Class 14-17 Week #9
Week #9,
Tuesday, May 9: Tour of the Barnstable County Jail
Tuesday, May 9: Tour of the Barnstable County Jail
|
Thursday, May 11: Motor Vehicle Law and Patrol Procedures Joe Jochnowitz, the gentleman who suffered a major cardiac event after class a couple of weeks ago, returned to class looking in fine shape. He praised all who stepped up during the incident, especially Sgt. Lawrence and Lt. Bound. He credits them with saving his life—and he had no broken ribs. Ride-along reports: Students accompanied Officers McCracken, Fernandes, and “Lovely” Leslie this past week. Most stops were uneventful and involved, among other things, speeding, running a Stop sign, and leaving the scene of an accident with damage. One student was able to witness field sobriety tests being administered. The officers explained all of the procedures they were following, and students were able to get a look at the various pieces of equipment carried in the patrol cars. Officers Gilrein and Grigorenko walked the class through highlights of Chapter 90, better known as Motor Vehicle Law. They described the two broad categories of the law—Civil Infractions, i.e., speeding; and Criminal Infractions, i.e., OUI. They both stressed that officers have lots of discretion with civil infractions; they don’t necessarily have to arrest someone for a civil infraction or issue a summons. A verbal warning is often sufficient. Criminal infractions, on the other hand, can result in a summons or arrest for such things as OUI, operating without a license, or operating to endanger (OTE). They showed the ever-popular video of a traffic stop involving a Maine state trooper and a person he pulled over for speeding. The driver was near hysterical and heaped verbal, profanity-laced abuse on the trooper who remained standing calmly next to the vehicle as traffic whizzed along behind him. He explained the procedures the driver had to follow in responding to the summons, which elicited |
additional verbal abuse, and then the driver ripped up the ticket. Which prompted the officer to advise him that he would cite the driver with an additional charge of littering if the driver didn’t pick up the debris. The driver did, still ranting and raving, and then he drove off. Sgt. Lawrence’s opinion was that the trooper should just have given the person the ticket and sent him on his way, rather than continuing to stand by the side of the road and running the risk of being knocked into traffic. The other officers agreed, adding that the trooper sounded like he was being condescending to the driver.
Class then moved outside to the parking lot with Officers Grigorenko and Leslie for a demonstration of motor vehicle stops involving unknown risk and high risk. Officers always stress that there is no such thing as a “routine” motor vehicle stop. They demonstrated an “unknown risk” stop involving only one officer and one cruiser; and a high-risk felony stop, which never involves just one cruiser. Students were showed how to approach a stopped vehicle, making sure to leave a hand or fingerprint someplace on the car as they approached. The class wrapped up with a discussion of the “human” side of police work and the impact that job-related stress can have on an officer’s emotional well-being. Sgt. Lawrence commented that as he drives through town, he sees “ghosts” everywhere, memories of serious or tragic incidents that he has had to respond to in his career. For a long time, there was no emotional support procedures in place at the PD, beyond fellow officers saying “How’s it going?” Lt. Josh Bound, in response to his own traumatic incident involving giving CPR to a 2-week-old infant took it upon himself to establish a Peer Support Group at the PD to ensure that officers receive the help and support that they need. Unfortunately, Lt. Bound was unable to be in class this week; his description of his own experience is very moving. Donna Leiss, Contributing Editor |
Photos courtesy of Pauline Fortin and Bob Nichols.