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A day in the life of a Golden officer

Posted at 7:15 PM, Sep 16, 2015
and last updated 2015-09-16 21:15:52-04

It’s a selfless job that requires a lot of courage and passion – passion to keep the community safe, while in some cases risking it all.

It’s the job of a police officer. With recent local threats, and after officers nationally have been killed, 7NEWS reporter Sally Mamdooh spent the day with the Golden Police Department.

The city might have a different name, size and look than one like Houston, where a deputy was ambushed, but the job of protecting and serving is the same no matter where it is.

“There is a lot of satisfaction in helping people,” said Golden officer Derek Hall.

Hall first became a cop at 25-years-old. He has been with the relatively small department since 2011. During his day shift, he’ll probably respond to some of the 20 calls that come through the radio.

With the ongoing anti-police sentiment spreading across the nation resulting in several cop killings, Hall says it’s all too concerning.

“It makes us aware - to be a little bit more vigilant,” he said.

Hall adds that anti-police sentiment doesn’t discriminate between agencies. It only sees the badge.

“We’ve always been aware of the risks both on and off duty,” said Officer Hall.

But here in Golden, he says there is support for those in the uniform. Just like any department, they have the same challenges and the majority of their calls are traffic related.

Even so, all calls are treated with caution.

“Never make assumptions when responding to calls cause you never know what you have until get there,” said Hall.