Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

No Problems At GPD (cont)

addition, they are washed weekly.

"We try and take care of the cars," he said. "The new Chevy has about 80,000 miles on it. It probably has 80,000 idling miles. It's time for things to tear up on it.

"I hate it because we're having a bad run of luck on cars, but we're not tearing them up on purpose."

When asked about going outside the city limits for calls, Childres said the GPD doesn't have to respond to calls at Gurdon High School. However, it does and keeps any situation under control until officers arrive from the Clark County Sheriff's Office.

When a wreck occurs outside the city limits, he said the officers respond because Gurdon is at the far end of the county. All officers are certified emergency medical technicians (EMTs) and go out to offer their help.

"It's what we've always done," he said. "We go out, patrol traffic and help the injured if needed.

"It takes time, 20 to 30 minutes, until someone gets here. I feel we can help until they do. I'd hate to know we'd go there and not help or not go because we're afraid to burn the extra gas."

Currently, there are three full-time officers, along with Childres, and three part-timers. These officers share four vehicles.

However, a 1986 Ford will be sold by the council, possibly in July. This vehicle was purchased as a used car from the Arkansas State Police.

Childres defends the department saying the GPD wasn't over budget on salary last year.

"We have the same amount of people we had three years ago," he said. "We (the GPD) didn't get a raise last year. If we get one, it's 3 percent. We're at the same salary we had three years ago."

He said other departments within the city received raises last year, though the GPD didn't. "We didn't gripe about it," he said. "We didn't like it, but we said nothing about it."

Childres complained about the air conditioning at city hall, saying the unit for the GPD doesn't work. He said his radio operator is getting sick because of the heat, but doubts the city will have the unit repaired.

"I've never heard the council say anything good about the Gurdon police," he said.

Taxes passed by city residents, he added, do not include funds for the GPD, though the fire department did receive tax monies.

"It's hot up there," he said. "The only air conditioning unit not working is the one for the GPD. They don't care nothing about us there."

Childres said if the unit were elsewhere, it would be repaired.