JUNE 9, 2017, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A9
NIGHT,
continued from Page A1
Tonight is something of a
rarity, not only has it been what
Goodman called “unusually
quiet,” there are also four
offi cers on shift. Bamford had
the early evening hours off, but
joined the night patrol after a
family commitment ended.
Even still, Bamford, Bigler
and Van Cleave had to leave
other calls to back up DeMarco
and Goodman. More often than
not, the KPD shift has only
three offi cers on duty most
nights.
“We run at three because of
the ways we have to schedule
time off and make up for
training hours,” said Goodman,
the night shift supervisor.
Department policies require
a minimum of three people per
night shift, but Goodman wants
to see a four-offi cer minimum
become the standard.
“A domestic disturbance call
takes a minimum of two offi cers
to respond and, when we only
have three offi cers on shift, we
literally do not have enough
people to take the second
domesticcall,” Goodman said.
To establish a four-offi cer
minimum, KPD needs at
least two new offi cers – a task
seemingly easier said than
done. Members of the city’s
budget advisory committee
have advocated for new
offi cers for several years to no
avail. City offi cials are careful
about funding new positions
anywhere in city offi ces.
On Monday, June 13, the
Keizer City Council will meet
for a work session to discuss
the possibility of implementing
a public safety fee that would
pay for fi ve new offi cers (see
related story Page A1). I rode
along with Goodman last week
to get a ground-level take on
how additional offi cers would
impact the KPD night shift.
Domestic disturbance calls
are actually one of Goodman’s
favorite types of calls.
“If something happened
to me or one of my family
members, I’d want an offi cer to
show up that knows the laws,
understands the situation,” he
said. “Everybody gets in verbal
arguments. You don’t want an
offi cer there that is not caring.”
After nearly 25 years on the
job, fi nding a resolution to a
domestic disturbance is one of
the things he can actually feel
good about for the most part.
“You might catch a criminal
or put three people in jail one
night, but then you realize those
people’s lives are all messed up,”
Goodman said. “In domestics,
you can leave the victim –
sometimes and even the suspect
– feeling grateful you showed
up.”
Domestic
disturbances
can also be some of the more
unpredictable calls. Victims, as
well as offenders, can turn on
police. A week before our ride-
along, one victim pulled a knife
on Goodman after taking the
woman’s husband into custody.
“They call 9-1-1 wanting
help and you start dealing with
the problem and the victim
realizes that the person they
love, and who might pay their
bills, is going to jail,” he said.
At least twice in recent
months, the KPD night shift
has been caught short-handed.
In March, a would-be burglar
got trapped in a window while
trying to enter a local store
and all of Keizer’s night patrol
offi cers were tied up with an
investigation into a menacing
incident down the street.
In April, a lack of offi cers
to create a secure perimeter
and evacuate a family that was
the victim of a home intruder
delayed an arrest by almost an
hour.
While both incidents were
handled as quickly as possible,
neither of them rose to the level
of life-and-death. Goodman
said one of those incidents, in
2014, that led him to begin
pushing for additional offi cers.
sent someone through the front
door and had one person in the
back, but then you have the
possibility of chasing an armed
person through a residential
neighborhood,” Goodman said.
Eventually, the remainder of
the offi cers were able to make
it to the scene and determine
it was safe for medics to
enter. It turned out that the
homeowners’ son had shot and
killed his mother and grievously
injured his father.
“I was not
there beyond
a shadow of
a doubt.”
— Sgt. Jeff Goodman
About 1 a.m. on March 6,
2014, Keizer police and the
Keizer Fire District received
a report of a shooting at a
residence in west Keizer. It
happened at precisely the
wrong time.
Goodman said two offi cers
were already on a scene dealing
with an intoxicated driver.
“I don’t think it was alcohol,
it was drugs. She was basically
parked in the middle of River
Road and we couldn’t just walk
away. She would have killed
someone,” Goodman said.
Two offi cers did respond to
the scene, but it wasn’t enough
to safely clear the way for
medics to enter the home.
“We thought we had the
shooter trapped. We could have
However, there was enough
of a delay in the immediate
response to cause frustration on
the part of police and the fi re
district offi cials even though
it likely would have made no
difference in the outcome.
In October 2016, Goodman
himself was involved in an
incident when a suspect drew a
gun on him. Goodman spotted
a Honda Civic heading north
on River Road at a high rate
of speed. After pacing the driver
going 46 mph in a 35 mph zone,
Goodman initiated a traffi c stop.
The driver continued north on
River Road and turned east
on Chemawa before turning
into the main entrance of the
Safeway parking lot. The Civic
then turned back into the
parking lot and was nearing the
unpaved area when the driver
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got out of the still-moving
Honda and squared up his
shoulders.
Goodman was never certain
the suspect had a gun, but all of
his body movements seemed to
suggest it. The man ran to the
rear of the Civic and turned
in what seemed to be a fi ring
position again when the gun –
later determined to be a 1911
Colt handgun – fl ew out of his
hand.
The gun didn’t discharge
and the man took off running
past Shari’s and across River
Road. The gun was later found
in bushes near Shari’s and the
safety was off. What exactly the
suspect intended to do with
the gun is subject to some
speculation.
Goodman learned later just
how far the man was willing to
take it. The old gun required
the person fi ring it to draw
back the hammer before fi ring
a shot. Upon closer inspection,
the round in the chamber had
evidence of a hammer strike.
“I don’t know if he tried
to fi re it and it just didn’t go
off, but I think he would have
killed me that day. I didn’t
realize the severity until it was
all over,” Goodman said.
Even as he called for back-
up, Goodman never told the
two other offi cers the man
might have been armed. He
simply wasn’t sure. It was too
dark and things were moving
too fast. The nearest offi cer
that night was at the station,
the third offi cer was at the
Skyline Ford location on River
Road north.
“If I yell, he’s got a gun, it’s
almost the same as pulling the
trigger even if it doesn’t play
out that way. I was not there
beyond a shadow of a doubt,”
he said.
Even on a quiet night, he
hands out a few tickets, makes
another traffi c stop that ends
in a warning, looks into the
source of some 9-1-1 hang-
ups, and checks in on a woman
whose partner kicked in the
door to her home. When the
parties to a domestic dispute
are already separated, one
offi cer can take the call, but
others are standing by in case
the perpetrator comes back.
He even takes a few minutes
to interact with a group of
teens at an apartment complex
in south Keizer. He organizes
an impromptu race with the
winner getting $1.
Shortly after the scene at
the problem house near the
station, Goodman gets a call
from the Marion County jail.
Salem offi cers have picked up
a woman wanted by Keizer
police. The woman got into a
traffi c accident while driving
a stolen vehicle. She gave the
other party involved someone
else’s driver’s license before
taking off on foot.
Luckily, the other driver
snapped a photo of the woman
and police were able to identify
her by that. She was in custody
at the jail, but Goodman had
to physically go there and sign
paperwork for the charges
from the crash to be lodged
against her.
In the end, it will take three
times as long to drive to the jail
and back as it will to complete
the paperwork, but it takes him
out of the city and leaves the
night shift short-handed while
he’s gone.
If
Goodman
were
transporting a suspect to the
jail, it might put him out of
commission for two or three
hours depending on how
many other agencies are in
line before him. If a Keizer
offi cer ends up at the hospital
investigating sexual abuse
charges, it could leave them
a man down until the reports
can be taken.
“The biggest thing is most
of the time we can handle
most of the calls, but there
will be that one day when you
need four offi cers. If we had
four offi cers, I think we would
be fi ne,” Goodman said. “The
city council is just gambling
that nothing bad is going to
happen. All these years they’ve
been getting lucky, but the
luck is going to run out.”
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Saturday Vigil Liturgy: 5:30 p.m.
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