Officer Penny Merris looked over at her partner and pointed to the dashboard clock.  “Eleven thirty PM, time to get out in the cold and get some exercise.”

Her partner simply grunted out what sounded almost like a yes.  He knew the value of these foot patrols but that did not increase his enthusiasm for getting out of the car in the twenty degree weather.

“It’s good for you, helps you keep you weight down.”  He had learned to not answer when the answer might not be considered constructive.  He grunted again and swung the car to a spot along the street.  As he did Penny picked up the microphone.

“Dispatch. Unit 27 going on foot at King and George.”

The response came back almost immediately, “10-4 Unit 27.  We put you on foot at King and George.”

Penny opened the right door, slipped out of the car and stood up.  Meanwhile, Officer Donnely was getting out on the other side.  He smiled as he looked over at her.  She was a very good officer but there were things that male and female cops did the same and things that they did different, no matter what.  With few exceptions a guy would get out of the car and adjust his clothes and hair on the move.  A woman, that was different.  No matter what was happening she would stand there for a few seconds and adjust everything, her hair, clothes, attitude, before she would move one inch off the spot.  He knew this all too well.  He often wondered if she would do that if she was under fire.   

The last five of Bart Donnely’s partners were women, all of them new officers, all young and very pretty, all of them good officers.  In the last four years it seemed that the youngest and prettiest new officers were assigned to him.  It was a matter of frequent discussion around the station.  When a pretty, young officer came on the shift unless he had not been with his current partner long everyone knew Donnely would get a new partner.  Merris and Donnely had been together now for nearly eight months.  Everyone knew she was about to move on.  He was about due to get a new partner.  It was just a matter of time till another woman came on the shift and Penny would move on to another partner.  The other men envied him.  They sometimes made jokes about it.  Bart saw it differently than most of the others.  Sure it was nice to have a pretty, young partner.  Compared to most of the guys she smelled good when she got into the car, brought good baked things along every couple of weeks, had a warm smile, a nice voice and didn’t belch and pass gas all night.  On the average they were better educated than the guys and could help pass the night with conversation that was above a 90 IQ level.  But with Bart that was as far as it went.  That was the limit of the perks of having a woman for a partner.  Donnely was content to enjoy the scenery, the baked goodies and the nicer environment without being obtrusive.  After all, small things made the job a lot better.  Touching, gawking and off color remarks were not part of his style.  Donnely considered the legal perks more than enough to like having a woman for a partner.  But there were other reasons he liked the female partners.  Most of the women he had ridden with knew the book better than most of the guys, followed it better, were more aware of their surroundings and got distracted less by things that didn’t matter.  Most typed better and had better clerical skills.  They pulled their share or more of the paper work.  Often he had to pull rank to be sure he wasn’t abusing their good nature.