Ride-alongs give inside look into deputies' work lives

Editor's note: This is the last story in our nine-part series on the Sheriff's

Citizen's Academy.

Drug busts, domestic disputes, attempted suicides, and even herding cows off the road — you name it, chances are Lake County Sheriff's deputies have seen it.

And so have some civilians.

As part of the Sheriff's Citizen's Academy, participants were allowed to go on a ride-along with a deputy to get an inside look into the deputies' daily lives. Ride-along programs are sponsored by law enforcement agencies throughout the country in an effort to teach the public about what officers go through each day, establish better relationships with the public and allow the public to see how their tax dollars are being applied.

For Citizen's Academy participants, it was a chance to see just what deputies have to deal with on a day-to-day basis, and the results were eye-opening for many.

One got to witness a drug bust on Finley Point, while two others arrived at the scene of two separate attempted suicides — one by hanging, one by rifle. Others watched deputies investigate armed robbery scenes, while some got to see DUI arrests.

The county's continued domestic violence problems were an everyday occurrence for most deputies, who had to separate husbands and wives, girlfriends and boyfriends, and even moms and daughters. Routine patrol included herding cows off the road and settling neighbor disputes over barking dogs — an increasingly common headache, Lake County Sheriff Bill Barron told participants.

Whatever the deputy participated in, the civilian accompanied him or her to, including shooting simulation training to better prepare deputies for scenarios they might encounter on the job, and sexual harassment training.

As part of the Academy, each participant gave a brief synopsis on their ride. One theme that was shared over and over again is just how unresponsive drivers were when an emergency vehicle pulled up behind them en route to a scene. According to many of the participants, area drivers rarely pulled over as soon as possible, causing delays in response time. (Drivers can be cited for failing to yield to an emergency vehicle, but it's an option deputies rarely have time to exercise if there's a true emergency they are responding to.)

Many of the scenes participants described were almost humorous, but also demonstrated how much taxpayer money is wasted by petty neighbor disputes, barking dogs and folks' inability to just work things out when emergency personnel respond.

Deputies and an ambulance responded to a residence in Charlo when an elderly man accidentally set his medical alarm off. He arrived at the door, surprised to find deputies, emergency medical technicians and a Highway Patrolman in his yard, all responding the false alarm.

"He kept saying, 'I'm fine, I'm fine.' I don't think he even realized he had set it off," Academy participant Diana Doyle recalled. "He said, 'Oh, I just bumped it (the alarm).'"

Doyle, who, as the wife of lead detective Jay Doyle, is more familiar with day-to-day law enforcement efforts than most civilians, but said that still didn't prepare her for a call that she and Deputy Luc Mathias responded to. After a report of a man who had been shot at a rest area outside of Missoula came through, Mathias and Doyle spent four hours searching houses between St. Ignatius and Ronan, where the suspects were thought to have been.

At each site, Mathias, Barron and a Highway Patrolman would approach a house, not knowing if a homicide suspect was inside, while Doyle waited in the vehicle. No suspects were discovered, but the situation was tense at times, Doyle said.

"That was kind of scary. They had other officers as back-up, but it was scary," Doyle said.

Doyle's experience underscored that of many other ride-along participants — that at any time, a deputy could be placed in an emergency with a civilian in the passenger seat. As such, most of the participants reported receiving a "here's what you do if something happens to me" speech from the deputy.

Instructions included how to use the radio to call for help, which radio channels go to specific emergency personnel, having an escape route, and what to do if a deputy was injured. A Leader reporter was instructed to unbuckle his seat belt during each traffic stop in the event something happened to the deputy, and told to run into the woods and hide if a traffic stop turned violent.

None of the participants experienced any emergency situations, but plenty saw the effects of emergencies that deputies had to deal with. The attempted suicide scenes were especially emotional, two participants said.

"I'm a nurse so the blood didn't bother me, but it was just seeing the family photos there (in the patient's house) that was so sad," Judy Bracey recalled after her ride-along experience, which involved an attempted suicide with a rifle.

Like most of the participants, the rest of Bracey's ride-along with deputy Becky McClintock was less eventful. They responded to an attempted break-in at an elderly woman's house in Charlo, and a report of two boys fighting.

"Basically, we got recordings of both boys saying it was the other person's fault. The dad wanted to file a complaint, saying his boy was attacked, but he kept changing the boy's story," Bracey said. "(McClintock) took photos of the torn clothing and the blood on his face (for evidence)."

Bracey said she was impressed with the lengths officers from different departments go to to help each other out.

"The thing I learned the most was camaraderie. When they called for back-up, you have everyone who is available (respond) within minutes. I thought that was cool, because you assume there would be jurisdictional things — you know, turf — but they really help each other out," Bracey said. "That was really neat."

The ride-along opportunity was just one aspect of what participants said was a very informative classroom experience.

"I think it's very good for the public. I wish more people would take the class. I kind of know what they (Sheriff's deputies) do, but it's really different when you take the class and you get to see just what they go through," Doyle said.

The Lake County Sheriff's office is taking names of folks interested in signing up for next year's class. If you are interested, please call the Sheriff's office at 883-7301 and provide your name and phone number or address. You will be contacted next year when the class is scheduled again. There are a limited number of spaces available, and each participant will undergo a background check due to the sensitivity of some of the information presented.