This last Friday, I had the opportunity to ride with one of Weiser’s Police officers for the evening and early morning hours on an eight-hour shift. The timing was a little questionable, what with the increase in COVID-19 cases in the area and being confined in a car with another individual for the duration. At the same time, the music festival was taking place, which would lead to the possibility of increased activity in town. So, I decided the risk was worth the opportunity to see our police in action on what would probably be a busy evening.
This was an interesting experience to say the least. The first call was to assist with the ambulance on a call to a residence. At least the evening started with something I was familiar with. In my much younger years, I was an EMT on an all-volunteer ambulance service in Parma for 5 years. I asked if it was permissible for me to get out of the vehicle and assist where possible. I wasn’t much help as the equipment had changed considerably in those years, so I pretty much just tried to stay out of the way. But at least I understood what was taking place.
The rest of the evening was different. The instructions were to stay in the vehicle for my safety. In the event the officer went down, I was to press a particular button which would release the locks on two weapons in the vehicle to protect myself. I was appreciative of the fact that during the evening, it was unnecessary to press that button. I like an entertaining evening as well as the next guy, but that would not be my idea of having fun.
During the course of the evening there were several traffic stops. A stop by another officer lead to the arrest of an individual wanted on a warrant in another county. He was provided city accommodations for the night. On another call/traffic stop, I was able to watch the City’s drug dog in action. Abby, the dog, is fun to watch, even if it is from the front seat of the third car back in line and at 2:30 in the morning. There were many other encounters during the evening and I saw nooks and crannies in town that I didn’t even know existed.
Another interesting aspect of the night was in watching the reaction of the people to the officers. Most people were respectful and cooperative. A minority were much less so. I was pleased to see that the response from the officers was the always the same; polite, professional, and courteous, no matter what type of response the officer had in the situation. In visiting with Carl Smith, the Police Chief, about this he responded about how he is constantly emphasizing that each encounter with an individual be treated as fresh. In other words, no matter how many times an officer has an encounter with a particular individual and no matter how pleasant or unpleasant those encounters had been, each person was to be treated as if there had never been a negative experience before. Each encounter is a fresh start.
I appreciate the fresh start attitude on the part of our police.
Each day I receive a list of all the police activity from traffic stops, to animals at large, to more serious events. It is amazing to see some of the same names appearing on a regular basis. I also visit with the Chief on a near daily basis about their activity. Very early on, I learned to appreciate the protection our police provide the City of Weiser. The City has enjoyed to distinction of being in the Top 10 Safest Cities in Idaho for the past several years and the IDAHO’S SAFEST CITY for two of those years.
The “secret” to keeping the city safe is that the police know the town, the people, when to be concerned, what is out of place, etc. The other part of having a safe city is having dedicated people in place who do their jobs for the right reasons!
We are very fortunate to have the people we have protecting us. Next time you see one of our officers, please let them know you appreciate them, too!
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