Liam foresaw a cruise down the judge’s street in his very near future, and made a mental note to have Ms. Petroff look up the judge’s street address at her earliest convenience.

“I want probable cause every time, Sergeant Campbell.” This was the judge speaking now, not the fellow drinker next to him at the bar, and his spine straightened. “No shortcuts or no warrants. Am I rightly understood?”

He very nearly saluted. “You are, ma’am.”

“I don’t give a damn how badly you or I want them, I don’t even care how guilty they are, they cross the line first. You have reasonable grounds as defined by statute and precedent you can wake me up at three a.m. if you want.” She reflected. “My husband may have an issue with that but that’s his problem.” She bent a stern glare on him. “And no rough stuff. I mean none.”

Liam tried not to take offense, but his voice hardened nonetheless. “I don’t do rough stuff, Your Honor.”

“Hold that thought. The academy should have given you all the de-escalation training you need and I know this because I consulted for the panel that wrote their standards. If I catch even a whiff of excessive force used on any defendant you bring before me I will shitcan your case on the spot and thereafter make it my mission in life to hound you out of the Alaska State Troopers and if necessary the state of Alaska itself. Are we clear?”

“Yes, ma’am,” he said smartly.

“When was your last refresher?”

“Two years ago.”

She grunted. “I recommend you immediately form working relationships with the homeless shelter, the women’s shelter, the food bank, the public assistance office, and the community mental health center. You’ll be able to hand off a lot of the situations that you encounter on your calls if you have all of them on speed dial. It would help if they knew who was calling.”

Liam noticed she hadn’t included the local PD and wondered why.

“What do you know about the community itself?”

He marshaled his thoughts. “Blewestown has some of the lowest per capita crime stats in the state. The economy runs mostly on summer tourism, but a lot of Alaskan gray hairs from Fairbanks and Anchorage are building vacation and retirement homes here, which might explain why there are two brewpubs, three coffee roasters and, for once in an Alaskan community, the bars outnumber the churches. And excellent Wi-Fi, too, which was a nice surprise.”

“Newenham not so much?”

“One meg download speed.”

“Not a streaming hotspot, then.”

“It was faster to print out and mail a report than it was to try to upload it online.”

She nodded. “What else?”

“There’s still some commercial fishing, salmon, halibut, and cod, but they deliver to the only processor left on the Bay in Engaqutaq. There seems to be a thriving arts community with an accent on music, including two festivals, one in the spring and one in the fall. One high school, two middle schools, two grade schools. If you don’t count the charter schools, which seem to pop up like mushrooms everywhere you look.” He blessed Wy for having looked all this stuff up before they made the decision to move.