I was hired by the Seattle Police Department one month after my twenty-first birthday. I wasn’t the youngest member of the department. Tim Moellendorf, a classmate in the academy, was two days younger.
“Come on kid,” I told him. “I’ll show you the ropes.”
I often ran into old high school friends when I was working.
One time I walked into the jail with a prisoner. A guy who I’d gone to high school with, (now deceased), was in a holding cell near the entrance.
“Cloyd!” he said.
“How are you doing?” I asked. “Call me when you get out. We’ll do lunch!”
I worked a lot of rock concerts in my early years. I remember working a Moody Blues concert at the Seattle Center. Dozens of friends I’d gone to school with shuffled in. I stood back while they were patted down before entering.
“Dude!” they exclaimed. “You get to work these?”
Not only did I get to work there, but they were also paying me good money to do so.
I also worked all the Seattle Seahawk games. I’d often run into old friends there, as well as Seattle Mariner and Sonic games. It sounds better on paper than it was. I spent most of my time throwing drunks out. I watched a lot of great first half of ballgames.
When the new stadium for the Seahawks opened, (Century Link and now Lumen Field), a friend approached me.
“Let’s work the games!” he said. “It will be fun!”
It only took a couple of games before I remembered why I’d stopped working them.
I was on the 300 level of the stadium when I got a report of a disturbance near the top of the stadium. I stood at the bottom, looking up. There was an older couple seated near the rail.
“If I have to walk all the way up there,” I told them. “Somebodies ass is getting thrown out of this game.”
A few minutes later, I was back at the bottom of the stairs, a rowdy fan held by the caller.
“I told you,” I said to the couple, who laughed.
I worked a game when the Seahawks were playing the San Francisco 49ers. A woman was drunk and causing problems.
“I’m Jeff Garcia’s (49er quarterback) girlfriend!” she told me.
“Tell Jeff I said hi!” I said, as I tossed her out of the gate.
I remembered why I stopped working the games.