Officer enjoys the chance to connect with the people on a small-town police force

Small-town living is perfect for Dustin Jarrell, a 27-year-old Dexter, Mo., native just a few years into his career as a police officer. Although Jarrell began his career as an officer in Cape Girardeau, and then spent a short time in Scott City, his two years in Chaffee, Mo., have been rewarding. As one of five police officers with the Chaffee Police Department, Jarrell is thrilled to be part of a small department focused on prevention and getting to know the town's residents well. It's important to be connected to the residents, Jarrell says, and it's possible in such a small area with minimal crime.

Q: Why did you choose law enforcement as your career?

A: The military, actually. I was in the [U.S.] Army National Guard with the military police and I just liked what I did in the military, so, I carried it over to the civilian world.

Q: What about the military police prepared you for a career here?

A: They prepared me more for combat areas [in the] military, but we did have a section of our basic training in Advanced Individual Training where we learned a lot of garrison work, which is the exact same thing that we do here. It was a lot of fun. That and I went through the SEMO police academy after I got out to make sure I was prepared.

Q: Do you remember the first call you ever went on?

A: It was while I was in Cape [Girardeau]. I had a field training officer and I think my first incident was just a traffic stop. The most memorable one I ever had was someone yelling and screaming at me that I didn't know what I was doing and that I shouldn't be giving him tickets. He was yelling and cussing at me and I was as nice as I could be at the time. I got back to the station and I was called in to the lieutenant's office and he said he received a complaint that I was yelling at this guy. Luckily I had my field-training officer that was there to verify I hadn't done that.

Q: What have your first two years as a Chaffee officer been like?

A: This is a lot calmer town than the other towns I've worked in, but I enjoy it quite a bit. I've worked mostly nights, so I haven't got to meet as many people as I'd like to. I'm currently on light duty, I injured my knee checking an alarm about two weeks ago. I'm not allowed to get out and actually do a whole lot right now.

Q: What's enjoyable about working in Chaffee, a much smaller department than you've worked in before?

A: I've worked in Cape [Girardeau], and I've worked here and working in Cape I was running call to call to call. When I'd get off one incident I'd go to another. Here, you can work an entire shift without getting a single call. It gives us a lot of leeway to do the things we want to work on ourselves. If we want to work a lot of traffic, we can work a lot of traffic. If we want to work a drug investigation we have the time to put in to that investigation. We follow up on all of our incidents here. You're more involved here in a small department than you are in bigger departments.

Q: What's the hardest part of your job?

A: It's really hard to give news that's not good to people. You see things that affect families in adverse ways and there's not really a whole lot you can do to help them. I had to go to a fire not too long ago and I had to tell the people inside that they had to leave their own residence so the fire department could go in. They were in there trying to collect valuables and stuff, and I couldn't let them do that because it's possible for things to come down and hurt them.

Q: Is there a lot of crime in Chaffee?

A: It seems like we have problems with more younger individuals trying to get into ... they'll walk around and commit crimes of opportunity. For example, if they see a car unlocked they'll open it up and get all the change and stuff out. We've been having problems with that type of thing for a long time. Other than that, we're able to prevent quite a bit of stuff that happens here in town. For the most part we don't have a lot [of violent crimes], we have a lot of good people here in Chaffee.

Q: What do you hope to accomplish in your career?

A: Career wise, I just hope to be able to stay with it without getting injured and retire at a decent age and spend time with my family and my kids.

ehevern@semissourian.com

388-3635