Suspects allegedly involved in a physical altercation early Sunday morning outside a Fort Bliss residence sit on the lawn as they wait for a police wagon to pick them up en masse and take them to the police station. Photo by Dustin Perry.
Patrolling the night
It’s 11:37 p.m. on a Saturday, and Officer Gregory Harvel of the Fort Bliss Police Department has parked his patrol car near the corner of Pershing and Cassidy roads to check for speeders. He and nearly two dozen other officers are just coming on to the midnight shift – “Mids” for short – and will spend the next eight hours keeping the post safe while the majority of its citizens are asleep.
FBPD officers rotate on the Mids shift every 90 days, said Harvel. They take over for the 2 p.m.-to-midnight “swing” shift and are relieved first thing after sunrise by the day shift. Although the police force is available to respond 24 hours a day, the bulk of emergency calls come during Mids, he said.
“The majority of some of the calls we get, you’re not going to get on any other shift,” said Harvel. “‘I train hard, I play hard’ is the mentality of a lot of individuals. Since there’s no work to be done and everybody’s on their free time, of course criminal activity will pick up.”
In addition to responding to calls – fights and drunken disorderliness are among the most common – officers are also responsible for conducting patrols and checking for traffic and speeding violations. Although the volume of drivers at night is notably less than during the day, the lure of a weekend trip to a bar or club can lead to several drunken drivers entering the post and endangering the community, said Harvel.
“I would say we pretty much have the same amount of DWIs as any town with a big college,” he said. “We do have a lot of young Soldiers who come here and this is their first time away from home with the ability to drink unsupervised.”
Officer Gregory Harvel of the Fort Bliss Police Department handcuffs a man allegedly involved in a physical altercation early Sunday morning at a military housing area. Photo by Dustin Perry.
Main post, Biggs Army Airfield, all military housing areas, William Beaumont Army Medical Center, and McGregor and Doña Ana ranges all fall under the department’s jurisdiction, which makes for a large area to keep secure, said Harvel. He elects to begin by conducting a foot patrol of Kelly Park. In the past, the park has attracted “suspected juveniles using the park after hours for means it was not built for,” he said.
“We catch a lot of people using the property to do drugs, to be with prostitutes,” said Harvel.
The search of the park yields no suspicious findings, but as Harvel returns to his car and begins to leave, he sees a young man walking along the fence wearing a long, black trench coat and flip-flops. The man says he is returning home from the Shoppette, but Harvel notices grass on the back of his coat and smells alcohol on his breath. He eventually offers the man a courtesy ride to his house and advises him not to be out so late after drinking.
“It’s not illegal for someone to be walking around alone at 12:30 a.m., but you always have to be alert – especially on this shift,” said Harvel.
After finishing a patrol of Hayes Housing Area, Harvel is on Fred Wilson Boulevard heading back to main post when he receives a call detailing a possible domestic altercation nearby. He turns on his lights and sirens and barrels toward the address. Upon arrival, it is discovered that the physical dispute was between two apparently intoxicated males, both of whom have been detained. One of the men is cuffed and placed in the back of Harvel’s patrol car. As he is driven back to the station, he repeatedly asks what charges are being brought upon him.
An emergency medical technician from William Beaumont Army Medical Center prepares to take a man to the hospital early Sunday morning. The man, allegedly involved in a physical altercation while intoxicated, was being taken to the Fort Bliss police station when he passed out in the back seat. Photo by Dustin Perry.
“Assault?” the man asks, slurring. “I’m trying to figure out why the hell I’m back here. Ain’t nobody accused me of nothing.”
The man is processed, fingerprinted and placed in a holding cell at the station. The sound of the cell door being kicked can be heard outside, where a trio of officers is awaiting medical personnel to arrive and transport the other detained man – who is passed out in the back seat of another patrol car.
Despite the regular occurrence of domestic disputes and other illegal activity, the sense of security at Fort Bliss is a lot more heightened than it would be in the El Paso, he said.
“About 99 percent of the community here is very law-abiding – nobody wants to get in trouble, nobody starts trouble,” said Harvel. “But you’ve always got that 1 percent.”
Two hours pass without any major calls when, right at 4 a.m., an officer sends out a dispatch on the radio requesting backup at the site of another physical altercation, this time less than four blocks away from the police station itself. The officer’s voice is hurried and slightly panicked.
“I need you to get over here right away,” he says.
Harvel and four other officers arrive on the scene to find one man complaining that he had been “jumped by two Hispanic guys” and was simply trying to defend himself. The officers ask where the two men fled and he points to a house across the street behind them. Two of them run to the back door of the house and draw their weapons.
“El Paso PD, open up!” shouts the lead officer.
They enter the house and detain the two suspects quickly, bringing them out the lawn across the street and cuffing them. At least four others – most of them apparently intoxicated, and at least a few believed to be less than 21 years old – are also detained and taken to the station for holding. Only minor injuries are reported.
Later, the officers are standing outside the station. Through their combined efforts that night, a large group of suspects have been detained for their safety and the community’s. There are only three hours until the end of their shift, but they still have a job to do.
“There’s a myth that police officers are just out to get everyone,” says Harvel. “Not true. The best advice I can give to the community out there is simple: Just do what you’re supposed to do and obey the law.”