Thoughts from Chief Sjolander... What do you do with your 90%... Ive heard many times over the years that cop work is 10% excitement and 90% boredom. Working in a small town, I guess thats true to a point. Im not sure if Id call the 10% excitement as much as Id call it seeing people at their worst and helping people through some of their darkest days. So what do you do with the rest of your time... As a small town peace officer, I spend my 90% the same way most cops do. I try to do paperwork, keep up on my training, assist my co-workers with their needs, and I try to work a lot in our community with our public. Being the chief means I have some meetings to attend and budget items to attend to as well. Here was my day yesterday... I walked to the office and picked up a squad. I met with a person who had some questions on what they need to do to get their drivers license back. I made some phone calls and gave them the information they needed. I had a local high school student ride along for a class. We visited about what we do, where he wants to attend college, etc. He is a very nice young man and he has a good head on his shoulders. He will do fine if he answers this calling. We worked on some squad stuff and had lunch with some local residents. I hope my young friend knows how much knowledge was at that table and he listened to what they had to say, they are very wise. He went back to school around 1pm. Our intern, Brady, came in and we worked in the office for a bit before heading out. We stood by while a person removed some items from a home they no longer live in. Their relationship went bad and they have personal items to remove from the home. We mediate in person and on the phone, all went well. We issued two citations to young people for wearing their helmets while riding bike. Both were very excited to get a ticket for a Dairy Queen treat. We visited with a gentleman whos wife had just passed away. We gave our condolences and asked that they call us if we can help in anyway. We visit with another person regarding their driving privileges and reminded them to let us know if we can help them get valid again. Our goal here to leave people better than we found them and try to help out when we can. We gave out some stickers to kids at the park, dropped off my carpet shampooer to a person in town who asked to borrow it, and I tuned a guitar for my special friend Billy. I even played it for a bit in the parking lot:) We then went back to the office and visited with Officer Shannon for a bit and I went home for the night. I dont always make the best use of my time, but I try to use it helping others and thats all I can do. Im not bragging nor do I think what I do is all that special. Lots of peace officers do way more than I do...I just like to share it more. What I hope I do is inspire others to look at peace officers in a different way and maybe look at ways of helping their fellow man. Stay safe, Lee
Posted on: Wed, 21 May 2014 13:48:00 +0000
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