FERGUSON, Mo.—Once when Sandy Sunsevere’s dog Butter went for an unsanctioned trip around the neighborhood, it wasn’t animal control that captured the animal. It was the Ferguson Police Department.
“The police officer pulled his car up to my house and said, ‘I think I have Butter in the back seat,’” recalls Sunsevere, 55, who has lived in this typically quiet suburb of St. Louis for 27 years. “I just thought to myself, ‘Now how did he manage to get out?’”
The small act of thoughtfulness saved her a possible fine from animal control of at least $100. It wasn’t the only time the local police went out of their way to do their jobs. Last year, when thieves unsuccessfully tried to break into her home and managed to only make off with a new snow shovel from the front porch, it was the police who helped her recover the tool.
“They had snow shovels lined up [that had been stolen] and I had to identify mine.”
Just those recent experiences with some of the Ferguson police are reason enough for Sunsevere to be a fierce advocate for the rights of officers who have been lambasted in recent months. They’ve been under national scrutiny following the fallout from the shooting death of unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown by Ferguson Officer Darren Wilson in August.
Though she has never met Wilson, who has been with the Ferguson Police Department for about six years, Sunsevere now volunteers as a manager at the I Love Ferguson gift shop, just a stone’s throw from the police station.
