Another reason I'm glad we're moving

I came home at lunchtime to let the dogs out and give them some lunch. When I pulled up there was a group of 6-8 men, all burly with close-cropped hair and wearing jeans with black T-shirts, standing in a tight cluster in front of the townhouse a few doors down. We all think a drug dealer lives there--they have skanky emaciated visitors who only stay a few minutes, and the cops are there weekly, sometimes in the middle of the night. These guys looked like they meant business, and I wondered if I was about to see a gang-style beat down. A few of them glanced sharply at me as I got out of the car, and I hurried inside, wondering if I should wait a while before letting the dogs out. Kayla didn't want to wait, and when I went back out they were all still there, fanned out in a semi-circle in front of the door. There was one major difference now that made me stop and gawk.

They all had on bullet-proof vests with ATF or POLICE emblazoned on the back in bright yellow. The front door was open and the ATF agent-in-charge was yelling at the guy inside to step out of the house. He repeated himself over and over with increasing force, enough that Kayla was startled out of peeing. The agent closest to the door aimed his gun inside and made a move like he was going to go in, although he stopped at the threshold. This apparently was enough for our neighbor to give in. He came out and was neatly handcuffed, stuffed in the car, and belted in. The agents & cops were looking inside the house and talking to each other, and I wondered if anyone else was home to be arrested. I would've loved to stay and watch the finale, but I had to dash back to work for a meeting. I thought for an instant about taking a photo of them in the stand-off position, but figured I didn't want them coming over to me for any reason.

Frankly it was really exciting to see a real-life COPS episode, and I was glad they finally caught that drug dealer. It wasn't until later that I realized it wasn't the local cops making the arrest, it was a freakin federal agency. What the hell! I live in a place where the ATF made a raid! Bad boys bad boys, whatcha gonna do? Whatcha gonna do when they come for you? Bad boys...