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Law enforcement officers often have to find themselves performing multiple tasks beyond what they initially expected. Regardless of what is demanded of them, it usually takes a heavy mental toll on them. For Bainbridge Public Safety officers, they expect from the beginning to serve in multiple ways, most notably having to serve as both fire fighters and officers of the law. It was this duality that initially drew Investigator Josh Glover to work at BPS ten years ago.

“What made me want to join BPS specifically was I liked the idea of doing both police and fire,” Glover said. “I thought it was pretty cool that, if you get burnt out on the police side, you’ve got some fire stuff you can do. If you get burnt out on fire you’ve got the police side you can do.”

Glover has since recently joined the BPS Criminal Investigation Department (CID). As an investigator, he primarily handles felony cases, be it those assigned him or helping other investigators with theirs.

“If you were to get called out and have to work a case, you’re just dealing with that specific case,” he explained. “You may be assisting other officers, depending on what kind of case they caught. There’s always paperwork and case files to do on cases.”

Depending on the case details, Glover said he could spend days simply watching surveillance footage, or perhaps going through a suspect’s social media; “A lot more crimes are committed on the phone… it can take a while to go through someone’s social media account.” That said, investigators collaborate with each other on larger cases if necessary.

Of course, the more serious cases CID find themselves dealing with are crimes such as homicides.

“One of my first call-outs was a double homicide on Sims Street in November of 2022,” Glover recalled. “That case, we just wrapped it up… one plead guilty and the other one went to trial.”

Glover has since worked six homicides, though that first double-homicide still stands out the most in his mind.

“There were the most shell casings I’ve ever seen,” he said. The incident started over juveniles fighting, and escalated to shooting when adults got involved, with a bystander being struck.

The nature of investigating cases, that of accused vs accuser, victim vs perpetrator, is also a trying aspect of the job.

“On a case, you’re dealing with a victim who’s gone through something traumatic,” Glover explained, “and then a suspect whose family, if you end up making the case and locking somebody up, they dislike you. So it’s always hurt and pain, and somebody hating you.”

Dealing with all this unsurprisingly takes a toll. Finding a way to deal with it, and to balance work and home life, is a challenge all face. Humor among comrades is one way officers seek to deal with it: “We’ll joke, a lot of people find that weird. Like, ‘Man y’all are joking about something’… You’ve got to do something.”

For Glover, his family and his faith are pillars for him.

“When you’re going through the academy, they kind of teach you, ‘As soon as you hit the gates to leave, leave your work here, that way you don’t take it home to your family,’” he said. “That’s kind of hard. It’s not just us it takes a toll on, it’s definitely your families. I go home and just hang with my family, go to church. I never found alcohol or anything, I’m not a drinker… I don’t know what I’d do, how I’d be, without God and my family.”

“For people with families, I don’t think you could do this job without a good structured home,” he continued. “Because it’s not like a normal eight-to-five job. You do this job, some of you is getting lost in what you deal with.”

Despite the trying nature of the job, Glover has no intention to quit, and hopes to advance further in BPS. Wherever his career in BPS goes, Glover reiterated that he has no desire to stop serving Bainbridge. “I was born and raised in Bainbridge, I love the city. This is where I want to be.”