As I stepped outside, one of the officers backed the truck up to the PD back door. The officer got out of the truck and handed the keys over to me. I took TJ’s equipment over to Joe, who was still holding over-watch. I placed TJ’s belt and vest on the ground next to the two officers' magazines. With the two officers in tow, I walked back into the PD and opened the armory. This was ironically right next to TJ’s office. I knew TJ could hear us in there and it made me smile a bit knowing he was steaming about it.

The armory contents also disappointed me a bit. There were only three racks out of five that still held weapons, and the racks were sparse. Between the three racks, there were only a handful of AR’s and shotguns. I had the officers load the racks onto the truck bed deciding we could unlock the racks at home when it was safe. I opened the filing cabinets used as storage and found a decent amount of AR magazines, several radios and chargers, a few large mag lights and five Glock 22’s. Gathering a couple duffel bags from under the workbench, I collected all the items and brought them to the truck.

The last thing I wanted to do was gather whatever weapons I could find in the patrol cars still parked in the lot. The mounted weapon racks may have been operated electronically but when there’s no power to the vehicle, they can still be opened with a handcuff key. I located two more AR’s and a few stocked AR mags. Collecting TJ’s duty belt and tac vest, I left the AR’s and loaded mags I found in the vehicles next to the ammo I had originally taken from the officers. I also left the backup gun found on the officer’s ankle. With everything else loaded and ready, it was time to go home.

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I instructed the two officers to take the bolt cutters and head to the back gate. “When you get there," I said, you cut the chain to the motor and slide the gate open. When you hear our vehicles are gone, you can return for your gear, got it?” I grabbed a few boxes of AR and 40 caliber ammo and left it in a pile next to the officer’s AR’s. I called Dog over and we headed to the truck. Dog happily jumped in the front with me as I fired it up again. I watched the back gate slide open and radioed Joe, “ready?”

“Hit it”, Joe replied. And the two vehicles took off out of the PD, Joe from the driveway on the side of the house. I took off from the back gate that led down the alley.

When we had gotten far enough away from the PD, I radioed Joe again. I asked for them to drive straight to Joe’s house and park his truck in the garage. I was going to park the truck we picked up in the side yard at my father-in-law's house and radio when they arrived. We would regroup back at Chad’s house to discuss the night’s gains. As this was all discussed over the radio, I knew my wife had heard our radio traffic and knew I was fine. When I got close, I radioed in and the side gate was opened.