Behind
the Badge: The History of the Gloucester Police Department
Volume 3 1978-2004
ISBN:
0-9719387-4-1
Designed by Ruth Massen
Published by Dogtown Books
284 pages • hardcover
$37.50
Available from Dogtown Books or purchase autographed
copies at the Police Station
This is the third and last volume of Larry Ingersoll
and Mark Foote's account of the Gloucester police at work, compiled
as a tribute to the officers who go out every day and night never knowing
what their shifts will bring. Once again in these dacades much has changed
and much remains the same. The police department now pours as much time
and money into the control of drugs as it did in the early years into
the control of liquor, with similarly frustrating results.
Domestic
violence, which has always been with us, has come under new scrutiny,
with a new hope that it can be lessened or even stopped. High speed
chases in police cars continue to be a dramatic part of police work
but with the trend toward community policing, efforts have been made
to restore daily contact with the public. Bike patrols got officers
out on the streets and through heavy traffic.
Pay
remains a contentious issue, but with powerful unions and lucrative
construction details, the police chief began defending, year after year,
the large sums his officers can make -- a far cry from the hard-won
raise in 1916 of 25 cents a day.
Kathleen
Auld would become the first female lieutenant, which would have been
unthinkable back in the 1920s, when Mrs. Mabel Cauffman, Gloucester's
first police woman, roamed dark dancehalls and movies with her flashlight.
After
the attacks on September 11, 2001, Gloucester Harbor was guarded with
a vigilance that recalls the dark days of World War II. And with the
wars in Afganistan and Iraq, police officers are once again being called
up to leave their jobs here and serve overseas. The Annual Policeman's
ball was discontinued after 89 years, but new traditions have arisen
to take its place. Charity sporting events have become a frequent source
of camaraderie.
The
department is loyal to its own, with long-retired officers remaining
part of the police family. Police work is still handed down to sons
and grandsons, but now it can be carried on by daughters and even the
occasional wife. As
always, bitter feuds plagued the department, with struggles among each
police chief and his officers, the mayor, and the City Council. The
recurring issue has been allocation of resources and control.
Year
after year the St. Peter's Fiesta, the Fourth of July, and Halloween
present challenges for keeping order. And every summer brings hordes
of beachgoers, boats in trouble, near drownings--but as former Chief
McLeod said at his swearing in, "The city is my life." Read
all about it in Volume III!
