GETTING IT RIGHT

ONE OF EVERY MYSTERY/THRILLER WRITER’S CHALLENGES IS GETTING THE LAW ENFORCEMENT DETAILS RIGHT. In any given book, I may have Logan interacting with medical examiners, sheriff’s deputies, state police, forensic experts, arson investigators, someone in jail, police department patrol officers and detectives, attorneys, DAs, etc.

Yes, I could make up the details, but out of respect to the people doing these jobs for real, I try to be as accurate as possible. I want to get it right. And even though they share many common features, police departments and sheriff’s offices across the country vary greatly in size and have their own unique procedures and policies.

So when the opportunity to sign up for the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Citizen Academy came up, I jumped at the chance. They only offer the 11-week course every two years, so even though I had just busted my ankle, I wasn’t about to miss it! Everyone was very supportive. The deputies even made it possible for me to go on the tour of the jail-I got my very own wheelchair ride.

Every session has been fascinating, and I couldn’t begin to include everything I have learned so far, but here are a few informal takeaways from my notes. A few tidbits are good for trivia night at your local pub:

• The office of the Sheriff is the oldest non-military, continuing law enforcement entity in history. Cool! The word Sheriff comes from ‘shires’, which means share—(think of the shire in The Hobbit) and ‘reeve’, which means Guardian or Keeper.
• The Sheriff’s Office covers a wide variety of services beyond patrol, including concealed carry permits, forest, marine, animal, property and evidence, and investigations.
• The Sheriff’s Office is called an office not a department, because the sheriff is elected. I like that he feels he reports to us and not to someone who appointed him.
• Each city has its own police department, but the sheriff’s office has jurisdiction over the entire county.

MISC OBSERVATIONS:

• I am impressed with the positive interactions and attitude not only between the members of the sheriff’s team I’ve met, but also between team members and the Adults in Custody housed in the jail and working with pre-trial and social and medical outreach programs. One deputy made an excellent point: In a small, rural county like ours, you are going to bump into these guys at the grocery store when they get out, so you tend to view and interact with them differently than say, if you worked in LA.
  
• Even though jail staff make every effort to feed, house, and treat each Adult in Custody with respect and fairness, jail is still not a place anyone would want to be. The ceilings are low, it is dimly lit, and you are locked up. They issue eye masks and earplugs to help, but Adults in Custody are checked on hourly, even through the night and it is never completely dark or quiet. And this is just jail, not prison.
• The tour of the jail made me very aware of how even with the best efforts being made to keep citizens safe AND help keep people out of jail, we as a society have still not figured it out. Mental health and addiction prevention and treatment are still huge problems. And though less obvious, lack of employment and affordable housing comes a close second.
• You would think a tour of the jail would be depressing, but progress is being made, so it has been encouraging. Makes you want to vote and volunteer.

The tour of the jail kitchen was my favorite stop (of course!). Many of the Adults-in-Custody arrive at the jail malnourished from living rough or dealing with addictions or mental illness. The chef’s 3000-calorie-a-day menu is designed to tackle that. Many also lack basic budgeting and cooking skills, so the chef has created a culinary cooking course for those who qualify and wish to learn. The goal is for them to leave the jail better prepared to stay out of jail.

I’d better behave myself, because the jail does not, unfortunately, offer gluten-free options 🙂 And just in case you’re making brunch for 200 people this weekend, here’s the recipe, exactly as given to the kitchen helpers each morning:

Super Muffin Full Batch

DRY INGREDIENTS:

• 1 gallon + 1 quart whole wheat flour
• 2 gallons TVP flour
• 3 quarts dry oats
• 1/3 cup + 2 Tablespoons baking powder
• 1 quart White Sugar
• 1 quart Brown Sugar
• 3 Tablespoons salt
• ½ cup cinnamon

WET INGREDIENTS:

• 2 quarts Water (as needed)
• 1 quart Canola Oil
• 3 cups vanilla
• 5 quarts unstrained canned fruit or frozen fruit or bananas
• 1 #10 Applesauce

Preparation:

Preheat your oven to 325° degrees. Put dry mix into mixer and Blend. Put wet mix into mixer and Blend. Add Fruit. Mix until dough is pulling away from the sides of the bowl. Spray Pans well! Use an 8-ounce scoop x2, level, and fill muffin pans quickly. Bake for 20 minutes at 325° degrees. Then check muffins They may need more time to cook. (Some canned fruits have more liquid then others). 20 minutes and then 5 minute checks is needed. Should cook no more then 30 minute total. 

Each batch will make about 28-30 muffins, depending on the fruit you use. Please make sure to measure exactly!!!