Monday, September 15 at 2:15 P.M. as part of the Sheriff’s Citizen’s Academy course it was my turn to spend an hour in the car with Road Patrol Deputy in Boynton Beach’s District 6. This District extends from Lantana Rd to Pipers Glen and from the ocean to State Road 7.

I was partnered with a friendly and pleasant Deputy Exzabrion Barton who looked to be about 6’ 2” and weigh 220 pounds. He’s been a deputy for the past four years. He’s married and the proud father of two little girls. His father before him had been in law enforcement for 22 years.

Each day’s shift covers 11½ hours.

We left District 6 Headquarters off Jog Road near Park Vista H.S. Our first stop was a development in East Boynton called “Homes at Lawrence.” This is a mostly African-American community of several hundred homes. In some of the abandoned homes people hang out and use them for drug dealing. Deputy Barton pointed out spots of interest: “The Sheriff’s Department erected this chain link fence in this vacant lot adjacent to a canal to stop stolen cars from being dumped.” A little further on our drive he added, “A guy was shot right here not long ago. From here we’ll go over to the Sandcastle development, which is the toughest area around; lots of drug activity there.”

Sandcastle is the community three deputies spoke to us about at last Thursday night’s academy session. These deputies, including Sergeant Thomas Euell, are part of District 6’s special Community Policing Squad. They work at low-income communities to try and establish a positive relationship with residents by taking a proactive approach establishing a problem solving partnership with community leaders. They attempt to bond with the children by taking them on “Shop with a Cop” ventures occasionally.

On the way, Deputy Barton spots a homeless man near the grounds of Freedom Shores Elementary School. He’s in a canal just outside the school splashing water on his face and arms. “He’s not supposed to be anywhere near the school,” explained the Deputy. “I know who he is. I have to pick him up again and arrest him.” He turns the car around, pulls up to this man who looked to be about 55 years old, puts handcuffs on him and sits him in back of our patrol car. This guy starts an all out cursing war. The deputy had to contact the Safety Officer of the school. It took 30 minutes to fill out paper work. By the time we return with “the prisoner” to District 6 headquarters my tour was over.

“We never got to Sandcastle,” I said to Deputy Barton. He looked at me with a rueful smile as if to say, “You didn’t miss anything, man.”

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