Week 3

In this past week I finally got the ride alongs that I had been hoping for and they were very interesting and eye opening. They were eye opening because I realized how dumb some people can be and also how interesting it seems to be a police officer. With all the different details and not knowing what will happen when you make a stop seems like something I would definitely be interested in doing. Before working at the police station I don't know if I ever would have thought about being a police officer, but now I am very intrigued.

Day 14

today was the last day I would be at the police station. I walked into an empty office because jill was taking a long weekend for Memorial Day and jason was in court. However they did leave me plenty of dispositions that needed to be entered which took me until jason arrived with more cases to break down later in the day.

Day 13 part 2

Today after my normal time at the prosecution office I was scheduled for my last ride along. Today I was with officer verdonck. Her and I were on the red light detail which meant we were mainly focused on people that went through red lights. We were parked in a school parking lot next to a light where there was a sign that stated no right on red, but even with us being within 50 feet of it people still went right on red. it was funny when officer verdonck would come back to the car and tell me that they denied doing it or that they didn't know they couldn't even though it was clearly stated they couldn't. Also they went through the red light without even stopping before going right which made it worse for them.

Day 13 part 1

Today I was met by a stack of papers when I walked into the office. I started writing the dispositions into the computer and then filing them away. Also I had to make title pages for Jason's upcoming court dates. I have pretty much fully caught jill up with all of her extra work which is helpful for her now being able to spend more time on cases. There's a new intern who will be taking my place from unh who will be able to help jill for the rest of the summer.

Day 12 part 2

Again today in order to make up for missed hours I was scheduled for a ride along 4-8 this afternoon. Today I was with officer Owen. We drove around for a whole and then dispatch called for our assistance in a chase that the spd had been involved in earlier in the day where they had to call off the chase because the car was going around buses so it was too dangerous to continue perusing the guy. This time however they weren't going to let him get away. Us along with most of the other officers on duty at the time rushed to the border of Methven mass and Salem where the suspect was headed. Unfortunately for us the mass state police got the guy to turn into a dead end road where he was apprehended. The rush of hopefully being part of catching the guy was crazy. It would have been awesome had he made it to salem because they had a spike strip ready to throw out at his car. Luckily though a dangerous man with any illegal weapons charges was taken off the streets.

Day 12 part 1

Today when I arrived at 8 there was a stack of papers that needed to be entered into the computer then filed away and a folder that I needed to scan for Jason because of a discovery request. Then I did most of the same the rest of the day in the prosecution office. For the most part Jill and I have caught up with all the dispositions and filing.

Day 11 part 2

because I missed some hours I will also be doing ride alongs 4-8 after I do te normal 8-2 with the prosecutor. While on the ride along I had the chance to ask the officer some questions. I asked about trends that he sees in people and crimes and he told me that heroin is the most common thing he sees now.  There were 3 heroin overdoses in Salem this past weekend and 2 were fatal. I also asked about what it is like to be a police officer and he said that it's fun, exciting, and sometimes scary because you never know what's going to happen when you make a stop, but he says that he really enjoys it. When j asked if people often leave for later cities he said that more often than not Salem cops won't leave because they are in the top 5 biggest agencies in New Hampshire so there's no need to. He also said he tries to leave work at the door so he doesn't stress while he's at home trying to be a regular person. He also said its hard to be a regular person outside of the police department because if he were to mess up and get arrested then I would be big news that a police officer was arrested. He said he is able to leave it at the office, but is always watching his back and checking oncoming cars for their stickers just out of habit.

Day 11 part 1

Today I was greeted to the regular stack of paperwork that needed to be filed away and entered into the computer. It was dispositions and discovery packets that needed to be entered and then sent out.

Day 10

agter arriving today I had a stack of paper that needed to be entered into the computer to find the arrest numbers for the cases. I had to search the names through the records and try to match the people to a charge that came up for them. Also I was doing the regular disposition entering so that Jason and Jill won't have to catch up on them when I leave.

Week 2

This week I learned how important it is for the officers to be close knit with each other. At the award ceremony the chief of police spoke about how close the spd is and how important it is to have the support from your fellow officers and their families in case there is a tragedy that happens. Luckily there has not been a tragic incident in Salem in recent history. The paperwork that Jill and I have been going through has started to get close to the end so hopefully by next week we will have it all finished so that they don't have to worry about catching up on any more work.

Day 9

Today I was working through my usual paperwork when Jason offered to teach me something new that I have never done before. What he was going to teach me is how to do discovery folders for the defense attorneys. He also showed me the printer that they use in order to save paper so they can save money and trees. The printer they use will copy what he wants to and instead of printing it out it will send it in a PDF to him so he can email it. However if the defendant is not using an attorney he will print it out and leave it for them with dispatch so they can come pick it up.

Day 8

today was an interesting day. After arriving at 8 and starting my usual paperwork I was invited to go to the spd award ceremony where they had awards for officers and workers to show appreciation to them for all their hard work. Also today I attended court with the prosecutor. While there I watched his him and the police officers handled the criminals. I also got to meet the judge after the court was out. Also, I had the chance to ask about what Jason's thoughts were on deflategate (Brenda gave me the idea) and he said he strongly disagreed with the decision based off of a lack of evidence and how what the nfl came out with would not stand in a court of law.

day 7

Today when I arrived I got right to work on more paperwork. I was doing the usual grind of entering it into the computer and then filing it away. I did also get some pictures of the office where I am working from. 

Day 6

Today was much of the usual paperwork. I had to file it away and put it into the computer. I did ask Jason how he can deal with some of the people that get arrested because some of them don't even admit to what they did even when there is video evidence. He said he was surprised that they wouldn't admit to it either. It is also surprising how bad some of the decisions these people make are. It is hard to believe someone could do some of the things that they do.

Day 5

Today when I arrive to the prosecution office of the Salem police department I was again greeted by a stack of paperwork that needed to be added into the database and then filed away. I got right to work and had all the dispositions written and all the paperwork filed away by the time I left at 2. Jason the prosecutor was in court most of the day because Monday's are one of the busiest days there for him with arraignments. Some of the dispositions I was writing today were from several years ago which proved how much harder Jason's job has gotten since the town reduced the number of prosecutors to one.

week one

This week I accomplished work that would have taken up some of the prosecutor, Jason's, time which he unfortunately does not have enough of.  I do wish I could have done some more fieldwork where I could have actually been out in the cars with the officers, however Jason had enough work to keep me busy which made my time enjoyable.  I did not have any complications I didn't anticipate besides a scheduling error that left me at home all day on Tuesday.  In the coming weeks I would like to continue helping Jason and his assistant Jill with their abundance of work, but also would like to be on more ride alongs.

day 4

Today when I arrived at the police station at promptly 8 AM I was greeted to a stack of files that needed to be put into the computer for the database and then filed away to the filing cabinets.  I got right to work wasting no time putting in the dispositions of all the cases that the prosecutor had waiting for me.  In case you don't know what disposition is it is the final sentence that the court places in a case.  In most of Jason's cases he proves the person to be guilty, however sometimes he nolle prosses them based off the severity of the crimes.  A nolle prosse in Jason's case, is when he wishes to discontinue with a charge.  When he nolle prosses someone however he must consider their previous record to see if he can trust them to not do the same thing twice.

day 3

Today when I arrived at 8 this morning I was put right to work in the prosecution office.  I worked with his assistant, Jill, by going over folders of information of past arrests and learning how to properly organize them in case, Jason Grosky, the prosecutioner needs to review them again.  I learned that Jason the prosecutor is grossly over worked because of budget cuts that saw the number of prosecutors in Salem go from 3 down to 1.  However, Jason embraces the challenge because he thinks that people should be held accountable for their actions and he wants to make sure that happens.  He has incredibly long lines of people waiting for him at the court house when he is there and he somehow manages to follow through with everyone making sure that their case is handled correctly.  Officers throughout the station agree that Jason is one of the hardest working men they know and think that he doesn't get enough credit for all the work that he does.

Day 2

Today I arrived at 8 AM where officer Sean Wilson was waiting for me to bring me out in his cruiser for a ride along.  We drove around for a while and I was able to ask him some questions.  I asked him what his thoughts were on the recent events involving police officers.  He told me that there are most likely some bad cops that make decisions that shouldn't reflect the rest of the police officers that are making the right choices.  When I asked him about his thoughts on the body camera's that might be introduced to police officers he said he didn't think that would solve many issues because of the way the media can manipulate the video footage.  He brought up an instance he knew about where an officer with a body camera got in trouble for striking a handcuffed individual after the person in cuffs had grabbed his private parts.  In the video however you could not see the perpetrator grabbing the officer so it looked like he struck the prisoner for no reason.  After talking for a while we made our first stop.  It was on someone who had blown through a stop sign.  When officer Wilson approached the car he touched the back of the car with his fingers on his way to the driver's window.  When he returned to the car I asked why he had touched the car like that and he told me it is something most officers do so that if the car gets away, but is found they can check the back for fingerprints in order to link the car to the officer.  We then went to the Manchester Police Department to pick up a prisoner who had a warrant out for her arrest in connection to a robbery in Salem.  I then learned that when a male officer picks up a female prisoner he has to call in the mileage on his car before he leaves with her and then call the mileage back in on his car when he arrives at his final destination so that if there is any accusations against him they can check the miles of the route he took and compare it with the miles on his car so that if he went say 6 extra miles then something could have happened, but if the miles check out then they will know it was a false accusation.  Also he showed me how the computers in their cars work in terms of searching license plate numbers, however I was not allowed to look at peoples information because of legal issues that could come up if I did.

Day 1

Today was my first day working with the Salem Police Department.  At 8 this morning Officer Dan Nelson met me at the police station where we then went to the Salem court house for a tour of that because I will be spending most of my time there this week.  Because I haven't spent time in a court room before we sat in and listened to cases for a while so I could see what it is like.  While the judge put the court on recess we talked about my plan for the week.  Most of the cases we sat in on were Class A misdemeanors that had been committed in Salem.  None of the people charged were sentenced with jail time, instead they were given hefty fines.  Most of the people were there due to drugs and alcohol, which made me realize how naive I was about big of a problem drugs and alcohol were in Salem.