The State News tagged along with Sperry on Saturday night, capturing a regular night shift in the life of an East Lansing officer.

Shortly after 6 p.m.

Sperry’s staff briefing has just ended. She knows her shift won’t end for another 12 hours, but she’s ready to hit the streets.

“We can’t get too comfortable in this job,” Sperry said. “Everywhere we go can be dangerous … Every time we go to something new, we don’t handle it the same way. The next call that we go to, I could be fighting someone and taking them to jail.”

7 p.m.

Sticking with her normal schedule, Sperry begins patrolling the north side of town, making her way toward downtown as the bars start to open. She will check license plates for suspended licenses, stolen cars and expired plates. She also is looking for traffic violations, listening to the police scanner and watching her radar for speeding cars.

“I go out on the road and I’m looking for a lot of things,” Sperry said. “(I’m) looking for someone lurking around, doing something they’re not supposed to be doing, (and making) traffic stops.”

10 p.m.

With a few hours until the bars close, the streets are quiet. Sperry continues to make traffic stops and checks on the other officers. Sperry will check up on her fellow officers and wait for a thumbs up to make sure she is OK to leave them at the scene.

“Everyone I work with on this shift and throughout the entire department, we’re kind of like a family,” East Lansing Police Department Lt. Steve Gonzalez said. “I know that I can call on any one of these officers and they’re going to have my back in an instant. It gets to the point that you work with these officers so much that you know what they’re dealing with just by the tone of their voice on the radio.”

2 a.m.

The bars in downtown East Lansing have begun to close their doors, leaving patrons loose on the streets. Things have begun to heat up, and the officers are staying close to downtown.

Sperry said most often they arrest people for driving under the influence, possession of drugs, minors in possession and for disorderly conduct. Soon after, she gets a call about a man who has smashed the front window of a car parked on M.A.C. Avenue. After making an immediate U-turn, a witness comes up to the car and directs her to where he last saw the suspect.

The man is spotted within minutes, walking toward the car. Without hesitation, Sperry jumped out of the car to arrest the suspect, and with the help of another officer, finds the damaged car soon after.

Sperry then makes a few loops around downtown before pulling right up to a car accident. Masses of bar-hoppers are standing outside watching the scene unfold. Sperry wastes no time jumping in to help the officers who already have arrived at the scene. Although there was little damage done to either car, with the late hours each driver was asked to perform a sobriety test. The driver at fault was found to be over the legal limit and immediately arrested.

3 a.m.

With no breaks during the shift, concentration and alert levels often begin to dwindle.
Sperry said it can be difficult to stay focused and alert toward the end of the night, which sometimes results in a meetup with other officers just to stay awake and take a break.

“You still have a couple hours to go, your eyes are so heavy, there’s nothing on the road, there’s no cars on the road and it’s just dead,” Sperry said. “You actually become more of a danger when you’re driving like that. I know a lot of officers will go downtown and park their cars and go walk around downtown (just) to stay awake.”

6 a.m.

Sperry and other officers working the late-night shift are officially off duty. Sperry said she usually goes home and sleeps for a few hours before preparing for the next night’s shift.