The Juniors Go To Court

Post date: Oct 7, 2016 8:18:46 PM

By: Robby Timmler, Staff Writer

Posted October 7th, 2016

On Wednesday, the SHS Juniors got the opportunity to go behind the scenes of the Washington County government. The tour started at the Sheriff's Department with the emergency dispatchers and an explanation of what they do. Dispatchers pick up calls and send a squad to the phone’s location to help. The juniors then went the shooting range, where officers practice their marksmanship and which target or suspect to shoot. Next they were shown three of the main police vehicles: the squad car with a plastic seat and a glass divider, a mobile command that has computers and cameras to survey the area in hostage situations, and the Bearcat which is an armored car that can hold 8 officers and has firing slits to protected them from hostiles.

The tour then lead the juniors to a conference room where they were shown a video on the Washington County Jail. They house 253 adults and 12 juvenile in 312 jail cells. The jail holds criminals from Jackson to Dodge County because Washington County has the most advanced jail system.

The tour then went to see the county board, which deals with civil issues like snow plowing, road maintenance, jail and law enforcement, public health, property tax collection,elections, vital records, etc. The county board comes together to vote on these issues and get a chance to speak their mind on the issues. After the county board, the tour went into a real courtroom to watch what happens. Different cases were shown in real time and were not scripted at all. The juniors got a chance to see how court cases work and the different rights you get depending on your case. The field trip taught the juniors about how local government works and how it affects the people in their daily lives.

Photos courtesy of Jeff Wolf