Incoming Cobourg councilor Adam Bureau gets sworn in officially on December 3, but he’s already jumping in the community.
Starting on Friday, November 9, Bureau spent the night shift as a ride-along with Cobourg Police.
“|I| wanted to learn every part of the town in order to be able to make the best decisions in council.”
“How to do that is talking to staff and finding out exactly what everybody does in town – including police.”
Bureau saw a side of policing few civilians get to experience.
The evening was filled with mostly routine calls, a fender bender, a missing person from Northumberland Hills Hospital, traffic stops and one noise complaint filled up the evening.
“The officer I was with did an awesome job,” explained Bureau part way through the shift.
“I hope to gain knowledge what officers do on an average shift.”
“I know there has been a lot of talk about the officers, but I wanted to see what individual officers do on a shift.”
One items Bureau noticed shortly into the shift is the amount of paperwork that accompanies being a police officer.
“Even a traffic ticket is two or three pages of paperwork – it’s very time consuming.”
After the shift Bureau said he had a greater respect for police and their job.
“I do have to say doing the ride-along has given me the understanding of what our courageous officers do. The are kind, courteous and fair. You can tell by talking with them that each and every officer I spoke with loves their job and Cobourg.”