The most striking aspect of the Old Patrol was the title carried by its officers: "Patrol Inspector". Actor was commissioned as a "Patrol Agent". Naturally, there is a legalese difference between an Inspector and an Agent but that difference was never known or realized by the men who rode the river or who cut sign along The Line. It was the same job with a different title.
Some of the men in Actor's class at the Academy were assigned to El Paso and some were assigned to San Diego. Others were assigned to Nogales, Tucson, Marfa and to Alpine. Actor, along with the six others who were assigned to Yuma were to learn that, for some in the Patrol, the job was literally the same as it had always been. The officers in Yuma had been "Agents" for at least ten years by the time Actor arrived there ... but no one referred to himself as such. Everyone in Yuma in the mid 1970's was still a "P.I.".
At first, it didn't make much sense to Actor as to why such was the case. Finally, at last, he realized the truth. The P.I.'s in Yuma called themselves by the old title out of sheer reverence for those who had gone before. It was their connection to the old-timers as well as connecting the old-timers to themselves. Much as the Sons of Confederate Veterans carry The Charge of their ancestors, the P.I.'s who initiated Actor, the Ski Bum, Yankee Cop and others into their midst ensured that none of our predecessors or their ways of doing the job would be forgotten.
One of Actor's post-Academy instructors was Mundo. Mundo was born in Nogales and had observed the ways of the Old Patrol long before he became a part of it.
One night, Mundo and Actor were in a government-issued Ramcharger following sign along the Yuma Main Canal bank. The sign was headed toward the railroad yards and its owners were certain to jump the Southern Pacific train that was to head Westbound to Los Angeles in a short time. Mundo told Actor to move faster. Actor did.
In a short time, six Tonks appeared in the headlights; casually ambling toward the Box Factory (which was very close to the yards). Mundo told Actor to get out and make the apprehension. Again, Actor did as he was told while Mundo followed close behind.
All the Tonks except one stopped for Actor and sat down in front of the Ramcharger's headlights. The other trotted briskly toward Mundo. The last words Actor heard the Tonk say to Mundo was: "Pinche Cabron ...voy a ......" He never finished his sentence. The flat of Mundo's hand clapped the Tonk's left ear with enough force to knock him to the ground. The sound it made was kind of like a fair-sized limb cracking.
Mundo looked at the then-sniveling Tonk and said: "Si tu vas a partarse como animal, voy a tratarte como animal." (He used the familiar form in Spanish - the kind used when speaking to children or to animals).
Mundo then looked at Actor: "They don't teach you this at the Academy, Actor. This is the way the lawmen in Mexico deal with aggression; if we don't do it, the Tonks loose respect for us and become emboldened. They'll act-out even worse during their next encounter with us. Look at it as saving a life - one of ours."
Actor learned that night; probably just as much as the Tonk did. Years later, when Actor retired due to gunshot wounds, Mundo handed him a plaque from all the hands at Yuma Sector. The plaque read: "Actor: Always a Yuma P.I." It didn't take a plaque for Actor to know that he was a P.I.; he had known for a long time that he was one of them. After his probation had ended, Actor and Mundo had developed a friendship that only equals can share.
The Agents of today can only go to the Old Patrol in their dreams but, who knows, maybe some of them might have made decent Patrol Inspectors.
Deo Vindice
