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Westminster cop loves career, making a difference

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Contributed by: Joseph Kirchmer/YourHub.com on 5/13/2008

Editor's note: Visit our Faces of Broomfield & Westminster page, where YourHub.com staff and readers can introduce you to more people who make this part of the metro area what it is.

Police officer Craig Burgess gets in his patrol car at 7:30 a.m. May 9, places his Rock Star energy beverage in the cup holder and prepares for another day of patrolling the streets of Westminster.

His first call comes 15 minutes into his shift -- an attempted motor vehicle theft at a house on the 6500 block of 108th Avenue. It appears a thief attempted to use a metal slip to break into a Honda Accord that was parked outside overnight.

Unfortunately, there's no fingerprints and little to go on. Burgess collects evidence, snaps some photos with a digital camera and fills out a report.

"This is an easy target because there's no streetlight nearby and there's several branches in front of the house that block the view outside," Burgess says. "Plus, Hondas are always a big target."

Burgess, 31, has worked with the Westminster Police Department for 2 ½ years. It's where he started his career in law enforcement and where he intends to finish.

"I think this is always something I wanted to do, ever since I was a kid playing cops and robbers," he says.

Burgess left behind a career in Michigan doing drafting and engineering work. After four years of sitting behind a computer all day, he knew it was time to make a change in his life.

"With engineering, you go home and look at yourself in the mirror and say, 'what did I really do today?'" he says. "With this job, it's easy because you can say that I actually improved someone's life today."

Burgess admits he loves the thrill his job can provide on a daily basis. At any given moment the alert tone can go off in his patrol car -- meaning he will need to respond to anything from a silent alarm that was tripped to a fight in progress.

This morning, there are a few alert tones that come across the radio, though they all turn out to be false alarms. It's not uncommon for employees at businesses to accidentally set them off, he says.

Burgess works four 10-hour shifts from Thursday through Sunday. Thursdays and Fridays are typically quieter while Saturdays and Sundays can get a little busier -- mostly due to alcohol consumption.

"It's kind of like two different worlds," he says. "Thursdays and Fridays, people are usually going to work. On Saturdays and Sundays, it's kind of sad because people will start drinking first thing in the morning, so you'll get a lot of domestic disputes, drunk people riding on buses, fights and things like that."

Sundays can get particularly interesting, he says.

"I'm from Michigan, so if the Lions lost, it wasn't a big deal, but out here in Broncos nation, it's different," he says. "You can almost dictate if the Broncos won or loss by the amount of domestics and disturbances we get."

There are some drawbacks to his job, he says. Sexual assaults on children are particularly disturbing, as are suicide cases.

But law enforcement is the career path he's chosen and he's confident he made the right choice.

"It's definitely not a money thing," he says. "Don't get me wrong, this is a good job and it pays well. But ultimately to do a career like this, you have to be looking for something more in life."

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