Rexburg's Finest

So Wednesday I did a police ride along with Sargent Schmitt of the Rexburg Police Department. I was honestly not really looking forward to the assignment but it ended up being a lot more fun then I had expected.
First I was shown around the little police station. It was actually kind of cute in a small town (and very Mormon) kind of way. All of the officers had pictures of their adorable little families on their desks and everyone was extremely friendly.
Sargent Shmitt said they had had a very busy night with the plane crash at the Rexburg Airport and two pedestrians being hit on Main street. He's in charge of doing the crime scene reconstruction to determine the speed of the car involved and the angles of the hit and what have you. He showed me his computer program that he does it on. It was pretty cool, and very CSI-esk just on a much lower budget!
After a tour of the station we went out on the streets for patrolling. I must say for such a small town, they sure get hooked up with cars! He was driving a brand new DODGE CHARGER! It was so pimped out on the inside to with all of the cameras and computers and sweet gadgets, I was quite impressed. He said as of now they have two of them but they just ordered a couple more.
Some Background on Sargent Shmitt:
Sargent Shmitt is one of two Sargent's on the Rexburg Police Force. He grew up in Sugar City and then moved to Rexburg after he was married. He has been an officer for 14 years. Spending some of that time working for the county. He loves Rexburg. He says he wouldn't trade living in a small town like this for anything because it is one of the best places to raise a family. When asked what the weirdest thing hes ever seen was he replied "I once got called in to check out a scene where a man had dressed all in women's clothing and make up and then hung himself." (which kind of freaks me out)
If I were to have someone pull me over in Rexburg I would rather it be him because he claims he doesn't really write tickets. "I used to write a ton of them when I was younger, but I guess in my old age I just find it easier to reason with people. Most of the time that works fine." According to Sargent Shmitt, if they aren't nice, the chief firers them because in a small town like Rexburg the officers are expected to be nice! Good to know...
Most of our time was spent just driving around and chatting. He explained that it is hard to be an officer in Rexburg at times because you have to deal so much with people and kids from your ward and hear all of the gossip. He says that can be sad, which I can only imagine. He also told me that there is a lot of "good-ol-boy" type of stuff that goes down here. For those who don't know what that is, it is when police are hush hush about things or don't write something up because it is their old friend or neighbor. Goes to show corruption even exists in the country's "family neighborhood" as Rexburg calls itself.
My ride along ended with one pull over (no ticket) and a harassment call, which Sargent Shmitt says was probably a lie anyways because supposedly the lady who made the call is a drama queen. As he dropped me off he was headed to go find out some information about a fugitive that may be living with an employee at the Dollar Tree.
Overall I learned a lot about Rexburg and what goes on when we aren't looking. Just like any other town there are a lot of drug problems. I also found it that robbery is really bad here! A guy was found trying to break into a girls apartment earlier this week (they never caught him...scary) and there was even a bank robbery a couple years ago! The most interesting thing though that I found out was that campus police are going to be no longer. Turns out it is illegal to have them in the first place because they are church paid and by law "No private company can have its own police force." The campus police had been overstepping their boundaries by enforcing the honercode as well, which happens to be illegal. I found that all very interesting.
I wouldn't mind doing a ride along again someday. It is a pretty cool way to learn more about the ins and the outs of the town, and it honestly gave me a little more respect for police officers here themselves.