Tubb promoted to detective on PBPD

As a law enforcement officer, Zachary Tubb relishes putting the pieces of the puzzle together to solve crimes.

Tubb, a Poplar Bluff patrolman since April 2015, was promoted in May to detective in the Criminal Investigation Division.

“Poplar Bluff (police) has always been a pinnacle, in southern Missouri,” Tubb said. “Its reputation for proficiency, being ethical, and being able to close cases has created a reputation I believe is stronger than a lot of others.”

He was working for Three Rivers Public Safety Department when hired as a patrolman.

Tubb has been named Elks Lodge Officer of the Year, received a State of Missouri award through the Federal Housing Association for Officer of the Year and a regional, multi-state award through federally funded housing.

“I’ve been blessed,” he said. “I’ve received quite a few letters of recommendation throughout my short time here.”

He admitted the local agency’s proactive policies are what “drew me to Poplar Bluff. They’re not waiting for someone to become a victim. They’re out looking for individuals who are wanted by means of warrants, people who are selling narcotics, people who are preying on people. We’re out, trying to be the best deterrent for crime we possibly can be.”

Tubb shared something as simple as a traffic stop can deter someone from attempting a criminal act.

“If they see us conducting a traffic stop, that might have stopped them from robbing a store,” he said. “A few years ago, we had a series of robberies. This gentleman was committing burglaries or robberies at gunpoint at hotels and gas stations. He ultimately decided not to rob a particular hotel in Poplar Bluff because a police officer was sitting across the street, not hidden, he was watching, looking at traffic. I feel like our officers go above and beyond everyday to be proactive.”

While there is standard training for things “we do every day,” Tubb explained, he’s sought “more in-depth and advanced courses.”

“I’ve been through so many interview and interrogation courses I can’t count them,” he said.

He’s taken seminars and trainings on collection of evidence, blood splatter analysis, photography, search and seizure law. He’s taken several drug interdiction courses a well as several advanced courses for DWI. He’s had courses on DNA collection, which is not a standard class.

Tubb described the importance of his training with an example: an officer at a crime scene sees a bullet casing and takes it as evidence.

Training helps you “learn in depth what you want to do is photograph the area where it was, you want to try to analyze that bullet casing for fingerprints, you want to do all these certain steps along the way,” Tubb said.

Once collected, the CID personnel process it for fingerprints, check it for DNA, send it to the Missouri State of Crime Lab for biological materials such as blood, he said.

His promotion to CID is something “I’ve been working for since shortly after I got here. It’s always been an aspiration of mine to join the ranks of the Criminal Investigations Division,” he said. “The division offers a variety of positions as task force officers who are employed by the ATF, DEA, Cyber Crimes Task Force, we have all these options for opportunity and growth.”

Tubb didn’t want to pinpoint a specific case he’s worked.

“It’s not so much the case, it’s the entirety of all of the cases, because you don’t find where one criminal conducts one act and that’s the end of it,” he said. “You’ll find where one criminal conducts several acts. For instance a burglar will break into a house, they’ll break into another house, break into a business and they might break into a vehicle along the way. This might be a time span of hours or weeks.

“The thing especially now as a detective I enjoy is bringing those pieces of the puzzle together, and you’re able to give these victims who have had their precious family heirlooms stolen, car broken into and the last $15 to their name stolen... You’re able to say, ‘Hey, look, I know who did it and I’m working to get your stuff back.’ It brings a sense of pride personally to law enforcement. The sense you’re giving them hope,” he explained.

To Tubb, the cost of a item doesn’t matter.

“Someone has cared enough to report the item was missing. I just treat everything the same,” he said. “I do everything in due diligence. I do everything through a method and that method is simply classic police work. You talk to people. You collect any evidence you can and you progress as long as you can until it’s closed.”

Tubb shared, “The message is if you see something, say something. If you feel as though things aren’t right, we’re always here. We never stopped moving. I always tell people if you don’t see a Poplar Bluff city police officer within five minutes, wait five minutes, you’ll see him there. I come in, I stay in my lane and I don’t enjoy drama. I come to work to work and realistically, this is what I get paid to do.”