By Adam Smith

The North Jefferson News



While most Gardendale residents will spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day gathered with family and friends, it will be just another day on the job for some public safety workers.

Gardendale Police officer Shane Alford said he’s worked holiday shifts throughout his career, though this year will be the first year he’s had to work at Christmastime in a few years.

“For the most part it’s quiet, though you’ll have the occasional domestic dispute,” he said. “Over the holidays, people who work are cooped up with each other. That’s not always the case, but it does happen.”

He said one holiday memory that sticks out in his mind the most occurred when he worked for the Warrior Police Department. The incident involved a domestic dispute and an intoxicated woman.

“It had just turned Christmas Day and this woman made me put her in jail,” he said. “I tried to talk her into going back into her house and enjoy Christmas, but she was intoxicated and arguing with her husband. She made me put her in jail on Christmas.”

Alford said he hoped his shift this year — from 6:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Christmas Eve — would be a quiet one.

Police officer and dispatcher Jacob Bridges hopes his two shifts on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day will also be quiet.

Bridges said he usually works every holiday shift at the department, allowing officers with families to take some time off.

“The first year I worked on Christmas was a wake-up call that I’m in a career where I’ll have to work Christmases and holidays,” he said. “I’m not married and I don’t have kids, so that’s the main reason why I never put up a fuss about working the holidays.”

Part of the job of the city’s dispatchers is to look after any prisoners who may be incarcerated. Bridges said he estimated there could be as many as five or more prisoners at the jail over the holidays, but they won’t be receiving any special treatment.

“We get our food from Food World and they may get something like a Christmas dinner,” he said. “Otherwise, it’s pretty much another day for them.”

Across town at the city’s fire station on U.S. 31, it will be just another day for firefighters who also will have to work, despite the holidays.

Lt. Alan Durham said holiday shifts are no different than any other shift, though it’s still tough to be away from wives and children. Durham’s shift will be from 7 a.m. on Christmas Eve to 7 a.m. on Christmas Day.

“It’s a change and it takes some getting used to,” he said. “It’s not a bad deal, other than being away from family. Most of the time, the families work around the firemen.”