Beyond the Lights: Citizens’ safety foremost in officers’ minds

This series of day-in-the-life of stories provides a candid look behind the scenes of the Boulder City police officers who protect and serve Boulder City.

It’s the start of spring and the beginning of April 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic nightmare the world is struggling to overcome. For the past several weeks law enforcement officers all over the nation have clocked countless hours ensuring residents’ safety, especially our law enforcement officers in Boulder City. They’ve done it in simple ways, with caring expressions emanating from each thoughtful and kind act, regardless of the personal challenges each one of them may be experiencing due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Here’s a glimpse into their caring acts.

The officer assigned to unit Baker-12 working the day shift on a recent Friday was making a routine business check at the Albertsons ensuring public safety when he noticed a local senior resident struggling with their shopping cart and lends a quick assist using COVID-19 precautions all the way. A good deed well done and safely.

Then there was the motorcycle traffic officer, unit Mary-1, who was out in the downtown and parkway corridors making sure everyone was enjoying a great time outdoors, following COVID-19 social distancing guidelines and adhering to the newly installed 25 mph speed limit within the construction zone along Boulder City Parkway. It’s always with a caring heart that Mary-1 patrols throughout the town, keeping a watchful eye out for the safety of the Boulder City community and others who visit with us.

But of course, there’s always going to be a few defiant someones around, or about 29 of them in a 4½-hour period to be exact, who just have to test the waters. I guess they didn’t realize that Boulder City Police Department’s Mary-1 is the recipient of three Service Awards for Excellence for his outstanding traffic enforcement keeping residents safe during the Joining Forces 2019 campaign, which definitely deserves accolades from all within the community.

It’s not good though for those who like to speed, endangering everyone — nope, not good at all. But, with that said, every ticket issued was done using COVID-19 precautions, with compassion, professionalism, a friendly smile and the quickest write of a cite in the state of Nevada. In all seriousness, all that Mary-1 desires is for everyone to be safe and enjoy this life, which is a gift and not a right. So, remember to simply say thank you or give a head nod with a smile when you see him or his partner Mary-2 out and about town. They’ll know the rest of the story.

Then there was the officer assigned to unit Baker-12 working the graveyard shift, who answered the call of a reckless driver coming through town. He quickly locates the vehicle in question, an older model gray-colored Dodge Charger with a female at the wheel, who for reasons unknown takes off and drives away from the traffic stop at a high rate of speed. Baker-12, thinking of the safety of others out on the roadways and as well as that of this fleeing female, pursues momentarily, lights and sirens blaring and then within a very few short minutes and short distance traveled, shuts down his pursuit. (The whole time waging the safety of others out on the roadways and that of the fleeing driver.)

Off into the highway darkness and over across the state line into Arizona she continued on in that Dodge Charger, but little did she know that Baker-12, his sergeant and dispatch had made sure that every adjacent law enforcement agency would be keeping a lookout for that car and eventually she’d be caught, and hopefully without harm coming to herself or others. This young officer deserves two thumbs up for exercising great judgment in making the call to end the pursuit, to ensure the general public and this community’s safety.

Aly Rashaad is a dispatcher in Southern Nevada. She served as the director of fundraising and marketing for the LASD Road Racing Association for Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, which provided the NASCAR and positive leadership experience to at-risk inner-city youth. She can be reached at Alys.View@ymail.com.