Steven Mattson
Dr. Lee Vigilant
SOC 352
25 February 2010
“The Beat Sounds Good In My Police Car^:” Ride Along with Maplewood Police Department (MN)
Introduction
Maplewood, MN is a suburb to St. Paul on the northern and eastern sides in an L-shape. It has a diverse population of roughly 35,000 people with a police department that has 55 sworn officers. The majority of the population is white people but there are also a lot of black and Asian people who make up the population as well. I chose to ride along with this particular police department because I wanted to see how the police interacted with its citizens and how the citizens interacted with the police department.
Research Objective, Methodology, and Ethics
The method I used to gather my data was unobtrusive observations. Regarding citizens, I felt as though I was a complete observer because I was only looking at the situation without actually saying or doing anything to contribute to the situation. Regarding the police, I felt like a participant as observer because we would have conversations regarding what had just happened so that I could ask questions and learn from it. Since I worked alone on this assignment, there was only theory triangulation between me and the police officer I was riding with, which raises a couple of ethical concerns. First, by working alone, I am setting up the possibility of misinterpreting what I have observed. This may lead to inaccurate findings and results in my conclusions since there is not a second observer working with me to compare ideas with. Second, having conversations with the police officer about what I observed could also lead to misinterpretations in the results. One other possible ethical concern was the possibility of me observing someone that I knew during the course of my research. I have spent the last 16 years growing up in Maplewood and the first 5 years of my life in St. Paul. There is always that chance that someone I know will see me observing and then come over and ask me what I am doing which will interfere with being unobtrusive.
Results
This ride along with the Maplewood Police Department began on Saturday, February 13, 2010 at 5:00 p.m. and ended on Sunday, February 14, 2010 at 3:30 a.m. I chose for a weekend day because there is usually a lot of activity during the daytime and nighttime hours and I wanted to observe both day and night interactions between the police and the public.
The evening started off with me getting into Sgt. Kevin Johnson’s Ford Explorer police cruiser and immediately there was a medical call at the Ramsey County Workhouse facility about 8 miles across town from the police station. Johnson is a white male, approximately 35 years old, 6’2”, 200 pounds, which is the description of an average police officer. Once inside, we started with lights and sirens down the streets. The streets we took had posted speed limits of 35 to 40 miles per hour and traffic for this time of day on a Saturday was light which allowed for us to travel at speeds of 65 to 70 miles per hour safely. Johnson was very cautious at major intersections though and slowed down to make sure other vehicles were not coming through the intersection at the same time. Since traffic was light, we were able to get to the destination within 10 to 15 minutes. The county workhouse is located in Maplewood’s southern side and is on a large plot of land surrounded by 4 foot high wire fences. On arrival, there were two ambulances that had already beaten us to the scene. Apparently, there was an elderly man who was suffering from chest pains and believed that he was having a heart attack. Since the ambulances were already there, the paramedics were already inside taking care of the situation so we were cleared.
Next we continued with a random patrol of this portion of the city. It was mostly neighborhoods containing single family homes that were either rambler type houses or two story houses which are characteristics of a middle class neighborhood. On the busier roads, there were cars for sale at the end of driveways. These cars were roughly anywhere between 10 and 20 years old and were in decent looking condition. No major dents or glass broken or rust. We drove to a small town that neighbors Maplewood called Landfall. Landfall has a population of about 700 people and that city contracts with Maplewood Police Department for police services. This town is very small and a large portion of it contains a trailer park, which signifies a lower class neighborhood. While driving through these streets, there were several things that were notable. The maintenance of these mobile homes was sub-par. Instead of replacing broken windows, pieces of plywood were nailed over them. Many screen doors had large rips in the screen. The vehicles parked near most of these places were not in good condition. A lot had some dings and dents. A few had severe damage and looked as if they had been parked there for extended periods of time. All of these things reinforce a neighborhood with low socioeconomic status. As we were approaching a car that two Hispanic men were working on, they stopped what they were doing to talk to us. Both were wearing blue jeans with various oil and grease stains on them and were wearing heavy winter jackets. Both had a look of concern on their faces when they approached the police cruiser. Johnson initiated a conversation asking how things were going and what they were up to in a friendly manner. The look of concern switched to a look of excitement and they were happy to explain how they were and that they were replacing a fuel line on their car. After this conversation we continued on and returned to Maplewood.
We continued a random patrol of Maplewood and were heading a little more north this time. This particular neighborhood had some local businesses in it and traffic was a little heavier than what we had experienced. Most of the cars that were being driven in this area were roughly 5 or 6 years old and most of the drivers were white male and females. The types of cars that were most common were SUV’s and 4 door sedans.
Eventually, we were called to a domestic disturbance located about a half a mile from the police department which was roughly 6 miles from our current location. Johnson activated the lights and sirens in the cruiser and we proceeded across town. Along the way, cars were quick to pull to the side of the road and stop to yield to his vehicle. Johnson was still very cautious when passing through every major intersection looking for cars before going through. This proved to be a great precaution because about a quarter of a mile from the destination, a white male driver of an extended cab pickup truck almost ran a stop sign. As we were approaching the intersection from the east, he was approaching the intersection from the north. He did not look to the east right away but looked to the west first and then started to pull into the intersection. He slammed on the brakes after a quick look to the east and saw us coming with lights on. He looked shocked as we drove through the intersection. We finally reached the residence of the domestic disturbance and we approached the front of the house from the street. In front of the house, there was a group of 5 people, all were white, there was 3 males and 2 females. Immediately I recognized two of the people as the parents of a high school classmate of mine, although they did not recognize me. All were dressed in casual clothing and were not wearing any jackets. They were wearing blue jeans and either long sleeve shirts or sweatshirts. There was also a dog wandering around the property and came up to greet us as we approached the group of people. Each of the 5 people was engaged in an argument with one another and the issue was apparently the dog. No one was physically touching each other but they were raising their voices at each other and making hand gestures such as pointing. Johnson took charge of the situation and had everybody calm down. At this time, back up had arrived which consisted of one squad car with two officers. The two officers were younger than Johnson, one was a white male and about the same weight and height as Johnson and the other was an Asian male and was a little bit shorter and appeared to be lighter than the other officer. Johnson took 2 of the family members aside while the other two officers talked to the 3 other family members to figure out what the situation was. Between the two groups, the raising of the voices had stopped and they were now speaking in a calm matter about the situation. After a few minutes of talking in separate groups, the officers formed their own group again to discuss the situation. The problem was that one of the family members had brought the dog home as a stray which had upset more than one of the other family members. What caused the disturbance was that the dog pooped on the living room carpet, which further upset the family members that were already upset that the dog was there to begin with. Eventually, an agreement was made about the dog and we were able to leave the scene without any incidents.
We drove away from the domestic and noticed that cars were still pulling over as we were driving. Johnson noticed that he had forgotten to shut off the overhead lights. It was nice to see that people were still yielding to emergency vehicles. Other things I noticed while riding around was that we were never passed by another vehicle. Cars were obeying the speed limit and seemed to be extra cautious while around the cruiser. I noticed that white drivers would try and make eye contact with me and with Johnson while drivers of Asian descent and black drivers did not actively try to make eye contact. Maybe this is a cultural difference between white people and Asians/blacks. With white people, there is not the generalized fear of the police that exists among black people and Asians. Avoiding eye contact may be a sign of fear of an authority figure.
We continued patrol of Maplewood. We patrolled the parking lots of the Maplewood Mall, which is a large mall similar in size to that of West Acres Mall in Fargo, ND. While driving through these lots, there was a call at a bar that was across the street from our current location. The call was of a guy who was refusing to leave the bar and the owner wanted him to be trespassed. When we got there, I stayed in the car for my safety and Johnson called for backup before going inside. While he was inside, backup arrived which consisted of two additional patrol cars, one of which was at the domestic disturbance, and the other which consisted of one officer who was another white male in his 40’s average build. While they were exiting their vehicles, Johnson exited the bar with two people, one was the bar owner who was a white male in his 50’s below average size who appeared to be upset. The second was the person refusing to leave who was a black man who was approximately 6’4” and was very muscular and could easily weigh close to 300 pounds. He was dressed very nice and was wearing a lot of jewelry symbolizing middle or upper class status. Once the black man saw the additional police officers heading towards his location, he became very cooperative with both the owner and Johnson.
While this situation was coming to a close, I, along with Johnson and the other officers noticed a white male in his 20’s wearing casual clothes bolt from the entrance of the bar into the parking lot being chased by a bouncer who was a white male also in his 20’s but slightly larger than the man he was chasing. The white male who was running from the bouncer immediately stopped running once he saw the 4 police officers and 3 police cars already in the parking lot. Johnson left the black man with the other 3 officers and let them handle him while he figured out what was going on with the other man who was running. Apparently, he tried to buy alcohol with a fake 100 dollar bill and ran when the bouncers questioned him about it. This guy ended up getting arrested and I helped Johnson search this guy’s vehicle for additional 100 dollar bills and also inventory what was in there for the towing. The car was a rusting mid 1990’s Chevrolet Lumina that had a lot of junk in the car. No more 100 dollar bills were found in the car but a small amount of marijuana and a pipe was found in the glove box. Johnson took the pipe, threw it on the ground, and smashed it into tiny pieces with his boots and confiscated the marijuana. In the trunk, there werea lot of tools related to the trade of an electrician along with a lot of pornographic material including magazines and movies.
Now it was time for a dinner break. We, along with the two officers who helped us out on the domestic call, went to a pizza place not too far from my house. When we went inside, there was approximately 25 tables in the place and about 12 of them were occupied. We sat down next to a table with a party of 4 white females in their 50’s who looked absolutely shocked to see so many police officers at once. The restaurant had many white people in it but also had a mix of Asians, Hispanics, and blacks as well. After we were done eating, we paid and headed to the door. I glanced around at the tables and noticed that only the tables with white people were the ones looking at us walking out.
Right away we got a non-priority call to check out a local motel on the northwestern side of town. The complaint was that prostitution was taking place in a room there. We drove to the location of the motel which was not in a neighborhood but was in an area surrounded by many car dealerships. Once there, we talked with the manager of the place, who was a male of Middle-eastern descent who spoke English not so well but well enough to help us. Whoever had made the complaint had also specified which room it was and the manager had said that a couple with a child had checked it out earlier that afternoon. We proceeded to the room and Johnson unscrewed the light bulb over the entrance to the room to enhance his safety. He knocked and announced his presence and within 15 seconds a black male answered the door, looking surprised to see the police. In the background, I could see a white female on the bed wearing a hooded sweatshirt and sweat pants taking care of a small child. The black male was very cooperative and answered questions honestly and explained that they were just passing through and needed a place to sleep for the night—no prostitution was taking place here. Johnson thanked him for his time, screwed the light bulb back in, and we left.
We drove back across town to that small town of Landfall to do another patrol of the area. The trailer park was rather quiet and most of the lights were still on at this time (11:30pm). The two Hispanic males who were working on their car earlier appeared to be done for the day. We stopped at the little police substation because Johnson needed to grab something from inside. As he went into his office, I stayed in the lobby area and took a look at the various things posted on the wall. There were a lot of crayon drawings that appeared to have been done by the work of young children and in the pictures, it showed police officers and children working together doing various things. Some had pictures of police officers showing children how to fish; others depicted officers and children picking up litter in the community; others showed officers teaching children in a classroom setting with the words “personal and home safety” written on the white board. This shows a police department with a strong sense of community oriented policing.
We continued patrol of Maplewood and headed back north towards the mall area. There were fewer cars out at this time of night but the cars that were out were very different than the ones during the early evening. The types of cars out at night were older, about 15 to 20 years old and the drivers were much younger as well. Most were in their 20’s and there were some high school age drivers here and there. There seemed to be fewer white drivers and significantly more Asian drivers and more black driverswhich shows that there are different demographics at night.