It's definitely not your regular nine-to-five job.
The hours vary, the work changes by the minute and the office is the cramped front seat of a Ford Police Interceptor.
"There is nothing average about this shift," said Marshalltown Police Officer Andrew Cole about his 3 to 11 p.m. shift. "You would think with it being a Friday night, we would be dealing with nothing but calls, but we very well could have no calls on a Friday or Saturday night and you would think on a Monday or Tuesday you would be very calm and quiet, but that's when things really tend to pick up. There is no real steady day."
After finishing up some paperwork at the police department, Cole was asked to assist another officer with serving two warrants for residents at the Halfway House, 1401 S. 17th Ave. at approximately 3 p.m. Both females were arrested and taken to the Marshall County Jail by the officer without incident.
Another call came in around 3:21 p.m. for a report of criminal mischief to a vehicle at Mid-Iowa Community Action,1001 S. 18th Ave. Cole spoke with the reporting party about the damage and she showed him a gas cap from a mini-van of the organizations that had been drilled out. Since the damage was under $250, no report was written and he advised MICA to park the van in a more visible area and asked for more patrol around 18th Ave.
Cole said that the police department hasn't seen too many criminal mischief calls lately, but the department has been dealing with a lot of more serious crimes such as copper thefts and the recent string of robberies that hit the area.
"The detective division has worked extremely hard to get those cleared up in the last two weeks," he said.
While stopping for an afternoon snack, Cole explained that technology has advanced a lot since he first started as an officer and it's only continuing to advance toward the future.
"We are able to sit in a parking lot and run radar and work on your report from earlier in the night," he said. "Five years ago those were luxury items to departments."
About 20 minutes later at 4:20 p.m., Cole initiated a traffic stop on a car with a dirty license plate and expired tags at the Git-n-Go parking lot on South Center Street. Officer Cole issued a citation to the driver of the car. Driving north on Center Street near Hy-Vee, Cole noticed a silver Toyota mini-van with expired tags and issued another traffic stop which ended up with the driver having no license, insurance or registration. The plates were removed from the vehicle and the occupants were called a ride.
The MPD patrols Marshalltown in different sections, and Cole served as the "rover" officer for his shift on Friday night. The "rover" assists all other units that are assigned to a certain area and
"That means that I won't have to do any paperwork on my Friday night before I leave for the weekend," he said. "Unless one of those officers in a designated area gets busy with another call, then I will take over his or her area and be in charge until they return from what they were doing."
Cole also said that things are difficult right now because the department is understaffed and for last Friday night, they were at the minimum for the number of officers on that shift which is five.
"We [MPD] have hired three new officers, two of which have graduated from the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy and are in the Field Training Program and we still have one at the academy in training," he said. "The department still has three open positions that need to be filled."
Cole continued to patrol around town and then got a call around 5:30 p.m. at Applebee's Restaurant located on South Center Street for a report of a domestic assault. Cole, and another officer with the MPD and the Marshalltown Area Paramedic Service arrived, but found out that there were no injuries to the victim. Witnesses reported that the victim's ex-boyfriend came in to the restaurant and followed her into the women's restroom where the suspect pulled a stall door off of its hinges. He then fled the scene in a Chevrolet truck. Cole got a report from the Applebee's manager and he said that the door had been fixed and there were no damages.
Cole said that you don't really see domestic disputes take place in public places.
"It's really not common to see that happen," he said. "We do see them a lot at apartment complexes because the neighbor usually hears something going on through the walls or on the next floor."
After leaving Applebee's, Cole was called back out to the Halfway House for a probation violation. The male was arrested and transported to the Marshall County Jail.
Heading back to the police department for the evening, Cole explained the ups and downs of being a police officer and said that the best thing kind of sounds like a clich.
"I really enjoy helping people," he said. "We're not always just out to get people; that's not why people do this job, but that's 99 percent of what people perceive because generally it is a traffic stop that people see us doing."
However, Cole said that issues that involve kids that are the hardest to cope with.
"Walking in to a hospital room and telling a 9-year-old that his grandma died right in front of him in a car accident, taking four kids from a mom because she's got drugs in the house, taking a husband to jail in front of a 6-year-old who's crying because her daddy's not going to be home tonight; all of the family issues are what make this job so difficult," he said.
During four hours of his shift Cole responded to four calls including one domestic assault, one follow-up case and two separate calls to the Halfway House for probation violations, made two traffic stops resulting in fines exceeding $1,000 and made one arrest.
