FROM THE DESK OF THE POLICE CHIEF
A Day in the Life
of a PKS Police Officer
, By Ryan Thompson, Pine Knoll Shores Police Chief
Oftentimes I am asked about what happens during the course
of a police officer s shift in Pine Knoll Shores. It might surprise
you to hear how many responsibilities are given to our officers and
how busy they are. Our officers work a 30-day rotating shift, which
means they switch from day shift to night shift every 30 days. Our
shifts are 12 hours long, and officers will work three days one week
and four days the next week.
When officers first come in for duty, they meet with the off-going
shift and find out what happened in town since the last time they
worked. Officers then look at any reports that have been sent back
to them by a supervisor for correction, get a body camera from the
equipment room, test the in-car camera in their patrol vehicle to
ensure it is functioning properly, test all emergency equipment in
the patrol vehicle, and search the back seat of the patrol vehicle to
ensure nothing was left there during the last shift. If the officer is
radar certified, he or she also must calibrate the radar unit at the
beginning of each shift, without exception. The officer then begins
his or her shift.
Some of the duties that are given to our officers include escorting
the school buses to ensure motorists are stopping when the buses
stop to pick up children, conducting a beach patrol, checking on
local businesses, doing foot patrols at beach accesses, doing foot
patrols in their assigned community-oriented policing zones,
checking the welfare of some of our elderly residents who live alone,
and enforcing traffic violations they observe while on patrol.
This does not include calls for service that typically happen
during the shift. 911 hang-up calls, residential and commercial
alarm activations, motor vehicle collisions, suspicious activity, and
mutual aid calls for service in neighboring jurisdictions are normal
calls for service that we answer most days. Domestic disturbances,
assaults, breaking and entering, and suspected narcotics activities
are also calls that our officers respond to and investigate.
What hasn t been mentioned yet is the paperwork. Just about
every time an officer gets out of his or her patrol vehicle, the action
is documented in our reporting software and through dispatch,
including the officers location and reason for his or her action.
If an officer responds to a minor call for service where a report
is appropriate, an incident report is completed. At a minimum,
the most simple incident report is two pages in length. A normal
arrest report for a driving-while-impaired case can easily be five
to six pages long. Every time an officer stops a vehicle, he or she is
required to complete the SBI Traffic Stop Report, which documents
the age, gender, race, reason for stop, and whether or not a citation
is issued.
At the end of the shift the officer must return the body camera
to the equipment room and ensure all paperwork and reports have
been sent to a supervisor, While a 12-hour shift seems long to
someone who has never worked one, sometimes it isn’t enough.
Scam of the month: jury duty scam
North Carolinians continue to receive calls from phony sheriff’s
deputies who claim they skipped jury duty and a subsequent court
(Continued on page 4)
CONTENTS
Garden Club 2
Age-Friendly Community
Current Sudoko ^
Fishing and Hunting
Mayor’s Memo g
What’s Up With PARC? ................8
On the Grill 9
At the Library jq
Country Club News j ^
PIKSCO Happenings j |
Pine Knoll Shores Commissioners Meeting 13
Book Talk.
.14
At the Aquarium 25
Town Crier 16-17
Meet Your Town Staff ^8
Puzzle Solutions 29
PKANews. 20
Women’s Club ^ 21
Have You Heard... ?. 22
Kramer’s Korner 24
Events Calendar 28
History of Pine Knoll Shores 29
Current Crossword 3Q
Public
Safety
POLICE
During April, there were 9 arrests; 21911 hang-ups; 6 alarm
activations; 7 animal cafis; 11 disturbance calls; 27 assist Fire/EMS;
5 motor vehicle collisions; 9 mutual aid calls; 157 traffic stops; 44
citations issued (9 speeding, 1 stop sign/stop light, 3 registration/
inspection, 3 license revoked/expired, 18 other traffic violations,
6 narcotics violations, 4 alcohol violations); 18 written warnings
issued; 132 business checks; 212 residential checks; and 384
foot patrols. Police personnel participated in 57 training hours.
Volunteers in Police Service (VIPS) worked 57.5 hours.
FIRE AND EMS
In April, responders handled 2 fires, 29 rescue and emergency
medical service incidents, 4 good intent calls and 6 false alarms or
false calls. Personnel participated in 381 training hours.
REMINDER: Lock your doors, especially your vehicles, and don’t
leave valuables in sight. Report suspicious people or vehicles to
dispatch (726-1911) so that the police can be notified. You are not
“bothering” the police if you call to report something that doesn’t
look right. They prefer to assess the situation rather than find out
after the fact that you had noticed something and didn’t report it.
Alert citizens are an asset to the community.
r»/The%-7.
bhoreime
252-247-4353 ext. 19
e-mail: Shoreline@townofpks.com
www.townofpks.com
EDITOR:
Janie Price
240-2365
EDITORS AT LARGE:
Mary Battista 422-4063
Marilyn Brandt 919-377-2501
John Brodman 726-7643
Phyllis Makuck 726-8776
CONTRIBUTING
REPORTERS:
Frederick S. Boyce
Paige Gillespie
Marian Goetzinger
Jean McDanal
Barbara Milhaven
Jacquie Pipkin
Jim Scanlon
Richard Seale
Jim Turner
Ken Wilkins
723-6276
422-9000
240-0678
622-0340
726-4174
726-0478
240-2474
CIRCULATION MANAGER:
Connie Shelton 247-4353
GRAPHIC DESIGNER:
Lianne Won-Reburn 646-1713
ADVERTISING:
Marie Lawrence 726-7081
ARTICLE DEADLINE
DUE DATE
ISSUE
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Aug.
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Nov.
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Dec.
Tue., Dec. 12
Jan. 2018
ADVERTISING DEADLINE:
The 19th of the month prior
to desired issue
Articles always welcome.
June 2017 I The Shoreline