Thanks for the reply. That is a great idea with the plastic bins to keep things sorted. Stuff like this is what I was looking for to help me out!! I will be at office max to pick something like that up.

As for the shifts, there are a couple people on the "day shift" 7-3 or 4 and I will be working the nights and weekends to deal with the "college problem" here. Like I said before, mainly the parking all over the place. I have no idea how they are going to go about stopping 10 people from living together and sub-leasing problems. Guess I will have to tackle that when I run into it more.

Thanks and, and please post more tricks of the trade for me.

You have talked about overcrowding and I want to relate a story I heard from my former partner and current Code Enforcement Officer. Evening shift got a disturbance call at a home in town and responded. When they arrived it was a problem between two roommates at this house and they were allowed inside as part of handling the call. They found the house to be in horrible shape and called Code Enforcement to the scene. One of the things he observed while at the house was a list of "chores" and who should do what. There were 13 names on the list of chores, a pretty good indication that there was overcrowding. The house was deemed uninhabitable and the subjects removed.
1. You need to have a good working relationship to the guys on the street. They need to call you when they observe something like the condition that house was in.
2. You need to be very observant, because little things like that list can be very valuable.
3. I would also recommend you get a digital camera to carry with you. Pictures are worth a thousand words they say and sometimes more. The conditions of a home can be open to interpretation if you just describe it, but little can be argued if you have a good set of pictures.

Okay, here goes:
On my duty belt I carry the department issued Asp, OC, department pager, and 2 way radio. I also carry a Twin-Task 3C flashlight - it can either use 3 LEDs, 6 LEDs, or a Xenon bulb and runs on three (department issue) C batteries. I also keep my cell phone, glove pouch with 2 sets of gloves, and a utility pouch with Gerber multi-pliers, window punch, and tweezers (handy for shell casings, crack rocks, etc.). I keep a GOOD folding clip knife in my pants pocket for quick access (handy for cutting fingerprint tape).

In my car bag I have a plastic box with about 30 hanging file folders for forms, a city map, AZ state laws, Tucson city code, a personal organizer (calendar), traffic vest, Mag light, tool bag with socket set, vise grip pliers, heavy duty stapler (for posting citations), and spare eyeglasses.

In the trunk I keep my camera, print kit, coat, evidence kit, syringe holders for collecting discarded hype kits, flares, traffic cones, fire extinguisher, first aid kit, blanket, dust masks and "bunny suit" for HAZMAT response, and misc references. If you have an *assigned* car, I'd also recommend carrying a broom for clearing debris from the roadway at minor collisions where no tow truck will be responding. In your climate, I'd also think about a small folding shovel and a bucket full of ashes or sand, a tow rope or snatch strap, and maybe some emergency Mylar blankets and candles. Here in Tucson we have the opposite problem, so we carry cases of drinking water for the dehydrated transients in our July heat.

Make sure you carry some hand sanitizer, latex gloves, and some kind of bleach water or antiseptic solution too. When you have a "stinker" or a dirty house you will appreciate it much...