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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nHenson says his favorite part of being an officer is engaging with the community, especially when he can have a positive influence on youth. \u201cI have a little drawbag in the back with stickers. If I\u2019m driving and see a kid I\u2019ll ask if they want one, most kids are usually pretty happy.\u201d He also enjoys the investigation side of police work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s always tough when people have some type of calamity. Whether it be their house burns down or a crime was committed against them, I like trying to help them in any way I can.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I asked Sergeant Henson about the main needs he sees in our community. \u201cHomelessness and mental health. They usually go hand in hand. A lot of calls involve a homeless person sleeping in the park or sleeping in front of someone\u2019s business.\u201d He also noted seeing lots of loneliness. \u201cYou come across a lot of people who feel very alone and just need somebody to talk to. Every once and awhile an older gentleman calls, and his wife recently died. He said himself that he doesn\u2019t feel like he has anybody to talk to. It seems like he talks to himself sometimes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We also talked about how bridging divides between groups of people is difficult nowadays. \u201cHashing out wounds is usually the hardest part. You also have to get people willing to come together and talk about solutions. You can\u2019t have two groups that have two separate problems \u2014 or a problem with each other \u2014 who aren\u2019t willing to come to a conclusion that\u2019s good for everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Summer in Sikeston this year has been marked by tensions with the police and law enforcement at large. On June 10th, Lloyd Gilmore, a black man, died in-police custody. This sparked protests, criticism, and serious questions that still are not fully answered. The Missouri State Highway Patrol should nearly be done investigating the incident on June 10th, but folks and local police are still waiting. The Sikeston Jaycee Bootheel Rodeo in August is usually a time when folks come together despite their beliefs. Yet, this year, it caused a rift. ICE officers were at the rodeo and arrested a well-known Sikeston man named Ricardo Montes. Another protest is now planned for this Sunday in Sikeston regarding ICE operations and police brutality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I wanted to know how these things impact Sergeant Henson and how he deals with it. \u201cIt sucks when people judge you just because you wear a badge and a uniform. It sucks to be judged before somebody even takes the time to have a conversation with you, to get to know you as a person and as an officer.\u201d He has a good way of dealing with it, though. Spending time with his wife, children, and pets helps him think clearly. \u201cI have two cats, a dog, and a like, a hundred chickens. I also have four cows. So I keep pretty busy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Like any other job, there\u2019s a learning curve, but the stakes of a mistake are much higher. He says there are times where he believed he could have done better, but he doesn\u2019t let his mistakes affect his sense of self. \u201cDo better as you move forward. If you dwell on the past, you\u2019re never going to fully see and comprehend the future that\u2019s at hand. Know your history and learn from it. Do better from it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is how he goes about guiding new officers. Once officers are hired out of the police academy, they undergo a 12-week field training period. If that period is complete but an officer is not fully ready, field training officers can and will decide to extend it. Those decisions are often based on how well an officer handles high stress situations, or if they\u2019ve encountered enough of those situations to go on their own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Those high stress situations, alongside public criticism, are reasons why many choose to leave law enforcement. When you love your community but feel detached from it because of a badge, you might choose reconnection instead. But this combination also seems to cause another dynamic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There\u2019s a common theme you can see throughout history to the modern day. When a group experiences a combination of constant trauma and constant criticism, the group may double down on its shared identity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Moving forward, I\u2019d like to learn more about the mutual identity of law enforcement. I want to understand its function \u2014 how it hurts and\/or helps the efficiency of policing. \u201cBack the Blue\u201d exists for a reason. Officers are traumatized daily by the problems of the people. Meanwhile, people are traumatized by officers, too. When we all have this trauma from one another and we double down on our opposing groups \u2014 we might become more interested in protecting our group than we do addressing the root of our issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s hard to pluck out a root that grew you. How can you do that without plucking out, well, you? We have grown from our past, but the memory of it remains, and we are living proof of that memory. As representatives of authority and members of our community at large, officers cannot detach themselves from this history. They become reflections and representatives of it the moment they put on that badge. Officers may come in with hopeful aspirations to change things \u2014 but no matter how deeply they wish to be the change \u2014 other changes are working against them at the same time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s nearly impossible to serve a fractured plate. You might even drop it, causing more glass to break. When the average person only speaks for their group \u2014 red, white, black, or blue \u2014 we find ourselves bruised and abused, divided by colors that used to unite, but now only seem to divide.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
August 3, I went on my first ride-along with Sikeston Police. I wanted to highlight an individual officer\u2019s experience on the job and learn more about what its like being an officer. Sergeant Tanner Henson is a Sikeston native and comes from a long line of service. His dad, grandpa and two uncles were in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":257120740,"featured_media":1264,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_angie_page":false,"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"page_builder":"","_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[125178],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-stories"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pg72ER-kk","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gwynethics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/henson3.webp?fit=1920%2C1280&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gwynethics.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gwynethics.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gwynethics.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gwynethics.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/257120740"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gwynethics.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1260"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/gwynethics.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1260\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1269,"href":"https:\/\/gwynethics.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1260\/revisions\/1269"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gwynethics.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gwynethics.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gwynethics.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gwynethics.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}