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Behind the Badge

by David Heaukulani

189 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #04-2784; ISBN 1-4120-4976-8; US$19.50, C$22.00, EUR16.00, £11.50

Cop stories never meant to go public. A behind the scenes look at a quiet police chief who took back the streets with force, a homicide detective with a Dirty Harry attitude, cops at odds with civil rights feds and police brass, cops who die, cops at play and cops who become legends.

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About the Book      About the Author      Excerpts      Catalogue Information

About the Book

A collection of short stories told by cops and from observations by the author. It spans the period from the 1960's to the 21st century. The primary police venue is Hawaii but it mirrors police experience nationwide. Some of the stories were never meant to be public and were passed around only in social gatherings of cops. Now that some of the principals have long since retired and are passing away, the author wanted to capture some of the significant memoirs in print. It is a project similar to Steven Ambrose's Band of Brothers where he wanted to capture the memoirs of a small group of World War Two soldiers before their stories died with them. Examples in this book include a quiet police chief who decided to authorize a special squad to use force to take back control of the streets from the "bad boys." It tells the tale of a homicide lieutenant with a Dirty Harry attitude coping with Hawaii's first serial killer case. It highlights great police leaders, as well as poor examples of leadership. It tells the pain of cops being taken down by the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division. It tells about homosexual cops having difficulty watching hunks changing in the locker room. It tells about cops at play and cops at mischief. Included are sociological analyses in an attempt to explain why street cops think and act the way they do. At the conclusion you come away with a behind-the-scenes view of street cops as only a former cop can tell it.

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About the Author

David Heaukulani was an assistant chief with the Honolulu Police Department, a management consultant with the Hawaii State Sheriff, physical security specialist with the Army, Deputy Provost Marshall/Operations Officer at the Fort Shafter Army Post, a member of the antiterrorism unit, the chief of police for a Department of Defense police force, and finally completed federal service as the executive officer for the largest military training area in the Pacific. He received a doctorate in sociology from the University of Hawaii. He teaches Sociology at the university of Hawaii, Hilo Campus, and Private Security and Police Organization and Management at Hawaii Community College.

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Excerpts

To get information Jerry played a very dangerous role. Your just don't go up to people on the fringe of the underworld and inquire about their business like a sociologist at work. You do what in sociology is called covert participant observation. You try to infiltrate the group to become a fringe member and then observe and make mental notes. Everybody knew Jerry was a cop. So the only way he knew how to get into the fringe was to pretend he was a cop who despised his job and broke departmental rules whenever the urge suited him. He was playing a dangerous game, a game of double agent. In this game the danger lies in the possibility of becoming what you pretend to be, going native so to speak. Gary Marx studied undercover cops and he points this out:

A number of the interviews, news, and nonfiction and fiction accounts in the literature suggest that some deep-cover agents undergo a striking meta-morphis as lying becomes a way of life, the agent may become confused about his or her true identity. Familiarity can breed affection as well as contempt. This is particularly likely to the extent that the agent is cut off from friends and becomes immersed in a new life. The phenomenon of "going native" is a danger well known to social science field researchers. A few agents "cross over."

Jerry let it be known he was really a bad boy at heart. He would buy rounds of drinks for the bad boys to let them know there were no hard feelings between him and whatever they did for a living. Before too long the bad boys began to cozy up to him. After all, he was buying the drinks. This coziness probably led up to a probable first test of Jerry's bragging on one particular night according to a second hand account:

"You think you bad Jerry?" a bad boy challenged on that night.

"Fucking A, I'm a bad motherfucker man, you 'wanna try and take me," Jerry said faking a slurred speech and pushing out his chest.

"No man, I don't 'wanna take you, here take a 'hit', let me see if you bad man," said the challenger as he passed a marijuana joint.

Jerry took a drag from the cigarette. Then he took another drag. The bad boys nodded. If this were a test he seemed to have passed it. As the hearsay story goes an undercover IRS agent was in the crowd likewise playing a big spender role. IRS agents do what is called financial analysis on targets by matching up their tax filings with spending habits. Supposedly the IRS agent passed on this observation to a vice detective from Jerry's department. Later in an internal investigation when the detective was pressed to identify the agent he couldn't or wouldn't.

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There was the compassion side of Sergeant Boyd under the tough veneer that few ever saw. One of Sergeant Boyd's sons told a story of how a cop lied to the old man. The cop's wife appealed to Boyd that her husband stayed out late after work and can he do something about him coming home earlier to be with his family. Boyd talked to the cop. The cop said he hates to go home because his wife did not take care of the kids properly, never even cleaned house, or washed clothes, or cooked. He may as well stay out with the boys and at least get some wholesome meals at a restaurant-bar. Boyd made an unannounced call at the cop's house one night. The wife was glad to see him and invited him in. He said no thank you; he just wanted to see how she was doing. He saw enough. The house was immaculate, the kids were clean and playing happily, the table was set, and the dinner was on the stove waiting.

Boyd went back to the station and told his son, who happened to be the radio dispatcher at the time, to have the cop reported to his office. When the cop came in her peeked around the corner and whispered to Boyd's son, "What's up?" The son shrugged his shoulders to indicate he didn't know. The cop nervously approached the office and tapped lightly on the door. Boyd has his head down and was writing. He didn't look up. In his deep gruff voice he said, "I went to visit your house and wife tonight." The cop started shaking an grabbed for his gun, an instinctive fear reaction. Without raising his head Boyd said, "You better not miss." The cop broke down and cried. Sergeants generally stay out of the personal life of cops. Management science says supervisors need to stay out of the personal affairs of subordinates; it is none of their business. Supervisors who care will make it their business. Leaders do the right thing, managers do things right.

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Since Jerry's name came up it should be noted that he became somewhat famous in Hollywood after he retired. Jerry went to work for the producer of a cop television show being filmed in Hawaii (not Hawaii Five-O). He was the driver and bodyguard of the star who played a flashy detective. The co-star was a rotund actor whose character was a "Fat Man." At one point in production Jerry was asked to look at a script since he was a former cop. Jerry suggested a few changes. The producer was impressed and soon Jerry was one of the technical advisors and getting paid for it in additional bodyguard services. The show was a hit and following a successful season the star demanded to move the set to Hollywood. He did not like Hawaii. The producer complied and soon Jerry was living in California living the easy life picking up the star at his house and driving him to the Hollywood set. Let's just say the star's name was Joe. It was an incident at Joe's house where Jerry became a legend around the Hollywood set.

Joe's girlfriend was lounging at the poolside when she lot out a scream. Joe and Jerry raced to the pool where Joe's girlfriend pointed to a young Mexican guy on the other side of a low wall. The Mexican was a gardener doing yard work. The girlfriend said the Mexican touched her as she was napping. Joe went ballistic. Jerry tried to calm him saying "We'll just call the police and let them handle it." Nothing doing said Joe. Joe was an action hero type. He jumped the wall and charged the young Mexican. Suddenly three other Mexicans came around the corner. They all carried sharp gardening tools. Jerry said "Oh shit," and ordered the girlfriend to go and call 911. Jerry picked up the young Mexican's heavy-duty weed eater with the metal blade attachment. He gave a crank and started it up. He went forward with his makeshift weapon and swung it from side to side as he goosed the throttle telling the four Mexicans, "Get back. Get back." He kept the four of them at bay until police arrived. LAPD arrested the young Mexican for simple assault and Jerry received sincere and gracious thanks from Joe. Then they both had a hell of a good laugh at the sight of Jerry's Mexican standoff, weed eater versus hedge trimmers and shears. It was something right out of Cheech and Chong.

Joe of course had to call everyone by phone to share the excitement of the day. Here he is every day filming action shots about made-for-Hollywood crime plots when in his own backyard he gets a crime scene that even Hollywood couldn't invent. The next day when Jerry took Joe to the set the Hollywood crew was in awe. They all had to come up and tell him things like, "Hey Jerry, we heard you took on four Mexicans." Then Jerry had to try and stifle Joe who was telling everyone things to the effect of, "Don't let this old man fool you, he'll kick your ass."

Jerry was especially perturbed, because Joe was telling this to the Teamsters crew. It just so happened that the Teamsters leader, Leo Reed, was there. Leo Reed's reputation as a tough guy is HUGE. Leo Reed was once a member of the feared Metro Squad of Honolulu. But that's another story.

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Catalogue Information

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