Stories of a Chicago Police Officer

 Murphy’s wife had just returned from a trip to Mexico with her girlfriends. It was late, so her suitcase was tossed on the rear porch to be dealt with in the upcoming days.
Over coffee the following morning, she told Murphy that she had this weird dream that somebody had planted drugs in her suitcase. They laughed, and she went to work, as did Murphy.

After returning from work, Mrs. Murphy went about the task of emptying the suitcase while Murph went through the mail in the front room. He came running after hearing the scream from the kitchen, where she was sorting through the suitcase. She was standing there, ashen, pointing to a clear bag containing approximately a pound of white powder. Training kicked in, and Murph directed her not to touch it in case fingerprints could be lifted. He immediately called the Tactical Lieutenant in the 16th district, where he had just spent 8 hours working. Believing that someone had planted the drugs only to recover them once they were past security, Murph requested and received a tactical team for protection; they were on the way.  The Narcotics Unit was notified and initiated an investigation. Flight information and transportation from the airport were noted. Murphy grabbed his 45 caliber semi-automatic and stuck it in his waistband. With the use of gloves, the package of white powder was carefully moved to the safety on top of the refrigerator. The front drapes were drawn, and now they had to wait.

At this point, Nicholas, Murphy’s son, came home from school and asked what all the commotion was about. The suspect package was quickly explained, as well as the reason for the security. He kind of chuckled and said, “Oh ya, I forgot about that. I put that in there before I went to school. When I heard Mom say she dreamed about someone smuggling drugs in her suitcase, I thought it would be fun to play a trick on her, and I put a baggy of soap detergent in her suitcase. Murphy almost fainted.
The security team was immediately canceled. The Narcotics Unit was quickly notified that they would not be needed. As Murphy was explaining the source of the suspect narcotics to the Tactical Lieutenant, the Tact Lt. was laughing so hard Murph couldn’t understand him. The more that Murph told him, the louder he laughed over the phone. Murph tried to explain how angry he was, and the lieutenant roared even more, saying it was one of the best tricks he had ever heard of. All in all, nobody got hurt. In the end, everyone was relieved and had a good laugh. To this day, when Murph remembers the ‘Cocaine incident,” his eyes go crossed.