While speeding down a dirt road Wednesday afternoon, Sheriff’s Deputy Mark Winchester received noticed that the possible break-in at a local business he was headed to was a false alarm.

“That’s what typically happens when a possible break-in gets called in,” he said. “Normally it’s just someone who accidentally tripped the alarm. At least I get to use the sirens, which is always fun.”

The typical shift of a sheriff’s officer is like reality television. False alarms and frequent check-ins on dangerous neighborhoods are more typical during a shift like Winchester’s.

“People think (being a sheriff’s officer) means that action-packed stuff happens all of the time, like what people see on ‘Cops,’” he said. “I’ve heard it takes films crews at least two weeks to get enough interesting footage to fill 30 minutes worth. The truth is that, while dangerous and action-filled things happen, they don’t happen often at all. They are very rare.”

Winchester patrols rural areas north of Interstate 70, which don’t have a lot of crime.

“The Boone County Sheriff’s office’s first priority is calls for service,” Winchester said. “But if those calls are within Columbia city limits, the Columbia Police Department deals with it. We handle everything outside of city limits and focus a lot of our efforts on following up on sex offenders.”

Winchester said he has been working on checking in with sex offenders who don’t register their addresses within three to six months. On Wednesday, he went to the last registered location of a man who had been convicted of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl in 1991.

“Having an almost 14-year-old at home, it definitely doesn’t make me feel good to know there are people like this out there,” Winchester said. “But it is good to know there are people, like me, that are making sure they never commit a crime like that again.”

Winchester said traffic stops are his guilty pleasure.

“I don’t know what it is about them,” he said. “I guess it’s the lights and having to chase the person, no matter for how long. It really is like a high, a rush that you can’t match. It really is the thrill of the chase.”

Winchester said the biggest thing he practices when interacting with civilians is to make sure he doesn’t talk down to them.

“People don’t relate well to police jargon,” he said. “You have to know your audience. Folks tend to help you more when you speak in a way they can understand and be relatable to them. Every officer has their own way of communicating but I like to be laid back.”

Winchester said the most rewarding part of his job is having the ability to solve a mystery.

“What I enjoy the most is when all of the puzzle pieces fit together and you can figure out exactly what happened in a case,” he said. “It’s a great feeling when everything clicks and you can present a good, prosecutable case where you’re sure the guy you’ve caught will be found guilty.”

Sometimes, though, the toughest part of the job is waiting for a shift to end.

“In a bigger city or a metropolis area, there are definitely more things to do and more cases to work on,” Winchester said. “Here, sometimes the only thing you can do is wait for 10 o’clock, when you can finally get home after a long day of driving around the countryside.”