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Deputy commander experiences life of deputy sheriff

  • Published
  • By Mary McHale
  • AFNORTH Public Affairs
TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  When the Continental U.S. North American Aerospace Defense Command Region deputy commander accepted an invitation from the Bay County Sheriff's Office to go on a familiarization ride-along, he had no idea what to expect.

"I was hoping it would be exciting, and I wasn't disappointed. It was an intense experience," Brig. Gen. Christopher Coates said. "At one point we were the first responders to a fatality at the beach."

That was how the general spent last Friday evening - accompanying two Bay County Sheriff officers during a 12-hour shift. He spent his first three hours with a shift supervisor who provides support to patrol deputies. The remainder of the night, Coates was partnered with a patrol deputy in the Panama City Beach area.

According to Ruth Corley, the Bay County Sheriff's public information officer, the ride-along program is not an officially established program. Invitations and requests are handled on a case-by-case basis. The general was offered the opportunity after he participated in a familiarization tour of the BCSO facilities this summer.

"We are very pleased with the special relationship that exists between the Bay County Sheriff's Office and Tyndall Air Force Base," Bay County Sheriff Frank McKeithen said. "I have been so impressed by the work of the men and women who serve at Tyndall and wished to share with Brigadier General Coates the day-to-day operations of the finest law enforcement agency in the state of Florida - the Bay County Sheriff's Office! We are honored he accepted our invitation."

There were two principal reasons Coates wanted to participate.

"First, I think it was an important opportunity to further community relations, and I think a lot of what we need to do as leaders is to take part in events like that," he said. "Second, the sheriff's office and CONR-1st Air Force are both first responders in a certain way. They're first responders in the local community and we're first responders in a more national sense."

Coates added that along with the similar nature of duties, there are other shared elements.

"We share some elements of urgency in what we do, and we share some elements of risk," he said. "So I'm interested in seeing how they do business and learning from what they do."

The evening began with a stop at the Bay County Emergency Operations Center to visit with the communications specialists.

"That was really interesting to see since it's actually the place where the specialists are answering the initial 911 calls," the general said. "It provided a good starting point for understanding what I was going to see the rest of the night."

What he saw the rest of the night further impressed him.

"I got to witness the officers' display of professionalism, patience and restraint that really came through, even when dealing with someone who was being very belligerent," Coates said.

Additionally, he learned about the mobile data terminals the deputies currently use in their vehicles. These adjustable terminals fit between the driver and passenger seat and provide a lot of the information that used to be transmitted over the radio. The general said what he really liked was the way the terminals allowed the patrol deputies to maintain constant situational awareness the entire shift.

"What I thought was really interesting about the terminals was that they were created by their own information technology specialists," Coates said. "And it's integrated with the fire and ambulance services. It's really a brilliant tool to aid decision making when time is of the essence."

Coates thought this was especially critical because of the autonomous nature of the deputy's duties.

"Sure, on the one hand they work as a team between the supervisors, the deputies, the communication specialists and the emergency responders. But when an officer arrives on a scene, he alone has to make some very quick decisions based on small amounts of ambiguous information. It's vitally important he does that right. It was a real eye opener for me to see the degree of the unexpected they deal with continuously in a very autonomous way. I think the citizens of Bay County should be proud of their law enforcement officers."