Day 12: Wild Wild West

Abseiling

So we went to look at Western Oklahoma law enforcement, so for example, the sheriff, patrol officers etc. But first we went to Southern Oklahoma State University campuses (it was more of a training field with rope, zip lines and training exercises).


There we were shown what some of the police officers need to go through to pass the course at the university. The exercises were there for team building, communication and increase their fitness. At the beginning we did a couple of exercises in working as a team to arrange ourselves on a wooden poll without getting off the pole. Also going through different holes of a rope web, without touching the rope. To do these you needed all the team communicating to each other and motivate them to do the task.


Following that was the repelling off a wall, ziplines and indoor rock climbing. I must say I was quite worried doing these tasks, since I am not entirely confident doing these tasks. However I thought I should try everything once and I should give it a go. So we put on our harnesses for the activities and we were ready to do the first one which was abseiling (or the American term is rappelling). Just trying to get to the top of the tower to abseil down was the tough. Since you have the compulsion to look down it a bit unnerving. Although it didn't feel as bad because I had the harness as a support just in case I fell. I got to the top and was ready to lean over the edge. They tell you to put the weight over the side and the one thing you think is, 'If I do that I am worried that I will fall'. But after the intial worry you feel fairly confident about it and begin to abseil. Fair enough it wasn't a huge height but it was something I was glad that I got to do when I reached the ground. I even gave it a second go.

Zip-lining

Next was the zip-line. I have only ever done these in the park, where you can easily jump off and you don't need a safety harness. With this one you had to go along a pole, quite a few feet up in the air, then jump to the platform to go down on the zip-line. The scariest part of that was walking along the wooden poll, with the wind trying to push you off. Even with the harness I was afraid of falling off. But when you get to the zip-line part and you go speeding off with the wind blowing through your hair its adrenaline pumping. 


After all the excitement we head to one of the field of operations, where there are 6 officers and one internet officers (crimes involving the internet). They cooked us a nice lunch and talked about what their duties are. One of the officers was a bull rider and is now training the police officers. 


Next was the DA (District Attorney) office. This is an elected or appointed government official who represents the government in the prosecution of criminal offences. So he and his other assistants go through the cases to see which cases go to court. There is an election every 4 years to see who will become the next DA. The one we saw was in charge of one of the largest (by area) districts, covering 5 counties with approximately 70,000 people. When deciding if a case should go through he must observe if the individual suspect committed the crime (if there is enough evidence against him) and was there a crime committed.


When discussing the duties of a DA he went into detail about drug related/driven crimes. The drug which is causing a lot of problems is Meth. He went onto explain that it completely alters the person and everything else is 2nd when wanting the drug. There have been more crimes when the individual takes meth. 


The next stop (which was only a walking distance away from the DA) was the sheriffs office. The sheriff is elected by the population of the country and is one of the highest law enforcement officers in the county. Here is where the criminal stay before, during and after prosecution, before being moved off prison. We were given a tour of the facility, only recently built. It houses a fair few convicts in separate sections for men and women and are under constant watch. There is also facilities for them to have medical and emergency care. And there is a large bus to transport them to the various prisons in Oklahoma. 


Finally is the visit to the highway patrol office. When talking to them they are responsible for the law of the roads. In this particular area, they need to cover a large area but have very few troopers available. With the number of long roads in this state there needs to be more highway patrol men. 


It was enlightening to know a bit about the law enforcement that is responsible for catching the criminals in the more rural areas. It showed me how important the rural law enforcement is when trying to trying to find the suspect.