A cruiser eye-view of communities
Wyndi Veigel-Gaudette igeldette
It’s fair to say I’ve been a police supporter long before ‘Back the Blue’ became popular, and long before ‘Defund the Police’ became an anthem for many cities.
Recently, I took opportunities to ride along with both Dublin PD’s Patrol Sgt. Bonilla and Stephenville’s Narcotics K-9 Officer Colby Stone, and Rollo.
As someone who met Rollo and Officer Stone last summer at the library, I was super excited to get to see a K-9 in action. Rollo was apparently equally as excited since he kept barking every time Officer Stone left the vehicle!
Riding with Stephenville PD also had another mission for me. We have been hearing how short staffed they are, and how, according to the Stephenville Police Association, low pay keeps the city from recruiting and retaining qualified officers.
“We’re exhausted,” Stephenville PD K-9 Officer Colby Stone said on behalf of the Stephenville Police Officer’s Association. “I feel like we’re circling the drain.”
Over the past several months Officer Stone and his K-9 partner Rollo, along with the other officers in the department have been working large quantities of overtime. SPD Command staff has recently been aiding officers on shifts in response to calls.
Why? Since January 2024 SPD has lost 11 officers and five dispatchers, and more may soon be leaving. Short-staffed shifts force officers to work longer hours under high stress, making them more vulnerable to injuries or deadly encounters.
Dublin PD, if you can believe this, has higher starting pay than SPD does and they only have a single officer opening.
On my ride along with SPD which took place in April, the evening started with a high priority call where multiple officers were able to respond only because of shift change. The call came out as an individual with a knife threatening people at a restaurant. In reality, it was a publically intoxicated individual with a knife talking to imaginary people in the parking lot that needed time to sober up in jail.
Meanwhile, other calls were holding and thanks in part to a good working relationship with the Erath County Sheriff ’s Department, officers cleared the board helping constituents inside the city limits.
Shortly after the public intox subject was booked into jail, a hit and run call came out and was responded to.
As a narcotics intervention officer Officer Stone and Rollo’s primary job is supposed to be locating drugs, dealing with drug offenders and drug prevention. The team does this extremely well (attested to by a recent 44 grams of meth arrest), when the department isn’t so short staffed that they are having to constantly answer calls.
Later in the evening while running traffic, a regular expired tag turned into a subject becoming hostile while being detained prior to the K-9 officer being deployed to search the vehicle.
To an officer, I’m sure the wait for backup may not seem that long. To a civilian, it seemed to take forever before backup arrived so the search could begin.
As a civilian (though one that’s spent probably over 1,000 hours in police cars on ride alongs at this point), I had no idea what I could do to help the officer if needed, but I unbuckled my seat belt in case. (This isn’t a rational thought especially since the officer was more than equipped to handle the situation).
Rollo finished his job, alerted and a search was completed, though no drugs were found. A simple ticket for a moving violation was issued. The subject still continued to cuss at the officers and if the officers got Yelp reviews I don’t think he would have rated them highly.
As the night moved on, we ran traffic stops, kept an eye on some high profile areas while keeping an ear to the radio to make sure Officer Stone knew exactly where the other officers were in case backup was needed.
When riding with Dublin last week, the shift started with Sgt. Bonilla responding to a major accident in the county where a patient had to have a tourniquet applied due to blood loss and was airlifted.
The sergeant, ECSO, Dublin EMS, Dublin Fire, Erath Fire and Harbin fire all worked together to save that person’s life.
What if one of those entities was short staffed? The call was literally in the middle of nowhere making the call time even longer. What if there wasn’t enough personnel?
As the shift continued with Sgt. Bonilla, she worked on a warrant service in town with other ECSO deputies, responded to calls and completed various traffic stops (including some 80 mph offenses by the high school that resulted in citations). In a small department, Sgt. Bonilla also handles investigations adding more paperwork to her plate, and pulling her in many directions.
Seeing work on the wreck between multiple agencies and the warrant service only highlighted the need for agencies to work together and for appropriate funding for all.
“We understand this is complicated, we understand it’s not a simple switch,” Officer Stone said on behalf of the Stephenville Police Association.
First responder pay isn’t a new issue. For the majority of agencies – police, fire and EMS – it’s an ongoing problem due to a budgetary ‘pie’ that has to be sliced into too many pieces.
Soon, cities, counties and school districts will enter work on their budgets. If this is a concern for you, I’d encourage you to talk to your elected officials, attend budget workshops and make your voice known. — Wyndi Veigel-Gaudette is the Content Editor for The Dublin Citizen and can be reached via email at composing@dublincitizen.com.