GREENVILLE, Miss. (AP) - For 16 years, Audine Haynes served in active law enforcement. Although she’s retired today, she still continues to advocate for crime prevention.
“When you’re in law enforcement, you’ll never leave it. It’s in your blood; it’s just part of you,” Haynes said.
Growing up, she didn’t have a television, so her family mainly read for entertainment. Her father especially loved reading crime books, and that passion rubbed off on young Audine.
“My dad always read those true detective magazines. When he laid them down, I’d read them,” Haynes recently recalled.
That coupled with her uncle being a police officer influenced her career into law enforcement.
“I really wanted to be in law enforcement when I was younger but, of course, I couldn’t be because back in the olden days, women weren’t as welcome as they are now,” Haynes said.
But in 1976, she joined the Washington County Sheriff’s Department. She was hired as a secretary to the chief deputy and was only allowed to accompany officers when a call involved a woman or child.
She did, however, get to wear a “little bitty badge” under her clothes.
One year after joining the department and the dissolving of her first marriage, Haynes moved to Paris, Kentucky.
In the bluegrass state, she began working as a meter maid, driving a three-wheel covered moped that resembles a tricycle for about a year.
The job was physically demanding and required her to drive up and down the hilly terrain, which sometimes was filled with ice and snow.
Not wanting to be a meter maid for the rest of her career, Haynes applied to the Richmond Law Enforcement Training Academy, a 10-week certification course mandatory for all police officers in the state.
“It was real tough. It was amazing though. The men were confident in themselves. They didn’t mind us being there and they helped us as much as possible,” Haynes said.
Of the 33 members in the academy, only three were women. At 36 years of age, Haynes was older than the two other women.
The 10-week course was physically demanding but no more so than the 8-foot wall that left bruises all over her body from attempting to climb it.
On the last day of the academy, Haynes recalled running to climb over the wall and the next thing she knew she was on the other side.
“They had to help me over that wall but nobody ever told,” Haynes said, regarding the men who helped her over. “The men were not afraid of some woman coming in and being a police officer.”
That was the only task that proved to be difficult for her, she said, adding she could jump through windows and pull people through tires.
“I didn’t want any special treatment because if I’m going to go and get the same salary, that means I’ve got to do the same job as the men do,” Haynes said.
Thankfully, she never had to jump a wall over the course of her law enforcement career.
After she graduated from the academy, she took a job with the Paris Police Department. She stayed there for about five years.
Return to Greenville
Haynes returned to Greenville in 1981 and joined the Greenville Police Department. She worked as a patrol officer for two years and helped with finger printing records.
It was during that time she met the love of her life, Chuck Haynes, a first captain with the department.
“He was so neat and trim and proper. I said, ’Golly, he looks different,’” she said remembering the first time she saw her future husband. He was, she recalled, holding a jail cell open.
Chuck and Audine dated for almost four years before he asked her to marry him in 1984.
“I had been married and he had too and we didn’t know if we wanted to do that again,” Haynes said, adding that although they did not have any children together, both had a son and daughter from their previous marriages.
When Chuck left for the sheriff’s office, Audine followed. She stayed there until 1991, when she accepted a job as the executive director of the Washington County Anti-Drug Community Partnership and RADAR Center.
“I didn’t leave law enforcement because I wanted to but because I felt it was a good thing for the people,” Haynes said.
In her new post, she was responsible for helping to bring educational awareness to youth about the dangers of drugs, alcohol and tobacco while also reducing and preventing usage.
What she enjoyed most about the partnership was hosting activities with area school children. They hosted red ribbon rallies, cheer competitions and box stomping contests, where children placed things they wanted to get rid of before stepping on it.
“It was so fun to watch the kids stomp those boxes of drugs. They’d put child abuse and domestic violence and all kinds of things on their boxes and stomp it out,” Haynes said.
Many of the children she encountered had, in some way, been impacted by the effects of drugs through parents who were users or dealers and serving time in a jail or prison.
“I loved going to the schools and talking to the kids. It was sad and fun, too. You could look out into the audience and see. You just knew which ones didn’t have a good home life and which ones did. You could see it in their eyes,” Haynes said.
The program was originally scheduled to end in 1996 but additional grants kept it going until 2015.
“I was really sad when they decided we didn’t need one here in Washington County because we definitely need what we had,” Haynes said.
Even though the organization has dissipated, it still has literature and other items at the Melissa Manning Curriculum Center.
City Council
During her time at the Washington County Anti-Drug Community Partnership and RADAR Center, Haynes also serviced on the Greenville City Council.
From 1998 to 2006, she held Ward 5’s seat, where she was known as the “peacemaker.”
“When I’m out in public now, people say, ’I sure wish you were still on City Council.’ I say, ’Thank you so much but I kind of like being retired,’” Haynes said.
Haynes left the council to care for her ailing husband, who suffered from chronic multiple sclerosis.
“I’m glad I did it,” Haynes said. “We need to love them while we can because we’re not guaranteed they’re going to be here tomorrow even.”
Although she has thought about returning to city government, she would be in a different ward than her previous tenure because of redistricting. Today, she lives in Ward 2.
Staying active with law enforcement
Although she’s semi-retired today, she’s still very active in her community and law enforcement though the Mid Delta Law Enforcement Coalition and Crimestoppers.
The coalition’s headquarters are even in Haynes’ East Alexander Street home.
“I think I’m always a hangers-on. I try to keep up with current law enforcement issues with the Mid Delta Law Enforcement Coalition,” she said.
The organization, which has a presence in Indianola, Greenwood, Clarksdale and Humphreys County, hosts monthly meetings at various sheriff and police departments around the Delta.
As for CrimeStoppers, Haynes said she rejoined the organization in 2006. For the past four years, she has served as the organization’s secretary.
“The purpose is to involve the whole community and then get people involved,” Haynes said.
And CrimeStoppers’ board does just that with 15 anonymous board members, who are bankers, educators, business owners, retired law enforcement or community members.
Haynes said what she likes about the organization is they offer rewards for tips that lead to arrests. “We want to offer rewards to encourage people to give tips,” Haynes said.
A person who calls CrimeStoppers at 662-378-8477 (TIPS) is redirected to an answering service in Texas.
“Nobody ever knows who calls unless the person calling tells somebody. It remains anonymous always,” Haynes said, adding each caller is given a code number to call back on whether their tip led to an arrest.
Since CrimeStoppers began, thousands of tips have been given and Haynes estimates that between $20,000-$30,000 in rewards handed out.
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Information from: Delta Democrat-Times, http://www.ddtonline.com
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