Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, March 8, 1991                   TAG: 9103080721
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-13   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JERRY E. DEAN
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

NOT RACIST, NOT RAMBO/ JUDGE POLICE ON FACTS, NOT RHETORIC

I have just completed my 27th year of service to the people of the city of Roanoke. I am not a racist or a Rambo, just a police officer trying to do the best job possible under extremely difficult conditions.

I have dealt with every lowlife imaginable, from drunken wife-beaters to child molesters to murderers. I have taken every abuse possible, from being called names and spit on to being assaulted with sticks, bottles, knives and guns. I have no complaint about that, because I knew it came with the territory when I took the job.

What I object to are the self-centered, egotistical hypocrites who surface every few years "in the name of the people" to slander and degrade my profession with vague innuendos, third-hand accounts of police misconduct, and veiled threats.

During his tenure with this city, Chief David Hooper has elevated us (yes, sometimes has had to drag us) into the modern world of police service to the community. We have some of the finest-trained, most dedicated young officers any police department has ever had.

No, we are by no means perfect. None of us walks on water. But we have taken pride in doing our own housecleaning. Nobody likes a bad cop! Give the chief facts, and he will take the appropriate action.

Roanoke's minority population is not proportionally represented in the makeup of the police department. I was not surprised when that made headlines. We have always recognized the disparity. We have made efforts to recruit qualified minorities.

The officers we have now - black, white, Hispanic, women or otherwise - are here today because they were well-qualified and met the standards. But, just as important, they wanted to be police officers.

I believe there are enough decent, fair-minded, impartial members on the Community Relations Task Force who are willing to listen to all the facts and make appropriate, responsible recommendations based on factual data - not rhetoric or political expediency.

As for those citizens, any citizen, who may find themselves in an emergency, in dire need of the assistance of a police officer, it won't be a smiling Rambo who answers the call. It will just be a police officer. Color? Blue!