POLICE OFFICER

[Music] so [Music] this is what i need peace and quiet no cats no dogs no excitement and no more pictures in the paper oh you didn't see my picture in last week's paper and i guess you haven't heard about my great adventure about how i helped the police wow something's up maybe a 1041 or a 2m1 that's police radio code a 1041 is an accident a 2m1 is a burglary in progress but i hope it's not serious besides the police do a lot more to help us than just arresting people who break the law but that's part of the story i was about to tell you about my adventure with the police department how i got my picture in the paper what happened was this i was out hunting for a wrist watch my owner had lost on his way to school and i wanted to find it bring it home and surprise him but pretty soon i found that his wristwatch wasn't the only thing that was lost i was lost too well i did a dumb thing i ran and the more i ran the farther from home i got soon i was in a strange part of the city and i was scared scared i'd never get home again [Music] finally i calmed down and decided to just sit for a minute and think about what i was doing i figured that someone who could help me was sure to come along sooner or later and soon someone did when i saw it was a police officer my first thought was to run away i was sure he would put me in the dog pound but officer carter was really nice he knew by my collar and tanks that i wasn't just astray he knew i was lost and he knew how to get me home again now that's what i wanted to hear home that's where i wanted to be [Music] using his portable radio officer carter called police headquarters he told them that he had found a lost dog and asked that the animal control officer uh that's what we call the dog catcher in my town meet us at the end of the mall as officer carter and i walk together i learned that he patrols this area of the city on foot he uses his eyes and ears and his police training to spot anything that's just not right anything unusual it could be an unlocked door smoke or flame from an unexpected fire someone planning to break a law or do mischief any potential hazard or danger if someone has been careless about protecting their property officer carter leaves them a small card the card tells them how to protect their property better because as important as investigating a crime and catching a criminal is even more important is preventing a crime well at the end of the mall there was my ride home a bright shiny police car hi dave how you doing great how are you bob oh pretty good where's alice she had to go get a squirrel out of a chimney officer carter introduced me to officer smith officer smith wasn't the animal control officer the animal control officer was named alice but alice i learned was busy getting a squirrel out of a chimney so officer smith had come to get me i had never been in a police car before so i looked it over very carefully this car was equipped with a two-way radio a siren a side door light and on the roof a row of red flasher lights you've probably seen an officer in a squad car at work investigating an accident stopping drivers for traffic violations directing traffic finding and returning home a lost child even a lost dog responding to any call for help a police officer who drives a squad car can patrol a lot more of the city than officer carter who patrols on foot but whether they patrol on foot by squad car motorcycles horseback even by boat all police officers have the same responsibility to protect us and keep us safe by making sure our laws are obeyed every community has laws a law is a rule that must be obeyed a lot of rules i mean laws are right there in front of your nose people through their governments in towns and cities counties and states make the laws they can make new laws or change old laws by obeying the laws of our community we are being good citizens but some people break a law on purpose or by mistake that's why we have police and courts and jails and but i'm getting a little ahead of myself and telling you my story bob i got a call i have to go okay i had hardly settled into the back seat of the squad car when we took off like a rocket i didn't understand all the police talk over the radio so i thought i was being driven home oh that was swell the way we were going i was going to be home before lunch but when we went right past my house i let out a bark and i realized that my adventure was just beginning you see someone had broken the law and someone had called the police for help i didn't know it then but officer smith and i were on our way to the scene of a crime during the night a burglar had broken into this man's door and stolen many things of value officer smith kept the man calm he had to ask the man a lot of important questions soon another police officer arrived at the store he was detective brown an evidence technician his job was to help officer smith find clues that would help identify the burglar or burglars with my eagle eyes and bloodhound nose i decided to help look for clues too police work is teamwork and the evidence technician is a part of that team while detective brown looked for clues inside the store officer smith was talking to the neighbors [Music] inside the store detective brown found fingerprints on the cash register and outside he spotted ordinary things that turned out to be important clues he carefully bagged and labeled everything he found so the evidence could be sent to a police laboratory at the police laboratory the evidence would be used to learn who the burglars were and where the police might find them after spending most of the morning with officer smith investigating that burglary i was beginning to find police work very interesting i had even forgotten that i was supposed to be home i was learning how important police officers are to the safety of our community investigating a crime and catching a criminal was only part of officer smith's job on another day you might find him or any police officer leading a parade [Music] working with church and civic leaders to solve a problem extending a helping hand to a senior citizen teaching junior citizens about our laws how to protect themselves and their property from crime and how to be safe and play safe out of harm's way i could tell that police officers cared a lot about the people they protect well soon we were at police headquarters i was very excited i had never been inside a police station i was just being turned into the lost and found transferred to the care of alice the animal control officer i liked alice right off she loved animals and she had talked to my owner about coming to get me i was glad for that i was sorry to see officer smith go we made a good team but he still had a lot of patrolling to do and since i had to wait for my owner to come get me i decided to do a little patrolling on my own [Music] well in snooping around police headquarters i learned that the police department has three different eight-hour shifts morning afternoon and evening and that police officers work a regular eight-hour day though they usually put in a lot of overtime and often work on holidays it's during the change in shift that the shift commander can inform his men of any special instructions for that day make duty assignments and hold an inspection is uh my collar on straight i was wondering how i could become a police officer when i saw this poster on the wall volunteers needed canine unit now forming learn to track suspects recover crime evidence find lost children wow where do i sign up see sergeant hernandez sergeant hernandez well i thought that poster was meant for me i had sharp teeth a powerful bark a nose for clues and experience what more could they want well a lot more to be a police officer you need a good basic education and you need to pass a lot of tests both mental and physical many try but only the best if you do then you're sent to a school called a police academy the police academy is no picnic the training is long and strenuous it takes hard work and determination to succeed but this is where you learn police work you learn about laws how to investigate a traffic accident how to write up a report how to gather clues and fingerprints how to testify in court and you're trained in survival skills like self-defense and marksmanship [Music] well i looked all over for sergeant hernandez when i found myself outside the communication center i thought maybe i could bark a message to him wherever he was communication center is where all the calls for help are received and recorded when someone calls the police for help a dispatcher quickly sends the closest patrol car to the emergency that's how officer smith and i were sent to that burglary that morning at the same time all other officers in the area are put on alert 301.41m1 at liberty and laurel the people in the communications center also operate an information computer and they monitor everything from the weather to burglar alarms to the jail i had never seen a jail so i decided to go and take a look my nose told me that the jail wasn't on this floor so i headed for the basement the jail was in the basement all right i could feel it the sadness the loneliness i was glad i hadn't been accused of breaking any laws if i had like this man i would be arrested searched questioned by the police charged with breaking that law photographed fingerprinted and maybe maybe locked in a cell a cell like one of these [Music] well that was the end of my adventure i never did find sergeant hernandez so i guess i'll never know if i could have been a police dog but i think i could it wasn't long after alice caught me that my family arrived to take me home i was sure happy to see them all and a reporter from the local newspaper was there too he wanted my picture for his paper [Music] just then officer carter arrived he was going off duty i understand police work now i know how important police officers are in keeping me safe and enforcing our laws it's not a job for everybody but the men and women i met that day sure earned my respect [Music] and that's how i got my picture in the paper [Music] you