William Peace University senior Sierra Silvey never considered becoming a police officer. There’s a chance the criminal justice major might take her skills elsewhere when she graduates.
But if she chooses not to go into law enforcement, it won’t be for a lack of knowledge about the ins and outs of being a police officer.
Silvey, a native of Danville, Va., spends her days — and some nights — interning with the Raleigh Police Department. That doesn’t mean Silvey is sitting behind a desk, answering phones, watching instructional videos, and fetching doughnuts. No, Silvey spends her time sitting in the front seat of patrol cars, decked out in a bulletproof vest.
“It’s ride-along every single day,” Silvey said. “It’s always different with the type of calls you do and the officers are different, too.”
So a few times a week Silvey goes to various RPD districts across the city, grabs her vest and her sidearm — usually a pen and pad for taking notes — and gets a first-hand look at the daily activities of a police officer.
Silvey has done day shifts, which is a lot of ticker writing (from illegal mufflers on cars to illegal tenants) to break-ins and even manhunts, even though she doesn’t get out of the car until she gets the green light.
“They confirm that it’s safe for me to get out because I’m very much an anxious person,” Silvey said. “My first day I didn’t get out of the car. Now I just wait for them to tell me everything’s OK.”
Silvey mostly observes and she always has a list of questions for the officers. She also keeps a journal and logs every call she makes with the RPD. A couple of calls stand out.
Recently she was in the car when the officer responded to a bomb threat. There was also a time when someone tried to elude the RPD on foot and ran into a wooded area. Silvey was there as the RPD set up a perimeter around the area to catch the suspect. She kept a close eye on her area (from the car, of course) hoping to see the suspect make a run for it.
“I wouldn’t have been able to get out of the car and chase him,” Silvey said. “But just the waiting period, I guess, and waiting for the ball to come in saying they got him was kind of cool.”
Out To Help People
Silvey said the experience has her at least considering becoming an officer. She wants to go into the intel part of law enforcement, but her passion for helping people could be put to use if she decides to put on a badge one day.
She’s seen first-hand that the first order of business for the officers in RPD is to de-escalate situations first.
“They are truly out here to help people,” Silvey said. “And they want to do their jobs well. I love watching them interact with people and just hearing the experience has been amazing.”
Silvey took a class called Ethics in Policing, which gave her a general idea of what it was like to be a police officer. Her perspective has changed, though, since she started interning at RPD.
“They want to solve problems,” Silvey said. “They want to get people help, they’re not going into these calls aggressively. They want to find out what the actual problem is and how they can help. As someone who always wanted to help people, I want to say it was predestined for me.”
Silvey is right. Before she was born, her dad had another name he wanted for her instead of Sierra.
That name?
“Justice,” Silvey said with a smile.
