Deputy Death: Memoirs of a Retired Law Enforcement Officer Collision Reconstructionist

By Barty Bartlett

Barty Bartlett writes as if he is talking directly to you. He recants the stories for the love of his work. He shares the gruesome events on how he became Deputy Death.

He is a truth teller, protector, skilled officer, devoted family man and a ghost whisperer.

Barty bravely shines his flashlight on fascinating police events and twisted traffic accidents.

You will be exposed to true tales that quirky people get themselves into. Many stories will catch you off guard. Some will make you laugh while others may make your heart sink.

Barty brings to life the thrill of the hunt in order to protect and serve as Deputy Death.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: May 23, 2023
• ISBN: 9781662468377

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Deputy Death

Memoirs of a Retired Law Enforcement Officer Collision Reconstructionist

Barty Bartlett

Copyright © 2023 Barty Bartlett

All rights reserved

First Edition

PAGE PUBLISHING

Conneaut Lake, PA

First originally published by Page Publishing 2023

ISBN 978-1-6624-6836-0 (pbk)

ISBN 978-1-6624-6837-7 (digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Disclaimer

Preface

Starting Career

Starting Frederick City, Maryland

Background of Frederick City

Police Shifts

Fredrick City Walking Beats

Mandatory Zone Checks

Bizarre Stories from Frederick City Police

The Legend of Aaron

New York Slang, Rolling Eyes, and Sex

Juvenile Brats and the Golf Course

Moved Too Soon

Poker, Anyone?

Traffic Stop: Mr. Restaurant

Traffic Stop: Nice Freckles

Who's Your Teacher

Parking Tickets Killed Wife

Legend of Betty Wells

Morning Stolen Vehicle

Sunday Stolen Vehicle

Craps at John Hanson's Apartment

Officer Needs Assistance

Paul from New Jersey

Thanksgiving Day

Christmas Eve Playboy

Gene Gene the Dancing Machine

Dallas-Washington Monday Night Football

Boone

Bird Man

Shouldn't Sleep in Your Garage

Bus Station

Probation Getting Close

I Wanted to Kill Somebody

Wrong Marianne

The Evening of the End of Probation

It's All Going to be Better When We Get to the New Building

Baltimore Orioles Ballgame

Bella and Ellis

How I Got the Name Barty

Super Bowl 1983

Death House 102 West Fourth Street

Bar Fight with Marines

Fredrick City: In the Streets Festival

Drunk Transport to Jail

Dentist Office

Lost My First

Chase with Jewel Robbers

Trespassing Frederick Towne Mall

West South Street Shots Fired

Waste of Manpower and Resources

Ham on Road

Big Important Business Person

Jell-O on Floor

Christmas Day 1983

NBA All-Star Game

Warm Blanket of Snow

Transport from Delaware

Obese Man Shot

Marianne and New Baby

Drive Fast on Your Motorcycle

Vehicle Flipped During Collision

Almost a Rape

Ms. Florist

Walking Beats and the White Star

Gentleman's Quarterly Magazine (GQ)

Officers Leaving Left and Right

Another Waste of Manpower

Construction Worker

Promotions Anyone?

Salute Yourself

Open Microphone Night

Declined My Incentive

Big Ben

Notice in the Mail

Night of the Test

On the Road Again

It Happened That Quickly

Test Scores

Interview Day

Fitzgerald Chevrolet Dealership

Letter Arrived in Mail

It's Coming to an End

Fredrick County, Maryland, Background

First Day at the Sheriff's Office

Civil Field Training

Backup from Civil

Assist with City Evictions

Sad Evictions: Time to Go to Patrol

First Call on Patrol Division

Are You Someone I Graduated With?

Clear the Runway

Becoming a Collision Reconstructionist

The Curse

Using a Tree to Wipe Your Ass

The Unforgiving Bumper

Vehicle and Truck Collision

Don't Mess Up the Wall!

Another Mom Calls

Cotton Heads and Q-Tips

Squeegee Time

Are You Asleep?

The First and Last Arrest of the Year

Hang on Tight

Death Screams

Make Sure You Wear Leathers/Jacket

No Helmet, Find His Teeth

Sunday Shoot-Out

Gracellos Biker Weekend

Scar Face

Probable Cause

Didn't Quite Make It to the Airport

Headquarter Moved

Yearly Inspection

Major Name Change

Wear Your Seat Belt

Beauty Queen

Rottweilers Attack

Jessup Prisoner Transport

Marianne Hammers Chief

Marianne Attracting Police Officers

The Legend of Kevin

No Seat Belt, Stolen Vehicle

Not a Nice Uncle Ace

Motorcycle Female Injured

Code Yellow

Block in Windshield

A Train Always Wins

Retirement Call: Good News

Pinball Bad Guy

She Kicked Me

Fishing on Train Bridge

Milt Frech

Court Case with Daughters

Sniff This

Jewel Thief Kills

City Slickers

Name Tags Off

Two German Girls

Ghost Whisperer

Sheriff Election 1990

A New Sheriff In Town

Demotions/Promotions

New Undersheriff

Too Young to Drive

Big-Mouth Deputy

Name Tag Recognition

Off Probation

Active Shooter

When in Doubt, Fly Them Out

Mealey's Restaurant Ghost

Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD)

Blue Eyes: Family Fun Night

Happy Birthday, You're Gone

Willie, Child Molester

Bugs, Anyone?

Motorcycles, Fatal––No, It's Ours, Don't Think So

Good Memories at Police Picnics

Make Sure You Look Under the Dash

Touch My Hat

Education

Courthouse Detail

New Fitness Standards

Fatal in 9 Minutes

Field Training: Deputy Titan

Training Program

The Collision from Hell

Football Anyone

Sheriff and Gambling

Feely Priest

Baltimore Oriole Baseball Game

Knocked out of Shoes

Child and Duck

Central Dispatch

Got Bitten

School Meetings

SWAT Team

Special Service Team Raid

Horseshoe for You

Very Drunk Mother

Government Sting Operation

Thought It Was a McDonald's Bag

Strike in Walkersville

Sad Friday Night

Patrol Shake-Up

Topless Traffic Stop

Fog First Day of School

Road Worker and Sleep

Christmas Eve Toss Salad

Stop that Bull

Exposing Pervert

My Old Silver Star

The War Getting Hotter

The Test Run

Special Service Team End

Mr. Not-So-Nice

Deputy Titan Getting Run Over

Deputy of the Year

Officer Needs Assistance

Suicide Attempt at a Hotel

Bill Anderson

Naked Man Walking

Field Training Officer Program

New Recruit Gordon and the UFO

Transferred

Baltimore City Bachelor Party

Marianne Has Had Enough

Was That a Deer/Uncle

Take-Home Vehicle Taken Away

Very Smelly Female

We Are Screwed! Now I'm Finished.

The Greatest Reconstructionist Does It Again

Sergeant Gideon's Death

Moving in 1994

Merry Christmas: Maybe It Will Grow Back

Rocky Ridge

Lead Collision Reconstructionist

It's Getting Hotter on the War Front

Adopted Grandparents Halloween

The Runaway Horse

March 1994

Remember the Destroyed Star

Another Falsified Memo

Rumors

Mental and Physical Interrogations

You Will Never See Sunlight for the Next Fifteen Years

Escaped Prisoner

Official Announcement

Reading of the Murdered Victims

Lodge #102

Brian and the Refrigerator

The Horse With No Name

One Week Before the Election

The Best and the Saddest Day

The Phone Call

Returned to Work

Being Cleared

New Swearing-In Time

Make Sure Your Kid Is Standing

The New Building

Sheriff's State Shooting Tournament

Thurmont Ku Klux Klan Parade

Maryland Governor

More Training

Truck Inspections Are Fun

I Should Have Known Better

Truck Inspectors Go to Bed Early

Truck Driver Bites the Dust

Speeding Truck Driver

O.J. Simpson

Thanksgiving With The President

Comatose Driver

Killed Twice

Intoxicated School Bus Driver

16th Wedding Anniversary Surprise

Confession of a Murder

Not Far to Get Buried

World Pistol Match, 1996

Current Affairs

Disintegrated Deer

Daughters at School

Saw My Wife Near DC

I Shot My Car

School Bus Collision

Black Friday

Mr. One Eye

Dr. Asshole

The Return of Lee

Ms. Up All Night

From My Daughters

The Gaker: Thank God Dad's a Cop

Plane Crash

Sheriff Election 1998

From Russia with Love Transport

Playing with Police Radar

Speeding Motorcycle

Ms. Bird

Friday Watching Bullets

Flooding and the Weather Channel

Corny's Corner Bar Fight

Four Lost Children

Armed Robbery 7-11

Annual National Fallen

Lead Reconstructionist

Piggy

Awards

You Are in Charge

Speeding Female

Snow Ball Fundraising Dinner

Hollywood Is Calling

Cleared for Landing

250th Anniversary

Fire, Females and Screams

Blair Witch Project

Santa Is Knocking At My Door

Y2K—Apocalyptic Meltdown

New Year's Day 2000

2000 Camp David Summit

Show Us How It's Done

What Happened to the American Flag?

The Suspicious U-Haul

It Hits the Fan

Tornado

Turbo Flares

Bad Boys Whatcha Gonna Do?

Got Ribbed Again

Time for Things to End

Retirement Party

Conclusion

DEDICATE Deputy Death to Marianne Bartlett, my miracle-minded wife, Katelyn and Jaclyn, our treasured daughters, and my outstanding backup law enforcement officers.

These guardian angels kept me out of my own body bag.

Disclaimer

SOME NAMES and identifying details have been changed to protect the privacy of individuals. I have tried to recreate events, locales, and conversations from my memories of them. I made a scrapbook, from newspaper articles which had most of these events. Any resemblance to an actual person, living or dead, is purely coincidental. Most of the information is in the public domain as well.

Officers' names as well as people I arrested will have their names changed. Arrests are public records, and their real names did appear in the newspaper. The names have been changed to protect the officers, victims, and families.

There may be offensive language used regarding minorities and other groups as the events occurred in the 1980s and 1990s. This does not reflect my personal beliefs or opinions toward anyone.

Preface

These events depict my police career starting from the New York Academy in Rochester, New York, to Frederick, Maryland, based on articles my daughters clipped out of newspapers and memories forever etched in my mind. After twenty years of police service, I still have all the news articles to backup events told. Included are stories written by my daughters.

I was with the Traffic Unit during the last part of my career with the Frederick County Sheriff's Office, in Frederick, Maryland. Most of the many fatal collisions were routine. However, there were several fatals that were unusual. Several friends have read some of the fatals that appear in this book. Please be advised they had a hard time reading these events.

Working in law enforcement is demanding on the families and your body. Being a collision reconstructionist, you have to make a notification to family members of the death of loved ones. The toughest part of my job was making a death notification—when family members would answer the door with smiles. You had to learn how to handle families' different reactions when they were told a loved one was not coming home. This wasn't in our training in any of the academies which I attended. This was on-the-job training, and it was a dreadful learning experience.

I had several nicknames during my working years. They would call me the Deputy from Hell, Deputy Death, Body Bag Barty, even Angel of Death, You will see why I was given these names as you read on.

For those of you who may not be familiar with what a body bag is, I will give you the Wikipedia definition found on the internet. A body bag, also known as a cadaver pouch or Human Remains Pouch (HRP), is a non-porous bag designed to contain a human body. They come in several colors, but we used just the black and white ones.

When the funeral home came to remove the dead body, they would place the body in a body bag. The body would then be transported to the destination, either the funeral home, or morgue. I always carried several body bags in the trunk of my police vehicle.

Starting Career

Very strange calls, traffic stops, and other events that took place in New York Academy

IN 1980 I finally made the cut to go to the New York State Police Academy. The academy started in November and lasted twenty-three weeks until the middle of May 1981. It was 880 hours of hardcore training.

Because of the large number of people that passed the written test and background, there was a morning and evening academy. The rate of failure was 70 percent, so the people running the academy knew only a few would make it to graduation.

I was placed in the evening class that ran from 3:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. The day class ran from 7:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. It didn't matter what department you would go to, either city or county, all went to the same academy and were trained the same. This was because if different agencies arrived on the scene of an incident, everyone knew what to do. It was called multiagency academy training.

Being in the evening academy, I was able to keep my day job working at a meat processing plant. I was married in May of 1980 and wanted to make sure I had a job. My day job at the meat processing plant was from 5:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. I came home at 2:25 p.m. and changed into my academy outfit then drove to the academy.

I left the academy and arrived home at about 11:20 p.m. I did not get much sleep from 12:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m. for those twenty-three weeks. The academy was held at a local college. They had the classrooms and gyms to fit all the people which were in the classes.

First day of the academy, everyone wore the same color gray uniform, didn't matter where you were going when you graduated. I entered the double classroom, with the middle wall pulled back so it would fit all of us in. I first noticed I was the oldest person. I was twenty-three years old.

The requirement to attend the academy was you had to be twenty-one years old at graduation. Well, I met those requirements. I had a criminal justice degree and a two-year degree in police science, now known as CSI, or crime scene investigation.

First day of class we were told what was to come during the next twenty-two weeks of training. We were informed at the end of every week (Friday) there would be a written test on what was covered that week. There would be a twenty-minute break after the test. We would return and check the list of scores. We'd need a 70 percent to pass and continue. If we didn't pass, we would take off our uniform, leave, and never return. The scores were posted by our social security number so there was no name after the test scores.

If we passed the written test, we would have to pass the physical test, every Friday night. The physical test consisted of a set of tests: Push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups, and ended with a one-mile run which had to be completed in less than seven minutes. This physical test was for males and females in the class. There were no different tests for the females back then.

The first day we were given a four-inch binder where we kept our notes. The binder was reviewed at midterm with the final tests. We were told that the answers to the tests would be given to us each week by the different instructors. Wow, how you could fail the written test? Before the physical test, we were told warm-ups would be done prior to the physical tests. Again, how could you fail?

In charge of the evening academy, there was a sergeant and two corporals that would walk around the class during the instructions and tests. For some reason, the sergeant kept hanging around me and would give me attitude, maybe because I was the oldest. I don't know why. The sergeant divided the group into two squads. A squad and B squad, twenty-five each, with a squad leader assigned to each which was picked by the staff. I was assigned B squad at that time.

Every day you had to line up for inspection. Your uniform, shoes, hair, nails, and overall look was evaluated by the sergeant. They made the uniforms gray so you couldn't clean your shoes off behind your pants before inspection or you would see the marks on the back of the pants.

If you got dinged, you had to type on blue paper why you failed the inspection. If you made a typing mistake, you couldn't use Wite-Out. The squad leader would also get a ding at the inspection. Everyone had to wear leather shoes, no corfam shoes were allowed.

Second day of class we had our first instructor. The instructor gave us ten answers that would be on the test. The instruction was on certain crimes, first degree, second degree, and third degree. The instructor went over all the elements necessary to prove which degree it would be.

The class was one and a half hours long. You were given a ten-minute break, and the next instructor came in with his class. Same format giving us the ten answers and going over the elements of each for another one and a half hours.

Thirty-minute lunch break, then started physical education. We all had the same outfit on, long sleeves with sweat pants and sneakers. They put us in a room that fit forty people. Now fifty of us were crammed together in a room with no ventilation, like where wrestlers would practice with floor mats.

The room was very warm when we started to line up for exercises. The door opened up, and in walked Mason No Neck, our physical instructor. I thought I was going to have a heart attack! He looked like a retired Marine drill instructor.

No Neck was hard core, no hair on his head along with no neck, broken nose too. He told the class that we were going to do exercises his way. The predatory commands (getting into position) then command (doing the exercises) with one of us leading the different exercises. If the person didn't get the order right, you had to stay in position until the command was given right. No Neck had assistants also doing instruction.

Push-ups were first with the person screwing up the second command to start. We all were in the pushup position until he got it right. After three minutes, people started to whimper being in that position. He finally got it right. Twenty push-ups, four-count push-ups, we did. (Working in a meat factory keeps you in shape, so it didn't bother me.)

Next were jumping jacks with the same routine with the commands. No Neck wanted twenty-four-count jumping jacks. Yeah, the room was now very hot, and people were sweating a lot. We started, and halfway through people were getting sick and fainting. The guy behind me lost his lunch, so No Neck told him to take his sweatshirt off and clean up the vomit.

Then he told the others who threw up to do the same. After they cleaned up their vomit, he made them put the sweatshirt back on. I thought I was going to throw up seeing that happening along with the smell.

The people that fainted, he would kick them and tell them to get out. As in YOU-out for good! No Neck came over to me and said, You finally made it. Oh no, he recognized me from when I swam at the college. I was screwed. Mason remembered me when he showed up at my college doing recruiting. We lost six people that night. This was no joke, and if you couldn't make it through PT class, you were gone.

This went on the first week with the classes and PT losing two or three people a day. Friday, test day, there were ten questions, and you needed to get seven right to pass. By then we had forty to fifty answers that were given to us. You had to know them by heart. You couldn't guess which ones you need to know. You had to know them all.

After the test, we returned to the room, and several more were gone. Friday night was the physical test, several more were gone that night. What had I gotten myself into? (Glad I kept my day job). If you failed any part, you could not apply for the next class until two years later.

Losing people left and right went on for the first eleven weeks. The midterm was coming up, and the test would be on everything you learned the first day to the eleventh week with twenty questions on the test. Forced learning and memory required staying up past two in the morning remembering all the answers they gave us. Midterm came, and we lost ten that day on the test. The class was down to forty now due to people not passing the written or physical tests.

In New York in December and January, it snowed, and the temperature could go down to negative five degrees. Being in the night class, it was dark, cold, and snowing. No Neck didn't give a shit what it was doing outside. We still ran that mile for time on Friday night.

One night it was snowing with two feet of snow on the track. I had an extra sweatshirt with a hat, gloves, and face mask as the wind was blowing fifteen miles per hour with the temperature at ten degrees. The theory was you would be working in conditions like that. We lost more people that Friday night.

There was boxing, combat training, and swimming because the Sheriff's Office had to patrol Lake Ontario in boats. One time in the combat class, two guys kicked each other in the shins, and you could hear their bones break. Both fell to the ground in pain, grabbing their shins. No Neck had them carried out of the room and advised them they could apply next year due to their injuries. What a nice guy.

We would practice swimming at an indoor pool called the Natatorium. The class had to pass swimming four laps or one hundred yards, no set time to finish. You could do dog paddle or butterfly. It didn't matter. You just had to do the four laps. They gave the class four weeks to do this, two times a week. No Neck remembered I was on the college swimming team. He knew I would pass.

One of the people going to the Sheriff's Office was scared to death of the water. He would get up to his belly button and just panic, fight, and claw to stay above that water line. He was not going to pass this swim and would have to be dropped.

No Neck came up to me and told me I would have to have this person pass or I would fail. I looked at him and said, What, are you joking? No Neck was not joking. So for four weeks, we would be by ourselves working in the shallow end of the pool. No Neck would have the class run laps in the shallow end for ten minutes to warm up. When it came time for the test, I had Davie do the dog paddle and I stayed next to him while he did it. It took five minutes for us to do the four laps, something I would do in fifty-eight seconds. Thankfully he passed and later went on to graduate.

We were also losing squad leaders left and right as well. Squad B lost the squad leader on week 12 due to not passing the written test. The next evening the sergeant came up to me and said he was making me the squad leader of B squad. He advised that the others looked up to me and requested I be their squad leader.

First day of being squad leader, during the inspection, Perry's shoes were not shiny. Sergeant walked up to him and said, Did you polish your shoes with a rock? What a first day as squad leader.

In January we had to go outside for shot gun training as you couldn't do it indoors like the handgun training. We were now outside in one and a half feet of snow shooting shotguns. The shotguns were old Mossbergs with nonpadded stocks. I snuck a towel in the right shoulder of my jacket, knowing it would leave a mark shooting these Mossbergs if unprotected.

We had to fire five rounds standing, five rounds kneeling, and five rounds prone. The first round fired off the shotgun was called a deer slug. It was a Solid bullet that really kicked. The next four were double 00 buck. Everything was going good until the prone position.

We were now lying in the snow, freezing, shooting on our stomachs. I fired as quickly as I could. One of the females didn't hold the shotgun tight against her shoulder and fired the first round in the prone position.

The shotgun kicked back into her face and must have broken her nose. The snow was turning red from the blood coming from her face. They didn't care. You had to keep shooting until you finished. She finished with her face and the front of her jacket dripping blood, but she stuck it out and passed.

As the weeks went by, more and more people were dropping out, and now on week 16, nineteen people were left. The wall that separated the rooms at the beginning was closed. Now there was just one classroom. This was to be the rest of the class to make the final week to graduation.

On week 19 one of the guys missed the time in the mile run by ten seconds. When you failed the run, your gym bag was left outside the door of the showers. Yep, his gym bag was outside the door. He was gone after suffering nineteen weeks of pain. I really felt sorry for him as we only had three more weeks to go.

Now, it was down to eighteen of us left for the final exam and physical test on week 21. We walked in the classroom for the final written test. Everything from day one until the last day of instruction. Yes, over four hundred answers we were given, just fifty questions. You needed an 80 percent to pass. Miss more than ten questions, you were out. All that work would be gone. You could feel the tension in the room as they were handing out the tests. The sergeant said, Fifty questions, good luck.

We had two hours to complete the test and turn it in. After the test we were all outside the room while the tests were being scored. People were pacing, some sweating, others with high anxiety looking like they were going to faint.

We were called back into the class, and everyone rushed to the board where the test scores were posted. You didn't need to see names as everyone had passed. It was not over yet as part two of the test was coming up, the physical test.

It was week 21, and it was now May in New York and the weather was great. Time for the push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups, then the one-mile runs. The push-ups, sit-ups that were required were to be completed in one minute or less. Everyone passed. Then, the mile run came up. We all had become close over the past twenty-one weeks with what we had gone through.

We all ran the mile together as one large group, making sure no one failed. Yes, we had passed everything that the twenty-one weeks of hell had tossed at us. It was over-We did it!

Week 22 was practicing for graduation being held in the Monroe Community Hospital auditorium that evening at eight o'clock. Learning how to march, like we were doing the last twenty weeks. How to accept the graduation certificate, with crossing of hands and saluting the different people that would be there. As of this writing, I still have those black leather shoes.

Graduation came, and we were all in our real uniforms. I had a gold bar under my badge for police marksmanship expert. My wife, Marianne, was there along with my mother and other people. Marianne made me a cake.

We graduated and started working. After several months, it was announced budget cuts had to be made. Yep, let's cut public safety first as always. Yes, last in-first out was the motto, and I was on that list. Why did you spend all that time and money on us?

I started to apply to agencies outside of the state as a New York Police certification was a golden ticket. My wife, Marianne, was going to see her sister in DC. She took my résumé to all the departments. I heard from Dade County in Florida, who said I could start right away with no academy. At that time, they were having trouble with Cubans in Florida. I passed on that one.

I heard from Frederick City Police Department, Maryland, and Prince William County, Virginia, to come down and take the written test. I also heard from Houston and Atlanta Police departments. Frederick City was a six-hour drive from where I lived. Prince William County was another hour south from Frederick.

My very good friend and best man at my wedding, Tommy Leo, was also looking to move, so we went together, took the written test in Frederick, and passed! If you passed the written test, they would notify you when your physical agility test would be scheduled.

Tom and I went to the Stone Wall Jackson Fire Hall for the written test for Prince William County Police in Virginia. Prince William County written test was in the morning. After the written test, you would take a small break while the tests were being scored. The test questions seemed to be outdated and obscure. I still remember one of the questions: What is the Nautilus? Good thing I read the story of Captain Nemo. The Nautilus to me was now exercise equipment.

If you passed the written test, then right after you stayed for the physical test. I remember walking back into the fire hall and watching people looking at their test scores. Nearly half the people taking the test started to walk out. I recall Tom and I walking back to the table where our tests were, thinking how hard was this test. We turned over our tests, and we both passed!

Next was the physical part we had to pass. The test was not physical agility but a body physical. There was the hearing test, color blind test, and a body density test. The body density test they would put pinchers on you and place them on certain parts of your body. One person was so thin he failed. We were thinking, are we going to pass this test? We passed and were told they would notify us when to return for other tests.

Frederick's physical test was a week later, so we drove down there the next week. Tom went with me. My wife liked the Frederick area because it was green and had parks, where Virginia was flat and not-as attractive.

The physical test in Frederick was push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups, and a one-fourth-mile run you had to complete in five minutes. We did the push-ups, sit-ups, and when it came time for the pull-ups, I did them using one arm. Big mistake. A New Yorker showing off now. I was being called hot shot.

I ran and came in under five minutes to do one-fourth mile. I think I could have walked it in that time. As I passed the physical test, I had to make another trip to Frederick the following week. I was fingerprinted and did a polygraph test. After, I met with the investigator for my background, all these on a Friday and Saturday.

I left Frederick on Sunday as I had to go to Prince William County for my polygraph test and background check on Monday. I arrived on Monday, took the tests, and talked to the investigator on my background. I just finished the New York Academy, so my background check was pretty much completed for them.

We stayed in Virginia two days and drove back to Frederick for a follow-up on Wednesday. I contacted a corporal who advised I passed the background check and now had to meet the city board for an interview with five city alderman. That took thirty minutes, then I headed back to New York. I arrived home Thursday, August 20, exhausted from all the travel and thought I would get some rest.

At the apartment that Marianne and I had after we were married, there were several letters from departments. Houston wanted me to go in two weeks to some sixth floor for my physical agility test. Others had dates for me to go to more southern than I wanted to travel.

Friday morning the phone rang, and it was Chief Elmer of the Frederick Police Department telling me I had been accepted in the academy. I advised I had just finished the academy. Maryland had different laws as it was known as a common law state. The academy was only sixteen weeks long as well and should be a breeze compared to what I had just gone through.

Chief Elmer then laid the bombshell on me that the academy class would be starting at 8:00 a.m., Monday, August 23. I remember saying, That's in three days!

He said, I know it's short notice. Can you make it? I told him I would have to get back with him.

As I was waiting for Marianne to get home, the phone rang again, and it was Investigator Merritt, from Prince William County Police, saying I passed everything. He advised the academy would start in January so that should give me enough time to get ready. I asked, Are you sure I am going to make it after the interview? I just got offered a job in Maryland thirty minutes ago.

Merritt said it was a 99 percent chance I would be accepted because of my New York certification. I told him I would get back with him as soon as I had reviewed the options with my wife.

I talked over the options with Marianne, and we did the pros and cons. Con, was the short notice with Frederick. Pro, she really like the area I didn't want to pass up the Maryland offer and have something go wrong with the Virginia offer. I had a high school friend, Tim, that lived in Gaithersburg, twenty-five minutes east of Frederick, so called him. He said they were going away for twenty days, and I could stay at his place until we could find something in Frederick.

I called Frederick City back and advised I would be there Monday for the academy. My friend, Tom, took the Prince William position that started in January. Although exhausted, I packed my one suitcase and drove south to Maryland on Sunday.

Starting Frederick City, Maryland

IWALKED INTO the academy in Frederick City, which was at the Junior College, at 7:50 a.m. for the 8:00 a.m. start. There were only six of us in the room. There were two females and four males. We were all in street clothes. First Sergeant Wayne was the instructor for the academy. There was Barbara, Judy, Nolan, and Brian, all from the Frederick area. Paul was from New Jersey, and I from New York, all sitting in the classroom. The instructor stated it would be February 10 for our graduation with two weeks off from classroom in December. The two weeks off we would be doing Walking Christmas details as the city still had walking