Read Online Trooper Down! by Marie Bartlett - Free Book Online Page B

cadet receives six gray, long-sleeved shirts, three pairs of black shoes, six pairs of gray pants, a yellow raincoat, a foul-weather fur-collared jacket, an “Ike” coat (named after President Eisenhower, who made waist-length jackets popular during World War II), one summer and one winter hat, plus accessories—nameplate, tie tack, whistle chain, neckties, belt, badge, handcuffs, holster, and firearm—all at a cost to state taxpayers of more than $900 per cadet,
    Troopers are allowed a yearly clothing allowance to replace lost or damaged items, but the total must not exceed $300. Each officer is responsible for keeping his uniforms clean and sharply pressed.
    Through the years, the patrol has learned that troopers who exhibita good appearance help bolster the organization’s professional image. That’s why even in summer, long-sleeved uniform shirts are required. Shoes, belts, and holsters have a “clarino” finish designed to resist scuffs and keep a permanent shine. Pants are made of a wrinkle-resistant wool and polyester blend, while the campaign-style hats lend an air of authority.
    Though cadets enjoy donning the uniform for the first time, it is getting the patrol car that really enthralls them.
    Two days before graduation, the Seventy-Ninth Basic School cadets are scheduled to ride a bus across town and drive their patrol cars back to school. But it has snowed the night before—an almost unheard-of sixteen inches in Raleigh—and instead, they are shoveling snow and ice from the walkways outside the training center.
    As a measure of how far the class has come in terms of discipline, no one complains about the delay. By late afternoon, Major Robert Barefoot, administrative director of training, and his staff decide the patrol vehicles can be brought to the school after all.
    They arrive in procession, a steady stream of black-and-silver cruisers, Ford Crown Victorias marked “State Trooper,” each sporting the distinctive blue-and-gold state seal on the front door panels. Behind the wheels of the forty-two cars are forty-two excited cadets, some of whom can hardly contain their enthusiasm.
    â€œThis is a good ole car. I’m tickled to death with it,” says one soon-to-be rookie. “Can I sleep in it tonight, Sarge?”
    Despite the inclement weather, the cadets vigorously wash and wax the vehicles, fiddle with the radios, the blue lights and sirens, and check and double-check to see that everything’s in working order.
    In the early days, North Carolina troopers rode motorcycles. An officer who stopped someone had to find a safe place to park, drive the arrested person to jail in the individual’s car, then hitch a ride back to his machine. At wreck investigations, all he could do to help victims was locate a phone to call an ambulance, or flag down a motorist and ask him to take the injured party to the hospital.
    By 1939, the patrol realized motorcycles were impractical and dangerous (several troopers were killed in motorcycle accidents while on duty) and replaced them with Ford sedans. One-way radio receivers were installed so a patrolman could receive messages fromthe dispatcher. But he had no way to acknowledge, nor could he communicate with other troopers.
    Things improved only slightly during the next decade.
    â€œMy first patrol car was a ’49 Ford with 95,000 miles on it,” recalls a retired trooper. “It was in pretty good mechanical shape, but the inside was raw. It had a small heater in it on the passenger side, so if you rode with another officer, you took turns getting your feet warmed. We had no blue lights so we bought these big spotlights and flashed them out the window at people we wanted to stop. There was no extra equipment available—nothing to fix a flat, just a tow chain, a shovel, and an axe. If there was anything else we needed, we had to pay for it ourselves.”
    Today, North Carolina patrol cars each