Local police notice difference
Published 8:00 am Wednesday, September 11, 2002
Both the job and public perception of the job has changed for Oak Harbor Police officers since the events of Sept. 11.
Chief Steve Almon wasn’t working in the city a year ago, but the veteran law enforcement officer knows how a major crisis can affect police, fire departments and other emergency responders.
An Oklahoma native, Almon was working in the Wichita police department when Timothy McVeigh blew up the federal building in Oklahoma City. Almon lost a relative and two friends from high school in the blast. He went to the site to help a few days afterward.
He witnessed a popular rise of support for law enforcement after the event, similar to national sentiments after Sept. 11.
“People can get bogged down in criticizing law enforcement…” he said. “But when there’s a major event, when it really counts are lives are at risk, the police are there to help. There’s a renewed respect for that.”
While it’s not true that “everything has changed,” as the cliche goes, Almon said the police department’s “mission has expanded a bit.” Since the FBI has become much more focused on terrorism-related investigations, Almon said some of the “traditional work of the FBI” has fallen to local law enforcement, like the Oak Harbor Police Department.
On the other hand, Almon said the FBI and other federal agencies are now much more willing to share information and work with local departments.
This is especially important, Almon said, because of the proximity of the Whidbey Island Naval Air Station. Many of the dozens and dozens of calls about suspicious people and packages — after the anthrax scare — went to Oak Harbor police and deputies with the Island County Sheriff’s Office.
It was a police officer, for example, who stopped a van in the city earlier this year and became suspicious about the Middle Eastern driver and passenger. While no explosives were found, the case brought the FBI, the Border Patrol and the INS to Oak Harbor and the story made national news. The men were later deported.
Almon said officers have received extra training from the federal government related to terrorism, including a new interactive computer program. The also got gas masks, chemical suits and other equipment.
With the increased readiness and vigilance, Almon said officers also have an increased and complicated challenge of “walking the line” between protecting public safety and upholding individual rights.
Yet Almon’s greatest concern is that “people’s memories fade” over time. The police department and Sheriff’s Office received dozens of tips in the months after Sept. 11. They got everything from sightings of Middle Eastern people in orange pants to a suspicious man requesting maps for the area around the base.
But the reports have dropped off to virtually nothing.
“We owe it to the victims and the families of the victims to remember,” he said. “We owe it to them to keep up our vigilance.”
You can reach Jessie Stensland at jstensland@cmg-northwest2.go-vip.net/whidbeynewstimes or call 675-6611.
