No Parodies of Justice

No Parodies of Justice

    During this biographical journal of a former police detective the name  "Jerry Jones" will be used in place of the actual law enforcement professional, as per the interviewee did not want his official name exploited. A few details describing the career of this individual are as follows – Pennsylvania State Trooper for ten years followed by lead investigator supervisor of Bethlehem Police Department. Jerry led a team of detectives as a homicide investigator with Bethlehem where he examined 19 homicides. Collecting evidence as well as the meticulous ability to sort out victims, and possible motives; also emotionally adjusting to constantly being exposed to heinous crimes makes being a police officer a stressful order of business.
Mr. Jones did extensive auto theft recovery work. During some of his tours as a PA State Trooper Jones investigated and reconstructed many automobile accident scenes. He was so skilled at recreating auto accident scenarios that the defense lawyers were baffled with detailed displays and organized case materials he presented on behalf of the prosecution.
         A book could easily be written about Jerry Jones, as I am thoroughly impressed by his accomplishments as a police officer. Law enforcement became Jerry’s way of life and he lived it. He has a very bold but approachable personality. Other skills, which he obtained throughout his career, included top notch interrogation techniques in which he would play a sort of cat and mouse or “good cop – bad cop” with his suspects to get them to talk. Many suspects made confessions to Jerry about there crimes. He described himself as having the ability to transform from a trusted “priest-like character to whom you could spill your heart to, into a ravaging drill instructor that could make someone shiver in the hot seat. He had a method of rapport building that put people in the police intimidation zone and slowly reeled them in cornering suspects until they finally broke telling about the gory details of the crimes they committed.
Pursuits, surveillance stake outs, and wiretap undercover investigations were also some of Jerry’s specialties. All of the duties of his investigation skills can not be summed up briefly, but he described dusting for fingerprints, the smell of dead bodies, calculating accidents by measurements of skid marks, using informants to get information on drug cases, also investigating suicide cases.
         Mr. Jones was not just a good cop but also a good leader. He was Chief of West Hazelton Police Department were he helped to reestablish and organize a then unstable police force. Jerry decided how to interact with the media to get a better image going for the local police he was in charge of. Roles of a Chief or Lead investigator included being in charge of the police department managing the files and records for all of the reports and cases that came through the doors. Most importantly interacting with the District attorney and county prosecutors about suspect sentencing and legality of search/arrest warrants. Another job was to keep the officers thinking and doing their jobs correctly filing citations properly, inventory of equipment also handling the major duties of the evidence room which contained weapons, drugs, clothing of victims and other miscellaneous contraband pertaining to cases.
         Police handle many problems within the community because that is there job. Crime varies from a small very insignificant parking problem to double or triple homicide cases that require lots and time and effort. Police also have other duties such as being first responder assisting medical personnel at the scene of accidents or fires. Interviewing witnesses to crimes and making the community feel safer through crime deterrence skills. Jerry Jones also developed vital interpersonal skills that helped him to reach out to the people in his community and win approval of citizens, lawyers, doctors, firefighters and even trash collectors. The larger network a police officer can build the more rewarding his career may be. Jerry was no stranger to the courtroom and he won many cases, impressing many magistrates with the persistence he had to never give up on his cases. One down side of his career was that he had six personal law suits filed against him for different reasons over the last twenty years for different claims such as excessive force of arrest. Law suits are unfortunately a common place occurrence between citizens and police these days and Jerry said that it’s not like the good old days “criminals have far more due process now”.
         One role that Mr. Jones had mastered was the command precedence and eloquence of police work. Acting flexible or sometimes shifty even becoming overtly paranoid at times Jerry said that being a cop is “kinda like performing in a Broadway show you gotta go out and give them your best performance . In other words he avoided routine while at the same time had built in rehearsed tactics to deal with numerous types of traffic stops and offenders. Police have to interact with people old and young, black, white, men, women. Jerry said to always remove your biases or preconceived judgments about people; everyone has something to offer. He believed in the death penalty and would increase its use locally if possible. Serving people through the path of justice became the creed of Jerry Jones successful career. He got bored after years of sitting behind the desk after climbing the ladder so he went back out on the streets to patrol again. Jerry also teaches classes and says that someday he plans on retiring but I think it is in his blood. Law enforcement is a special breed, cops don’t usually have many friends “you either love ‘em or hate ‘em”.