Crime & Safety

Going for a Ride ... with a Police Officer

A ride along with an officer turns into more of a window into the many aspects of police work.

On Feb. 9, Simsbury Police Officer Todd Kushman had the day shift, his assignment was to patrol Sector 5 and one of his tasks was to try to locate a witness for the Manchester Police Department.

Another task was to explain it all to me, a Patch editor along for the ride. I decided to request a ride-along because I write about what the police do and I wanted a better understanding of their job.

The stop at Nutmeg Court, as a courtesy for the Manchester Police Department, yielded no results. No one was home.

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But as a reminder of the uncertainties that officers face every day, he turned as he left the patrol car and told me how to use the radio to call for help if anything happened.

"This job makes you question everybody more than you want to," he said.

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Officers have to ride that fine line between being open and helpful and suspicious and paranoid.

Officers bid every three months for the shifts they prefer. The day shift runs from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Evening 3 to 11 p.m. and midnight from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m.

Officers are assigned to a district to patrol. There are no sectors one or two in Simsbury; for reasons that nobody seems to know, the town is divided into sectors three, four and five.

Kushman said patrolling is about 70 percent of a shift. But patrol officers also spend time working on cases and getting and executing warrants. More detailed and investigative work is handed off to detectives.

Police coverage is maintained 24 hours a day, seven days a week and most of the time a sergeant and three officers are on duty. Staffing can drop down to a sergeant and two officers during the overnight. There are 35 police officers in the Simsbury Police Department.

My ride with Kushman, who has been a police officer for five years, started around 1 p.m., as he was finishing up an hour spent to relieve dispatcher Mary Jedynak so she could have lunch.

Before heading out to the car, there was a tour of the facilities, located in the basement of town hall. One of the first stops was the sally port.

Sally port loosely means a secure entryway. When police officers transport a suspect, they need to enter the police station in a protected area and secure their weapon before entering the station's booking area. In this way, the suspect cannot get possession of an officer's weapon.

(Why sally port? The first known use was in 1649 and is derived from the word port from Latin portus for door. A sally, derived from Latin salīre (to jump), or sortie, is a military maneuver made by a defending force before retreating back behind their defenses.)

Once inside the booking area, there is a small holding cell where the suspect sits — locked in. It is here that the mug shots are taken.

Outside the cell, electronic fingerprinting is done — that’s right, no ink. (Although the ink is there as backup if the computer is not functioning.)

There are cells in this area for men, women and a youth — plus a padded cell with nothing in it but a small window in the door and a drain in the floor. 

Down the hall, there is a room to test blood-alcohol levels. In another area is a bank of lockers of all sizes for evidence.

After the tour, it was time to get into the car. The officers in town are the first responders to medical calls and so their cars are mini versions of ambulances to a certain degree.

The trunk of every police car carries oxygen, facemasks, a defibrillator, a device to open someone's throat, and medical gloves, among other items. 

Kushman said he has used the defibrillator so many times he has "lost count."

There are plenty of police tools as well: spiked stop sticks to blow out car tires, a blanket, a fire extinguisher, a tool to get into a locked car, another tool to measure skid marks, a pry bar, a rope and life ring for water rescues. Inside the car is a computer mounted between the driver and passenger seats.

Also inside: a shotgun that shoots beanbags and a rifle that shoots bullets.

The gear on Kushman's body includes his bulletproof vest and several pounds of gear on his belt, from his Sig Sauer 40-caliber handgun to extra bullets. He has used his gun many times — to shoot deer that have been hit by a car and need to be put down.

The back seat of the Crown Victoria has been taken out and replaced by a hard plastic insert. The plastic seating is easy to clean — officers can just hose it down.

There are other details about a police officer's day that came to light in the few hours with Kushman. Ask yourself this: How often have you see a police officer pumping gas at the Mobil station? Officers fill their tanks at the public works department.

Another revelation: officers have the ability to track your speed when you are traveling in the opposite direction.

"We can run radar when we are moving," Kushman said.

It also became clear that officers are always learning. Kushman had to head back to the department to take part in a 15-minute "virtual dementia tour" given by Arden Courts in Avon. The sensitivity training simulated what it's like for someone with dementia

By about 3 p.m., Kushman's day was almost done, and in my short time with him he also talked a bit about the people he has arrested over the years. Some he can tell will never set foot in a police station for the wrong reason again. Other, he said, seem more comfortable in that environment that any other.

Ultimately, he said, his role ends and the decision of what road to take is in their hands, not his.


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