General Categories > General Firearm Discussion
Ride Along w/Douglas County Sheriff's Deputy
SemperFiGuy:
Last Night I Did a Ride-Along with a Douglas County Sheriff's Deputy.......
And it wuz a Most Righteous Experience, Indeed!!!
Spent the 10pm-6am shift riding shotgun [riding Totally Unarmed, actually] alongside one of Our Own Minions of the Law-----Deputy "B"-----in his Ford Crown Victoria cruiser.
The numerous waiver forms I signed included an agreement to refrain from divulging any details, so we can't get into the Nitty-Gritty. But please be assured that it was a heckuva view from the inside.
I learned:
>Douglas County has an excellent Sheriff's Department facility which can't be seen from the outside. CSI, Research, Grants Writing, Holding Cells, Workout Room (stress relief), Electronic Equipment Repair, Training Classroom, Tactical Equipment Room, and much more. Much of it paid for by funding from captured drug cars and drug-related assets.
>An enormous amount of documentation is required for each and every step of each event of the shift patrol.
Laptops and GPSs help and are a big part of the solution, but Oh!----the writing, writing, writing......
>The Sheriff's Deputies would be right at home w/NFOA folks. Most of the deputies are ex-military, hunters, shooters, gun collectors, and All-Around Good Fellows. Including the Female Deputy. (Many are probably NFOA members already.)
>Procedural restrictions on LEO behavior are substantial. Amazing that anybody ever gets arrested and booked, given the precautions required, hoops to be jumped, and other impedimentia with which LEOs are laden.
>The Kreepy Krawly Kritters come out at Night.
And lotsa other things. [Like I met a convenience store clerk last night who has been held up at gunpoint nineteen times now. Whereas, my own Worst On-the-Job Hazard is watching students bang their foreheads on their desks while falling asleep during my classroom lectures.]
It gives a good, warm fuzzy to know that these Good Folks are alert and on patrol while our heads are safely on the pillow.
Finally-------The Ride Along program is available to any and all who wish to partake. Just go to the Sheriff's office and fill out an application. Filled mine out on Monday morning and was in the cruiser at 10pm on Tuesday evening. How's that for "bureaucracy"???!!!
sfg
Wesley D:
Neat experience SFG. How'd you find out about the program? I wonder if the Ride-Along program is also available with other county Sheriff Depts.
bullit:
Could you have carried (with the obvious exception of going into the department)?
SemperFiGuy:
Bullit & Zombiehunter:
I was poking around the Douglas County Sheriff's Office Website to see if they had updated the rules for Firearm Purchase Permits to indicate that CHPs no longer need the Purchase Permit.
That's where I found the Ride Along program. Posted right there on their website.
So I trotted over to their facility and the front desk lady gave me the application/waiver form. It was that easy.
Some of the rules are: Dress nicely, Do What the Deputy Tells You, Don't Blab About What You See, Stay in the Cruiser Unless Invited Out, Don't Get in the Way, Don't Chat Up the Victims/Perpetrators, Don't Distract the Deputy w/Too Much Blabber, and several others, including......
Don't Carry a Firearm.
And----All of these Don'ts make perfect good sense. Helps keep the Ride Along citizen out of the way. Lets the Deputy do his job.
My impression of the Deputies is that if they were dogs, they'd be big German Shepherds, Rottweilers, Dobermans, Bull Mastiffs............You get the idea. Nice, Big, Strong, Friendly Doggies. But Watch Out when their Tails quit Waggin'. Each of them has some kind of Side Specialty [Weapons, Drugs, Tactics, etc.] They know their business.
All in all, it was an Excellent Experience which I recommend to you.
sfg
Wesley D:
Good to know. After you said you found it on the website, I checked Sarpy's. FYI to any Sarpy residents: http://www.sarpy.com/sheriff/qa.html#qa_ridealong.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
Go to full version