In early August, I posted on my Facebook that I had been
accepted into the local law enforcement Citizens Academy. Within a day, that
post had 67 likes from my friends and family…one of my more popular posts! I’m
not sure whether they were happy for me or thought that I needed some
straightening out!
I have completed week four of the 11-week course and so far
it has been interesting and in some cases, fun. The academy was developed to
give the general public a more up close and personal look at what our law
enforcement officers deal with on a regular basis. I decided to apply for it
for several reasons. I wanted to build a better working relationship between
the Saline County Commission on Aging and local law enforcement. It’s not that
we have a bad relationship. I just think it could be stronger. I also wanted to
participate because I have always had an interest in what law enforcement
personnel do. I grew up in a time when it was the in thing to have a radio
scanner in one’s home. I chunk of my childhood was listening to 10 codes. The
other reason was because of my uncle. He was in the Citizens Academy in 1994.
He died before he could finish the class, so I am finishing for the family.
The academy was shut down a number of years ago, but our new
police chief, Brad Nelson, who was used to having an academy at his previous
post, visited with Saline County Sheriff Glen Kochanowski about restarting the
academy. The two of them, along with numerous personnel from both the Salina
Police Department and the Saline County Sheriff’s Office put the program
together and my class is the first one in the new era!
Our first night included a tour of the jail and of the law
enforcement complex. I had toured the jail a few years ago, but it has changed
since then. On my first tour, two of the prisoner pods were for men and one was
for women. At that time the jail was full. Now, two of the pods are used to
house women, some of the men are housed at other facilities, and the jail is
still full. As our tour guide put it, the women are wanting to be as tough as
the men and are doing more crimes that in the past were only associated with
men. Also, long time law enforcement personnel are now seeing the children and
grandchildren of people they arrested years ago being booked into jail. Perhaps
if we could find a way to break that cycle we could reduce crime.
I also thought the approach in dealing with the prisoners
was interesting and one that could be applied to the outside world as well. Our
tour guide said that when dealing with prisoners, corrections personnel cannot
act as though they are better than the prisoners. “I am no better than they
are. I just made better choices,” she said.
My group began its tour of the law enforcement complex in
the public lobby of the police department. We were buzzed through the door into
the police department and a few steps down the hallway we came to a memorial to
Patrolman Jerry Ivey (yes, the man for whom the park was named), who was killed
while pursuing a robbery suspect near Thomas Park in north Salina in June of
1975. Included were his badge and other hardware he wore on his uniform, as
well as a rubbing of his name from the National Law Enforcement Officers
Memorial in Washington, D.C.
A bit further down the hallway was a room used for children
who have been taken out of bad family situations. Instead of making the
children sit in an office, the Police Department has created an inviting,
kid-friendly room in which the children can stay until they are picked up by
relatives or child services personnel. The room is dedicated in the memory of
Christopher Abercrombie, the five-year-old boy who was murdered along with his
grandmother (Carol Abercrombie) and great-grandmother (Dolores McKim) in McKim’s
home in July of 1996.
While winding through the labyrinth of hallways, we passed
numerous offices and meeting rooms, evidence lockers, an evidence lab, the
dispatch area, Emergency Management offices, and a wall dedicated to the
retired dogs of the canine unit. We also came to a room on the upper level near
the Chief’s office that serves as a sort of museum for the Police Department.
In it are an old log book, various weapons confiscated from criminals, weapons
used over the years by the Police, a list of the retired officers, and
photos/details of the Police personnel killed in the line of duty over the
years.
Many, many photos of various personnel line the walls of the
Sheriff’s Office. In the conference room
are photos of most of the sheriffs, including one who, as it turns out, was the
grandfather of one of my friends. Display cases with numerous Sheriff’s Office
artifacts and some creative items made by prisoners in the jail (a cowboy hat
made of toilet paper mache, for instance) line one hallway. Recognition/appreciation of
personnel achievement was quite evident.
Coming up next: Dogs, Dispatch, DUIs, and Dents
