14 Jan What I have Learned as a Law Enforcement Intern

Hi all!

In my previous post as a day in the life of a law enforcement intern I have mentioned that no day is the same and it will never be the same. I mention this again because it has been proven to me everyday since starting this internship. You never know what the day will bring. You can go into the day thinking you’re doing one thing, but then ten minutes later one or maybe even six other things pop up that need to be done. I have learned that I need to understand what takes priorities over other situations or what needs to be done first in order to continue the day. Everything will have to get done, but we have to chose what needs to happen first in order for everything else to go accordingly and the best that it can be handled. Learning how to navigate ambiguity within my work force has also been helpful within my personal life.

An example of something happening within work that we need to attend to prior to other things was that there was a head on collision on a very trafficked and busy highway (Hwy 20) and no one was on scene yet. My officer and I rushed over quickly to asses the situation (we were roughly 15 minutes away from the collision) and see what had happened. My officer called over the radio for medics and California Highway Patrol (CHP) immediately. It happened within our forest, but since it was on the highway, it is the other agencies contact that they need to make. It started out our day a little more hectic than we planned of course, but once everything was handled and we were able to hand the accident off to the appropriate people we were able to go about the rest of our day. As we were planning on going to a spot to patrol, we see another incident on the intersection of hwy 20 and hwy 49. It was two men that were pulling a trail and their tire fell off in the middle of the road. My officer was helping them figure out what the best plan of action was to get them out of the highway, while I was trying to help direct traffic and keep things flowing as much as possible while still ensuring safety of those around me and for myself. It was a crazy and unexpected way to start the day, but after those two incidents, we were able to go about our day and patrol where we planned and have a wonderful day after. It just goes to prove that things will happen and pop up and change your day, but it doesn’t mean you aren’t able to get things done. You may just have to change the priorities of what is able to get done at what time!