February 23, 1981 is my LAPD seniority date, the day I started the LAPD Police Academy. My classmates are holding a 30th reunion next week. Unfortunately, I won't be able to make the trip to LA. The reunion coordinators asked each of us to recount some memorable moments of our careers. Here's a couple of my entries.

Best temporary assignments: While I was the OIC of the DRE Unit, I traveled extensively. Some of the places I traveled to were: Canada, Sweden, Russia, Australia, and Guam, in addition to much of the U.S. In 1995, I was the sole law enforcement representative of a group of people (mostly prosecutors) who taught a class at a Moscow Prosecutor Academy. The day we started the training, the audio-visual Russian expert came up to me and pointed to his lapel. He was wearing an LAPD mini badge!! He told me that his father had been in LA as a news correspondent for the 84 Olympics, and had brought the mini-badge back as a gift! He told me he wore the mini-badge every day to remind him that his dream was to visit America. Understandably, I was very moved by this.

Here’s another similar anecdote. In the mid 90’s I traveled to Guam on behalf of the Northwestern University Traffic Institute. We put on a class dealing with DUI enforcement, focusing on drugs. I was the only LAPD instructor. During a break in the class I was chatting with one of the other instructors, a Sergeant with the Maryland State Police. A Guam officer came up to me and said, “Sarge, did you bring your badge with you?” I had, and I pulled it out of my pocket. The Guam officer held the badge with both hands as if it were a sacred object. He said, “All my life I’ve wanted to actually touch an LAPD badge. That’s why I became a police officer.” The Maryland State Police Sergeant pulled out his badge, but the Guam officer wasn’t interested in seeing it. I have often thought of how Chief Gates used to remind us that the only way someone gets the LAPD badge is to earn it!!

Worst assignment: I was wheeled to 77th Street after I completed my probation as a Sergeant (late 1986 or early ’87). I lived in Pasadena. There was no way to avoid the downtown LA congestion to get to work. I hated that commute! Stacey Koon was a Sergeant in 77th at the time too!

One of my worst memories: In about 1990 I became the OIC of the Drug Recognition Expert (DRE) unit. One of my duties was to respond to call-outs when a Department employee, a celebrity, or a City Council Person (remember Mike Hernandez?) was believed to be under the influence of drugs. In the early 90’s I received an early morning (3 AM?) call from a Hollywood captain. They had an officer working the desk who they thought could be on drugs. I responded to the station, and after meeting with the captain and the WC, the officer was brought in to the captain’s office. I could tell right away that this officer, who was in full uniform, was under the influence of cocaine. The captain introduced me as the head of the DRE Unit and told the officer that I was going to determine if he was under the influence of drugs. The officer, still in full uniform, replied that he had to go as he had a doctor’s appointment (it was about 4 AM) now. The officer ran out of the station. Fortunately, the WC didn’t chase him. (There’s never a good outcome when officers with guns are chasing an armed officer.) I was told later that IA went to the officer’s home later that day. As they pulled up, the officer ran out of the back of the house. The picture of an LAPD officer, in uniform, high of cocaine, is something that will never leave me.