My Start as a Cop

Back in early 1968 I took a trip with my parents from our home in Salt Lake City, Utah to visit relatives in Berkeley, California. I had attended Berkeley High School earlier and knew my way around that area fairly well.

For some reason that I don't recall, I was looking at the Help Wanted ads in the Berkeley newspaper and noticed an ad for police officers for the Berkeley Police department. As a lark, and because I had nothing better to do, I went down and looked into the position. They had an accelerated hiring process for out-of-town candidates and so I took the various tests, including an interview, medical exam and a physical agility test.

A few weeks later, back in Salt Lake City, I was surprised to be offered a job as a policeman for Berkeley PD. I was barely twenty one years old at the time. The whole thing was too quick and scary and I didn't accept the job.

A few months later, I decided to leave home and move back to the SF Bay area to seek my fortune. My sister and her husband offered to let me live with them for a few weeks until I could get settled. Having been a medical Corpsman in the Army, I had already worked for a time at Holy Cross Hospital in Salt Lake City as an Operating Room Technician so I applied for the same job at Providence Hospital in Oakland and was hired. The pay was an even $500 a month which allowed me to get my own place, buy a car and live fairly well.

One day, I noticed an ad in the Oakland Tribune for a Police Dispatcher at the San leandro Police department (San Leandro is just south of Oakland) at a pay rate of around $700. Why not?

So I applied and when I was interviewed by two lieutenants and a sergeant, they said I did real well but asked why I didn't want to be a police officer. They thought I would do real well and the pay was over $900 a month.

So I went through the process and was hired. There were about 80 officers on SLPD and a couple of years later when I took my first Sergeants test, I passed but came out seventh on the list. Sounds good until you realize they make one (two if you're lucky) sergeant(s) off of every list.

My mother had been bugging me to re-enroll at the U of Utah ever since I left home and I finally decided to do so. I quit San leandro PD and moved back home to Salt Lake City.

And so I tried college again (I had tried it already without much success) but found that I missed making my own money. I joined the Salt Lake City Police Department to "work my way through school" I told myself. Pretty soon, I realized I liked police work and didn't like studying. I knew I didn't want to be a police officer for long in SLC, so I applied to LAPD, was hired, and on September 30, 1974, I embarked on the best career I could ever have had.

I have some slightly interesting stories from San Leandro and Salt Lake City and I will share some of those in the future.

Another Old Cop Story

When I first started this blog one of the things I wanted to do was record some of my police experiences. In an effort to get back to that, here is one from San Leandro, California (in my next post I will write about how I came to be a member of the SLPD).

I was working the early morning shift and decided to stop in at an all-night convenience store to stretch my legs and get a drink or snack. I went to the 7/11 on east fourteenth street in the west end of the city (closest to Oakland). As I walked in, a guy was walking out and he was giving me that "I did it and I guess you know I did it" look. The clerk was looking at me strangely as well and my tired mind was starting to realize that something was amiss here.

When I poked my head in the door, the clerk told me that the guy who had just left had robbed him. When I turned back to the guy, he was already off and running and so a foot pursuit began. I was still pretty young and in good shape (1970) and I began closing on him. He began going over walls and fences in back yards and when I got the chance, I got my brand new Motorola belt radio out and began informing my comrads of the goings on.

So the robber who is now about 75 feet in front of me, grabs a bicycle he apparently had stashed in some bushes. I almost got to him (about ten feet) when he finally built up enough speed to get away.

My roommate, Bud Dobsen (I wasn't married yet), came screeching around a corner in his police car. As he neared my location I told him, using my handy dandy belt radio, and pointing too, where the suspect went.

The arrest report contained this rather amusing verbiage written by good ol' Bud: "... As I neared the suspect who was still fleeing eastbound, the front bumper of my patrol car inadvertantly tapped the rear wheel of the suspect's bicycle causing the suspect to topple to the pavement." The suspect didn't require hospitalization but he did have a few "contusions and abrasions" but we were able to book him for robbery.

Shoveling That Global Warming

A few months ago I posted a couple of videos taken our back yard with deer in them. Here is the same yard under about eight inches of snow. No deer this time, but we see their tracks.



And then there are these scenes from our neighborhood.

Winter is Here

I took these photos just after sundown. The sun shone brightly today, so our solar powered lights were in great form. Some of them are actually under the snow but you can see them anyway. The snow is now about six inches deep which is no big deal for most of the US. It's the most snow we've had here in our nearly two years.

Christmas 2009

The first snowfall is beginning to take hold.

Since I was laid up with my knee surgery, we couldn't travel so we continued what may become a fun annual tradition. We invited twelve of our local missionaries over for Christmas breakfast. They really seemed to enjoy it.