This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Crime & Safety

On the Road with Officer Kauffman

A chronicle of a night on the job with Officer Jonathan Kauffman of the Bel Air Police Department.

As downtown's five bars began to let out near 2 a.m. recently, Bel Air Police Officer Jonathan Kauffman headed north on Main Street.  

It was a slow night, Kauffman said.

But just as he spoke those words, headlights approached him from two blocks away.

Find out what's happening in Bel Airwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

That is a problem, of course, because Main Street is a one-way road.

"Wrong way on a one way. That'll work," Kauffman said. 

Find out what's happening in Bel Airwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

He followed the wrong-way driver onto East Churchville Road.

Kauffman calmly called in the license plate over his radio, flashed his lights, blew the siren and pulled the offender over in Bel Air High School's parking lot.

"Fifty-fifty—drunk or out-of-towner," Kauffman said before getting out of his patrol car. 

According to her driver's license, the young woman behind the wheel was just a mile from home.

Officer Tim Roberts showed up shortly after Kauffman's radio call. Upon first stepping out of the car for her sobriety test, the woman turned and clumsily tossed her glasses toward the car's open window, but they fell hopelessly short and crashed to the pavement.

Not a good first impression, Roberts said.

The barefooted woman in shorts and a dark shirt passed her initial tests, but stumbled slightly on a 30-second balance test.

Inside the car was a different story. The passenger was nearly passed-out drunk. The driver had a clean record, an adequate field test, and less than a mile to go from home. Still, there was the matter of the wrong-way driving. 

"I'll be right back," he said from his car. "I'll go make somebody's night."

Kauffman decided to give her a warning so she could safely deliver her friend home.

Three hours earlier, the 11 p.m. shift at the Bel Air Police department started with a review of the previous two shifts. Chief of Police Leo Matrangola, who oversees the night shift a handful of times per year, listened as Cpl. Frank Krick briefed the other officers and dispensed assignments.

Cpl. Ben Lay and Officer Wes Salvas got bar patrol, which includes patrolling Looney's, Dark Horse Saloon, MaGerk's, The Tower and Sean Bolan's. More so than any other night, Thursday drink specials require the police to pay particular attention to the town's watering holes.

All those not on bar patrol must monitor the downtown area, ready to help Lay and Salvas, and even the Harford County Sheriff's Department, if necessary.

Kauffman, a lean 29-year-old with a pilot's license, was eager to begin the night. 

He left the station with a tall cup of 7-Eleven coffee, climbed into his patrol car and headed south on Route 24. His first job: patrol the Upper Chesapeake Medical Center campus. The hospital's night security is limited, he explained, so town police officers routinely monitor the parking lot.

After leaving the hospital, Kauffman visited a few more back roads before returning to Main Street to try to nab speeders.

After 10 minutes without a ticket-worthy violation, Kauffman headed north on Main Street to meet K9 Officer Christian "Cork" Rider and his best friend, Brutus— the department's K9 dog—at a vacant parking lot for a demonstration. As the 3-year-old German shepherd pranced around waiting for a command, Kauffman slid the bite sleeve over his forearm. Then Rider began commanding the dog—in German and Czech.

Brutus is, after all, a native of the Czech Republic, imported to the United States when he was six months old. That's when he and Rider began training together.

With Kauffman ready, and the dynamic K9 duo about 30 yards away, Rider commanded Brutus to "attack." Brutus wasted no time sprinting straight for Kauffman, who held out the sleeved arm.

But at the last second—with Brutus in mid-air, jaws open—Rider ordered a retreat.

Brutus turned his head from Kauffman's arm and sprinted back to Rider.

The dog's discipline was impressive. Most dogs— even other K9's—would have bitten the sleeve, but not Brutus.

After the demonstration, Kauffman returned to the road. A few minutes later, a call came in for a motion-triggered alarm down the street.

By the time Kauffman arrived, Roberts, Rider and Matrangola were there. The building has been the subject of suspicious activity in the past.

Brutus is already hard at work searching the perimeter for signs of an intruder.

Matrangola waited in his SUV until Rider and Roberts reported the area secure. If someone did have plans for the building, they were scared off by the alarm.

Kauffman decided to see if Lay and Salvas needed assistance at the bar parking lots. 

He drove into a lot through a back entrance to find what looked like an abandoned car with the front driver's side door open.

"Stay in the car," he told me. 

He called in the license plate number and then approached the open door. 

Suddenly, the car lurched backwards, but stopped at the site of Kauffman approaching. 

Despite the brief scare, Kauffman leaned toward the window and talked to the driver for a couple minutes before returning with the man's license and registration. 

Kauffman said he initially thought it might be a stolen car. But the driver, who was sweating profusely, said he had been trying to fix it.

"When I say sweating profusely, I mean there was water running off of him," he said. 

The man's background checked out, and so did his story. Kauffman hit the road again. He drove to Moores Mill Road, where two young men had been pulled over.

As Kaufman parked his patrol car and approached the traffic stop, he noted that the  Harford County Sheriff's deputies had already called Rider and Brutus to the scene.

Although Brutus is owned and used primarily by the town, the sheriff's department will not hesitate to call for Brutus when drugs may be in play.

The two young men sat on the curb answering questions from a county police officer. Despite the gravity of the situation, they couldn't stop smirking. Kauffman explained that the vehicle and the young men could be searched only if Brutus got a sniff of drugs.

The windows were down, which made little difference to Brutus, Kauffman said.

"It's amazing how their noses work," he added.

It did not take long before Brutus got a hint of drugs on a door handle. This could mean nothing, Kauffman said, because Brutus can smell the scent of drugs from up to six months ago.

As one officer searched the boys, two other officers searched the vehicle. Nothing. The car and the arrogant young men—one wore a goofy hat, the other wore his shorts backwards—were clean. 

Just then, Kauffman received a call to return to Bond Street. Outside a downtown pub, a young woman was sprawled out on the sidewalk. Drunk.

Kauffman arrived to find Lay and Salvas already towering over the woman lying on the ground. They were making sure she did not get run over since she was in the middle of a main traffic entrance.

"Why are all these cops 'ere?" the girl slurred, letting out a snorted laugh.

"Come on, just get up!" her friend pleaded, joining in on the laughter.

"I ammmmm," she responded, rolling over.

"Just stay down. We called a cab for you," Lay said, shaking his head.

"Yeah, just stay down!" her friend agreed, moments after encouraging the girl to stand up.

With the situation under control, Kauffman headed to another nearby bar where Roberts and Rider were already staked out in the parking lot.

The observations were largely uneventful, save for one near car accident.

Suddenly, a young man in his early 20's stomped his way over to the officers to announce that he would like to press charges against his girlfriend.

Aghast by the apparent punch he had gotten from his girlfriend, the young man urged the cops to arrest her.

"She just left. She's driving a red Jetta. You gotta get her!" he said.

Lay told him he could not arrest a girl on the young man's word, but he told him how to file charges against her at the courthouse if he wanted.

"She put her hands on me!" he yelled repeatedly while pointing to his face, which showed no sign of abuse.

Lay remained professional. He wrote out instructions on how to file charges at the courthouse.

But the man wasn't giving up.

"She drives a red Jetta," he said.

As the crowd thinned at one bar, Kauffman decided to make another loop around town to check on the other four.

So far he had not issued a single citation. It was—like many late shifts in Bel Air—a relatively uneventful night. 

As he continued his loop through downtown he was quick to admit that he would rather be busier, but that is not how he measures the success of a shift.

"Don't get me wrong, cops love the action," Kauffman said. But what's most important is that everyone gets home safely. 

Just then, headlights appeared before him. 

"Wrong way on a one way. That'll work," Kauffman said as he sped ahead.

Although it appeared that Kauffman came up empty-handed on the potential DUI by just warning the designated-driver, his decision spoke to the dozens of difficult judgments officers have to make every shift. 

"Sorry it wasn't more exciting," Kauffman said as he pulled into the station to check in with Matrangola.

For someone who works this shift four out of every six days, has a pilot's license and only needs one or two cups of coffee a night, it probably was a boring night.

But for me, who spends more time enjoying downtown than patrolling it, the night was eventful. And insightful. 

 

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?

To request removal of your name from an arrest report, submit these required items to arrestreports@patch.com.