While You Were Sleeping

I had the opportunity to ride with Buckhannon Police Officer Darren Hissam last night from a little after midnight to about 3am. It was an effort on my part to learn and discern more about how our officers perform their duties, what challenges they face in the performance of their duties and specifically how the officers view the the relationship between the police force in general and the Wesleyan student body.

Our night started out by signing a waiver for liability purposes. Any citizen can ride along with an officer by calling in advance and signing a waiver. I recommend it as it provides a view and understanding of police work that cannot be gained from reading or popular television programs. I found out much to my dismay that Buckhannon does not have a crime lab with blue and orange lights that can produce blood or DNA results within hours, conduct ballistic tests in the basement nor do they have any staff named Gibbs, Ducky, Abby, McGhee, Zeva or Tony. You can tell I'm a NCIS fan!

On Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights patrol officers seem to concentrate on the downtown area, the Sheetz intersection and the streets between downtown and the college campus. The patrol focus is making sure everyone walking gets home safely, identifying possible DUI vehicles and maintaining a highly visible presence. During my ride time we probably traversed Main Street a dozen times and did 3-4 laps around Sheetz and the college campus . I observed one citation for a two month old expired license plate, garbage cans and sandwich boards turned over on Main Street, suspicious egg cartons on Meade Street and we assisted on a DUI stop.

I digress here to share another observation of the evening. When an officer stops to make an investigation whether for a traffic violation or public disturbance, the initial officer is always backed up by another unit. This procedure is for officer safety. I said I would feel intimidated if more than one vehicle pulled up if I was stopped or questioned. The point of this is to assure those reading this blog that additional police units are on scene for offices safety and not to intimidate the public.

Back to my evening/morning ride. During my patrol time I discussed with both Officer Hissam and Sargent Loudin the relationship between the police and Wesleyan students. Both asserted the relationship in their opinion had improved and the claims of student profiling are not justified. They backed up that assertion by stating the police department had not received any complaint forms. The department takes seriously formal complaints and Sargent Loudin affirmed he takes them seriously and on more than one occasion has counseled officers regarding acceptable behavior. They also stated they could not respond to student stories of improper police actions. They could however respond to written complaints. I asked if the complaint process would paint a target on the back of the complainer? They both felt that could be the case. I wondered and they agreed that changing the nature of the form to a feedback instead of a complaint form might make those affected more willing to provide feedback. This might be an area for future discussion.

About 2:50am, just before I planned to bid Officer Hissam a good morning we received a call from the comm center regarding a fight in progress at the KA house involving 30 people. We arrived in less than 20 seconds after being dispatched to the scene to see those gathered disperse like mice leaving a sinking ship. There was no apparent fight. Two additional officers arrived on scene. What I observed from the patrol car were all three officers discussing the incident with several young adults (students) and leaving after knowing the original dispute between students had been resolved. What was also key to the officers involvement was contacting the WVWC Greek advisor. My assessment of contacting the Greek advisor was to maintain an open and immediate dialogue between the police and the WVWC community. Job well done in my book.

Having very little sleep my four legged alarm clock woke me in enough time to make both the early service and Sunday school. The topic in my men's class for today was 'Is the Bible true?' The answer of course was not black and white. What came out of our discussion was there will continue to be a struggle and active debate on Biblical truth issues. Much the same can be said regarding the tension between our college and our police. While we would like to think there are black and white answers to all issues, the reality are solutions in many shades of gray. I'm hopeful that a rigorous and regular dialogue will continue between WVWC and our police department.