Week 4: Another Day at the Office
Hello everyone! This week at the police departments was much of the same, which may come as a bit of a disappointment to you. But, I still learned some things that I found very interesting, and that I am excited to share to you all!
First, this week at Prescott Valley was spent with me working a bit more with Community Services. I was able to see their Emergency Operations Center (EOC) trailer, which is this long trailer that they attach to a truck and which can be driven to areas during emergencies to serve as headquarters when the department is too far away. Then, I spent the rest of the day preparing letters that would be sent to local Prescott Valley businesses asking for donations to fund a local leadership training program the department does for local teens. If your family (or one that you know) owns a small business in PV, they probably got this! Overall, not the most exciting day, but still important to see nonetheless!
At Prescott Police Department, I did, you guessed it, more printing! However, I did learn something that some of you may find interesting. Now, our city has both a police and sheriff’s department. To those who don’t know, the sheriff’s department is an old law enforcement agency that nowadays handles things like fingerprinting, housing the jail, and holding and releasing impounded vehicles. These sorts of departments were established during the times of the Old West in towns such as ours as a form of more decentralized law enforcement, as actual, organized police forces were not practical. Fun fact: the city of Prescott Valley was established in 1978, and thus does not have a sheriff’s department, with all of those duties being handled by the Police Department. Many, then, have the misconception that the sheriff and police, being both law enforcement agencies, are somehow linked, and part of the same hierarchy. This is actually false! While, yes, they do work together on many things, and are thus linked, they are still completely different departments, who thus have different rules, structures, duties, and more. The best way I could explain this is by comparing park rangers to the police. While the two departments are both law enforcement agencies, and will work together if the need arises (a crime is committed in a park, emergencies, etc.), they are still separate and distinct from one another. So, the Chief of Police cannot tell a park ranger what their duties are, and the same goes for the Chief of Police and Sheriff. Just something I found interesting!
Finally, in terms of my research, I have discovered a show that will hopefully cover the entire police experience! It is called “Hill Street Blues”, and covers days in the life of a police department in the fictional city of Hill Street. Set and filmed in the early 80s, I can acknowledge that the police functions and issues I see may be outdated or wrong, especially since the setting is totally fictional. But, based off of what I have seen in the pilot episode, I find the show to present a nice variety of police life, especially compared to Law and Order. Significant is shown in the lives of patrol officers, department officials, as well as detectives, of course. Not only is this a good spread of focus on police roles, but the show is also focusing on positions that I have experience in, and so I hope to be able to analyze in a much easier manner than Law and Order. Still, I need to watch more episodes to see if it will really work for me, so stay tuned!
Thanks for reading this week’s blog! Sorry for the rather dry updates at both departments, but I hope you learned something about the Sheriff’s Department like I did! I have also been told to expect more exciting stuff at both my internships in the near future, though a lack of any concrete details means I can’t really say what you all should expect. See you all next week, with hopefully updates on my research and internships!
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