Editors Note: Post reporter Frank Thomas spent July 20 observing Lt. Aaron Maynard, of the Athens County Sheriffs Office. The following is a record of that experience and a look at the situations a patrolman can encounter while on the job.
Lt. Aaron Maynard pulls onto the highway heading toward Coolville with his siren blaring.
We're going to cover some ground here
he says as the needle on his speedometer inches past 80, 90 and finally 100 miles per hour.
Not 10 minutes before the dispatcher radioed him about an active gun call involving two men and a shotgun in Coolville. Deputy Gillette follows behind him as they race down the highway toward the scene.
This is the part Maynard really doesn't like, he says, referring to high-speed drives through traffic where civilian drivers can change lanes unpredictably and cause accidents.
The pair accounts for two-thirds of the force allocated by the Athens County Sheriff's Office for the afternoon shift, which is the busiest - accounting for about half of the calls the office receives each day. For eight hours, three officers, including Maynard, are responsible for patrolling 500 square miles of the county's numerous back roads and hamlets.
Already that day, Maynard had collected statements from people who witnessed a boat theft and surveillance photos of check forgers from a local bank.
He continues down the highway to Coolville, but ten minutes later the front end of his police interceptor begins to wobble. He says it doesn't feel quite right.
Maynard radios deputy Gillette, who is following him, to ask if his car looks all right. Gillette says that it isn't.
Maynard's left front tire has blown at 110 miles per hour, and he pulls off to the side of the road. This is his second flat in two weeks, he says.
Most of the crime in the county results in some way from illegal drugs, Maynard says, adding that residents routinely drive to Columbus to buy heroin that they can then sell for double locally.
Though deputies routinely bust locals trafficking in the drug, most of his arrests come from tips made by other drug dealers and users in the area who have a score to settle.
Violent crime and sex offenses are on the rise in the county, he says. Though this may make it dangerous for deputies in the county, Maynard has worked in dangerous situations before.
He works with the Air National Guard and served overseas in Iraq where he helped transport al-Qaida suspects out of the country.
He also remembers his most frightening situation with the sheriff's office.
Maynard was called to the secluded home of a mentally-ill man in the pitch-black middle of the night. The man charged Maynard from the side as he got out of the car, the man was carrying a dear antler in one hand and a wooden Samurai sword, called a katana, in the other, Maynard says. Even after Maynard hit him with a taser, the man kept charging, he says, adding that it was as close as he has ever come to using deadly force.
Later in the afternoon, after Maynard spends about a half hour replacing his blown tire at a mechanic's shop, dispatchers send him to return a runaway girl to her father.
First Maynard heads to the house where the girl is staying. It is her friend's house and she went there out of fear, she says, telling Maynard that her father is a drunk who abuses her.
Even if he believes the girl, Maynard does not have a choice about how to deal with the situation. While he can suggest that friends or family call children's services, the law requires that police return a runaway to their parents.
After warning the girl that he must return her home, Maynard drives to the father's house.
Gaunt with retracted cheeks and heavily tattooed arms, the father tells Maynard of all the trouble his daughter has caused him, saying that she burned the inside of his car with a lighter and will not obey curfew.
The deputy replies that, though it may be unpleasant at times, it is part of being a parent and something he will have to deal with until his daughter turns 18.
After the father makes it clear that he does want his child home, Maynard goes with him to the friend's house and tells the daughter that she must return.
Quietly, she obeys and gets in the car, refusing to look at her father as she plays with the lock on the inside of the car door. Maynard returns to the road where he responds to another call.
Residents living near and in a subsidized housing complex called the sheriff's office a few hours before complaining of children who were throwing fireworks at cars. Maynard drives to the complex and first visits an acquaintance of his who lives nearby to see if she has seen anything.
His friend tells him that the child's mother is a return customer of sorts. Maynard has dealt with her before on calls, and she's had problems with drugs.
The mother is short with bulging eyes, dirty-blond hair and a frantic manner. Maynard finds the mother in her apartment with door open, and when he says her son has been causing trouble, she responds in disbelief.
Her son is out playing with another boy, and though a cousin of his did give him fireworks, he should have used them up by now, she says.
Maynard informs her that providing fireworks to a minor in any capacity is a crime, and she promises to take care of it, still denying that her son could have any involvement. The other residents are lying, she says.
The deputy does not argue with her, and after a few minutes looking for the boy around the complex, leaves.
Deputies often respond to subsidized housing, he says. Also that day, Deputy Gillette went to the complex to meet a woman who accused a child of stealing $10 from her. During a yard sale, the woman had sold a bike to the boy for $5 and a pack of cigarettes with the promise that he would pay her another $10 later. The boy agreed and took the bike, but never paid the money.
Maynard's final call of the evening comes as a domestic dispute in a trailer park, and all three deputies respond. Halfway to the trailer, the same callers that reported the dispute say the couple have left their home in a car.
Maynard orders the others to split up in the hopes of covering a larger portion of the numerous back roads the couple could have taken, and after ten minutes of searching the highways, Maynard pulls onto a back road where he sees the car the callers described.
He pulls them over, and after the other two deputies arrive, the talk to woman who says that though she argued with her boyfriend, he did not assault her. The young couple began arguing after the girlfriend surprised her partner with two revelations - first, that she was pregnant with his child and second, that she was married to another man.
Because neither person reports violence, Maynard cannot do anything to help the couple except send them on their way.
Later as he is about to complete his shift, he says that sometimes the stream of calls seems endless. He adds, however, that the job satisfies him, and he is glad to help the people that he does.
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Culture
Frank Thomas
