It’s a typical 10-hour day in the life of Trooper Donald Shepard as he works in Wilcox County.

He pulls over a driver for an infraction and when he gets up close he realizes how big the driver is and the trooper is all alone.

He thinks, oh no, what have I gotten myself into?

“I wasn’t scared,” he said, “but he was a real big guy.”

But, then, like every other encounter in Shepard’s two-year career as a State Trooper, everything turns out fine. The story has a happy ending.

“He turned out to be a really nice guy,” Shepard.

Shepard, standing at 6 foot 4 inches, well-muscled, handsome, looks the part of a trooper and when he speaks – quietly, thoughtfully, carefully – he confirms it. As they say of doctors, he has a good bedside manner.

Shepard, who is married and has three children, lives in Selma and worked for 6 1/2 years with the Selma Police Department before going through a two-year process that resulted in his being accepted, trained and prepared to hit the road on his own as a state trooper. He finished that process in June 2002.

“I love law enforcement,” Shepard said. “I can’t imagine doing anything else. I’ve always wanted to be an officer.”

Shepard grew up in Citronelle in northern Mobile County and graduated from high school in 1992. He attended Faulkner Junior College and graduated from the Southwest Alabama Police Academy in Bay Minette in December 1994 and took his first job, with the Selma Police Department, in January 1995. He also attended Alabama State University, taking courses in law enforcement. During school he had worked on the campus police force at the University of South Alabama.

After three years he received a promotion in the Selma Police Department to sergeant, which made him shift supervisor.

Shepard began working for the state as a trooper on June 2, 2002. He described the 22-week training course at the Alabama Criminal Justice Training Center at Craig Field to be “22 long, vigorous, hard weeks,” but he enjoyed the relationships developed with the instructors and the

trainees, only half of whom completed the full course.

Following trooper training, he was then assigned to work with experienced officers for a period of time before he went out on his own.

Of his first official day on the job, Shepherd said, “I was very nervous. I didn’t want to make a mistake. But then it got better.”

Shepard is assigned to Wilcox County, but can be called anywhere as need arises. The Selma Trooper station handles five counties – Dallas, Perry, Wilcox, Marengo and Hale. There are 13 troopers assigned to the Selma post plus support personnel.

Shepard seems well-suited to his job. He likes being out in rural areas and talking with people. “I try and work different parts of the county – to spread myself around,” he said. “I enjoy stopping at convenience stores, and talking to the people there. I want people in the rural area I serve to get to see a trooper and to get to know me, and for me to get to known them.”

At the core of Shepard’s work is his basic respect for others. “I try to treat people whom I meet on duty as I would want to be treated by them.”

This extends to the various other law enforcement bodies in the counties and municipalities served. “We are like family. We really work well together. I never have had any problems with the police forces in Selma, Camden, Pine Hill or the sheriff’s departments. We each have our role to play. We respect the boundaries. I think we have some of the best police and sheriff’s departments (in this area)

in the state.”

Shepard said that there are three things that enable him to do the job he is called to do: “prayer, keeping up with my training and basic common sense.”

Shepard enlisted in the National Guard in 1992 but is not affected by current call-ups since he decided to leave after 12 years in April.

Shepard hopes to make a career as a state trooper and hopes to stay in this area.