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Texas A&M University-Commerce

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2018

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Texas A&M University-Commerce

Preparing for the worst

2018

Special Issue 1st Responders

by Cristhian Herrera

Dream job

by Tyler McDonough

Community affair

by Joseph Miller

Protect, Serve & Educate

by Todd Kleiboer

Content and production are the responsibilities of the students.

The Special is produced during the fall, spring and summer terms.

Contact: The Special, Texas A&M University-Commerce, Box 4104, Commerce, Texas 75429.

Staff: Cristhian Herrera, Todd Kleiboer, Tyler McDonough, Joseph Miller.

Faculty adviser: Fred Stewart (fred.stewart@tamuc.edu)

Preparing for the worst Active-shooter training at Texas A&M-Commerce

BY Cristhian Herrera In the wake of the mass shooting that took place in Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, safety within schools is becoming a larger concern.

In late February, 100 students traveled 400 miles from Parkland to the capitol of Tallahassee to lobby for a ban on semi-automatic rifles. The motion failed to pass.

At Texas A&M-Commerce, an active-shooter training session was held on Friday, March 2nd. The purpose of the class was to educate and train faculty, staff, graduate assistants, and student workers to react to a shooter on campus.

The session was led by Lt. Jason Bone of the University Police Department. Bone stands at about 6’5, has a shaved head and wears olive drab pants outfitted with a yellow taser on the left side of his hip and a Glock handgun on his right. He is the Campus Crime Information Officer and has been part of law enforcement for at least 20 years.

Part of the presentation included a short video, produced by the FBI, that shows and demonstrates the steps and mindset people should have when encountering an active shooter.

Survival depends on whether you have a plan. Running, hiding, and fighting are the three main concepts that the FBI and Bone wish to impart on the public.

In 2014, John Meis, a Seattle Pacific University student, dis-

Lt. Jason Bone preparing for the day in his UPD office. armed a gunman who had killed one student and injured two others.

Meis has been called a hero for the actions he took.

“You see, it is possible to take out a shooter,” said Bone. John Meis presented “But I’m not with Citizen Service Besaying that’s fore Self Honors Award. what you should do every time, obviously it’s the third option.”

Although an active shooter can be unpredictable, the most important thing to remember is to be aware of your surroundings and strange behavior from others.

Sometimes it takes a little training

to achieve this Jennifer Boyd, an emergency building coordinator, recognizes this mentality. She’s undergone online webinars and face to face discussions on the topic but realizes she needs more of it.

“Sometimes I question myself,” said Boyd. “that’s why I asked if there was addition training… so I feel more confident in my abilities and know exactly what’s expected of me.”

Expecting the unexpected is the mindset Bone hopes his attendees will understand.

“It’s human nature to think that won’t happen to us,” said Bone.

“This could happen anytime, anywhere, to anyone even in small town America.

From volunteer to his dream job with fire department

By Tyler McDonough Myles Zimmerman is a young up-and-coming firefighter in the Commerce Fire Department whose skills and hard work ethic have not gone unnoticed with him holding the rank of lieutenant.

Lt. Zimmerman, a Greenville native and 2009 graduate from Boles High School, has been a part of the CFD since 2012 - his first full-time department.

Before joining the CFD, Lt. Zimmerman volunteered with the Cash Volunteer Fire Department then after serving with the Cash FD, he started part-time work in Commerce before joining the crew fulltime in 2013.

Growing up as a kid and dreaming of being a firefighter was not really on Zimmerman’s radar.

“I know a lot of guys from the time they were a little kid, that’s what they wanted to do, but I was not really one of those guys,” he said, adding that he was just a normal kid growing up, playing football, going to school, and having fun.

It wasn’t until his time at Paris

Junior College that he really got the bug and wanted to get involved with EMT and volunteer work. He credits a PJC adviser for getting him involved with the EMT courses at the college.

as a volunteer. He notes that “no two deployments are the same and it was pretty wild.” He said he told himself, “The next chance I get to do this I’m not going to pass it up.”

“One of the advisers said ‘I think you would like this line of work, you like to help people and I think you would like it,’” Zimmerman said.

After completing his volunteer work and realizing that being a fulltime firefighter was the move for him, he made the decision, and it couldn’t have been at a more difficult time with the wild fires zipping across the state.

Little did he know that his next move would propel him to where he is today.

“...best job in the world.”

-- Zimmerman “After taking the course is when I began to volunteer,” Zimmerman said. “When I began volunteering, that is when it pulled me in.”

Zimmerman has been on plenty of deployments all over the state of Texas starting at the age of 20

One of Zimmerman’s first big time deployments was to Fort Davis where he was able to contribute to the vast majority of fires that were sweeping across West Texas during the heavy droughts in the state.

Zimmerman credits a big part of the job being the brotherhood aspect that he loves.

“I love coming to work in the morning because I love the guys that I work with,” he said. “They’re like me, we all get along, we love doing this job together, you’ve got your brothers with you and I love going to work with family.”

In describing his favorite part of the job, Zimmerman said, “Every aspect of the job is my favorite because every day in the life of a fire fighter is different. No deployments are the same, every call is different.

Things are always changing and you have to challenge yourself every day.”

The toughest part of the job for Zimmerman is being away from his family, being on call, and sometimes being on a 24-hour shift.

“All of that can add up, but I would not tell you that there is a bad part of the job,” he said. “It’s a dream job and we win.

“We have the best job in the world.”

A Community Affair “I think a big piece of

By Joseph Miller Community relations are important to the Commerce Police Department as first responders.

No matter what type of call or emergency, the chances are that a police officer will be the first person at the scene. Police officers are most often the first eyes on a scene for other first responders.

“Police officers are the first responder 99 percent of the time because we are mobile,” Commerce Police Chief Jason Rector said. “You don’t see firetrucks or ambulances out on patrol.”

Tensions between police departments have risen over the past few years across America and breakdowns have occurred.

that pie is because of a lack of

and that they are people too.

“The people already think

relationship between the police

they know you because you are

department and its community,”

a cop. The people are not going

Rector said.

to know you if you don’t get to

The Commerce, Texas community is extra special to

know them,” Rector said.

Rector said that the law

Rector because it is his community.

enforcement job is fluid and has

Rector grew up in Commerce and

changed drastically over the past

graduated from Commerce High

few decades.

School.

“The satisfaction is a new

“I assume most professions are, if you were an

level because I’m doing it for my

electrician 30 years ago, it is

people,” Rector said. “It is an

probably not the same today. It is

overwhelming sense of pride to

the same with law enforcement,”

be able to serve your community,

Rector said.

where you grew up.”

Community is important to

Rector believes it is his responsibility to make sure

Rector and he stresses this to his

that everyone that the police

officers. Rector said that it is up to

department encounters gets the

each individual officer to get out

best service that they can get.

and show the people who they are

“Just like any business on

Earth should be, our main concern is customer satisfaction,” Rector

more efficient.

“Don’t get me wrong,

and a program in association with the Boys and Girls Club of

said. “The only difference is that

volunteer firefighters are made of

America called the Commerce

some of our customers didn’t sign

gold,” Rector said. “They work

Helping Adolescents Overcome

up to be our customers.”

for a living and then they are

and Succeed (CHAOS) program.

firefighters, but these [Commerce

These programs and other help to

also extends to the other first

Fire Department] are firefighters

further strengthen the bonds with

responders in the area. Rector

for a living. That resource is

the community.

likens the relationship with the

tremendous.”

The community relationship

fire department to that of a sibling relationship.

“That police and fire rivalry

The Commerce Police

“No matter where I stand in the court of public opinion, I have

Department also has programs like

to know that I did the best that I

a yearly Citizens Police Academy

can do to serve my community,”

is more of a joke now than it was in decades past,” Rector said. “When it is time to work, it is time to work.”

An automobile accident, for example, has at least three first responder units at the scene.

Police, fire and Emergency Medical Services are all on the scene doing very independent jobs in unison.

“We all know what we are doing and we help each other,” Rector said.

Rector praised the fire department and said that the familiarity and stability of a fulltime fire department makes the job of being a first responder easier and

Commerce Police Chief Jason Rector with CHAOS participants.

To

By Todd Kleiboer

A

n alarmed blared in his ear, and Officer Christopher Davis woke up and turned it off quickly, the time 4:30 a.m. flashing red.

He rose carefully and turned on a small

Photo Credit | Todd Kleiboer

light.

There was his uniform hanging where he had left it the day before, and the University Police Department badge given to him seven years ago reflected the light’s rays. However, it wasn’t quite right.

It was a little wrinkled, and after an adept use of the iron, he was standing fully uniformed at the bedroom mirror. He was quiet for a few minutes, steeling himself for the coming day.

“You got to get into a mindset when you wake up,” Davis said in regards to his daily morning ritual. “I usually look at my son while he’s sleeping and get that in my mind, that I want to go home to that.”

Davis pulled into work at 5:30 a.m., thirty minutes before his shift started. Other officers from his shift were there as well, and they looked over reports from the night before.

“[I] want to see if there’s anything that’s going to carry over into the next day like a certain call that could have implications for the next day,” Davis said. “If there was a fight the night before, that could carry over to our shift, we need to be made aware of it.”

Breakfast was next, and Davis, with coffee in hand, talked to the other shifts about the reports or anything else that could affect his own shift. After that, it was time for the briefing in the conference room.

“We’ll [all shift officers and the sergeant] pull up our briefing log, see what happened, and then watch any videos that happened from the day before,” Davis said. “Like this week [of April 23, 2018], there was some stuff in Dallas, and so we watched some of that.”

Then, it was to the patrol car, and Davis and his partner watched for parking violations and stopped other vehicles loud enough to hear but quiet enough for dispatch to overpower it “We always got to hear this radio,” Davis said as he gestured to the dispatch radio at his collar.

“Some guys don’t like it. When I was in training year ago, I had an FTO [Field Training Officer] that said ‘Turn it down, turn it off, we’re not going to listen to the radio’.

Then I had another sergeant that would sing.”

Some days Davis and his partner would walk different buildings around campus to check for any off-campus visitors that had prolonged their stay a little too long, and other times calls would interrupt their patrol.

“These calls can be as simple as ‘My bike was stolen’ to more complicated matters that require investigators and more personnel,” Davis said. “A day can be fairly routine.

I don’t like calling it routine, but it can be fairly straightforward.

Photo Credit | Pexels

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