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Davis Journal

Centerville police are always ready to help

Apr 05, 2021 12:46PM ● By Becky Ginos

CENTERVILLE—Police have a tough job, working around the clock to keep the community safe. However, they do much more than most residents are even aware of.

“Most of the public meets us during a traffic stop,” said Centerville Police Lt. Allen Ackerson. “Actually, that’s a small part of the job.”

Ackerson said the department offers a variety of services from vacation checks to finger printing. “If someone plans to be out of town they can request extra patrol to make sure the home is secure and nobody’s there that shouldn’t be. We’ll also do extra patrol if there’s been a death in the family. Criminals will read obituaries and know they’ll all be gone to the funeral, so they will victimize them during that time.”

Officers will do civil standbys as well, he said. “We’ll stand by and keep the peace during a child exchange when there are issues between the parents or if there’s a protective order in place. Also if there’s a hostile employee at a business sometimes we’ll be called out to stand by.”

Ackerson said the department gets a fair amount of those requests because it covers a very broad area. Residents can find the forms on their website. “Not many people know about the service so not as many people utilize it.”

During an incident such as the Gun Range fire a couple of years ago, they coordinate with the fire department for emergency services, he said. “The Chief is the emergency manager for the city and activates the incident command system. There are various people in the organization who have tasks ranging from troops on the ground, logistics to finances. Everyone has their assigned duties.”

In addition to human officers, there are two K-9s in the department. “We have one that smells out controlled substances and one that’s a tracking hound,” said Ackerson. “Sophie is a blood hound and Reyna is a German Shepard. We’re getting a lot of use out of Sophie. She can track a suspect that has fled on foot. She can also find missing children or adults that have wandered away.”

The K-9s go everywhere, not just in Centerville, he said. “Our hound found an autistic boy in West Bountiful. She’s such a valuable tool. The dogs are amazing. It’s like they do voodoo in finding people.”

Ackerson said the vast majority of what they deal with is non-criminal. “Our officers on bike patrol put on bicycle rodeos at schools and set up obstacle courses to teach kids about bicycle safety. We have a Night Out Against Crime where we bring other agencies in and do demonstrations for the kids and hand out candy. We could go on all day about the community services we provide. When people need help they can call us.”