Police officer helps keep community safe
It may still have the small-town feel, but Logan City police officers definitely have their share of interesting stories to tell.
Officer Steve Labrum has been a part of the Logan police force for five and one-half years now, and said he wouldn’t want to do anything else.
During the few hours I spent with him in his patrol car, I could tell he loves his job and the time he spends helping people.
We started out just cruising the town, looking for anything out of the ordinary. It was still early in the afternoon though, so not much came of our efforts.
“As a patrolman we are basically just subject to radio,” Labrum said. “We look for anything unusual and wait for the dispatcher to call us.”
Instead of driving around, Labrum decided doing traffic stops might be a little more effective. He positioned the car in a church parking lot and got out the radar.
To be honest, I was hoping for something exciting like a high speed chase on Highway 89, instead we sat on a potentially dangerous residential street looking for speeding cars.
We didn’t have to wait long. After calibrating the radar with a tuning fork, Labrum clocked the first driver to pass us at 38 mph – 13 over the posted speed limit.
He flipped on his lights, gunned the engine and sped after the culprit.
“Everyone has a different attitude when you pull them over,” he said. “The important thing is to be consistent with everyone.
“She’s shaking like a leaf,” he said, after returning with the driver’s license and registration.
Labrum said each officer uses their own discretion as to what to write up for, speeding or just a warning.
“Sometimes I feel bad when I pull someone over, but really it is their own fault and they have to pay the consequences,” he said. “I just make sure I treat everyone the same.”
For some reason, while being on the other side of the law, I found the whole situation rather amusing.
“That is because you are not the one being pulled over,” he said to me. “Sometimes we laugh too though.”
In the middle of the next traffic stop, Labrum was called to assist in an accident a few blocks from where we were.
As exciting as speeding through town is with the lights flashing and siren blaring, I sure was surprised to see how horrible people are at getting out of the way.
Labrum came to a complete stop in most intersections and a guy in a truck was quite adamant about getting through the light even while the police car was trying to proceed.
“Yeah, most people are terrible at getting out of the way,” he said.
The accident turned out to be a three car pile-up and one of the passengers was taken away in an ambulance from what looked to be a case of whiplash.
The most exciting part of the accident had to be all of the paperwork. If there is one thing I learned during my day with Labrum it was a dislike for forms and paperwork.
He carries a stack of clipboards in his back seat and each has a different form for a victim or perpetrator to fill out.
“We have quite a few secretaries at the station to help us out, but we still have to do a lot of it and it takes up the majority of our day,” Labrum said. “Normally, we have about an hour or so of paperwork to do after an accident like this. It isn’t anything like what you see on Cops.”
Thankfully he put the extra work off so we could see a little more action.
Soon after leaving the site of the accident, a call was heard on the radio to investigate a report that someone saw what seemed to be an elk in the back of a van.
Labrum took the call because it sounded
interesting.
“I like change and variety. I think that is why I like the job so much,” he said. “Just when you think you have seen it all, someone surprises you.” The report of an elk turned out to be a family taking a bunch of sheep to be slaughtered – so no arrest for poaching.
Labrum said he enjoys his job every day, but sometimes it can be hard to see what he sees.
“You hate to see people hurt in traffic accidents. The worst part is domestic disputes. The families just hurt each other and we show up to try to help,” he said. “Unfortunately all we can do is take someone away or stop the fight, but that doesn’t mean it is all over.”
Although burglary is the most prominent offense in Logan, Labrum said he has seen almost everything.
“Short of shooting someone, I have done or seen the worst part of the job,” he said. “Up until now things seem to have gone our way so I haven’t had anything really bad happen. Let’s hope it continues that way.”