A10 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 7, 2015
FROM PAGE A1
POLICE:
continued from page A1
said. “There’s good days.
There’s bad days, but for
the most part, it’s a fun
job. There’s always some-
thing different.”
Johnson said the offi-
cers patrol the streets and
respond to calls but also
complete full investiga-
tions in some cases.
“I give a lot of kudos to
rural patrol departments
just because of the aspect
that the rural patrol guys
do a lot of stuff from the
start of the case to the fin-
ish of the case,” he said.
“A lot of the big cities,
the patrol guys, they’re
going from call to call to
call, and they don’t get a
lot of time to investigate.
It’s passed on to the de-
tectives almost immedi-
ately, usually no matter
what the case (is).”
ADMINISTRATIVE
Edmiston said the
patrol division is the
“backbone” of any po-
lice department, but other
officers perform critical
services to support the
street units.
Eynon has been in law
enforcement for 25 years.
He transferred to HPD 10
years ago and has been
a captain for about three
years. He said he enjoys
the variety he encounters
as administrative captain.
“It’s interesting be-
cause I have so much di-
versity in the people that
I supervise and the divi-
sions that I supervise,”
he said. “That definitely
keeps me on top of my
game. I have to know a
lot of different jobs. My
typical day can vary a lot.
It really depends. If my
detectives are working on
a major case, then often
my day will involve a lot
of that.”
Eynon supervises two
general detectives and a
narcotics detective. He
said the patrol officers
will usually take the ini-
tial reports on major
crimes, including sex of-
fenses and child abuse,
but the detectives gener-
ally take over those in-
vestigations.
“It’s just not feasible
for patrol guys to go out
and follow up,” he said.
“It’s actually because of
the logistics of trying
to work those kinds of
cases when you are on a
patrol shift and getting
more calls coming in all
the time. The detectives
really just take it when it
starts turning into lots of
people to go track down
and talk to.”
Eynon said he provides
guidance to the officers
who serve under him but
is also responsible for the
mundane aspects of man-
agement.
“There is a lot of paper-
work involved, particular-
ly in the administrative end
for us (captains),” he said.
WHY BE AN
OFFICER?
Eynon and Johnson
both said most people be-
come police officers out
of a desire to serve.
Eynon said some peo-
ple may join the profes-
sion “for ego reasons”
or to seek an adrenaline
rush, but they “generally
don’t last” in law enforce-
ment.
“No matter what peo-
ple think, it doesn’t pro-
vide enough excitement
for people that got into it
for that reason to sustain
them,” he said. “We have
lots and lots of hours of
sheer boredom and mo-
notony intertwined with
minutes of shock and
awe.”
Johnson said the con-
stant variation in inten-
sity can be a difficult to
handle.
“The patrol guys are on
a wave,” he said. “They’ll
go completely to the
highest adrenaline to drop
off to completely nothing.
It will wear on you after
a while, physically, men-
tally.”
Both captains, howev-
er, said they enjoyed the
job — most days.
“I think it’s a noble
profession,” Eynon said.
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fession. Depending on
the way things are going
during the times, our job
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times our job can be a little
easier path depending on
what’s going on in the lat-
est media.
“I think most people are
still getting into it for the
right reasons, at least our
people that we’ve hired,”
he added. “Most of those
people have not gotten into
it because they thought
they’d look pretty sexy in a
blueberry uniform.”
SEAN HART PHOTO
Operations
Capt. Darryl
Johnson works
at his desk
at Hermiston
Police Depart-
ment. Johnson
oversees the
patrol divi-
sion — four
sergeants who
oversee four
corporals and
eight ofÀcers
— and sup-
port services,
including a
two-ofÀcer
street crime
team and
seven reserve
ofÀcers.