I got a college education in Faulkner County nightlife on Saturday night during my ride-along adventure with Sgt. Johnnie Fowlkes with the Faulkner County Sheriff’s Department.
I saw places in the county I had never seen and to be honest, I can probably live without seeing some of them again. However, I also have a healthy respect for just how big this county is for a shift of five people. They do an amazing job to get from one end of the county to another when they are needed. I definitely would not want to be responsible for finding an address of “middle of no where, Mayflower” when someone needs help in a hurry.
I absolutely had a great time and learned a lot about what these guys and girls do for a living.
Not only do they have to be able to diffuse a tense situation between victim and suspect, they also have to be a lawyer of sorts and know the ins and outs of the law in how they do their job. It is a lot more detailed than some might think, depending on the situation.
My favorite moment of the night would have had to have been when we got to run code with the lights flashing, speeding down the road. Sgt. Fowlkes looked at me asked if I had ever been in a vehicle with law enforcement when this happened and when I said that I had, he was relieved that the situation was not scaring me. I know I had my eyes wide open and probably a silly grin on my face when I said “Oh heck no – bring it on!”
It was great to see how well all the departments in the county work together to handle a situation when they are called and I got a better understanding of just how important the dispatchers are to the officers when they are trying to find someone.
All in all, I had a blast. I was supposed to stay for four hours but ended up doing 12 and I couldn’t have asked for a better host or a nicer shift of guys to answer what I am sure, were ridiculous questions.
As we speak our wonderful video guy is trying to make some sense of the videos I took from the evening out and we will have that, as well as a first person recap of the night online within a day or two.
Thanks to Sgt Fowlkes, Corp. Joe Flack, Deputy Howard Hall, Deputy Tom Sweeney and Deputy Josh George for doing their jobs while answering my questions and being good sports about it all.
Go “D” shift!
