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Page 8, Thursday, February 24th, 1972, WHITBY FREE PRESS Pari i, The JOB< THE WHITBY POLICE DEPARTMENT J/M OUA/I When a man comes in off the street and signs up tobe apolice officer, he Is signing up for more thanajob. He is about to change his whole way of i Ife. Hemust forget about prejudices, he must learn tokeep himself above reproach in ail matters. He nus t learn to be a philosopher and a psycologist and at times even a guidance counsellor. Responsibility most difficult aspect Af t e r serving a training period, which could never be long enough for such a complicated job, the man who c am e in from the street becomes a cop. When this happens he will discover that one ofthe most awsome, difficult aspects of the job is t h e r e s p onsibility left up to him. He must make t h a t f ir st d e r: ision and many times it must be a q u i ck one. Above ail that first decision must be r ig ht.. i n s h o r t, he must.decide the future of a fellow man. Every day and night on every shift, somebody on the Whitby Police force must make these kinds of deci si on s in a variety of situations. At 7:05 p. m. on a Saturday night, P. C. John Kavanaugh mus t make a decision as to whether to charge a driver whenhe investigates an accident between a moving vehicle and a parked car. John decides to lay a charge and so he drives to the defendan't house to.advise hlm of the charge. This is the beginning of a lot of paper work for Jo hn. Not only must he make up an investigation sheet on the accident, but he must also make up a Crown sheet for the court. This sheet must con- tain ail the evidence needed for prosecution, and so John must fill it out carefully. It sometimes means going back to the station to fill it out where he can concentrate on all the details of the case. Clearing Havingcompleted his investigation of the acci- dent John radios in and "clears" himself. When a P.C. is 1leaving his cruiser or his post for any .reason, hemustradio in to the dispatcher and tell him where he is going. When the P. C. returns or finishes whatever he is doing he. "clears" himself so the d i s p a t c h er knows he is free for another detail. The dispatcher There is another reason for "clear ing" as well. W i th a shortage of both cops and money to hire m ore, most of the men have to ride around in a c r u i se r by themselves. At times this can be a dangerous situation. If, for example, a policeman c am e upon a r o bbery unknown to the dispatcher and he decided to investigate without telling the dispatcher, hecouldbe shot or somehow incapaci- tated, and it's possiblenobody at the station would know. Such a situation arose in Toronto recently and the P.C. involved was kilied. It was hours beforehisbody was even discovered. So a cop on duty lets the dispatcher know his every move, for his own sake as well as that of efficiency. Safety a key word Because the job can be so potentially danger- ous, safety is akey word for every police officer. Even the cruisers are specially equipped with safety in mind. Most of them have a divider screen b e t w e e n the driver and the back seat to protect the driver from possible injury by a prisoner. The Whitby Recreation Department is acceptrng applications for summer employment, aquatics staff and playgound leaders. Application forms are avaliable at the Whitby Recreation Departmnwt or at any Secondary School in Whitby. For further information cali 668-5803, extension 48. SHOE SALE AIR-STEP ½2 PRICE CHILDREN'S CLASSMATE BUSTER BROWN SAVAGE 12 BONNIE STUART STYLE - LITE FOOTWEAR As John swings h i s cruiser for a turn around the docks in Port Whitby, safety is on his mind as he checks for couples who have parked to gaze at the moon. If John can see the vehicle running but no heads in sight, he will investigate. Leaving a ve hi c le running while stationary coulcd result in carbon monoxide poisoning. Domestic arguments On hi s way back uptown John talks about the dangers of investigating domestic arguments. Most of the time the arguments are settled with a mini- mum of f uss, but occasionally a cop will enter a si tuation where the people involved in the argument w il Ii turn on the investigating P. C. Last year an R. C. M. P. officerwas fatal ly shot with no warning while investigating a domestic argument. town w h ile the other cars change shifts at mid- n ight. Thi s means if trouble arises during the s h I f t change there Is always someone on duty to handle the crisis. Once the other cruisers have changed shifts, Bill heads for his own patrol ar- ea, which tonight is #3 or the north part of Whitby including Brooklin and Myrtle. Af t e r on l1y 3 0 minutes on duty, Bill stops a smal I car which had no back Iights. Bill knows the driver, a young man who has just quit school. Con cerned about his future, Bill talks with the youth about dropping out of school. After a short talk ani *a check of the vehicle, Bill gives the d r i v e r a "caution" and advises hlm to report to thestationwithinthenext two days and show proof the lights have been fixed. Minor accidents such as the one photo- routine for any policeman's shift. gr aphed above, make up part of the Summons While cruising through his patrol area, which t on i g h t is #1 area, or the core area of Whitby, John stops at a house to del iver a summons which must be delivered by hand. The house is in dark- ness, so John drives on. He will continue check- ingthehouse until his perserverence pays off and he delivers the summons. At 9:00 p. m. with the night still young, John stops at a downtown restaurant. He gets the cof- fee to "take out" and drinks it in the cruiser be- cau se a cop c an 't just stop his job for a coffee break. He must get his coffee when and where the time permits. The break is short as John gets a cali to inves- tigate a minor accident on Brock Street South. Night shift for a Potrol -~or Gary Winter the patrol area i s much lar- ger . B ec a use he is a patrol sergeant, he must cru i se the entire Town of Whitby, new and olcd. It's a large area, and Gary must also keep tabs on his cruisers as well as keeping an eye out himself for anything out of the normal. After ameetingat an east end plaza with a det- ective car to collaborate on some evidence, Gary heads back downtown. On his way he spots a car sitting in the middle of the road with only its park- ing lights turned on. Closer investigation reveals a rear-end accident involving two vehicles. Gary c al Is for another cruiser, which, upon arrival, s t a t ions itself behind the damaged vehicles with red I ight flashing to warn oncoming motorists of the accident site. Sargeant To s h a r e the duties al1 the men change shifts and they alsochangepatrol areas. This also gives themen a chance toknow the town better and to get toknow ail the aspects of the job. Some of the men have duties in areas other than police work. One o f G a r y • s duties is to keep the police cruisers p r op e r ly maintained at ail times and to arrange for work to be done on them when he finds it nec- cessary. At11:00p. m. , Gary gets a call to Woolco Dept. Store only to di scover the fire alarm is mal- functioning. The alarm must h thoroughly check- e d , h o w e v e r because the t vas the scene of a small fire earlier in r da Early man While G a r y che c a P. C. Bill Watson is just coi u is "early m an " toriir:5 T h e early mnii, sthe whole Not mo r e than a half-hour later, B11l spots a GO b u s g o ing through town without rear 1lights. The passengers and driver alike look startled as Bill gives the bus the red light to pull over. The driver is surprised to learn he has no rear lights and thanks Bill for stopping him to let him know. Snowbound After leaving thecore area, Bill cruises around a park in the west end of town, and di scovers a car down in a secluded part of the park. Because of the deep snow Bill decides to walk down to investigate and finds thecar has been abandoned because it is stuck in the snow. Bill radios in the licence num- b e r and advi ses the station to contact the driver t o see what arrangements he has made to remove his vehicle. Police escort Things seem to be moving quickly for Bill be- cause he gets a call shortly after to proceed to the northendof town to escort a woman to the Oshawa General Hospital. The woman had a miscarriage and phoned the Pol ice Department asking for assis- t ance. The patient is placed in a cab and the cab i s e s c or ted through stop signs and red lights to thehospital. Anescort such as this means driving q u i ck I y through the streets with both siren and r e d 1 i gh t. Despite the siren and red light some motorists get in the way of the cruiser and do not move to the right of the road even the law req- uires them to do so as quickly and safely as pos- sible. Impaired driving After returning from his escort du'ty, Bil1 rc- turn to the downtown area of Whi'.- ..y to spot a car going through town at a rate of speed greater thantheposted limit. Bill takes chase from a dis- t a n ce a n d o b s erves the vehicle weaving on the road from the edge of the pavement over the white line a-n d back again. After choosing a safe place B i 1 pulls the driver over and asks her to sit in t h e back of t h e cruiser. The driver is then ad- v i s e d she will be charged with impaired driving and her car will be taken into the police compound by a tow truck. After paying the tow fees, she can pick up her vehicle i,n the morning. The breathalizer Th e dr iver i s taken to the O. P. P. station in Whitby to be tested on the Breathalizer machine. She is not t e s t ed until she has been there for 15 109 Brock St. S. Whitby Continued on page 9 668-4881