A Tale of Retro Parties, Shoulder Taps, and Officer Discretion

Let's start with some police jargon definitions before my walk down memory lane.

Retro party: Transients that file a disabled Social Security claim. It can take some time for a disability claim to be approved, and, if approved, the monetary benefit can be back-dated to the date that the claim was filed. That retroactive payday is used to buy enough alcohol for a party in a park or homeless camp.

Shoulder Tap: Minors that wait outside a grocery store or Shop 'N' Rob (convenience store) and show an adult some money and ask them to buy beer for them.

Not all police work involves the excitement of high-speed chases, wrestling matches, or the more serious matter of gunplay. There is the all-consuming paperwork, acting as a referee, mental health evaluator, social worker, and working traffic accidents.

One night as I was sitting at a traffic light in the downtown area, I looked over at the Safeway store. I saw about eight teenagers standing outside the store, their noses pressed against the front window of the store. I thought that I might take a closer look at what was so interesting going on inside the store. A closer look led me to believe that a shoulder tap or a beer-nap (kidnap) was taking place.

A beer-nap is grabbing a half case of beer and running out the door without paying for the beer.

I pulled into the parking lot and walked up behind the group, but I didn’t say a word. I looked into the store and there’s a transient in the check-out line. He’s pushing a shopping cart that’s filled with half-cases of beer. Shoulder tap.

It’s time for Officer Friendly to speak. Good evening, what’s going on tonight? They’re speechless. They look at me and then back into the store. All that beer is so close and yet a million miles away. Little do they know I plan to make sure that beer will be light years away. I’m also very patient. I’m not going to say another word until they answer my first question.

The transient comes out the door, but he doesn’t stop to deliver the beer. He knows better, he just keeps moving towards the downtown area that borders the river. Eight pairs of eyes watch their beer disappear towards the sea wall. I’m watching too because none of those teens are leaving until that transient disappears into the night.

He is going to be one happy transient along with his buddies. There is going to be a party underneath one of the bridges that cross the river. It will be like a retro party.

When he’s no longer in sight I tell the teens I have to go, and it was nice talking to them. They never said a word to me. I could have watched them complete the transaction and then cited them for minor in possession. They had already lost their money and the beer, so I let them go, officer discretion.