If you’ve ever been driving downtown you’ve probably seen her. And if you’ve had the misfortune of being pulled over on her beat, she probably wrote your ticket. 
As one of the only three female police officers with the Mason City Police Department, Jessica Buckman’s friendly demeanor is easy to spot. 
When she isn’t busy with her duties as a police officer, you can usually find her chatting with the neighborhood kids or the public in general.
Officer  Buckman, a 1995 NIACC graduate, has been with the MCPD since beginning work in September of 1994 as a reserve officer. 
“I wanted to get involved with Law Enforcement since I was a senior in high school,” Buckman said. “I considered Criminology for a while, but once I began attending NIACC and got more involved with the Law Enforcement program, I knew that this was what I wanted to do.”
She said she chose NIACC because it is an inexpensive education and, being from Rockford, she was able to stay relatively close to home. 
The Law Enforcement Program at NIACC is effective, Buckman said, because she was able to study a field that is a subject not emphasized as much as a subject like math or science. “NIACC gave me a chance to study a field that I was really interested in,” Buckman said.
Among her many duties as an officer with the MCPD, Buckman said that she answers calls coming into the department varying anywhere from incidences of domestic abuse, theft, harassment, fights, vandalism and types reports for all such calls.
“I also enforce traffic laws, handle alarm calls (where a person or place of business’ security alarm has gone off), conduct bar checks, check on vacation homes, and walk through public areas and mingle with the public,” Buckman said.
Many times in the event of an emergency, such as a car accident, the police department is the first to arrive at the scene. “We are trained First Responders, which means that we may have to stabilize a victim with CPR or some kind of life-saving treatment until the ambulance gets there,” Buckman said.
The best thing about her career, she said, is the excitement and variety of her work. “No two days are ever the same,” Buckman said. “I don’t know what I’ll be doing two hours or four hours from now. Also, I get to be where the general public can’t go. Instead of reading it in the paper, I can say that I lived it.”
 Getting acquainted and forming relationships with the public is another perk Buckman said she enjoys. 
Being an officer in a smaller town of about 30,000 doesn’t necessarily mean that there is less danger for an officer.
“Larger cities have more backup readily available. Whereas here in Mason City, if a crisis emerged such as the recent shootings that have occurred at high schools, help isn’t always readily available for us,” Buckman said.
As far as drawbacks go, Buckman said that the stereotype of an officer is difficult to overcome. 
“I think that many people believe that the officers are biased-that they give favors to certain individuals,” Buckman said. “It’s also frustrating when we try to help people with problems like drug abuse or domestic abuse by offering any of the number of services available, and a week later, we will find that same individual in the same situation.”
While her job is physically straining, many people do not understand the emotional side of law enforcement. 
“An officer goes through so many emotions and feelings in an eight-hour shift,” she said. “We experience sadness, anger, laughter and so on that we have to learn how to separate all of those emotions and just do our job.”
Being a female officer does carry with it some unique responses from the men and women that she deals with on a daily basis.
“I am treated no differently by my fellow officers, but sometimes the general public seems to have a problem with a female officer,” Buckman said.
She said that although it isn’t a common occurrence, sometimes when responding to a call, an individual will speak with Buckman only until a male officer arrives and will then give that officer his or her attention. 
Buckman said that being a good cop is dependent upon a number of factors. 
Being street-smart is a good quality to possess, she said. “You have to be personable and be able to get along with and respect all kinds of people and not have a quick temper,” Buckman said.
 She said that a person has to have a strong stomach and be able to handle undesirable situations involving blood and needles and, occasionally, nudity.
“A sociable personality comes in handy because we deal with 20 percent of the people 80 percent of the time and we deal with 80 percent of the people 20 percent of the time, so it’s very important that we give that 20 percent a good impression,” Buckman said.
Buckman’s advice to those considering law enforcement is to keep a good record and to make wise choices. 
“What you do now has a direct effect on your future,” she said. “A lot of good people can’t be cops because of mistakes they made in the past.”
She said that she could see herself still working in Mason City in ten years because she thinks that it is the perfect size for her. “Mason City is small enough to allow me to get to know people with just enough excitement to keep me interested,” Buckman said

It’s a career that is often taken for granted and many times not understood. Being given a chance to follow a police officer for an entire shift is an experience that could definitely give someone a new appreciation for law enforcement. 
The Mason City Police Department offers a valuable service to the general public and especially to those considering a career in Law Enforcement in its Ride-Along program.
By simply stopping by the MCPD and filling out an application, a person has the chance to ride with a police officer and see first-hand what being a cop is all about.
The officer that I was able to ride with on this particular Saturday night was Officer Jessica Buckman.
Buckman’s day starts off with a shift meeting a little before 3 p.m. There she and the other officers on her shift discuss things such as updates on cases and introduce new cases or discuss people they need to be aware of on the streets.
Then it’s time to hit the streets. 
Her beat is the downtown area and Saturday nights usually bring with them some interesting calls. 
Many of the people we interacted with throughout the night knew Buckman by her first name, most of them being individuals one could call “repeat customers.” 
The houses to which we drove were familiar homes to Buckman, as were the situations. 
One call involved a disagreement between neighborhood kids-one complaining that a few others had ganged up on him and taken his football. 
Bystanders ran up to Buckman, eager to give her their two cents worth about what had happened. This created a yelling match between parties, making it difficult to decipher what actually happened.
She served as a mediator between the kids and their parents until the dispute was solved. 
Later we headed out to a local storage garage as a family reported that some of its personal belongings had been stolen. 
She spent a good half-hour or so completing a report and advising the parents of the family as to what they needed to do from there.
As the night rolled on, the calls became a little more exciting. 
One of the evening’s “highlights” came when she received a tip from a friend regarding a small group of boys walking around the Southbridge Mall who had apparently broken a glass bottle in front of an entrance. 
Buckman’s subsequent questioning and search of the 14-yr. old turned up drug paraphernalia and resulted in an arrest.
He was then taken to the PD, where Buckman filled out a report of the incident while waiting for the boy’s parents to come and pick him up.
Upon seeing his parents’ reaction to the whole ordeal, it’s probably safe to say that the young man would’ve preferred spending the night in jail instead of going home with them.
Other calls involved a couple reporting vandalism done to their car, a young woman reporting some 200 CD’s stolen as a result of a party at her home the night before, and a subsequent visit to a suspect’s home.
She also dealt with routine traffic violations and once again met up with familiar individuals.
Later that evening Buckman answered a request from a fellow officer at a local bar in need of backup to secure its entrance. 
It was then that I got to experience the rush from speeding through the streets in a police car, trying to get to a fellow officer as soon as possible. 
Through call-after-call, it became apparent how much the duties of a police officer are overlooked. Much of what we did was not “lights and sirens,” but instead consisted of answering calls from and attempting to help the public with their disputes.
It’s not an easy job by any means. 
By observing this one shift and speaking with other officers about their careers in law enforcement, it was obvious how much the profession is taken for granted. 
It also displayed the importance of certain personality traits. It appeared to me that  officers need patience above all things when dealing with the public. They are relied upon heavily by the public, often times without the recognition they deserve. Anyone who wants to gain  perspective into the life of an officer should participate in the program.

Lieutenant Rich Jensen has been with the Mason City Police Department for nearly 10 years after first beginning as a reserve officer and he says that the Ride Along Program has been in effect for about four years.
“It was initially started for community policing, to allow citizens of the community to see what the police actually do,” Jensen said. According to Jensen, the MCPD usually has four or five riders a month. The majority of these riders observe the evening shift from 3-11 p.m.
“A lot of people choose to ride with an officer because they are friends or family members of an officer and are curious to see what he or she does on a daily basis when he or she heads off to work,” Jensen said.
The program also serves as a valuable tool for those individuals considering a  career in law enforcement. 
“Being able to ride with an officer gives that person a chance to see what’s out there and give them a hands-on feel of the career,”he said.
Jensen said that there is a small group of individuals who ride that could be referred to as “cop wanna-bes” or “cop groupies.” 
“There are some that walk in here ready to ride equipped with a flashlight and a pair of black leather gloves just in case things get rough and they might need to lend a hand,” Jensen said.
This kind of approach to riding along is not encouraged. 
Jensen said that there are a number of different things that a rider can get out of the experience.  “I think that seeing an officer working with the public and with other officers gives a person a chance to break away from the stereotype of an officer,” Jensen said.  “It lets a person see that cops aren’t more of a machine than a person. Nor are they all on a power trip. All officers are different and don’t think alike. All officers react to situations differently.”
 For example, one officer might give a person a ticket while another may not.
Jensen recommends the ride-along experience based upon his own experience riding with police officers in the Minneapolis area before he became an officer himself. 
“Walking around downtown Minneapolis and seeing what the officers do and how they handle different situations was really interesting,” Jensen said.
All applicants for the Ride Along Program go through a background check where the individual is screened for a possible criminal record.
“We usually look for any felony violations whether they are burglaries, thefts, domestic violations or drug crimes,” Jensen said. “We don’t want to have the wrong person riding with an officer. Someone may hear too much around the officers, things that should be confidential.” 
Those interested in participating in the program can stop by the Mason City Police Department and pick up an application.