro-active, community service work--activities not in response to calls for help--in his own patrol area.

3:35: Rydalch is dispatched to a report of a thief stealing a car stereo at 26th and B streets. Then he is told to skip that call and respond instead to an accident at 28th and National. He helps direct traffic there, then interviews the driver of the car that struck a teen-age girl.

4:35: He arrives at San Diego Physicians & Surgeons Hospital. Because the girl is being X-rayed, he waits outside, interviewing some of her family. He finally gets in to the see the victim herself.

5:55: After leaving the hospital, he spots a man sitting in an old Volkswagen near 27th and Imperial. He discovers the man is high on drugs, probably heroin. Needle tracks form Xs across the man’s arms. He arrests the man, and drives him to the police station.

6:35: At the station, Rydalch begins filling out case reports. He interviews the drug suspect further. An hour later, the lieutenant signs the booking slip and Rydalch leaves for the downtown jail.

7:32: En route, he spots a tourist making an illegal left-hand turn in front of Horton Plaza. Another 15 minutes to issue a traffic ticket.

7:50: Rydalch arrives at the jail and joins a long line of patrol cars waiting to jail suspects. He sits and fills out daily reports. Thirty minutes later, the drug addict is booked into jail.

8:25: Rydalch leaves the jail. He’s thinking about dinner when suddenly he is dispatched to visit his lieutenant back at the station.

8:30: Arriving at the station, he meets with the lieutenant for 30 minutes to discuss Rydalch’s request to become a field training officer.

9:00: He runs out of the station after hearing a report of an officer in trouble. But the report is unfounded. He goes now to the Detox Center to help in Spanish translation.

9:20: He is dispatched to a report of a fight at the El Cortez Center. But, before he can get there, he is sent to a B Street apartment building on a report of a man stabbed. Before he can search the whole building, he is sent again to the El Cortez. When he gets there, the fight is over. So he goes back to the apartment building. He finds the stabbing victim on the third floor. He interviews witnesses, then heads for Mercy Hospital.

10:00: Rydalch waits until he can get into the emergency room to interview the stabbing victim.

10:20: He arrives at Horton Plaza, where other officers have rounded up a dozen young gang members, some of them suspects in the stabbing. He helps with interviews and, 30 minutes later, returns to the station.

10:45: Rydalch spends the next two hours out of service, filling out reports.