"Noah, the person you arrested yesterday is clear, he has no criminal record. When we found him yesterday, he had no weapons, no contraband, it seems like he was just unlucky to be in the wrong place at the wrong time,"
"What about the restaurant?"
"The timing matches, he indeed left around 10 PM."
Noah helplessly spread his hands. There had been a home invasion robbery followed by a gunfight last night, the events unfolded too quickly, and anyone running around late at night would surely be misunderstood.
"Let's go, release our unlucky fellow back to his home."
Noah returned to the interrogation room, opened the door, and said to Jimmy, "It's been cleared up, you can go back now. Come with me, your backpack is outside."
Noah escorted Jimmy to retrieve his backpack, opened it to check – his clothes and wallet were all there. Jimmy slung the backpack over his shoulder and walked out of the police station.
Once outside, Jimmy turned to look at the police station. The emblem of Plaskey County police hung at the entrance. Looking at the somewhat familiar emblem, Jimmy remembered the gas station convenience store robbery from a couple of days ago, with the police cars at the scene bearing the same emblem.
Arriving at the roadside, Jimmy looked around and was dumbfounded. He had never been here before, he had no map in hand, and had no idea how to find Asher Street or the way back to the restaurant.
Resigned, Jimmy returned to the police station, and approached the front desk.
"Hi, ma'am, may I borrow a map?"
"Jimmy, why are you back?"
Before the receptionist could reply, Jimmy heard someone call his name from behind. Turning around, he saw Officer Noah who had just escorted him out.
"I don't know the way back to the restaurant, officer. I wanted to borrow a map."
"Come with me, I'll take you there. You're in luck, I was just about to head out on patrol."
Officer Noah led Jimmy to the parking lot. Jimmy casually opened the back door of the patrol car, "Sit up front." Jimmy took the passenger seat, and Noah started the patrol car and they set off.
...
"Thank you, officer," Jimmy said in gratitude, got out of the car, and returned to the restaurant.
It was already 10 AM, and Jimmy waited at the door for a bit until Jon arrived.
"Jimmy, what happened last night? The county police just called to ask about you," Jon said as he unlocked the door and together they entered the restaurant.
"Just my bad luck. On my way home last night, I stumbled upon the police dealing with a robbery in progress and there was a shootout. I got tangled up in it and ended up staying the night in the hospital."
"Damn, were you hurt?"
"No, just got knocked out. I was brought back by the police this morning."
"Good to hear you're okay. Go get some rest."
Jimmy went to the break room to change his clothes and lay down on the couch to rest.
Reflecting on the past couple of days' events was overwhelmingly intense - wandering, working, and within two days, witnessing a car accident, two incidents, having guns pointed at him, getting taken to the police station, and to the hospital. How can the United States of America get any better, it's too damn chaotic. Even a heart hardened by many past emergencies from his previous life began to falter. Under such social disorder, wanting to live as a law-abiding citizen peacefully seemed incredibly difficult.
Jacob and Erica arrived at the restaurant. Seeing Jimmy, Jacob asked with a smile, "Jimmy, why were you at the police station this morning?"
Jimmy repeated his run of bad luck, "How did you know I was at the police station?"
Jacob laughed heartily, showing off his bright white teeth. "Of course, I know, I'm an AP (Auxiliary Police), I received a call from the police station just before I left home to ask about it."
"What's an AP?"
"Auxiliary police, I've been an AP for a few years now, and I still take part-time shifts during my vacations," said Jacob.
"Police can have part-time jobs? I had no idea," said Jimmy.
"Hahaha, a lot of people haven't noticed. APs have their own badges, and the police station has special AP-marked police cars," Jacob said, taking a badge out of his pocket. The hexagonal badge was in the style of the Plaskey County Police, except with the word 'Auxiliary' in front of 'Police.'
"APs are volunteers, so the work hours are pretty flexible. I only go to the station to request tasks when I'm off," Jacob explained.
"Do APs get paid?"
"As volunteers, APs don't have a fixed salary, but there's compensation for shifts worked—although, as you know, it's very little."
"Sounds good, can I become an AP too?"
"Sure, I'll take you to the station this afternoon to register, and then you can participate in the police training whenever you have time."
"Thanks, Jacob."
The routine of restaurant work was quite dull and sometimes very busy. After finishing the lunch service, Jacob drove Jimmy to the Plaskey County Police Station once again.
Looking at the police station building, Jimmy was speechless. Entering the police station twice in one day, did that count as 'returning to the palace'?
"Good afternoon, Chief James," Jacob greeted.
"Hi, Jacob, are you here for duty today?"
"Of course not, it's not my day off yet. This is Jimmy, a member of our restaurant. He wants to sign up for AP."
"OK, go see Amy to get registered."
"Alright, goodbye, sir."
Following Jacob to an office, Jimmy heard him say, "Amy, we need to register a new AP, the chief has already agreed."
"That's great, Jacob, you're so considerate. We're actually short-staffed recently."
Amy pulled out some documents from a filing cabinet and handed Jimmy a form, "Fill this out for me."
Jimmy took the form and sat down at a nearby table to fill it out.
"Amy, what do you mean by short-staffed?" Jacob inquired.
"The police academy hasn't had enough students for 2 years, you know. We have lower salaries here, so people opt for academies in other states. Now we don't even have enough county police. We have many registered APs, but fewer and fewer are showing up. Think about it, when was the last time you were at the station? It's been over 2 years, right?"
"Hahaha, you know, I got married, I need more time with my family. Erica even wants to go on vacation this Christmas," Jacob laughed.
"Right, so you see, the other APs are much like you."
"I'm sorry, AP is a personal choice; we should respect others' decisions," Jacob conceded.
"That's true, so we have to work overtime. The station has basically no normal rotations anymore, everyone is working extra hours."
After Jimmy completed the form, he handed it back to Amy.
"OK, Jimmy, we'll conduct a background check and notify you within three days. If there's no problem, you'll be required to complete a 16-week training program, including legal training, first-responder knowledge, response scenario training, physical training, and so on. You can ask Jacob about the details since he's gone through it as well. We'll let you know about the rest later."
"OK."
"Alright, we're done here, back to the restaurant. Amy, come by my house sometime to try my special spicy barbecue, you'll love it. Bye," Jacob said, then signaled Jimmy to follow and walked out of the office.