Brookhaven Courier

Issue date: 9/24/07 Section: News

Media Credit: Chris Vivero Officer Charles Taylor assists in an arrest.

Risk and involvement best describe the job of a police officer. Police officers are the first to respond and last to leave in any given situation. The police department is the first defensive line in a city and in Farmers Branch the Police Department is located next to Brookhaven College.

Officer Charles Rusty Taylor takes to the streets with pride and a willingness to help. Taylor will have been serving for 24 years this October. He started in 1988 after working as a paramedic for seven years.

The day starts off early in the morning as Taylor sits in on a briefing where officers review what happened the shift before and discuss daily goals. Taylor then does a routine maintenance check of his standard police vehicle to ensure the safest conditions for patrolling the streets.

A particular ride along required Taylor to stop at the service center for all city vehicles to repair a tire before hitting the streets. After the stop Taylor patrolled the school zones as speeding is a high priority next to business alarms going off.

A typical day consists of serving and protecting about 100,000 people including the businesses and factories in Farmers Branch. There are six officers for six beats plus 1-3 supervisors per shift patrolling the streets.

Farmers Branch police are efficient in response times for both non-emergency-response times and emergency-response times. Taylor said from July 2006 to July 2007 the non-emergency-response time average increased 3.55-4.02 minutes but the emergency-response time average decreased from 3.99-3.78 minutes.

The first incident on patrol was Taylor aiding a fellow officer in an arrest. Taylor said the protocol for an arrest requires more than one officer to be at the scene. The person arrested was pulled over for a traffic violation and had no driver's license, which required an arrest.

The next incident was a hit and run accident, which required aiding the citizen involved. Taylor was the first police unit on the scene. The accident was responded to by all three emergency agencies - Fire Department, Paramedics and Police Department. The collaboration between the different agencies provides a fast and safe response to citizens in peril.

The Police Department runs an efficient system to assist citizens and stop crime. The strict enforcement of protocol makes Farmers Branch safer for visitors and residents alike.

For more information regarding statistics or the police department, students can visit www.farmersbranch.info.

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