Murder

Another duty in the jail is called "phones." The responsibility of the officer assigned to this position is to provide information to the public regarding the inmates in our custody. We were limited by the privacy act as to the type of information we could give.
We could tell anyone who called the information line if a person was in our jail or not. We could tell them their charges, their identification numbers, the release date if there was one, and if the person who was calling was on the inmate's visiting list.
The few times I got stuck with this duty were not much fun. Almost half of the people who called were demanding and rude. The phone officer winds up being a punching bag for frustrated family members. The other half are folks who are confused about the process and are thankful you spent the time to explain the situation to them. That half made up for the other half.
About two weeks before I retired, I was saddled with this duty again. Fine, I said to myself. I'll just make the most out of it. Although the night wound up testing my patience by providing me with new levels of human idiocy, I made it through the shift without wanting to go home and kick the dog.
Some people call back continuously, thinking maybe they will get a different answer if they buzz just one more time. I have had some people who actually tried to disguise their voice when calling back multiple times asking for the same information. Those I found amusing.
This night I had at least four different female voices inquiring about the same inmate. He had been arrested earlier in the day. The last caller asked, "Do you have Donald Jones in custody?" Checking the data base on the computer, I said that we did have him. Then she asked what his charges were.
Finding his booking number, I looked up his charge screen on the computer. Without any emotion tied to my voice, I said, "Murder." There wasn't even the slightest pause on the end of the line when the young lady added, "Is that all?" Without really thinking before I answered her, I incredulously said, "Isn't that enough?" Like, were you expecting the hate crime enhancement to go with it, or what? Where oh where do these people come from...