Officers with Manchester Police: Working all Night, Working Together

For any Manchester citizen who has recently been out and about in the middle of the night and spotted a police cruiser patrolling the streets, it is likely that either Officer Nicole Priest or Officer Shain Smith of the was behind the wheel.

The pair are part of the same squad that has been pulling the night shift lately, and neither of them say they can complain. 

“It’s just a different environment working at night, different people, dealing with a different clientele,” Smith said. “I like nights, but my body likes days better. It’s hard to sleep all day when there’s always someone cutting their grass.”

Priest said that when your job involves a lot of driving, it is nice to work at night when there is no traffic.

There is a lot less clerical work for the night shift as well. Smith said that most people don’t realize the police station is open 24 hours, and even if they find a wallet in the park during the night they wait until the next day to turn it in. Smith said some nights he will go a whole shift without a single call but Priest also points out that other nights involve “going from call to call to call.”

“The job is 90 percent just driving around and not much happening and 10 percent total adrenaline rush,” Priest said. But both officers are adamant that even during the dull times, it is still important to stay focused, even if it is the middle of the night.

“Keeping in mind my family back home is something that makes me want to be more careful and make sure I have all my ducks in a row every night,” Smith said. 

And every night, Smith also said that he knows he can depend on Priest. The two have been working on the same squad for a little less than three years and throughout that time have developed a camaraderie with each other that makes them both better police officers. 

“When you’ve worked together as long as we have it’s like a brother-sister type thing. There’s times when she’ll get aggravated, and I know what she’s going to do before she does,” Smith said. “We can read each other like a book. When I’m getting frustrated dealing with someone who’s drunk and belligerent or whatnot, she’ll step in and start talking. She knows when I’m at my boiling point...and she’s going to step in and try a different approach.”

Having both a man and a woman in uniform on duty is a benefit, both officers said. Sometimes a suspect or situation is more likely to respond better to one or the other. 

“Some guys just have a problem with females. They don’t like women especially ones in authority, but there’s other times when they will be on their best behavior because I’m a female,” Priest said. “ But if he sees me getting flustered with something he’ll step in and vice versa.”

Despite it being a job that involves piles of paperwork, lots of repetitive driving and inevitable all-night hours, both Priest and Smith said they love their jobs, and the rewarding moments more than make up for any negative aspects. 

“It’s always nice to make a good arrest for all crimes, but some more than others. But it’s always nice to get someone who’s a child predator off of the streets, and knowing that they’re not out there going to do it again because of the work that you did,” Smith said. 

“You don’t always know how you affect someone when you go out on a call, but then later on down the road you get flagged down or approached by someone, and they tell you the positive experience that they had maybe with me personally or maybe with the police department as a whole,” Priest said.