I work for booking, in pre-arrest, so when someone gets taken into the jailhouse for processing we're the first ones they see. I just got done with a Sunday shift, and those are generally our domestics and DUIs. Domestic violence charges tend to pick up on Sundays as well. It seems no one can get along at home on Sundays. Couples fight about money, infidelity, and maybe all the stress from their week builds up. It just comes out on Sundays.

Who are the easiest types to deal with?

The prostitutes. We have regulars that we see day-in and day-out. Coming to jail is part of their job, and they know the drill, "here's my jewelry, here's my phone, my money is in the bra, etc." These girls have learned that if they cooperate, they are going to get out quicker. The other folks who are easy are the repeat offenders; we call them the old school cons. They pretty much know the deal too. If they cause trouble, things are going to slow down for them. So they behave themselves.

How has doing the show changed your work?

Since we've been doing this show, we've definitely gotten more popular. The inmates love the show. We had a guy the other night come in and he was a real happy drunk. He walked into booking and said "Damn! I was just watching ya'll up on TV, and now, here I am up in this place with y'all!" We had to break it to him that he wasn't going to be the next big reality star.

Do you have any funny stories?

There's a homeless guy who comes in a lot, and he knows me pretty well. He comes in and you can always hear him before he gets in, because he has this high-pitched laugh that travels, and he'll yell "Where's my wife!" He never gets brought in for violent crimes, usually drinking, and nuisance crimes, and he'll say "Hey – when I get out will you have breakfast with me?" I haven't taken him up on the offer.

It's also pretty funny when a guy comes in whose been busted for soliciting sex from an undercover female vice officer posing as a prostitute, and the other inmates start clowning him. He's already pretty embarrassed, and these inmates just start in on him, saying things like "How'd she look? Was she pretty?" They tease these guys pretty good.

What are some of the craziest things you've seen?

We had a guy come through booking who had been awake for four or five days and he believed he was a superhero. He had got up on top of the roof of a house, and was jumping around, and the officers had to pull him down. He didn't have a costume or anything, he just got led right up to booking and when we asked for his name, he announced that he was a superhero. He'd watched too many cartoons I guess. He was also suffering from sleep deprivation, and there were narcotics involved. He said he could fly over the tops of houses and escape from the cops. Well, he didn't escape the cops that night, that's for sure.

How do Las Vegas jails differ from jailhouses across the country?

I once did a ride along with an officer from California, and I went to their jailhouse. They were operating at a much slower pace than what we deal with, but no matter where you are in the country, you're still in a jail, and you need to rely on your training and your instincts to keep you safe.

What are three things that visitors to Las Vegas should know that might keep them out of trouble?

1) Prostitution is not legal in Las Vegas
2) Hydrate, make sure you drink water, if you go to one of these pool parties, it can be 115 degrees on a Sunday afternoon. You add alcohol to that, and it can be trouble if you don't keep hydrated.
3) Don't jump in the fountains. We get drunk tourists diving into the fountains all the time. They get egged on by their friends sometimes, and when they do it, we have to take them to jail. Sometimes if you're just clowning around and you don't jump in, the officer might let you off with a warning, but once you jump in, you don't leave the officer much choice, you're going to jail.

What's tough about your job?

It's hard when we see minors in there. I've seen kids in here for armed robbery, assault, stealing cars. I've seen kids that were born in 1992, and some of them can't read or write. I talk to them sometimes, and I don't want to call it a lecture or a pity party, I just want to ask them how it was they managed to get in this much trouble this young. Sometimes, it seems that I might have been the first person in their lives that's ever tried to have conversation like this with them. That's just sad. And you know, the future is up to them. They need to be the ones to dig down deep, and change their behavior, maybe get new friends, or get out of a bad living situation. It's just a sad statement for society, and for them personally when you see these teens coming in. So that can be tough.

How do you balance having fun on the job with being safe?

Well we do have fun, but the way we are able to do that is to trust our training and our instincts. The vibe in here switches from fun to danger, and it happens fast. We always have to remember where we are, who we're dealing with and always play the what-if game. You become an expert at body language and voice inflection. And it's that attention to detail that allows you to drop your alert level, because you can't spend your whole shift on an alert level of 10. While you appreciate when people are cooperative, we've been trained to look out for erratic behavior, and it is our training that allows us to dial it back when the situation calls for it, provided we are always aware of what could happen in a worst case scenario. We've been trained very well.