21 Jump Street (Tom Hanson)

Hazing

Judy and I laid on our stomachs as we looked into a broken window of the Delta Alpha Delta fraternity house, watching the activity that was occurring in the basement.

Doug and Tom were undercover as the McQuaid brothers, trying to rush into this fraternity. There had been reports that they were hazing their newcomers, resulting in college students dying from alcohol poisoning and even broken limbs that they refused to reveal where they got the injuries. The only thing they all had in common, was that they were either brothers of this fraternity or they were trying to rush to this fraternity.

Doug and Tom have been wearing wires for the past couple weeks, while Judy and I had to listen in with every interaction they had with the fraternity. Judy and I were eating McDonalds in her cruiser when we heard Doug and Tom talking quietly about the case, then their screams. They were kidnapped, and brought to the fraternity house to begin the initiation into the brotherhood.

We were writing down everything we heard, and everything we saw. The first night, everyone had to learn a couple of chants and songs, but they practiced and performed the songs over and over. Sometimes they would pause to get their noses plugged and alcohol poured over their face and directly into their open mouths.

Judy and I rock-paper-scissored for who would be able to sleep first, and she won. She went back to the car to get some sleep while I pulled an all nighter. By the time she came back, the boys were still chanting. All their voices were hoarse, and it was painful to listen to all night. The only breaks they took were full of humiliation tactics and degrading actions.

"They're still singing?" Judy asked as she handed me a coffee. I don't like coffee, but I was going to need it if I wanted to stay awake any longer.

"Yeah—" I yawned so hard my ears popped. "They haven't stopped. Maybe for a water break here and there. Oh wait, no, they did take a break. They played clown music and the only thing the pledges were wearing were animal ears, walking around in a circle of nakedness while the rest of the brothers were watching."

"That's horrible." Her face twitched at the imagery.

"I know." I tried not to watch my coworkers, but it was nearly impossible. In the most appropriate way I can discuss what I saw, I can confidently say that Tom is packing.

"How is this not illegal?"

"I guess humiliating adults isn't a crime." I took a sip of the bitter coffee.

"They haven't gotten any sleep?" She asked.

I shook my head, squinting through the broken window and seeing the boys all standing in a circle with the President of the fraternity in the middle of it and the rest of the brothers stood around watching. He held a baseball bat to intimidate them, and used a bullhorn to scream at them.

Under my breath, I mumbled, "come on... talk to me, Hanson."

"I don't think it's enough to bust it now," she said. Judy groaned then continued, "I just want to go in there and put a stop to this."

I sighed. "But we can't. We would probably both get arrested and we'd both be somebody's bitch. Hope you like jail."

Judy looked at me and asked, "we would?"

I shrugged. "Probably could catch us on a gross misdemeanor, trespassing, and some high degree of invasion of privacy. Stalking, maybe."

"I don't want to be somebody's bitch," Judy mumbled and turned her attention back to the window.

I chuckled and said, "Jenko better pull through with that warrant or we will be. I don't know how much more of this I can watch."

We had some food in the car that we snacked on as we continued to watch the process. Eventually, I could hear a few guys complain about being hungry.