Still Seeking Justice: One Officer's Story

By Joel E. Gordon

The real life story of former Baltimore City and Crofton, Maryland Police Officer and Kingwood,
West Virginia Chief of Police Joel E. Gordon.
From his childhood prayers to his teenage observations of police operations, through an entire law enforcement career filled with both triumphs and injustices...
Still Seeking Justice is a riveting first hand account of police experiences and affirmative action mandates.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Joel E. Gordon
• Release date: Mar 21, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311323309

Joel E. Gordon

A former Baltimore City (Western and Northern Districts) and Crofton, Maryland Police Officer and Kingwood, West Virginia Chief of Police - Joel has also served as General Manager of Alpine Lake Resort in Terra Alta, West Virginia and as a Security Consultant based in Morgantown, West Virginia.Joel was appointed to the 2015-2016 term of the Morgantown West Virginia daily newspaper's Community Advisory Board, ​As such he was a featured guest editorial columnist in The Dominion Post. He is also a regular contributing writer to the Blue Now family of law enforcement magazines (thebluemagazine.com) and was awarded as NJ Blue Now magazine 2017 Senior Journalist of the Year.Raised in the Baltimore, Maryland suburban neighborhood of Rodgers Forge, he now makes his home in North Central West Virginia with his wife and family pets.Still Seeking Justice was Joel's big debut as a writer. What began as an idea dating back into the 1980's blossomed into a chronicle of an entire career in law enforcement. Joel has also contributed some true-life stories for the book All Cops Don't Eat Donuts by Anthony Naturale and is featured on the books front cover along with other select contributors.

Book preview

Still Seeking Justice: One Officer’s Story

By: Joel E. Gordon

Smashwords Edition

Copyright (c) 2014

Joel E. Gordon

All Rights Reserved

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

Chapter 1: Superman

Chapter 2: Hired: Badge #2076

Chapter 3: It Ain’t Always Easy (Being a Rookie Officer)

Chapter 4: Transfer (Pending a Suitable Replacement)

Chapter 5: Affirmative Action (It’s All about Process, and Unintended Consequences)

Chapter 6: The Growing Years (Learning and Teaching)

Chapter 7: Upward and Outward (The Good, the Bad)

Chapter 8: In the Courts (Nothing but the Truth)

Chapter 9: Lessons Learned (Hindsight is 20/20)

Epilogue: Theory of Compartmentalization

This book is dedicated to my biggest fan and cheerleader, my bride, Sharon Herndon Gordon. It is also dedicated to my four children, Emily, Leira, Ben and Evan and to the memory of my parents, Alice and Raymond Gordon. A special thank you goes out to my good friend, Gail Vanik, who was a valuable proofreader and to the folks at Police Leadership Association (PLA) Publishing who made this book possible. Finally, I dedicate this true account of my career to all of the special men and woman with whom I served so proudly.

Introduction

"A man must consider what a rich realm he abdicates when he becomes a conformist." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

God bless Mommy, God bless Daddy, God Bless my grandparents and please let them rest in peace, God bless all of our family & friends, and please help to make Joel a nice, healthy, kind, smart, honest, good big boy… Amen.

Although she had no way to know it, this simple childhood prayer that my mother had me recite each night helped to set the stage for my future desire to be an advocate for truth and justice. Of course there was more to my career choice than simply the tone set by that prayer. It was the first of many steps leading to a career choice in law enforcement. Taking a look at my interests in life; a love for driving, radio communication, sociology and psychology all were primary factors in my ultimate decision to become a police officer.

Plus, having been born in 1959, I was a product of the John F. Kennedy generation of young men and women who had a strong sense of community service instilled in them. As the influential president said in his 1961 inaugural speech, And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country. This was our comfortable mindset.

Having grown up in the suburbs of Baltimore, I was an idealistic young man who had a strong desire to help people. From an early age I discovered the satisfaction of being able to help and please others. Upon becoming a police officer I found that there are two primary reasons that people became police officers. Some were just looking for steady employment. Others, like me, wanted to help people and make our world a better and more just place. I spent my career surrounding myself with the latter.

Although I know that I had triumphs along the way and had a positive impact in many people’s lives, reality set in once I became a police officer. The job is primarily about regulating human behaviors within reasonable and lawful boundaries. Most dealings are with people at their worst and most troubling times. Either they are angry from being victimized, scared and confused, or just unwilling to cooperate with assistance. Worse, many times, police officers are dealing with the same five percent of repeat law breakers ninety five percent of the time. The goal is to keep people from harming themselves or violating other people’s rights.

Still Seeking Justice (One Officer’s Story) is my true account of the struggle for upward mobility against the mandates of affirmative action in the early years of my law enforcement career and the ultimate lost battle against the good ole’ boy network at the end of it.

In the spirit of Louis Studs Terkel’s graphic adaption Working (ISBN-10: 1595583211), it is my desire that this book provide insights to future generations interested in a career in law enforcement. This book should be equally informative for anyone with an interest in law enforcement in general or in the history of the cities and towns covered. A wise police instructor once told me that the difference between the private and public sectors is that private enterprise is about profit while government is about process. This observation was never more evident than during the affirmative action years, which had such a negative impact on my career. Hiring and promotional practices with the primary goal of promoting people largely based upon minority and gender preference became the norm. The promotional process became all about political correctness without a view toward hiring and promoting the best and most qualified person for the job with many resulting unintended consequences to follow.

I am, however, the best and most qualified person to write this book since it is my historical account of my own career trials and tribulations. I have found that there are two types of people in this world. Most are conformists. Some are contrarians. I have always considered myself to be among the latter. I have made every effort for historical accuracy in the stories that I am telling from memory and to the best of my ability.

Thanks for riding along with me on my journey as you learn of the mindset I developed over time and the progression to my resulting conclusions. All stories are true but some of the names have been omitted to protect the guilty!

Enjoy the ride…

Former P/O Joel E. Gordon

Baltimore City MD Police Sequence # C-816/Badge # 2076

Crofton MD Police Department Unit #954

Kingwood WV Chief of Police Unit #100.

Chapter 1

Superman

A cop on horse says to a little girl on a bike, Did Santa get you that? Yes, replies the little girl. Well tell him to put a reflector light on it next year! and fines her $5. The little girl looks up at the cop and says, Nice horse you've got there, did Santa bring you that? The cop chuckles and replies, He sure did! Well, says the little girl, Next year tell Santa that the dick goes under the horse, not on top of it! –Anonymous

My mother always taught me to never hate anyone, but at age 13 I strongly disliked the cops…

During the warmth of the summer, riding my yellow 10-speed bicycle around the tree lined streets of my childhood home in Rodger’s Forge was one of my favorite things to do. It wasn’t unusual for me to log twenty or more miles in a day. I was a good kid who never got into trouble and played by the rules. I never really had much contact or exposure to the police prior to a beautiful early summer day in 1974. Boy was that about to change as I was about to have my first contact with a police officer. While riding my bicycle near the old Bradford Bank building at the busy intersection of York Road and Register Avenue I spotted a large mixed breed (German Sheppard type) dog weaving in and out of traffic. Some of the drivers would hit their brakes coming to a screeching halt to avoid the confused and scared animal. Others would simply try to accelerate around the dog. The dog’s movements were jerky and unpredictable. I was terrified that I was about to witness the dog being struck by a car. As luck (or so I thought) would have it, a Baltimore County Police Officer was sitting in his marked patrol car right there in the bank parking lot. He was an average build male, in uniform, with a moustache. He was drinking a cup of coffee and seemed to be in his own little world. As I approached the officer he opened the driver’s side window as if it was a big chore for him to do. I timidly asked, Can you please help me with the dog before he gets hit? The officer looked over at me through the open driver’s side window of the patrol car, and curtly stated; Who do you think I am? SUPERMAN? I was both shocked and angered by the officer’s demeanor. How dare he sit there drinking his coffee while this crisis was before him! I thought the police were the good guys. The motto