Captain Coleson, of the sixth precinct, had stumbled into the building after “supervising” the latest murder case of an officer from a neighboring precinct, said to have known information about a gang being active in the town.  He looked around lazily to see what was going on with the teams that resided in his precinct, mumbling drunkenly as he picked up his jacket and trudged back out into the cold night air.  He failed to notice the small group of detectives, officers, and even his own lieutenant, Mycroft Ross, sitting in a circle around the break room table that was being illuminated by the flickering lamps that bolted to the ceiling.  He stumbled out to his car, an old rust bucket of a thing, leather shoes scuffing against the black top.  By the time he reached home, his mind was so dull that he collapsed on the stairs, where he slept for the remainder of the night while Mrs. Coleson slept soundly on her bed.

As soon as the captain had left, the men and women around the table quieted there idle small talk about upcoming family gatherings and events in some of the local pubs, settling down in their chairs.  Detective Dylan Kyle had earlier said that he had been thinking, more than usual, and that it had to be said in the company of his friends and colleagues.  The detective was an older man with graying blond curls and wrinkle ridden skin, but as wise and talented as any other in their prime.  It had been silently agreed that they would meet after the captain left them, knowing he would be annoyed with Kyle’s speech, seeing as Coleson had always seen Kyle as a threat to his job.  All of the detectives loved Kyle because he was smart, and anything that he saw fit for them to know, they would sit down and listen to because he looked out for them.  It was worth the time they would lose out of their night if Kyle thought it was important.

At the very end of the worn rectangular table, stood in his street clothes, Kyle stood with his back straight, hands clasped behind it and chin up.  He was in his late fifties and had grown rather snappy and stiff as of late, but he could still act like the good old boy he was from down south who could joke around and be rowdy with the men and provide emotional support to the more sensitive victims and officers that passed through.  He had kind blue eyes that could harden on the flip of a dime.  Under his eyes, heavy bags hung and added to his aging appearence, as well as having some wrinkles, crows feet and frown lines, making him appear a bit like the kindly old man at the corner of Elm and Oak.

Before long, everyone had eyes on him.  Detective Quill Austen had calmed down his conversation first, followed by Detective Inspector Liam Carson, Detective Jason Cross, and Ross, who had settled down in the chair closest to Kyle.  Some of the young interns were lined up against the wall, along with Connor Ross, the lieutenant's troublemaker of a son.  Detective Dustin Long settled farther down the table with some of the rookies as they picked at the leftover donuts from the shop down the street.  The two twin officers, Harrison and Cal Dobbs sat together, whispering quietly about a recent case, trying not to be noticed as the others silenced themselves.  

Cal was a growly man who had the signs of aging scrawled across his features.  He had never gotten over his first gray hair, getting more and more as he aged, although he was only twenty-five.  He was small for a man his age, but he was stern enough to gain the respect of his team.  Harrison on the other hand, was huge.  His muscles bulged and his figure, even from a far, appeared intimidatingly buff.  He was at least twice the size of his twin, but nowhere near as intelligent.  His freckles made him appear young, his hair curly and bouncy, and his face all too boyish when his signature grin (which never seemed to go away) slipped onto his face.  He had wanted to be a scientist, but there was no way, not with the way he acted in high school, fooling around and getting barely passing grades.  His personality was just as boyish as his face.  

Next, near the other end of the table, was Lorretta and Captain Benji Reed.  Loretta had gotten stuck when her husband, Benji had wanted to hear Kyle out.  Benji was the youngest captain in the precinct (which wasn’t saying much since he was 49), although he wasn’t involved with Coleson’s teams.  He was an ex-SEAL and was somewhat pessimistic about everything, but he did have an okay sense of humor, making comments about the highers and other captains.  He never did laugh much though, and preferred to be alone or with his wife.  The only other colleague he liked, although he would never admit it, was Harrison.  He enjoyed kicking back with a beer and watching a game with the boyish man, although he never spoke to Harrison at work other than to make plans.

All of the teams were present, except for Kian Erickson, the on-hand translator who had somehow gotten lost in the shuffle.  When Kyle saw that everyone had settled, including Harrison and Cal after receiving a harsh glare from Benji, he cleared his throat:

“Guys, I already know that you have heard that I have something to say, hense why you are here, but that isn’t what I want to talk about first.  I am announcing my retirement and relocation today.  I have made my decision, one I think is long overdue.  I am getting older and am far past my prime.  The thing is, I can’t bring myself to leave without telling you about what I have learned and experienced during my time here.  I have had a long and interesting career, and have had time to think back on it as I have been losing my youth.  

“Now, do you know what’s really going on here in our precinct?  Let’s face it: our jobs have been made miserable and exhausting, not to mention our pay has gone down and we rarely solve them before we are put on a new one.  We are hired, we are given just enough guidance to ensure we don’t quit, and those of us who can work long hours and do strenuous jobs are forced to do so without any consideration for our personal opinions.  And as soon as we refuse because we are so tired and sick of it all, we are fired and our pensions are taken away.  We don’t know how it feels to have a good job with a supportive system of leadership.  No enforcer of the law in this building knows what it is like to enjoy your job.  This job is basically slavery!  It’s the truth.

“Should it really be like that?  We all chose this job because we wanted it, but it has been horrible since the day we were placed here.  The thing is, others enjoy their jobs as police!  This isn’t how it should be!  It just shouldn’t be this way!  We only get to half of the cases out there, not because we are not efficient enough, but because of the restrictions that our captain has instituted without our knowledge!  We could be enjoying our work, helping the public, keeping people safe and criminals behind bars!  The problem isn’t us!  The problem is Coleson!  Captain Coleson is our problem!

“While we inspect crime scenes and work until we make ourselves sick with the stress, he sits by and watches, talking on the phone and taking a brief nap in the back of his SUV!  Today he was drinking scotch and chatting on the phone with his wife!  He doesn’t help like a good captain should, like my first captain did!  This isn’t right, and we shouldn’t stand for it!  I have heard some of the things he talks about, and you know what?  That case last month involving the cartel, he was in on it.  I heard him.  We are getting tricked by someone we should be able to trust!  We are being fooled by a fool!  We are fighting a battle while sinking in quicksand that we never knew we were in!  We are getting the short end of the stick, while Coleson is getting paid extra to trick us and hide evidence that could be putting perps away and saving lives!

“If you can’t see that we are being tricked, then I don’t know what to tell you, but right now, we have to deal with this!  We have to deal with Coleson.  He is the enemy and always has been!  We are all fighting the battle against him… most without even knowing it.  We have to eliminate the problem, together.”  Kyle stood silent for a moment after that, watching the expressions on the faces of his co-workers change from contemplative to murderous as they ran through the evidence for themselves and realized how true his words were.

In that moment, thunderous shouts and heated arguments broke out in the small break room.  Ways to get rid of the dirty cop were thrown back and forth and questions were raised, going either unheard in the chaos or unanswered by those who had heard.  It was complete mayhem!  

Just then, Detective Quill Austen noticed Connor Ross, the devious son of the lieutenant, and chased him out, afraid that he might make matters worse in the room based on his history and reputation.  Austen was not going to risk anything physical happening because the boy instigated a fight.  Once again, the room went silent as Detective Kyle’s hand shot into the air, fed up with the disorganized talking.  Once he was satisfied, he continued.

“Now, I have a question.  I know that some of you are not too happy with Connor because of what he’s done and who he associates with, but should we trust him?  He does have connections with the higher ups and is a part of the lieutenant's family,” Kyle pointed out.  The room was silent as the officers all contemplated their choices carefully, Lieutenant Ross sat silently, staring at his folded hands.  “I believe a vote is in order.”  And so there was a vote.

After thinking it through, the officers all voted on what they thought would have been the best option.  Most of the officer, except for Detective Austen and Dr. Robby Kemen, the on-hand doctor agreed to having him help as long as he followed some rules.  Hardly anyone noticed that the doctor had voted for and against the involvement of Connor in their attempts to get rid of their captain.

“I have little more to say to you guys,” Kyle finally said, “Just remember that a change must be made.  The captain is still young and will be the captain for a long time after some of us, so when new recruits come in, make sure that you tell them about him and his unfair way of running things.  No one should have to go through what we have.  So, make sure everyone knows.

“There is a song we should all know.  It is the song that we sing when we get a newby, our song.  I am a bit rusty, but, we can always try.  This song should remind you that there is still hope.  Carry the words with you and make sure the tune never dies.”  He cleared his throat and began singing.

“Blue and white, through dark and light.  Guarding the innocent of this place our home.”

They sang the simple, one line song repeatedly, slowly gaining volume and participants.  The officers were roaring, thoughts of how they were tricked into doing all the work for nothing when their leader was tricking them swirled through their heads.  The only bad thing about the song, was that it was heard by the captain, who had woken up and remembered that he had forgotten his bag.  When he heard the ruckus, he shouted into the intercom, and suddenly, the building was dead silent once more.​

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So, hello!  This was originally a school project for Animal Farm by George Orwell.  I had to rewrite it in a completely different way using the same events, so this is my attempt.  Hope you like it!

Soon after, as Kyle had said, he retired and moved to Florida with his wife.  Everyone mourned the loss of a great officer and leader, but were glad that the older man was finally getting to enjoy his life.  In remembrance they hung a picture of the man in uniform on the wall nearest the flag.

That was three months earlier.  Life had gone on in the building as usual.  Coleson was the same and it seemed as if talk of his wrong doing and trickery had just been a distant memory not worth remembering.  The thing is, not all of the officers had forgotten Kyle’s booming baritone carrying on about all of the trouble the other man had caused.  Some of those closer to Kyle looked at their leader in a whole new light, especially Ross and Carson.  And so, the highers were called to the precinct.

The officers who called, Lieutenant Ross and Detective Inspector Liam Carson, devised a plan to get rid of him together.  They knew exactly how to make the precinct better, especially after they had gotten rid of Coleson, who had been holding them back from their true potential.  So, when the day finally came, they knew exactly how to do it.

When they informed the others, questions were raised about the plan and what they had planned for the precinct after they got rid of Coleson.  The simplest ones that bothered the two came from Carly Starling, the secretary.  She asked about the dress code, asking if she could still wear the ascots that Coleson had given her.  Ross and Carson had quickly told her that it was something that Coleson had given her to make her appear less intelligent and that it shouldn’t be worn.  They quickly assured the upset woman that she could still wear the knee length dresses that she favored, and she had grunted in displeasure, but stayed silent as she nodded and turned back to her desk as the phone had begun to ring.

Kian Erickson, the on-hand translator and close friend of Coleson’s, was a different issue entirely.  He filled the officers with the idea of raises and promotions to come.  He even talked about a new pension program that basically covered the cost of living.  Ross and Carson had known he was lying and had to convince the others of how false the words Erickson had been saying were.  It took a long time, but they succeeded.

Soon, it was the four month anniversary of Kyle’s retirement and finally the time came… well, the highers did, actually.  After months of waiting, they came to ‘inspect’ Coleson.  

Coleson had been drunk when they came, and frankly, that was enough for the head.  He had always been an angry drunk, so when the head of the group grabbed his arm to lead him out, he had snapped, flinging the poor woman across the room within seconds.  Then, all of the officers joined in, shoving eachother out of the way to grab the raging captain… ex-captain.  And finally he was gone, dragged out my a few of the stronger officers and a few of the highers.

Coleson’s precinct was no longer Coleson’s.  Instead, the name Coleson had given it, his badge number of 4302, was removed and replaced with the number 1134.  The officers were now happy, all around the breakroom table, awaiting what Ross and Carson had to say.  The highers were long gone by that point, Coleson in following in the back of one of their SUVs so he could be processed and charged for assault.

“Okay guys, Kyle was right.  Here we are now, no more tyrant.  As you know, Ross and I have been working to ensure that that the highers came at the best possible time, now we should be well on our way to making this precinct successful.  In doing that, we have come up with simple rules and ideas to make sure we do become successful.  The rules and ideas are…”  Carson went on listing the concepts.  They included:

1. No alcohol on precinct property.

2. No mentioning Coleson… ever.

3. All officers are banned from interacting with Coleson or any of the captains from neighboring precincts.  They are the likely to try and absorb or control our precinct and lead us back to the way things were.

4. Any officer who acknowledged they were a part of the new Precinct 1134 are considered friends and are to be protected by other members of the 1134th precinct team.

5. Nobody should step foot or settle in Coleson’s office.

6. There should be no more mentions of old rules and codes.

“Now, we should all go home, it’s been a very long, eventful, stressful day.  Tomorrow we show just how well we can do our jobs without Coleson and his friends!  Get some rest and we will see you all bright and early tomorrow.  It promises to be a challenge.”  Carson nodded to the officers, turning to Ross to talk about the events of the next day.

All of the officers left after that.  And the next day, they did prove their worth out there, bringing in more perps than they ever had with Coleson.  Crime scenes were investigated in record time, perps were processed efficiently, and everything was calm.  Things were finally looking up for the officers.  And while they did that, Carson and Ross assessed salaries, benefits, and pensions, ignoring the fact that the teams they belonged to were in the field, doing their best to do their jobs.

The officers worked as hard as ever with Ross and Carson in charge, and it was no easy job.  The criminals they had been dragging in had been tougher than usual, people that under the lead of Coleson, they had either overlooked (which was a very bad thing based on the why these people were being arrested) or never had a chance of catching them.  The highers had never been happier with the group, and their pay was increased as incentive to keep it up, much to the excitement of all of the precinct’s workers.

The job had gotten harder, they all had to admit, but it was much more satisfying than when they were unable to finish.  The petty thefts and car jackings had not been the only crimes in the city, but with the new policies and procedures it was getting easier for them to get those criminals in the system so they could move to the more pressing perps.  

Their jobs had been much busier and more along the lines of what they had signed up for with intense team training and shared responsibility.  Ross and Carson stopped going into the field all together after a while, but picked up the radio chatter and informed the officers that were out when they had the chance.  And when the officers got back, they helped them with their reports, questions, and equipment.  The Dobbs twins were often getting calls during their shift instructing them in a more extensive way.  Every officer had a part that they did without complaint, because this seemed like a huge improvement.  They were paid more and were more active than they ever had been.

Ross and Carson learned to adapt old policies so that they didn’t have to rewrite the entire foundation and fixed up old equipment in order to keep costs low and allow Ross and Carson to deal with more issues during their time.  It was noticed though, that Carly Starling and Robby Kemen were not working as they used to, often sneaking off to the break room and returning late in their shifts, getting way too much overtime for the amount of work they did.  But, even with those two slacking, work was getting done faster and better than ever, and there wasn’t an officer on the team that worked as hard as Harrison Dobbs.

Both he and his brother brought in criminals like there was tomorrow, Harrison doing most of the take downs and ensuring that each day was more productive than the last.  He was determined and it certainly showed in their reports.

Everyone loved Harrison’s work ethic, constantly stopping by to tell him he was doing well and offering to buy him a round at Sandy’s pub after every successful shift.  They appreciated his determination, and the fact that he was knocking out most of the work definitely made a difference.  Nobody thought hard enough to tell that the way things were working now were no different from when Coleson had been running things.  Except for old Benji.  

Benji hated Ross and Carson, almost as much as he had hated Coleson.  He didn’t see any difference other than the fact that these two were younger and less experienced.  The only difference he saw was the work ethic shown by the others officers.  Overall, Benji acted the same, working like he did before and hanging around in Sandy’s with Harrison and a few empty beer bottles scattered around on the countertop.  

Every other day, it was require that all of them meet in the meeting room and look into the events of the past day and talk about what they planned to do, then go over to the flag and do the pledge before walking by Kyle’s plaque on the wall.  It was always brought up that Ross and Carson were the best people to run the precinct and how much better and easier the job was.  Benji often bit his tongue, looking down and trying his hardest to ignore the others as they joked around and laughed before talking about how much better things had been getting.

Carson made up committees to help with work around the precinct, eliminating the jobs of 5 janitors, 4 community representatives, and 3 secretaries.  Some organized papers for files after the day was done, making sure that each was put away neatly and had all of the required information.  Some cleaned the building by sweeping, mopping, and wiping all of the surfaces and windows.  And some dealt with public outreach and programs they were required to provide at the local schools.  Everyone joined one, hoping to cut costs, but they were not very successful.  The files were often messy and organized in the wrong way in the tubs even when they tried their hardest to keep them the right way.  The building constantly had dust on the furniture and smelled strongly of old, stale coffee because none of them were awake enough by the end of the day to care about the way they cleaned it.  And the public outreach just didn’t work the way they wanted it to, often being canceled or citizens leaving after commenting on how poorly organized the event had been.  

Ross took to training new recruits.  When Detective Austen brought in Lyon Port, Christian Port, and Wesley Oren, Ross jumped on the chance to deal with their training.  In the beginning they could be seen in the precinct gym or running laps around the high school’s track.  After a while, though, they seemed to disappear completely, no longer seen around the town or at the precinct.  It was forgotten soon after they had stopped being seen that Austen had ever been their assigned training officer and that the new recruits had ever been there at all.  They never really showed up again after that, and nobody questioned it.

Later on, it was brought to the table that funds that had been put aside to buy equipment was being used to buy things for Ross and Carson such as books, new desks, personal refrigerators, and other appliances.  Everyone was upset, raising their voices to make sure that everyone knew they disagreed with how their leaders were using the money that would have helped replace old, outdated supplies, but all of the talk was quickly put to rest by Jason Cross, who told them that the two needed to make their offices comfortable, and that they needed books to ensure they were running the group efficiently.  

Cross’s excuse was accepted by every officer except for Benji, but he stayed silent, grunting occasionally as he always did.  The fact that they had ever had an issue with how their funds were being used.  Everything was good, things seemed to be getting better.

Everyone was at peace again and no more questions were asked about Ross and Carson’s leadership.  Nobody thought they could be doing it wrong; they had been improving ever since they took over.  Life was good for the officers of the 1134th precinct.