Screen Shot 2013-08-21 at 5.14.47 AMI’ve been steadfast and firm in my conviction.  For years I’ve maintained, in the face of unrelenting public opinion to the contrary, that the full Moon has no effect on “the crazy”.

People claim that emergency room nurses and police officers all swear by the “full Moon” lore, that insists everything goes nuts on a full Moon.

Well, last night I disproved it.  Or, I should say, my dispatch center’s traffic levels disproved it.

Last night, at 6:45 pm Pacific Time, the Moon was full.  It was a calm, peaceful night.  No shootings, no stabbings (well, no stabbings by one person on another. There was one troubled kid who tried to stab himself, but for this discussion, he doesn’t count.  He’s just a troubled kid, not a lunatic.)  A few fights, a couple of loud music calls, a couple of badge bunnies, and a computer at one of the facilities that decided to let all the magic smoke out of it’s innards, setting off smoke alarms and scaring the DSOs.  A really easy shift, all things considered.

Now, the night BEFORE the full Moon, that was just crazy town!

A bad storm blew in, the likes of which even old timers around here hadn’t seen before, with trees and power lines down, and people stuck on a boat dock that broke loose from shore and drifted out onto the lake.  A regional power station was struck by lightning and the resulting fire shut down electricity to a half-million people for six hours.  (“9-1-1, what’s your emergency?” “Did you know the power was out in (pick a spot)?” “Yes, we are aware of that”  “When will it come back on?”) That and all the usual fights and traffic accidents, and medical aid runs that any night might bring.  In the middle of storm related chaos, police units doing traffic stops!  It’s bad enough they’re doing these stops in the middle of (almost) Armageddon on my radio channel, but they clear in a few minutes with just “warnings”.  They’re making stops in the middle of the end times (and me having to document it all in the computer, just in case!), and not writing tickets???  Sheesh!  And the A/C in the dispatch center went down, so we were in our own high-tech sauna!  Ahhhh….  August in Visalia with no air conditioning, but plenty of heat sources!  You just gotta love it!  (time for our mantra – “I love my job. I love my job. I love my job!”)

The full Moon – quiet.  Not the full Moon – sheer lunacy.  I’ll be expecting the nomination for, and awarding of, a Nobel Prize now, thankyouverymuch.