The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

BOWMANVILLE, ONTARIO, MAY 23, 1979 SECTION TWO To Serve and Proteet Cst. John Watkins is one of two motorcycle patrolmen who operate out of the Newcastle detachment. Cst. Watkins says the motorcycle is ideal for trafic enforcement on two-lane highways since it is more Ron Harnden is one of three radio dispatchers who work at the Newcastle O.P.P. office. ca ble of going in and out of heavy traffic. ...................~ ADay on IEatro1: Statesman Reporter Finds Police Delivering Summonses and Opera by Donna Fairey of push buttons indicating a What's it like to be a cop? number of different signals After spending a day in a which register at control in Durham Regional Police Oshawa. Rather than lutter cruiser, this reporter knows up the police airwaves, an that not every moment is as officer may push a button exciting and glamorous as one indicating he is by the channel may be led to believe from and available for service watching television's Adam 12 calîs. Likewise. depressîng or Police Story. another button, he may signify To observe Police Week, he is out of the cruiser on a cal which started May 13th, I was in which case he may be assigned to spend a day reached on his mobile unit. researching a story on Bow- The mobile unit looks like a manville's 16 Division. transister radio and is attach As the saying goes, one ed to the officer's belt. should never judge another 'til Sophisticated Radio you've walked in his shoes. I Unlike citizen band radio did the next best- thing and (CB,) withits cluttered rode in his cruiser for the day. airw'aves and flowery jargon, Before I was permitted to police radio is sophisticated in accompany my two host comparison and trans- officers, Constables Mike missions were brief and Marks and Ron Keys, there concise. was but one prerequisite. I Also of interest to me was had to sign an affidavit the radar unit within the relinquishing any claim by me cruiser used for detecting or my estate if I were either cars breaking the speed lîmit. injured or killed while During the day,-I was to get a accompanying them on their live demonstration of how the Several motorists travelling along Highway 401 came into the OPP office for rounds. little gadget operated. some form of assistance. Here, Cst. Chris Johnson takes time out to give this The police kidded me about A hand-held radar scanner man and his wife a helping hand. getting "blown away" in the is pointed toward oncoming line of duty and although I traffic and the speed of a car laughed, stranger things have under surveillance registers happened. After all, I did pick in red digits on the screen of a a Mosport weekend to be out in small square box which rests the cruiser. on the cruîser's dashboard. Tail Gunner The detector returns speed in We left the station at 9:15 kilometers and it was not a.m. and I took up my difficuit during the demon- observation post in the back stration to locate a candidate seat with the two constables to show how the machine riding up front. I felt like tail worked. gunner in a military air craft. Both officers indicated they However, the police had do not have to laborously seek assured me day shift is routine out offenders as there is a and I would probably find the constant supply of speeders at whole experience boring. any given time. I personally Never having been inside a concluded that a great many cruiser before, my first few more speeding tickets could minutes weré spent observing be written up if tîme permit- its interior and all the gadgets tda fie ob sindt it contained. Most noticeable that particular duty. was the fibreglass shield Nollandies which pushed against my My day in the cruiser was knees. When necessary, the extremely warm and sunny shield can be raised to and I soon noticed another not separate the back and front quite so visible feature of the seats, forming an enclosed car. No handle existed with compartment for officer which to roll down the window protection when transporting for fresh air. Well, so what, a less-than-co-operative pas- the first time we stop I will senger. It is most often used just open the car door to cool when an officer is working off. Good plan, but the door alone to safeguard him from handle had purposely been an unexpected occurrence rendered inoperable from the from the back seat. inside and could only be The police radio system is opened by an officer from the Police department secretary, Mrs. Sophy Kalmuk, is fondly referred to as located just below the dash- outside of the car. "den mother too the male staff at 16 Division. board and contains a myriad In effect, once a person is picked up and placed in the back of the cruiser, he is as confined as if hie were locked fup. According to my hostsone or two back seat occupants suffered attacks of claustrophobia or some other mmd altering force, and made fairly successful attempts at kickingoutthe backwindowof the cruiser. Given the right set of crcumstances, anyone may rfancy himself a Houdini. Having been assured pro- bably nothing worth story- telling would happen, 1 settled back in my seat and despite theirassurances, I maintain- ed an attitude of anticipation. . . ... . .. .At 9:20 a.m., five minutes out of the station, we received our first caîl. Employe Missing A local employer had VVVV V.VVAreported an habitually reliable female employee had not appeared for work nor had she called to explain. Knowing Durinethe lady's reliable back- ground, the employer felt something was amiss and Located just outside Newcastle Village off the 401, the Newcastle OPP detachment is responsible for asked Durham Regional tnmal Police to investigate. traffc enorcemnt o Durhm Reion' majo higways nd fr polcingMankilometers. Co andbl itMa wasan not Work Inctudes ating Radar were calm, taking care to log the time of the call on their clip board. I was excited! We proceeded with haste to the address given by the dis- patcher. I waited in the car while the officers entered the building to check the situation. I sat mulling over all the possible explanations, assuring myself that nothing serious happens in Bowman- ville. Ten minutes later the officers made their. exit from the building and commenced to check the parking lot. When they returned to the cruiser they explained that every- thing in the lady's apartment appeared normal and her car was still parked in the parking lot. She nevertheless was *. missing. The. officers again made a notation of the call on their clipboard. They were so calm about the entire situation Durham Regional Police Constable Mike Marks is one of 24 Constables and I wanted to play Sherlock, working out of Bowmanville's 16 Division. The old Bowmanville police force Holmes. They explained noth- went regional January 1, 1974. ing could be done at present since her apartment did not appear disturbed and that we would check back later. Deliver Summonses We proceeded to deliver summonses for traffic viola- tions which is a very un- glamorous and time consuming area of police work. They must be hand delivered to the charged party or a close relative, which often results in several call-backs. I couldn't get the missing woman out of my mind and tried to tell myself I was simply sensationalizing the situation. After all, these men are trained and know what they're doing. We then took up a position on a hill overlooking Martin Road to watch for gravel trucks running withoutLE tarpaulins covering their "ý loads of sand and gravel. It's unlawful to run with an open "2 load as it's hazardous to other vehicles on the road facing the possibility of a piece of gravel penetrating their windshield. No offenders were observed and it was here that I received my radar demonstration. It felt like the days of the old west and we were in ambush. Our Martin Road surveil- lance was interrupted by another call from dispatch. By now I have deducted that our P call numbers are 16-01 sig- Sergeant John McGuey left, and Sergeant John Bird. Both men have been in nifying 16 Division and unit police work for over 20 years. Sergeant Bird is a native of Bowmanville whose one. We are to return to the family settled in the south end of town in 1887. The Bird family, stili occupies address of the missing lady to the same original homestead. determine if an ambulance is required. Again w'rgexcitedion and don't find this at all boring as promised. St made me wonder whatl their idea of interesting would be. We return to the ladyts apartment building and the officers again enter the build- ing. They leave their radio on and before they return I know exactly what occurred inside from listening to messages between the constables and dispatch. Cal Ambulance Only minutes passed before I heard Constable Marks use his mobile radio requesting dispatch call an ambulance for the lady who had somehow mysteriously returned. Their message indicated she required hospital treatment. All I needed to know now was why. The ambulance arrived with 's emergeny lights flashing and the attendants entered the building. The officers exit as their part of Recently selected Durham Rëgional police officer of the year, Detective Turn to Page 8 Ron Parker is the nucleus of Bowmanville's year-old youth bureau. nom s