The Same, but Different
PICTURED ABOVE
Roll call at the Bowling Green Police Department looks a little bit different in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic as officers practice healthy social distancing while maintaining the same quality service their community expects. (Photo courtesy Bowling Green Police Department)
COVID-19 has led businesses and services everywhere to shutter their doors, but for first responders, that isn’t an option. In a global pandemic, how do law enforcement agencies continue to serve without endangering their health or that of others? Several Kentucky departments are getting creative with what protect and serve means in the wake of this unprecedented virus.
Hopkinsville Police Chief Clayton Sumner said before the first case was confirmed in Kentucky, his staff began observing the spread of the virus and discussing possible changes the department might need to make. Due to the rapid spread of the coronavirus, Sumner said the greatest concern was if one officer contracted it, the entire department could be exposed. With that in mind, HPD took action to distance their officers from one another.
“We are about 80 officers, and our city is about 32,000 people,” Sumner said. “We are not big enough to necessarily have precincts. But the concern was how to mitigate coming into contact with people so often and how to reduce the probability of everybody getting sick at once. We came up with the idea of building a separate police department.”
The city of Hopkinsville owns a sportsplex with a large conference room that wasn’t being used. With a little creativity, desks and a lot of IT work, Sumner said the separate facility was up and running in about a week.
“Everything we can do here (at headquarters) we can do out of there,” he said. “Some of that takes a little creativity. If a detective wants to interview someone, he can wear a bodycam and have the interview recorded.”
The department personnel were divided into two squads, with patrol and detectives in both locations. When one squad is working, the other is off, Sumner said.
Bourbon County Sheriff’s Major Brent Wilson knows the fear of losing staff to the virus.
“We had a possible exposure just last week we were dealing with,” Wilson said. Luckily, it came back negative, but we did have to put our guys off. I almost lost my whole night shift in one fell swoop. We are being as cautious as we can with masks and gloves for the guys, hand sanitizer and multiple cans of Lysol – we are doing the best we can with what we have.”
Maintaining a healthy staff is even more important when there are hungry kids to feed. Wilson said the local school system contacted the sheriff’s office about assisting in meal delivery for schoolchildren who are now at home during meals where they usually are fed at school. The need for lunch deliveries has increased, and Wilson said the department is working to lend a hand.
“We are going to be here for our community and do whatever we can,” Wilson said. “Kids are the most important part of everything we do. We work with these kids in our Shop with a Hero program and lots of programs in our schools, and we are never going to leave them out. We never want to see a kid go without a meal.”
Like Hopkinsville and Bourbon County, the Bowling Green Police Department is going the extra mile to protect themselves and the community. Like many departments, BGPD Public Information Officer Ronnie Ward said the agency is restricting unnecessary face-to-face contact, closing their gym and having cadets routinely sanitize the facility.
“The biggest thing we have tried to relay to the community is that we are making all these changes not just to keep our officers well, but we are trying not to be carriers to take it to other people,” Ward said. “We know it is a high probability that we will come into contact with someone who is sick with the flu or COVID-19, and we are trying not to pass it on. So we are taking extra precautions.”
More non-emergency reports are being taken over the phone. When possible at collision scenes, officers are looking at driver’s licenses and license plate numbers then calling them in and handing motorists the civilian collision report to fill out themselves, Ward said.
On the BGPD Facebook page, a photo of officers social distancing in a local outdoor marketplace for roll call has garnered significant attention.
“Roll call, which is typically held in the building, is being held out in the open air,” Ward said. “The point is, we are still doing the same things we have always done, serving the same we have always served, it just looks different. That was the point of that photo. There is no sense of urgency or panic, we are just trying to let people know we are here, even though things look a little different.”
