ROOKIE COP: `I'M NOT WEARING THE BLACK HAT'

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- Ken Rinehart enjoys the action, excitement and opportunities to deal with people that come with his job as a police officer. But he doesn't like the way some people assume police officers are "stone cold" and anxious to make an arrest.

Rinehart, who joined the Cape Girardeau Police Department in November, said he is bothered by the stereotype many people give officers.

He said: "If you go into a place to eat in uniform, you see parents with children acting up and overhear them saying, ~`If you don't behave, I'll have that police officer arrest you.' It makes you feel like the bad guy, and I'm not wearing the black hat. I don't want to be used as an edge with parents."

Rinehart has a Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) certification that took him into classrooms often when he was a member of the Stoddard County Sheriff's Department for three-and-a-half years. He does not perform that job in Cape Girardeau, however.

When he spends time with kids, Rinehart says he tries to make the point that police officers are not bad guys and really want to help people, not hurt them.

At 5-feet-6-inches tall, most people would never think of Rinehart as a police officer when he's out of uniform. He said he likes to talk with people and many people wave when they see him. That makes him happy.

"We're not stone cold," said Rinehart. "Most people I deal with respect the authority."

Having good people skills is important to a police officer, he stressed.

"It's a pretty exciting job and I enjoy dealing with people, but there are some drawbacks because, when you deal with some of the people, you catch them in their worst possible mood. Usually they have had something taken from them or are having a problem with someone else.

"You have to keep a neutral attitude and be understanding and sympathetic so people know you will try to find what was taken. In a dispute, sometimes we have to take a firm stance; we don't want to be a referee but want to keep problems from becoming worse."

He described a police officer's role as one that changes from that of a coach, referee, counselor, and sometimes a doctor. Another important part of a police officer's job is being able to write reports.

"If you do something that takes you an hour, you can look for it to take one or two hours to write it out and explain it. You have to be able to put down on paper what you saw and encountered."

He said, "A lot of people think you can just pin on a badge and become a police officer, but it's not that way." Rinehart has over 450 hours of documented classroom training. He said most officers want all the training they can get.

"When you are dealing with people and giving advice, you want as much training as you can get because you don't want to give people bad advice. You have to be real careful about how you give advice and talk to people because it only takes one bad officer to reflect bad on the whole force."

Knowing how to deal with people is particularly important when dealing with domestic disputes. "If you know your job, and can handle people and never let them intimidate you, that is important. If you act in a professional manner, you generally won't have a problem with people."

He said, "There is always somebody that is going to test you, and we are taught, if outnumbered, always call for back-up." Rinehart said failing to call for a back-up is referred to as "tombstone courage."

Based on an experience he had while working in Stoddard County, Rinehart made the decision to seek additional medical training to become a first responder. He recalled a train accident several years ago involving children, and how much that bothered him. "When I got to the scene, I seemed helpless," he said. Dealing with injuries of small children is one of the worst parts about the job.

Rinehart had an opportunity to use his medical training his first day on the job in Cape Girardeau when he and another officer responded to a heart-attack patient. They arrived before the ambulance and the woman had no pulse. After administering CPR, she was revived.

Rinehart's interest in law enforcement dates back to when he was in high school. After reaching the age of 21, he worked part time as a deputy and eventually became full time. He then gave up his partnership on the family farm near Essex, where he farmed with his father and brother.

"Once you are interested it is like a bug gets in your system and you keep trying to get more of it," said Rinehart, 27.

After his employment in Stoddard County, Rinehart sought to move to a larger department and the security it can offer. "Cape seemed like a good place to plant roots and for my wife and I to raise our family," he explained. "Cape is a very professional department and I enjoy working here."

As a rookie police officer, Rinehart is on probation for a year. For the first 45 days he was accompanied by a field-training officer, a veteran who assists in training and provides weekly critiques.

"Once you satisfy him you are ready: you are put on the road alone, and for the remainder of the year, are watched very closely."

The small amount of territory in Cape Girardeau, compared to Stoddard County, is a big difference for Rinehart. In Stoddard County they had 30,000 people over an 868-square-mile area; here there are 35,000 people in a 20-square-mile area.

He said, when confronted with a problem in Stoddard County, you were pretty much on your own. "If you did need help, it would take 30 minutes to an hour to get it; but here, if you need help, you can get it in a minute. That's kind of a comfort to me."

Where there might be four patrol cars on the street at night in Cape Girardeau, there was only one on the road at night in all of Stoddard County. His first night here, Rinehart got a taste of action: there was a shooting on North West End Boulevard, and for several hours he had to lay in the wet, cold grass staking out a house. "There is a lot more action here it's more exciting," he said.

Rinehart said he is proud he has never had to use his gun as a law officer, and hopes that record continues. "I took this job to serve and protect and render assistance to the public, not to take human life. The biggest reward of my job is to save a human life rather than to take it.

"A lot of people think you pin on a badge and shoot bad guys, but you just can't shoot somebody that runs. We have a lot of foot races here."

Above all, Rinehart said an officer must be able to laugh and have a good sense of humor, especially with all the jokes that are made about officers. "You have to be able to laugh," said Rinehart. "If you get too tense, the pressure will eat you up."