Answering the call: Scott City sergeant enjoying patrol work on the evening shift

In 2005, Jordan Bain of Scott City was looking for something more than a nine-to-five job. Bain says he was looking for something that would challenge him and not consist of the same duties each day. So in the fall, Bain started classes at Southeast Missouri State University and graduated from the police academy in spring 2006. Almost four years after joining his hometown police force, Bain, now 28, is a sergeant and supervises a number of officers who work the evening shift.

Question: Why did you chose to join the police department in your hometown?

Answer: When I first got out of the academy at Southeast I got a job in Ste. Genevieve County and I was driving back and forth from Benton, which was an hour and 20 minutes one way. A job opened up here, it was closer, so, I applied for it.

Q: Was there a change in position when you joined the Scott City crew?

A: Yes. At Ste. Gen I was a deputy inside the jail and here, when I got hired on, I was a part-time dispatcher and a part-time officer. I'm sergeant for the evening shift now, so my responsibilities are the same as all the officers on my shift except for the fact that anything they do on shift is reported and reports have to be approved by me. I just have to supervise what they do and still answer calls and try and go out and write tickets.

Q: What are you enjoying about your job?

A: Well, there's a big difference. I really enjoy this job more than working in a jail. In a jail you're confined to being inside. Where I worked where there was anywhere from 100 to 110 inmates every day, and that's all you dealt with. On the road when I came down here and became a patrolman you respond to calls -- domestics, motor vehicle accidents, fights. It's a lot different.

Q: Is being a police officer living up to the expectations you had when you first got interested in the career?

A: I was very surprised at how interesting it can get. For instance, I've answered calls like domestic disputes where the husband had taken shots at his wife and then chased her to the station. He pulls up and jumps out with a gun and then you deal with that. I've done everything from write a speeding ticket to pulling a guy over that was transporting a dead guy in the back of his car. It was a legal transport, he was transporting it medically, but he didn't have his vehicle marked and it was very odd the way it was happening. When you walk up on a traffic stop and talk to the driver and you see a dead guy lying in the back seat covered up in a blanket, it kind of throws you off. You never know what exactly is going to happen.

Q: What's the crime rate like in Scott City?

A: It's fairly low. There's little spurts of certain crimes, and sometimes more toward Christmas or the winter we have a lot of vehicle break-ins. Most of the stuff around here is either going to be stealing or domestic disputes. But at the moment, crime has gone down quite a bit. When I started in 2007 we were a lot busier than we are now as far as getting called out to respond to stuff.

Q: What do you consider the toughest part of your job?

A: I think it's kind of challenging in this specific community -- I don't know if it's the same way other places -- because the majority of the people here are OK with the police but then you'll have some people that personally and professionally try and attack your life. But it's part of the job.

Also, we just had a case where somebody reported child abuse. It's hard not to lose your temper on the person who supposedly did it when you arrest them.

ehevern@semissourian.com

388-3635