Articles - Patrol

With an area of 375 square miles, the county, located southeast of the central park of Minnesota, is 25 miles southwest of Minneapolis, making it part of the seven-county metropolitan area.  Though Scott County's population is 77,924, the racetrack, casino and the Renaissance Festival alone account for more than 5.3 million annual visitors.

The Columbine High School incident last spring seared itself into the American consciousness and while everyone has probably grown tired of hearing about it, the fact remains that mass incidents of violence have continued both on and off campus since then.

Police officers, like athletes, must perform in the "public eye" under tremendous stress and pressure.  The self-proclaimed experts then scrutinize the decisions made, or not made.  They sit back in their armchairs, not having to make split-second decisions.  Many have never played the game, yet they are quick to criticize.

 How many times in your career have you uttered the words, "It's dead out," or "There's nothin' goin' on," or any of a million similar phrases that basically say, "I'm bored?"

Police officers are asked to make split-second life-or-death decisions.  We have to decide in a blink of an eye if we are going to shoot.  Then over the next several years everyone will dissect, analyze and scrutinize our actions.

The extraction of unruly or even dangerous criminals from crowded, commercial airliners is not an everyday occurrence for an airport officer, although it happens all too frequently.

Criminals beware: You have a piece of Chippendale in your arsenal.  How a common household item can be used in a pinch to gain control of a noncompliant subject.

Most police officers have experienced a sense of frustration working within a judicial system that often protects the guilty along with the innocent. And, in many cases, those convicted of crimes or awaiting trail, have more rights than a civilian who has never committed a crime.

For police officers, handling domestic violence calls can be one of the most frustrating areas of law enforcement work. This frustration is not because cops don't know what to do; they do indeed know the WHAT of handling domestic violence cases.  Officers need, therefore, a better grip on their understanding of the WHY of domestic violence incidents.

Approximately 15,000 survivors, officers and friends attended National Police Week events in the nation's capital during mid-May. Held primarily at the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial, the week-long tribute to the nearly 15,000 peace officers killed in the line of duty since 1974.

COVER PHOTO: TERRI CAVOLI (© 1999)