Police_World_02_2018

Article

A New Jersey Gavin Todd , Region 2 I have been to the USA on many occasions both on vacation and as a group of officers from the UK & Ireland to take part in the 9/11 Memorial Service in NYC. I have been a member of the IPA for the last 4 years and when looking through the IPA website I came across the ILDEP officer exchange programme. I fit the criteria they were looking as an officer in the middle of their service looking to further develop their knowledge and skills by experiencing life as a police officer in the USA. As a Public Order Instructor in The Police Service of Northern Ireland I wanted to see their training and how this worked in practice.

I t was arranged that I would work with Fair Lawn PD in New Jersey , staying with one of their officers whilst I was there. I was met at Newark airport by Officer Luis Vasquez from Fair Lawn PD and once I had settled and unpacked at his house I was taken on a quick tour of the town. I cannot begin to describe just how hospitable the people of this town were to be over my whole stay in the US. Within a short time of my arrival at the Mayor’s office the photo of us was uploaded to the towns Facebook page and there after anywhere I went with Officer Vasquez people recognised who I was, and the green uniform! The following day I was taken out to Bergen County Police Academy where the County Rapid Deployment Force (RDF) was doing their training. It was unusual for me to find sunny weather and temperatures of 26 *C back home at any time of the year but it was a nice surprise and the good air con helped. I was introduced to the class and the Instructors at the start and spent the day observing their tactics and training, at times being encouraged to add my experience to the training in order to give their students something different. Luckily Sgt Joe Mecionis, one of the Instructors, was fluent in the Northern Ireland accent by now and was able to translate if and when required! I came away from the day with lots of information and experience that will definitely assist me in my role back home. That evening I had dinner with some of the officers from Fair Lawn at one of their BBQ places. It was a really good night with plenty of opportunity to get to know some of the officers and local people who were very inquisitive about the “Irish Cop” and what I thought about my time so far in the USA. Friday morning and up at 6am to start a 7am shift with Officer Vasquez on patrol of Fair Lawn. They have 55 police officers from Chief of Police down to patrol officer and that includes detectives too. This was very different to what I was used to back in NI but I found that it seemed to work as they all knew each other and it created a bond that is hard to describe. They worked a 4 on 4 off pattern with officers doing either nights or days. Upon arrival at the station I was introduced to the rest of the team working the early shift. Briefing over and out to the police vehicle, a Ford Explorer SUV, and we were assigned sector 3 for the day. First up was a general patrol and making sure that all the crossing guards were present at the right time for all the kids travelling to school that day. They have a Police officer in all 3 of their schools full time which gets the kids used to seeing and speaking with police from a young age and gives them a sense of security. I can totally understand this with the current and past experiences in the USA of active shooter incidents. Next was to a minor Road Traffic Collision between three vehicles on one of the main roads that runs through the town. This was dealt with very quickly and reports down on the laptop in the police vehicle. No pen and paper and no having to return to the station to complete. I was then taken back to the station to meet Chief of Police Glen Cauwels who welcomed me to Fair Lawn PD.

After lunch I was off to the gun range to test my skills whilst Officer Vasquez dealt with a report of fraud at the station. Just after he collected me again we attended a report of a female who had overdosed on heroin. Upon arriving it was very similar to NI in the fact the report was not as it seemed and it was merely a very drunk female abusing the staff of a local shop. If this had been the UK there would have been people telling us what to do and how to do it but the public let the cops get on with it and were thanking the officers for attending and dealing so quickly. We attended a number of other minor calls before finishing our shift and heading home for some dinner. That evening we had dinner and drinks at one of the oldest bars in the town where again the hospitality was unreal. On the next two days on patrol I observed many calls and events that were very similar to the UK & Ireland and the way they were dealt with by officers. Whilst in uniform on one occasion I experienced something I have never my career to date and I suppose its maybe one of the aspects that struck me the most about policing in the USA. Whilst waiting to get breakfast on one of the mornings in a local shop I had a lady randomly come up to me in the queue and say “thank you for your service”. To be honest this left me a bit speechless as it’s something I would not be used to but it is one of the aspects that had the biggest effect on me whilst visiting just how openly supportive the public were to their police officers (and visiting ones).

POLICE WORLD Vol 63 No. 2, 2018

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