Editor's note: Notebook is an occasional series on slices of life found by The Bee's police reporters.
From Kim Minugh:
Sometimes, we all feel like a kid at heart - even the men and women in blue.
During a routine traffic stop in a tough south Sacramento neighborhood Monday night, Officer Andy Hall wondered about the source of a high-pitched whine piercing the midnight silence. Just a block down Fruitridge Road, he found the source - three teens and a remote control car.
Hall swung his cruiser into the empty parking lot of an Asian market. He marveled at the boys' nitrous-fueled stock car model. They showed off its speed.
The laughs shared by the four young men were almost indistinguishable.
One boy offered the "wheel" to Hall. He declined, fearful he'd be the one to total it.
After a smile and a wave, Hall went on his way patrolling the streets of south Sacramento. Though many people remember the ugly crimes committed by young people, Hall said they forget that there are many more like those in the parking lot - kids being kids, trying to get by despite their surroundings.
"The people who do bad things are such a small percentage of people who live down here," Hall said. "Everybody's poor, mostly. They're not criminals."
It's always refreshing, Hall said, for cops to have positive interactions with youths; this was one of those.
But the young cop acknowledges it mostly was all about the car.
"It was really cool," Hall said. "I wanted one myself."
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