The Ride-along

Earlier this week I experienced one of the more unique and interesting events in my college education. I rode with Corporal Steve Matthews from the Ellensburg Police for five hours and got a really good idea of what it's like to be a cop. I took a lot of notes during the cruise and I'm going to share my experiences and thoughts of the ride.

I got to the Ellensburg Police Department at around 6:30 on Monday night but had to wait for almost an hour and a half in the briefing room because the officer I was riding with just so happened to be busy with a yearly evaluation meeting. I got to wait around with some young officers that were going out on some of their first patrols. The night I went there were three cars all filled with two passengers. I learned that it is unusual to see patrol cars with more than one officer inside these days. This night was special because there were two reserve officers getting some patrol experience with some of the more seasoned vets.

After listening to some of the lively chit chat the officers were engaged in we finally got into one of the new Chevy Impala patrol cars that some of the Ellensburg Police officers get to drive. The first thing you notice when you get in this car is the sophisticated communication and recording technologies that are housed in the vehicle's center console. The most important part of this setup is the laptop. The laptop is the control center that provides almost all information to the officers on patrol. It uses an advanced interface to display all relevant information about current emergency calls and also gives information on what other officers in the county are doing. The laptop also employs an instant messaging program that allows officers to efficiently communicate with each other to get all of the important information across without errors.

Cpl. Matthews explained to me that all of the technological advances that have come recently have made his job a lot easier than it once was. The fact that officers can now read and see the locations of crimes and calls has made police work more accurate than the old days when nearly every piece of relevant information was broadcast over the radio by the dispatchers. Sometimes it's difficult to hear people's voices on the radio so the new system that lets the officer read the dispatcher's messages reduces errors and helps the officer make better decisions. Cpl. Matthews also explained to me that just like regular drivers in our state, texting while driving is illegal for officers as well and he always made sure to safely stop the vehicle before typing messages into his laptop.

While the control center has made things more convenient for officers, police cars are still not immune to malfunctions. During his thorough pre-patrol inspection of the car, Officer Matthews saw that the right taillight had failed. Matthews must have had a little bad luck that night because there weren't any spares at the station so we had to go to Fred Meyer's to get a new one. It was a minor setback in an otherwise smoothly running operation.

Once the new bulb was properly installed the patrol officially began. It was a fairly slow night considering that it was the Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday but Matthews did pull over at least three drivers while I was with him. Two were stopped for broken headlights but weren't given tickets. Another drove with their highbeams on but he also let them off because the motorist explained that the lever was faulty in her admittedly run down looking car. Matthews told me that this sort of behavior by cops is fairly ordinary because traffic stops are made primarily for motorists' safety -- not to fill the government's coffers. In fact, the police department doesn't even get money from traffic stops; it all goes to the courts.

The traffic stops were routine and the process of making a stop is pretty interesting. The first part (the most fun) is right when the officer turns his lights on and either pulls a u-turn or gasses it to get right up behind the driver to pull them over. Once the cars are stopped, Matthews immediately called in the stop to dispatch letting them know exactly where he was and the license plate number of the stopped vehicle. This was important because other officers in the area knew where they would need to go if there was ever a need to assist the original officer in case the vehicle's driver decides to make a run for it or worse. I also noticed that after the license plate and driver's license info was processed the laptop displayed their driving record and previous criminal activity. During this time the officer also flipped on a recording device that saved black and white video footage directly to a hard drive underneath the police car's stereo. This film could be used as evidence in court if it was needed.

Around 9:30 that night the officers stopped at a D&M Coffee shop and got a little bit of caffeine to keep them up through the long night. The officers and myself sat around a big table that had "Ellensburg Bulldogs" written in block letters and I listened to the officers talk about all sorts of random things. A lot of the things they said were funny and I couldn't help but laugh. I realized that maybe officers aren't really such hard asses after all. It was a good cruise with Cpl. Matthews and definitely something that I'm glad was able to do. I got to see law enforcement from the officer's perspective and that's something that you don't see everyday. Sure, you can watch cop shows but those definitely gloss over the details.