[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] ma'am I like y put it down is this [Music] [Applause] [Music] I've been a patrolman for 7 years for Oxford Police Department I've been a tactical flight officer with the aviation unit for three and being able to be multi-functional and having different jobs within the PD makes everything a lot better uh to be a good TFO you have to be a good patrolman you have to know the job you have to know what the guys on the ground need and with the experience of being a patrolman for seven years four of them for a TFO it gives you an advantage in the air I know exactly what the guys need and if I don't they'll ask so tactical flight officer's role in any flight is the pilot flies a helicopter but the Tactical flight officer runs the mission that goes from car chases to domestic violence calls to just tra simple traffic stops I direct the pilot where he needs to go and he puts me in a right-hand orbit because of our equipment but my job doesn't start when we get on the call it's monitoring all calls it's monitoring all radio frequencies helping the pilot spot aircraft in the air and then once we do get on the call I'm the one talking to dispatch ground units running the Fleer system and Andor the track of light system um so once we're on the scene it's it's a handful to say the least but that's my job when I was hired in Oxford in 2016 the aviation program was basically a rumor people inside the department kind of knew what was going on the citizens had heard about the aviation Department or Aviation unit at the time and I made sure in my first interview and I said if this is something that this department actually has I want to be a part of it um so I knew some of the people once I got hired that they were in the aviation unit and I didn't understand why you had to be a patrol officer for 2 years before moving over to Aviation now since since I've been a patrol officer 7 years and in the aviation unit 3 years I completely understand 2 years is the minimum but at 2 years and you've never had any police experience before you don't know everything that you need to know to better assist your Patrol officers or investigations or DEA or any of that 2 years you're scraping the surface of the knowledge that you need to keep officers safe on on the ground when you're in the air um I look at it as if I was in the pursuit and I was the lead car what would I need from the helicopter and that's what I think of on every call in a DV situation what if somebody runs out of the back of the house and I have no idea I hope the aviation unit sees it and lets me know so information like that is crucial but you have to know what to look for and what the officers on the ground [Music] need 7:33 1039 1039 21 South Cliff Garett on AA Optima blue in color 1028 through Texas papa Zulu Romeo 9594 they're above us hey how are y I didn't even realize I didn't I told her I said you I've been doing good I said I've been watching it and I don't know how I got just coming down off that hill or whatever well my name is Officer rge officer police department I stopped you because you're doing 71 and 55 yeah that's why I didn't iiz you come rolling I been doing good watching it at 50 so I don't know how I got up there is all your information still correct on your license oh left yes ma'am yes all right well give me one second I'll be right back 733 uh so right now we have Aviation above us they're Sur or supporting us from the air they're keeping an eye on the vehicle uh with our camera system that that unit has we're able to you know just give any kind of support that I need say the vehicle takes off and it takes me a second to get around and get into the vehicle uh they can maintain eyes until I can catch back up with them above is it's it's a comforting feeling honestly it's kind of hard to [Applause] explain Miss Brown yes here your driver's license see look here's your warning you have got to slow down she just moved here going I just couldn't believe I've been doing good the whole while and the day you ain't in Texas no more no this is Alabama welcome to Alabama you all have a good day okay so we just finished that stop uh wrote her a warning for her speed she is new to the area just moved from Texas first 6 months into the unit uh I've been described as a go-getter uh I'm one of those that want to make things happen and I can see how the world was shifting and social media was honestly dominating recruitment all across the country so my first instinct was to go to my unit Commander Lieutenant Jake Durham and ask him if we could have a social media uh I recommended us moving to Instagram because Facebook was more for my parents generation people were on Facebook but nobody used Facebook to really Network work like people think so I asked Jake could we start an Instagram account I saw the benefit of recruitment retention and honestly it benefited our unit more than anything showing the public what an aviation unit does and Jake gave me the goahead but he told me that I had to run it I had no idea how to run a social media account I had no idea what a real was or how to network or how to do really anything on social media uh it took a lot of Trials uh a lot of failures and a lot of reaching out to random people that I knew in the aviation industry all across the country that I found their account and I had some great you could say mentors that helped me uh they would push our content out and so I started our page in 2021 and we had our first thousand followers by December of 2021 so start of 2022 I really started catching my stride with social media and kind of figuring out what I was doing um in doing so we ended up gaining 35,000 followers and in the next year and a half last year we had over 14 million views on reals uh and it exploded we built a network of people in our industry and law enforcement and just regular citizens that liked what we were doing my goal of social media was not to reach the 55-year-old sitting on the couch I was trying to reach the 17 18yearold kid in our high school that had no idea what they were going to do in life that kept seeing helicopter videos and thinking man that's kind of cool that's the kid I wanted to reach and probably 6 months ago I got a message from a senior in our high school and he was like I can't wait to turn 21 where they can legally work for our department where I can join and become part of Aviation that's the goal like I like I saved that comment I mean that's that's what I was trying to accomplish the entire time so now it's not just Oxford PD Aviation if I can help other departments across the country see the importance of social media and how to push their content across the country I mean it helps with everything helps citizens know exactly what Aviation is in your area it helps City Council Members be able to see what funding is going for it fantastic for Recruitment and it is amazing just to be able to show what we do day in and day out as a unit and some of the biggest benefits that we've received from social media is having y'all here having us cops here filming AV not only that we've been in magazines calendar shoots we've been invited to expose all across the country Great American Flyin that are happening later this year Lieutenant our unit Commander Lieutenant Jake Durham and our chief pilot Drew Mitch we're just on a podcast for Pilots Lounge uh We've gained great connections and honestly I've worked trying to get us in vertical magazine for probably a year and a half two years just tagging them in every real post anything that I could put on social media they were tagged in and we just I just found out the other day we just did a photo shoot as a preliminary uh for a news article so I'm part of the recruiting committee for Oxford police department and in doing so uh today we're working on a shot of tight turns over the football field we'll leave this location move to chakalaka Park and looking at a upcoming shot with a barcat patrol cars helicopter hovering uh it's going to be nice but today we're going to try to capture this one shot of tight turns over the football field so another thing is I want the community to recognize exactly where the shots taking place and I want to reach out to the younger generation that is about to graduate high school and they're really not sure what they want to do but they see the police department and they notice exactly where we are we're out at chak Locka Park we have a film crew with us and we're going to get one of our biggest shots for our recruitment video uh that's going to include a bearcat multiple patrol cars and our helicopter uh it's taking a lot to get all the parts uh hopefully working well together today uh so we look at a recruitment video on why it is important to have one because retention rates across the country are honestly low for law enforcement it's been that way for years um so we're trying to spark an interest in our department and our agency and show what our capabilities are and the technology and assets that Patrol men have at this department I'm officer gunar Au Police Department I've been working here at AU Police Department for roughly 2 and a half years before this I was a jet engine mechanic in the Air Force I I went on a deployment went to Afghanistan and when I got when I got back from my my deployment I decided that I wanted to get out of there get out of the military and I still wanted to serve in some capacity and I figured what better way to do that than become a police officer I still wanted to work in aviation because that's still one of my biggest passions so I got with the city hall here in Oxford and they set me up with Lieutenant Durham and he is the commander of our Aviation unit and we worked out a plan the the military Grant their members U it's a it's called skills bridge program you can get out up to 6 months early and do an internship so I did that out I got out about 3 months early and I came here and I interned and everything worked out in my favor they took a chance and and I work here now I'm super grateful to have this job it it supports me and my family well we got a keys locked in their vehicle here at Dollar General maroon Chevy Equinox see if we can't help them out 7:35 10:23 what's your name Janice Walker okay do you own the vehicle yes I okay I was in a hurry and I pulled my wallet out of my purse but I dropped my keys my purse that's a bad feeling when you shut the door knowing your keys are in there huh all right if I could just get you to do me a favor print and sign that's just stating that if any damage occurs to the vehicle myself or Rockford Police Department is not held liable today is today is the 13th yes ma'am all right let me grab my tools yeah it's about what it is it's not much different than one my purse on the floorboard I see it down there man hey I'm back again you keep calling me over here huh I know it's it's been a day man I would have called my son but my phone's in the car that's why I went ahead and called some of these are hard to see there it is thank you you're welcome absolutely you have a good day ma'am you too 735 1028 for [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] one [Music]