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All TCU. All the time.

TCU 360

TCU 360

All TCU. All the time.

TCU 360

Students discuss religious topics in a small group. (Photo courtesy of tcuwesley.org)
Wednesday nights at TCU’s Methodist campus ministry provide religious exploration and fellowship
By Boots Giblin, Staff Writer
Published Mar 27, 2024
Students at the Wesley said they found community on Wednesday nights.

Officer finds benefits in night shift

Officer finds benefits in night shift

Eating breakfast at 4 p.m. is perfectly normal for Tom Shelton.Shelton, 34, has worked the night shift in the TCU area from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. for the Fort Worth Police Department for seven years, so he usually sleeps until 3 p.m. every day.

But he doesn’t mind.

In fact, Shelton said he enjoys his hours because he gets to spend more time with his wife and three daughters.

About the time he wakes up, his children are coming home from school, and when he goes to work, they’re getting ready for bed.

Because he’s a father, calls involving a child who is hurt or in danger are the most difficult parts of his job, Shelton said.

But not in his wife’s opinion.

Lisa Shelton, his wife of eight years, said she is scared at times for her husband’s safety and worries that he could get shot.

But she said she’s proud her husband is an officer and tends to brag about him.

Shelton arrested a suspect in the robbery of a TCU student at the CVS Pharmacy near campus, and he also arrested one of the suspects in alleged attempted kidnappings near TCU.

One night, he was driving and noticed a vehicle that had run out of gas. Because a woman was driving and police policy requires an officer to wait with female motorists until they receive help, Shelton waited with the woman, he said.

The woman didn’t want him to stay with her and was acting suspiciously, he said.

Shelton said he sat in his vehicle waiting for her help to arrive. While waiting, he said he noticed the license plates on her car were from Austin. The plates seemed significant, but he couldn’t remember why.

So Shelton said he decided to run the plates. Police records showed they matched the plates of the alleged getaway car from the CVS Pharmacy robbery, he said.

He walked up to the vehicle and told the woman to get out of the car. He said he noticed the purse the woman was carrying matched the description in the police report of the purse stolen from the student at CVS Pharmacy.

Shelton arrested the woman, who led the police to the suspect who was accused of stealing the purse.

Neighborhood police officer Kirk Byrom said Shelton is observant, which makes him a good officer.

While driving around searching for a black Chevy Tahoe that was described in police reports as the getaway car in several attempted kidnappings, Shelton noticed a similar vehicle as it pulled onto the road in front of him, Shelton said.

After Shelton turned his police lights on to pull the Tahoe over, the driver of the Tahoe accelerated, Shelton said.

The pursuit began.

When the Tahoe came to a stop, two men got out of the vehicle and ran in separate directions, he said.

Shelton and his partner, who were each carrying about 30 extra pounds of police equipment, chased after the men and caught up with the passenger of the vehicle and made the arrest. The driver was arrested shortly after.

Shelton said he doesn’t get scared when he’s on a pursuit thanks to adrenaline.

But he said he has to be careful on pursuits, though, because if anything goes wrong, he would be responsible. Shelton said he would call a pursuit off if it got too dangerous.

It’s this type of emergency call that keeps his job exciting, Shelton said.

He enjoys being a police officer and isn’t planning to work different hours any time soon.

“It’s a fun job,” Shelton said.

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