Officer Ride Along

            I chose to do my officer ride along back in my home town of Saint Charles, Illinois. I was quite excited because St. Charles is not only a bigger town, but a little bit more delinquent than Cedar Falls, Iowa is. I had the pleasure of spending four hours with Officer Kintz, a long time friend of my families and Deputy Chief of Operations at the PD. Officer Kintz doesn't get out and patrol much these days but he was more than happy to allow me to ride along with him. Kintz has been with the STCPD for about 20 years, five of those as Deputy Chief. When I was in elementary school he was actually our dare officer. He stated that he loves his job and is blessed to be protecting and serving such a great town.
          While we were out on patrol, we came across a few interesting encounters but most of the time, we drove around looking for speeders. About thirty minutes into the drive we were called to a suspected DUI where an officer had already been. The lady, accompanied by what looked to be her son was arrested for driving under the influence. From what I could hear and take in, she was extremely intoxicated and an absolute threat to other drivers. A further search of the vehicle would find an open container of alcohol and a bad of marijuana. Kintz said that this is beginning to become more and more of a regular occurrence compared to how it used to be. He had pity for the women but felt good about getting her off the road where she could have harmed others.
        Being that I am extremely interested in a police officers job I began to ask him about the crime rate in Saint Charles and what has begun to take over the arrest logs. He began by saying the high school is becoming increasingly more open to drug dealers and drug arrests. It is a trickle down effect that starts with adults and makes its way to teens, a sad series of events. He stated that a week previous, he arrested three seniors with possession of heroin, cocaine, and marijuana, all on school grounds. Compared to when I was in high school, their is a three hundred and sixty degree difference. He then got onto the topic of heroin which he said is a very big problem in our town and has been getting worse in the last few years. For a regular citizen of STC to hear this, they would never know. Just 2 years ago, Saint Charles was voted the best place in America to raise a family by Family Circle Magazine. Here is the link:

http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/local&id=8238087

        Officer Kintz pulled over a few people for routine traffic stops, all of which were let off by warning. Although we did not have the most busy night, I was extremely happy with the conversation I got to have with Kintz. He is a long time family friend that has always been a respected and genuine police officer. I was able to hear about stuff going on in my town that I would never of known with out having this experience and I am grateful for it.