Police work goes beyond arrests

The day was pretty typical.

There hadn’t been a crime wave in Jay County.

There might have been a deer struck by a car, or there might have been the inevitable backing accident in the parking lot at Walmart.

Anyone looking at the police log for the day might have concluded that local officers had taken the day off. It might have been a jumping off point for stale old jokes about cops and doughnuts or a reference to the police chief on “The Simpsons.”

But look again.

Take another look at that log, and you’ll get a much more accurate picture of local law enforcement.

A typical day will show somewhere between 15 and 25 security checks on the log. And if the police logs in Dunkirk and Redkey and Pennville are added in, there’s a good chance the number could approach 50 in a single day.

There is absolutely nothing glamorous about a security check. No one in Hollywood is writing a screenplay about a police officer doing security checks.

But they are as invaluable as they are unappreciated.

Businesses are checked. Doorknobs are rattled. Is the door even locked? Surprisingly, the answer is sometimes “no.”

Homes are checked, particularly those who have contacted the local police department alerting them they will be out of town.

Gone down to Florida for the winter? Chances are the local police are checking to make sure things back here at home are secure.

That may upset the neighbors’ dogs, but it may also result in an officer finding a package left for delivery at your back door. In that case, the package will probably be taken to the police station for safe-keeping until you are back home.

Schools are checked, and they are checked with regular precision.

None of this will win any headlines. None of it will get the adrenaline flowing.

But it matters.

And local law enforcement deserves a round of applause for making our lives a little safer and our property more secure. — J.R.