DAVENPORT, Iowa-- With extreme cold hitting the area most people are advised to stay inside to protect themselves. Not everyone has that luxury.
“Obviously nobody particularly wants to be out in the cold working.”
Sgt. Andrew Waggoner is with the Davenport Police Department. He spends most of his days on patrol but with extreme temperatures, the job becomes a little different.
“Certainly with the cold and the snow we've been having priority work changes, we do deal more with accidents we see a lot more stalled vehicles,” said Waggoner. One stalled vehicle call leads him to Mamie Mcnel, stuck in the snow just a few feet from her house.
Gloves, jacket and a hat on, Waggoner is prepared to do his job in the bitter cold. Keeping warm is the most important task.
“Not that I want to treat my officers like kindergartners, but as silly as it sounds I always remind them to make sure you take your hats, your gloves and coats and have them with you even if you're not wearing them if you get stuck out on a call on the interstate at least you have access to those materials,” said Waggoner.
As officers work to keep warm themselves, all they ask of you is to be patient.
“When there's snow on the ground or it's slick or it's icy and we're getting the crush of accidents and stuck cars where people are calling in for it understand that we're going to get there as absolutely soon as we can,” said Waggoner. For Sgt. Waggoner, he takes his job one step further, helping Mamie safely get her groceries inside.
No matter what the temperature reads, Sgt. Waggoner would rather be out keeping his community safe.
"As nice as it is to be warm and dry, there are just days you look at the paperwork and say this is enough that’s not what I took the job to do," said Waggoner.
