2018 Hometown Heroes

HOMETOWN

HEROES Special Publication by the PAMPA NEWS

2018 EDITION: SHERIFF’S OFFICE POLICE DEPARTMENT EMERGENCY MEDICAL FIRE DEPARTMENT

The Pampa News — 2 — Honoring our Hometown Heroes

Texas DPS: More than just highway patrolmen

By John Lee

jclee@thepampanews.com Twitter: @jcl1987

The Texas Department of Public Safety is broken down into several different services.

The Pampa office, located at 2909 Perryton Parkway, has highway patrol, commercial vehicle and the Texas Rangers.

It is a common misconception that the vehicle inspection and driver’s license is part of the Texas Department of Transportation, but they are also a part of the Texas Department of Public Safety.

“At one time, the driver’s license was a uniformed service like us,” Sergeant Chris Ray said.

“But the legislature decided to save some money they would go to a civilian position. If they have a criminal case we will go help them like that.”

In Gray County, there are four DPS officers in Pampa, two in McLean and the sergeant.

One of the McLean officers in training in Pampa, but the other spends about 90 percent of his time on Interstate 40.

“The rest of the guys go wherever we need them to go,” Ray said.

Speaking of I-40, in Carson County just outside of Conway, there are several arrests made monthly for drug trafficking.

“We have a task force station there,” Ray said. “We have a sergeant in the area whose job is interdiction. They are on the interstate but that’s where they are based.”

Ray said the officers in his unit tend to get a large amount of the recreational users whereas the ones on I-40 tend to be part of a criminal organization.

“The paraphernalia or someone who is a recreational user,” Ray said.

Ray added that Texas legislature assigned DPS to rural traffic supervision.

“This includes crash investigation outside of urban areas,” Ray said. “That’s not to say that if there is a big crash in the city that we won’t go help them. We partner well with

the City, County and Constables.”

The legalization of marijuana in Colorado has caused DPS officers to see a rise in the marijuana products, as well.

“A lot of the guys in Dumas, Dalhart and Stratford area get a lot of that,” Ray said. “But we get a lot of that too. State Highway 152 is, I guess a lot of people want to cut through the traffic, so we’ve got a lot of cases off of SH-152 with the edibles and THC concentrate.”

Ray said one of the little known laws the DPS is trying to enforce more is the “Move Over Law.” “We’re having so many police officers, TxDOT workers, tow truck operators that are getting hit,” Ray said. “That’s one thing we are focusing on.”

If there is an emergency vehicle, tow truck/wrecker or a TxDOT vehicle with their lights activated drivers are required to move over one lane.

If they are unable to move over, the driver must slow down at least 20 mph less than the speed limit.

“You’d be surprised how many people just don’t think about it,” Ray said.

There has been a few human trafficking cases in our area, but I-40 and Amarillo is a HUB for that problem.

“You’ve got railroads, you’ve got the interstate but we can’t just say it’s limited to Amarillo,” Ray said. “We’ve seen a few cases here. It’s probably an under-reported crime because the victims are in fear.”

Ray said the hardest part of the job is telling a family member their loved one is not coming home.

“There’s no easy way to do that,” Ray said. “We get some training and we get some classes but I’ve done it too many times, there’s no easy way to do it. It really tugs at your heart that you’ve got to tell them their loved one is gone.”

The Texas DPS academy is 26 weeks long.

“Ours is very intense because you’re housed in Austin,” Ray said. “We have our own people teaching. If you’re in the Amarillo academy you go and come home at night. Our guys don’t have that luxury.”

Officers are trained in TCOLE (Texas Commission on Law Enforcement), which every peace officer is, and then the

Sgt. Chris Ray DPS regulations. Ray said the toughest part is being away from their families for that.

“That actually prepares you for our work,” Ray said.

“You may be gone to help with a hurricane, I had troopers gone for two weeks. So you learn to manage family situations.”

After the 26 week course, then troopers are in a training program where they ride for six months with a mentor.

After finishing their training, DPS troopers can go as close as they can to home depending on the vacancies available.

Ray has been a part of DPS for 30 years and says he loves how receptive the community of Pampa and Gray County is to their local law enforcement.

“I can’t tell you enough how much we appreciate that,” Ray said. “Nationwide there has been a target on police.

But here?

“I know when our guys go out to lunch or dinner, sometimes they go to pay and their meal is paid for. You can’t imagine how much it means to our guys that they have that support.”

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The Pampa News — 3 — Honoring our Hometown Heroes

Gray County Sheriff’s Office K-9 Units

By John Lee

jclee@thepampanews.com Twitter: @jcl1987

The Gray County Sheriff’s Office recently retired their two previous K-9 units, Lewigi and Arno, and acquired a couple of young new K-9 officers.

Hugo and Cury are Belgian Malinois the GCSO recently purchased from a vendor in Holland/Netherlands.

Hugo is handled by Sgt. Jim Skinner and Cury is handled by Sgt. J.C. Skinner.

Jim has been handling K-9 units for more than 20 years.

“I just love animals and training them,” Jim said. “I like being able to bring them to their full potential. They’re a great tool for us in the County. They can help us in situations with narcotics that we probably wouldn’t be able to find otherwise.”

The K-9 units give the officers probable cause to search a vehicle if they alert the officer of a potential prohibitive substance. But for their handlers, they’re more than a tool.

“It’s like having another officer in the car with you,” Jim said. “I had considered not getting another dog when my last one (Arno) retired, but I couldn’t imagine not being in law enforcement without a dog now.”

Dogs olfactory systems have 220 million sensory cells. Jim said, like wolves and other canine-family animals who depend on their noses in the wild, the K-9 dogs use the scent of the drugs to track it’s

Sgt. Jim Skinner and Hugo

location.

“In theory dogs can smell 44 times better than humans,” Jim said. “They have 44 times the olfactory sensory cells than we have. There are some things they can detect a lot better than a human can.”

While German Shepherds are commonly thought of as the K-9 units, the Belgian Malinois, in Jim Skinner’s opinion, are cheaper and work a lot harder.

“I’ve been doing this for a long time but it’s a lot easier to go overseas and get a dog like the Belgian Malinois,” Jim said.

“They’re easier to find and they don’t cost as much. If you find a German Shepherd that has the drive and capabilities that a Malinois has, he’s going to cost you a lot more money. Cost factor is a large part of

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Sgt. Jim Skinner and Cury

the reason the Malinois has taken over in law enforcement and military. They just have incredible drive. All they want to do is work.”

The pair of Malinois that GCSO has are 18 months old and were already patroltrained and basic commands. In fact, their handlers do their basic commands in Dutch.

Jim and J.C. did the national certification training for the dogs.

K-9 handlers go through an extensive school training and annually have a weeklong 40-50 hour training plus monthly minimum training of 16 hours for each discipline, patrol and narcotics.

Some of the things K-9 handlers can’t command their dogs to do includes search

a person and won’t be sent to apprehend a person unless it’s a major misdemeanor or a felony such as evading arrest.

The K-9 units are also great for public relations, especially with children.

“Kids love them,” Jim said. “We try to do PR with the dogs by taking them to 4-H kids, Boy Scouts and teach the kids about the dogs. Let them know they don’t need to be afraid of them.”

The K-9 units haven’t been trained for missing persons yet, but that is a training GCSO hopes to do later this year.

One of the biggest misconceptions those in the public believe is the dogs are addicted to the drugs they are tracking. The dogs never come in contact with the drugs whether it be in training or on a scene.

They are simply trained on the smell.

“The toys and rewards we give them simply smell like the drugs,” Jim said. “It’s called super-scented. We will scent about 30 different toys in whatever narcotic we’re training on. They are looking for their toy.”

It is similar to when somebody who has been around the drug before knows the scent.

The K-9 units busts come in spurts, sometimes one or two in a week other times more.

GCSO’s K-9 unit has been called before to help neighboring law enforcement agencies.

For more information on the GCSO K-9 unit, call 806-669-8022.

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The Pampa News — 4 — Honoring our Hometown Heroes

Hoover Volunteer Fire Department

Submitted photo

Front row seated, from left, Pete Long, Justin Thomas, Trent Price, Brian Snapp, Charley Thomas and Jason Neill. Second row, Clint Dalrymple, Ryan Milligan, Chris Lavrenz, Michael Anguiano, Wayne Hinds, Myron Bilgri and Bill Cambell. Third row, from left, Gerald Johnston, Brian Scifres, Johnny Goodson, Brady Roye, Lakin Cox, Travis Dosch, Manuel Rossiter and John Chesher.

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The Pampa News — 5 — Honoring our Hometown Heroes

Lefors Volunteer Fire Department

Submitted photo

Front row, Brody Seely, Erica Bartley, Megan Sims, Chief Sy Brown, Floyd Lott and Julie Sims. Middle, from left, Andrew Morriss, Kody Hendrickson, Jesse Callaway, David Sims, Assistant Chief Terry Coombes and Tory Coombes. Back, Casey Bartley, Bucky Buchanan, John Williams, Craig Seely, Ken Houston, Keith Kelly and Blake Williams. Not pictured: Bill McMinn, James Elrod, Shayne Hendrickson, Carmen Whitehead, Kenny Forsyth, Joel Pyle, Johnny Harper, Brandon Baxter, Jeff and Stephanie McElroy.

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The Pampa News — 6 — Honoring our Hometown Heroes

McLean Volunteer Fire Department

Submitted photo

Front row, from left, William Eldridge, Michelle Dalton, and Erin Wilhelm. Back row, from left, Brad Dalton, Brian Rossiter, David Tolleson, Larry Lusk, Derek Jones, George Shaw, Jessie Parks, Tanner Wilhelm Not pictured (taking photo Shandee Tolleson)

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The Pampa News — 7 — Honoring our Hometown Heroes

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The Pampa News — 8 — Honoring our Hometown Heroes

Pampa Police Department Pampa Police Chief

Assistant Chief

Corporal

Corporal

Detective

Lietenant

Lieutenant

Sergeant

Motors Officer

School Resource

Tyler Jernigan

Sergeant

Troyce Reeves

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Kenneth Hopson

Tobie Bias

Motors Officer

Joey Roberts

Alvin Stokes

Troy Green

Jon Hammond

Corporal

Billy Corley

Brian Massey

Derek Peters

Corporal

Neal Gardner

Zach Murray

Sergeant

Craig Merritt

Officer

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Sergeant

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Detective

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The Pampa News — 9 — Honoring our Hometown Heroes

Pampa Police Department Officer

Officer

Haleigh White

Patrol Division

Ryan Damron

Officer

Tim Montano

Kristi Stokes

Dispatch Supervisor

Debbie McDonald

Lyz Wood

Nathan Smith

Erika Hernandez

Sandra Pairsh

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Officer

Jessie Parks

Officer

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Records Clerk

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The Pampa News — 10 — Honoring our Hometown Heroes

Pampa Fire Department Pampa Fire Chief

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Captain

Captain

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Fire Marshal

Equipment Operator

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The Pampa News — 11 — Honoring our Hometown Heroes

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The Pampa News — 12 — Honoring our Hometown Heroes

Pampa EMS

A. Price

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The Pampa News — 13 — Honoring our Hometown Heroes

Gray County Sheriff’s Office Sheriff

Michael Ryan

Deputy

Dennis Custard

Chief Deputy

Sergeant

Zachary Kidd

Deputy

Donna Masters

Sergeant/K-9 Handler

Steve Bartley

Deputy

Jose Rojo

JC Skinner

Deputy

Larry Ashurst

Sergeant/K-9 Handler

Jim Skinner

Deputy

Marlon Bryant

Sergeant

Detective

Trey Dolloff

Deputy

Chris Homen

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Hugo

Cury

Texas Department of Public Safety Sergeant

Chris Ray

Trooper

Jesse Cerda

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The Pampa News — 14 — Honoring our Hometown Heroes

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The Pampa News — 15 — Honoring our Hometown Heroes

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