Patrol officer and detective Ronald Jones believes law enforcement called him to serve.

“It was a calling,” he said.  “I just woke up one morning and said ‘It’s time.’”

For the last 16 years, he has been answering that calling and serving with the Selma Police Department.

He said in his many years of service, the crime amongst young people has been on the rise within the past few months.

As of Sept. 9, there have been a total of 11 murders in Selma and Dallas County.

Jones said of those murders most of them have been committed by young adults.

Jones visits the schools and mentors the youth, but he said that is not enough to keep them away from the negativity.

“It’s not just a one day thing,” Jones said. “It’s an ongoing thing with trying to keep the streets away from these kids and trying to take Selma back.”

According to Jones, one of the common misconceptions about officers, in Selma specifically, is that they aren’t trying to do enough to help.

Even with the misconceptions amongst the community at times, Jones believes the job still goes on and must be done to the best of their ability.

However, one of the things Jones uses to help with communicating with the community is respect. He said just by using basic respect with the public, and vice versa, a lot of those misconceptions would be cleared up.

“If you treat people with the same respect you would want them to give your family, then it would come to you,” he said.

Jones has been married for 22 years, and he said being in law enforcement can be taxing on family life. According to Jones, the daily sacrifices made by officers are often not known, because of the lack of understanding of the nature of the job. He talked about missing years of seeing his children grow and experience different things with them. His daughter just recently celebrated her 22nd birthday on Friday, Sept. 14, and he said although he wishes her a happy birthday, he cannot celebrate with her due to work.

However, even though there are people that may have their doubts and or opinions about what the officers could do better, Jones said there are so many that show their appreciation.

“We have a lot of people come to us and tell us, ‘I appreciate you, and I thank you,’” he said.

After his many years in service and sacrifices made, Jones said he is still happy to be able to work and protect the people of Selma.