Port Sonoma

“You’ll like this place,” he said. “Sonoma State University is just down the road and a lot of the coeds hang out here. If we buy them a pitcher of beer there’s a good chance we’ll get laid.” He was right. Mitch also convinced me to take Law Enforcement classes with him.
“Besides the Sheriff’s Department, there are six cities in Sonoma County with police departments.” Mitch told me. “There are always job openings and they prefer to hire local applicants. The pay and benefits are excellent, and it is almost impossible to get fired.”
Ten months later we were both hired by the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Department. I spent a year as a court bailiff and Mitch was a guard at the County Jail. When positions opened up in Vice we were promoted to investigators.
Later that year, while on our way to find a marijuana grower’s plot, Mitch handed me an envelope with two one-hundred-dollar bills in it.
“Since the County Supervisors just reneged on their promise to give us a raise, and also voted to make us pay our health insurance premiums, we need a way to make ends meet.” Mitch winked at me. “So, screw’em; we’re not going to find this marijuana patch, you understand?”
And that’s how it started. Mitch opined that since we didn’t take money from murderers, rapists, or child molesters, it was okay. “Hell, pot’s been legal in California for over two years”, he said. “They just haven’t worked out the technicalities. So long as we’re careful how we spend the money, no one will ever know we took money to look the other way.”