Police, Love, & Understanding: Healing in the '70s with a Badge: Police Image, Education, Community, and Predator Survival

By Nancy Gene Giles

In her first book, The Accidental Deputy: Navigating the '60s with a Badge: Protests, Guns, Drugs, Men and Chaos, Nancy Gene Giles began her story of serving as one of the first women in law enforcement and facing challenges in a male-dominated profession as Deputy Sheriff in Franklin County, Ohio.

Now Giles continues her account

• Language: English
• Publisher: Accidental Deputy, Inc.
• Release date: Mar 2, 2022
• ISBN: 9781735893761

Nancy Gene Giles

Nancy Gene Bauer Giles has never considered herself a writer-unless you count years of emails, reports, website content, promotional articles, and analysis. As a teen, she was told by a teacher in front of the class that she should never write, as "you are awful."Giles survived a career in law enforcement, experiencing both a mentoring Sheriff (the story told in The Accidental Deputy, the first volume of her memoirs) and a predatory Chief of Police (the story told in this book). She taught law enforcement at the college level. After moving to Florida, she opened her unique, woman-owned private investigative agency, Account-Abilities, Inc. Later Giles worked in a corporate environment in TV retailing, and in nonprofit management-all while moving on from divorce, raising a daughter, and caring for an aging mother with dementia. Giles hopes that by sharing her experiences, women and men will bravely reach for opportunities, and take risks! By sharing her trip down the road less traveled she desires to make a difference to others.

Book preview

1.png

Copyright ©2022 by Nancy Gene Giles. All rights reserved.

Cover design by SusansArt.

Typesetting by Michael Mysik.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or

transmitted in any form or by any means except by the prior written permission of

the author, except by reviewers who may quote brief excerpts in conjunction with

an article in a magazine, newspaper, blog, or other publication. While the author

has used her best efforts in preparing this book, she makes no representations

or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of its contents.

Author specifically disclaims any implied warranty of merchantability or fitness

for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by a sales

representative or retailer, or via written sales materials.

The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for you or your

organization. You must consult with a professional where appropriate. The author

will not be responsible for or liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial

damages, including but not limited to special incidental, consequential, or other damages.

The author is not in the business of rendering legal, tax, accounting, or other professional services, and if professional assistance is required the services of a competent

professional should be sought.

Library of Congress CIP data is on file.

ISBN:

978-1-7358937-4-7 (hardcover)

978-1-7358937-5-4 (paperback)

978-1-7358937-6-1 (ebook)

978-1-7358937-7-8 (audiobook)

Please visit www.accidentaldeputy.com for more information about speaking

availability, permission to use any of the content of this book, and bulk purchases.

Accidental Deputy, Inc.

Table of Contents

Prefacev

Chapter 1: New Job Forty-Five Minutes Away

(Nifty gig!)1

Chapter 2: Moving and Buying a Car

(Wheels and Pad!)21

Chapter 3: Getting Uniforms — Again (New Threads!)33

Chapter 4: Westerville PD Federal Grant

(The Lowdown!)49

Chapter 5: Duties and On-the-Job Training

(Getting My Groove On!)69

Chapter 6: Rediscovering the Community

(Catch My Drift!)81

Chapter 7: Single Doctor in Town (Dream On!)89

Chapter 8: Daily Sexual Harassment Challenges

(To the Max!)105

Chapter 9: Introduction to Law Enforcement Instructor

(Teach!)119

Chapter 10: Brady Bunch Marriage Attempt (Radical!)135

Chapter 11: Living in Westerville City Limits –

Parents and Officers (Bummer!)153

Chapter 12: An Aha Moment (Booking it!)173

Chapter 13: Move or Not Move

(Catch You on the Flip Side!)191

Epilogue: As Paul Harvey Would Say…

The Rest of the Story.209

Acknowledgments217

About the Author223

Preface

Preface

I hope that you got the chance to read my first book, The

Accidental Deputy, and learned how my family impacted

my career choices. My dad especially prepared me to say yes when I was asked if I wanted to be a deputy sheriff. Growing up he pushed me, challenged me, and told me never to give up on trying new things. If you have not read it, no worries! I will be

integrating my family into this book as well as I tell the story

of the second chapter of my life choices.

When I was researching this book and my previous one, The Accidental Deputy, I went to the Westerville Public Library website and used the Contact Us button. Within a few minutes I received a response that my question about help with research was being forwarded to their historian who would contact me.

The same day I received an email from Nina Thomas, who asked, Are you the Nancy Giles who was the first policewoman in Westerville?

I thought about it and said, Oh, yes. I guess I am.

She then said, I can’t believe the coincidence. We are working on a virtual exhibit honoring ‘woman firsts in Westerville’ and I have your name to try to find and contact!

That gave me chills and I said, Oh, how crazy is that? I had no idea!

It was the first time I thought about being the first policewoman in Westerville.

We then set up a call to talk further and I sent my book, The Accidental Deputy, to her at the library. Sadly, I wanted to go there but it was not safe during a pandemic. She explained that the exhibit was virtual for the same reasons and that their staff for research was mostly college students and very little was being done because of safety. They were able to send me a few articles that I appeared in, but not the column that I wrote between 1973 and 1975 for improving police relations in the weekly local newspaper, the Westerville Public Opinion.

As I start this book, I still have not been able to locate any of those articles, but it’s time to move on!

About the book title:

POLICE, LOVE, & UNDER­STANDING

I wrestled with a variety of words to find the perfect title to accompany the word Policewoman. I considered making it The First Policewoman, as I was the first one in Westerville history, but that seemed presumptive as there were starting to be policewomen across the US. Maybe not a lot, but law

enforcement agencies were opening their eyes to the impor­tance of hiring women applicants. I next considered calling it The Propositioned Policewoman, which you will clearly

understand as the story unfolds. It is pretty accurate, but the book is about so much more that is applicable to today in

the defunding the police movement.

Next, I considered The Liaison Policewoman, and as you

read this book you will see that the word liaison is very appropriate. I was the liaison between the Police Department and the community. I remember typing the word liaison many times in completing paperwork that was regularly required as a part of the Federal Grant. The surprise was the sexual harassment challenges that I had no idea would accompany my new position. There were also sexual encounters (liaisons) in my personal life that were a reflection of the free love attitude of the 1970s. The sexual approaches when I was a deputy sheriff were easily laughed off. My fatherly relation­-

ship with Sheriff Stacey Hall Sr. was very nurturing and supportive.

I was extremely naïve about my new direct boss and the challenges ahead.

The word liaison is not very common, and when I ran the title of The Liaison Policewoman by people, they scrunched

up their nose and said they did not get it. Then they asked what the word liaison means. I realized using the word in the title was obviously confusing everyone and it was not an often-used word today.

I next considered the word community with Policewoman, which was a healing word people used coming out of the 1960s and early 1970s. The Vietnam War was ended, protests had stopped but the community was upset with law enforcement in general. There had to be a way to educate the community, improve law enforcement transparency, and define the common ground for all. This is the challenging job I took in 1972. My challenge was to awaken the community and law enforcement to their mutual end goals. Getting the word out was one goal of the Federal Government through law enforcement grants;

I implemented one for the Westerville Police Department and the surrounding community.

Finally, the racial issues from the ’60s and ’70s, and the death of George Floyd in 2020, moved me to reconsider how unimportant my being a policewoman actually was to the mending of relationships between the police and the community. The job was about my mission to rebuild confidence in the police and listen to the public after the racial situations and war protests. As you will read, it was a difficult job from over fifty years ago, leading to police reform and better relationships with the community. My being a policewoman was an added challenge on the one hand and an asset on the other, allowing me to listen and communicate with the public.

Next I thought about the ’70s and people saying peace and love and holding up their fingers in a peace sign. That was a title I thought was more appropriate and more accurate for the contents of the book. When I told Tim, my coach, he said that sounded good but then came back and suggested a song title from the late ’70s: Peace, Love and Understanding was made popular in the United States by Elvis Costello and the Attractions.

So that is a long story to explain why I landed on the title Police, Love, and Understanding!

A big thank-you goes to the suggestion from my awesome writing coach Tim Brandhorst, who also guided me through The Accidental Deputy and my first attempt at writing a book. He encourages me to continue this adventure of telling my story of the variety of unique and unusual careers in my life. We both hope that the stories will inspire others and share insight about the repeated issues and challenges in our country.

After listening to the words to the song, it was very clear that they were perfect, relevant, and clearly the best choice for the title. The original song was written by Nick Lowe.

Please google the song title of Peace, Love and Understanding and read the words. The words perfectly fit the sentiments of the 70’s and amazingly the issues of today. I continue to be surprised that the issues of 50+ years ago are confronting us in the 2000’s.

It was included on American editions of Costello’s 1979 album Armed Forces. With its simple message of unity and love in a troubled world, the song became an anthem for peace and tolerance, and was recorded by many artists, including

A Perfect Circle, Lucy Kaplansky, The Flaming Lips, and The Wallflowers.

I would like to include a couple of passages of the last chapter of The Accidental Deputy so that you can envision the start of my next law enforcement job.

My initial meeting with Chief Schutte from The Accidental Deputy about the Community Liaison Federal Grant Officer

position:

Police Chief Harry Schutte of the City of Westerville Police Department was a graduate of the FBI Academy and had a very positive law enforcement reputation. I was hired to implement a Federal Government Grant for Community Relations that was being offered to law enforcement agencies to begin to repair police and community relationships. I graduated from high school there and my parents still lived on State Street, which was the main street of Westerville. Chief Schutte knew my mom through trying cases in the County Prosecutors Office, where she handled all documentation for crimi­nal cases.

In the late summer of 1972, Chief Schutte received notification that Westerville got the Federal Government Grant. He mentioned that he might be looking for an officer to implement the Grant and handle all the community activities that it stipulated. The reporting and documentation was long, and the activities to keep the grant were complicated, but I thought very doable. I told him that I thought there were a lot of possibilities of officers in Franklin County that would be good at it.

He said, You’re missing the point, I was wondering if you might be interested in the job. There really aren’t a lot of officers with your community experience that are also so well trained in law enforcement. You could return to the city where you graduated from high school. That would help you a lot with local credibility.

He then said to think it over and he would let me know when he was ready to interview and hire. He was always a bit flirty but was my parent’s age and obviously older than me. I just laughed at his suggestive comments and chalked it up to the 1970s. After all, here I was wearing miniskirts and patent leather knee boots.

Excerpt from The Accidental Deputy of the day and following events when I was offered the exciting Community Relations Law Enforcement Grant position:

Westerville Police Chief Schutte called me and wanted me to come by to see the Westerville Police Department and talk with him about applying for the position. I set up an appointment and rearranged my schedule to have time off on a day I had a speaking engagement in the evening. He toured me around the police department and introduced me. It was funny but I knew several of the officers from other trainings we held in the sheriff’s office. We sat down in his office to talk about the job. I asked my questions and found out that I would have some regular police duties in addition to managing the grant. That pleased me. He showed me the office I would share with their Juvenile Officer right next to the Chief’s. Their firing range was in the basement of the police department. The building housed the police on one side and the fire department and trucks on the other. He told me that the City of Westerville was also in the process of hiring a new fire chief. I asked him what the next step was if I was interested in working there.

He said, You tell me and it’s your position and you will become a Westerville Police Officer along with your managing the grant.

I said, You’re offering it to me without an interview or application?

He said, It’s yours if you say yes.

He told me I was the perfect fit and he was going to steal me away from the Sheriff’s Office. He told me I was the perfect person for the job and I was already trained and could start immediately to implement the grant without any additional training. I asked if I had to wear a miniskirt and knee boots.

He laughed and said, I like them a lot but the community needs to take you seriously!

I drove forty-five minutes home after stopping at my mom’s to see what she thought. Mom was always hesitant of changes as she stayed in her job and retired from it eventually. She admitted that day that the world had changed and that it was now more unlikely that a person could retire from one job. She also said that I needed to know that the chief could be a bit overboard on his flirting and propositioning but she thought I was his children’s age so it should not be a big problem. The job seemed to be perfect timing for me to learn more about community relations and use my hometown and law enforcement experience to achieve the best results. It was unusual for any law enforcement officer to be asked to join another department and for their training to be accepted without a refresher. I guess since I had been involved in training some of the Westerville Police officers, Chief Schutte was respecting my experience.

Once again in my life, I was offered something that most women may have not considered but I knew I could make it work. I called him the next day and said yes to a new adventure in my life. I asked him to wait and let me resign from the Sheriff’s Office before he told anyone. He agreed and we set a date for me to

start on October 2, 1972.

When I told Sheriff Stacy Hall Jr. and Sally, they seemed quite okay with it and wished me well. I gave a two-week notice. I was asked to come out to the Patrol Division on one of my last days. My office mates, headed by Lt. Smith, all wanted to wish me luck and said they would always be checking on me. They were excited by my new opportunity in Community Relations. Lt. Smith knew Chief Schutte pretty well and pulled me aside for

a little advice.

Lt. Smith said, Be careful of your relationship with Chief Schutte as he is a bit of a womanizer. He seems to be very progressive and a good Police Chief but has some personal relationship challenges. He has a very young wife. He also has an ex-wife and several children.

I loved that my big brothers were always looking out for me. However, I remembered that the guys were pretty big on gossip, so I just filed the comment for later consideration.

Then they gave me a parting present. During my time at the Sheriff’s Office, my original badge number 70 was

retired as we bought brand new badges that retained their brightness and did not tarnish. I was given my old badge number 70 at that time. The present was keeping my newer badge as well. It did have my name on it, so actually it made sense to give it to me. Walker was there and also gave me my snub-nose S&W .38 and my purse.

It was a sad but exciting day. It was sad because I would be in a northern community at the edge of Franklin County and Delaware County and very far from the friends and now deputy family that had raised me from a naïve young woman. I was excited because I was going to start a whole new chapter in my law enforcement career: Officer Nancy Giles, Westerville Police.

Please understand that the events in this book are from my perspective and may conflict with other people’s remembrances and what some may perceive as reality. My experiences in law enforcement in the 1960s and 1970s may be different than others can recall. I hope that you can enjoy reading about my experiences as a very young woman without judgment. My life progressed through a sexual revolution with many changing moral issues and I had to handle sexual harassment situations. I hope by sharing some stories, I am able to help others grow, learn from my experiences, and make positive choices.

I believed and taught officers that the need for use of force should be minimal in non-life-threatening situations and that officers should use respect, speak in a non-threatening manner, use kindness, and treat every person as they would want to be treated. The environment now with drugs, open-carry guns, TV reality shows, video games, movies, and military service all contribute. Sadly, I realize that the job of being a deputy/officer is very dangerous since you become a target daily, which can lead to cynicism, suspicion, aggression, burn-out, and overreacting. As 2020 has reminded us, it is so important that government agencies monitor police behavior, offer updated training, make sure to hire the most mentally stable officers, and take immediate corrective action.

As I write this book, I am amazed at the opportunity that

I had to make a difference at such a young age. The story also highlights some of my mistakes in saying yes to personal relationships, and how very bad I was —