MICHELLE WILLARD, Post Staff Writer
Posted: Wednesday, October 28, 2009 12:15 pm

So far the best and most educational part of the Citizens Police Academy has been the ride-along.

Granted next week, we go to the firing range so my opinion could change by then.

But the ride-along brought the whole picture together. Everything we’ve learned so far was putting into practice during my shift with Officer Curtis Brinkley.

Brinkley is stationed at the January Street Precinct, which is in Franklin Heights Housing Authority.

As a community police officer Brinkley is charged with developing relationships with the residents of the housing projects and keeping the streets crime free.

“It doesn’t get good until after dark,” he said, explaining that’s when he gets out of his car and walks the neighborhood talking with residents.

Brinkley himself has a close connection with the housing project. His grandmother lived there when he was young and he remembers playing on an oak tree outside one of the buildings.

His compassion for the children in the neighborhood and his desire to provide them with a positive influence was evident, even in the short time I spent with him.

Most of my ride-along was spend in the passenger seat of Brinkley’s cruiser. (And yes, it was my first time in a police car.)

We drove the streets between West Main, South Church and Old Fort Parkway – a small area indeed with a high crime problem.

But people were on their best behavior that afternoon. So we ventured out and parked – on the lookout for would be criminals.

Brinkley taught me how to pick out the most minute details on suspicious cars that could lead to a traffic stop.

Sometimes it worked and other times it didn’t, like when a driver gave us the “felon stare” but wasn’t breaking any laws. So on he went.

Another driver was out and about without tags on his car.

After Brinkley pulled him over, a warrant check showed a suspended license and warrant for violation of probation.

So off we went to the Rutherford County Adult Detention Center.

As a side note, I saw the same fellow the next day exiting the county clerk’s parking lot with brand-new tags on his car.

•••

Tuesday night’s class focused on 911 dispatch and the Vice unit.

MPD’s Communications Department is responsible for answering all calls for service placed within the city limits.

Dispatch answered 19,300 calls last year, averaging 3,100 911-calls per month.

When the lines are busy at MPD, callers are shifted to the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Department, then to Smyrna PD and finally La Vergne PD.

Communications trainer Betsy Lee said it happens rarely, but during big events like the Good Friday Tornado and some wrecks at large intersections calls may end up being answered in La Vergne.

•••

Lt. Eric Cook was on hand to explain some of the mysteries of vice work to the CPA class.

Cook wouldn’t go into much detail, because of the secretive nature of the work, but he did touch on the basics.

The Vice Unit focuses on long-term investigations targeting gambling, prostitution and drugs.

Cook said the unit main concern is stopping narcotic traffickers and  suppliers, not street-level offenders.

“We’re always trying to get to the source,” he said.

Vice cases are generally built from informants, surveillance and stings, he explained, adding investigations start at the bottom and move up.

Vice’s good police work has lead to many high-profile cases, like the dismantling of the nation’s largest heroin operation. Click here for more.

Michelle Willard can be contacted at 615-869-0816 or mwillard@murfreesboropost.com.