Zach Sandberg is the city’s nuisance and quality-of-life officer. He’s been with the Jamestown Police Department for the last seven years. P-J photos by Eric Tichy

“I hope you don’t mind,” officer Zach Sandberg says shortly after getting into his patrol vehicle one recent evening in the belly of the Jamestown Police Department. “I like to keep the windows down.”

It’s a typical summer evening, and the 34-year-old Sandberg prefers open windows during his 5 p.m. to 1 a.m. shift. As he puts it, it’s much easier to track the loud vehicles, illegal fireworks and other noise-based nuisances when there’s fewer barriers in the way.

In his first few shifts as the city’s nuisance and quality-of-life officer, Sandberg estimates he issued a dozen tickets for a variety of code violations. His early success has been touted by the city’s police chief and members of the Jamestown City Council. It’s what city residents want, and he’s here to deliver.

“The way I see it, it lets the public know that someone is being held accountable,” says Sandberg, who allowed a Post-Journal reporter to tag along during a recent shift.

He’s been with the police department for the last seven years; prior to this, he was at the neighboring Ellicott Police Department for six years.

Sandberg is pictured during a recent traffic stop.

QUICK CATCH

It doesn’t take long for Sandberg to spot — more like hear — a violation. While parked up on a street off North Main, a location he’s come to favor due to its prime vantage point, he catches a vehicle with a loud exhaust. Once behind the vehicle, he also notices the state isn’t visible on the temporary license plate, another violation.

The driver’s problems this evening are just beginning, however. A check finds that he’s wanted by the Westfield Police Department for a years-old petit larceny charge that’s still unresolved.

Now in cuffs, the man is transported to a dollar store across from Midway State Park to be turned over. Fittingly, Sandberg says, the location is “midway” between Jamestown and Westfield.

Not surprising, it’s again North Main Street where Sandberg catches his next violation, and a common one at that. Within minutes, he issues a summons to a man who’s riding his bicycle on the sidewalk. Bicyclists, the officer says, are supposed to flow with traffic on the right side of the road.

Sandberg graduated from Frewsburg High School in 2007. He thought about a career operating heavy equipment but eventually found his way to law enforcement. His uncle has worked for the Drug Enforcement Administration and his grandfather previously worked for the Sheriff’s Office.

NO APOLOGIES

On the job, Sandberg appears all business, no-nonsense. He looks ex-military, though he’s not. And his head is without hair, though that’s by choice.

If he witnesses a violation, there’s a high probability he’s issuing a ticket or a summons.

“I try to put myself in their position,” he says of local residents, “sitting on their porches trying to enjoy the peace and quiet.”

That quiet is often shattered, especially during the summertime, by noisy cars and motorcycles. A bevy of noise-related complaints were central to community input meetings hosted at various parks by the Jamestown Police Department and city Department of Development.

Hoping to replicate the successful implementation of the nuisance officer, the Department of Development is proposing an ordinance that will allow code enforcement officers to issue fines for code violations.

“What this will do is allow us somewhere to what we’ve been able to see with the nuisance officer where he can directly ticket for nuisance, quality-of-life-type items,” Crystal Surdyk, city director of development, said during a council Housing Committee meeting last month.

KEEPING THE PEACE

In addition to tracking down needlessly noisy cars, Sandberg also handles disputes between neighbors.

When he responds to the city’s south side for a noise complaint, he patiently listens as several occupants of one apartment air their grievances, and then does the same for the other party involved. He encourages diplomacy and the benefits of being good neighbors.

No violations are found on this call.

While he often takes a zero-tolerance approach on patrol, Sandberg also plays mediator and seems natural at small talk — keys to being a keeper of the peace when necessary.

He inquires if a school-aged kid in one of the apartments plays high school football, even though the kid has been tossing around a foam basketball. The kid doesn’t, but he’s sure tall enough to be a force on the gridiron, Sandberg says.

The officer also seems natural around animals. He doesn’t hesitate to pet a friendly dog that jumps up on his leg inside an apartment. That’s followed, just minutes later, by a few pets to an equally friendly cat that does the same outside.

ON THE STREETS

Sandberg seems to know the city well.

More than once he stops his patrol car to talk to someone he’s met before. During one such stop, he asks a man walking his dogs how a relative is doing. In another, he inquires if a man filling his gas tank has lost weight since he last saw him. The man hasn’t, but he appreciates the gesture nonetheless and wishes the officer a good night.

When Sandberg comes across a woman near downtown complaining of an injured leg, he offers to call her an ambulance. The woman is hesitant at first, suspicious that the officer may try to arrest her for something. But he assures the woman he’s just checking up on her, and she eventually agrees to the much-needed first aid.

While waiting for the ambulance, Sandberg and the woman strike up a conversation about the city and its inhabitants. She’s blunt about a lot of things, and he’s content at listening, throwing out a name every now and then to show he knows who she’s talking about.

Eventually the ambulance shows up and he wishes her well.

Later on, Sandberg is parked in another one of his go-to hideaways. It’s even more ideal than the first spot, and within five minutes he easily detects a Ford Mustang that’s noisily making its way along East Fifth Street. The car is stopped, and the driver is ticketed.

Sandberg doesn’t make it 30 seconds after leaving the stop when he comes across a pickup truck with a loud exhaust.

Lather, rinse, repeat.