LORAIN POLICE

I was reading the other day about Lorain considering bringing back the Shotgun Squad, due to the increase in crime, and it started me thinking about my encounters with what my mother referred to as the Eagle Cab Company.

I REALLY wanted a picture of one of the old blue-and-whites, but I couldn't find one anywhere-the black-and-gold livery didn't come in until after I left Lorain.

I had my run-ins with the LPD, nothing serious, the usual teenage party/minor misdemeanor sorta thing. Lorain cops were always guest stars in my ongoing personal melodrama, some good, some not-so-good, but never dull. As with any group of people, there were those who became lightweight famous (imfamous) for the way they did their jobs. I'm not gonna name names here....if you were there, you probably know who I'm talking about, anyhow.

I'll never forget, the night after a basketball game at Admiral King, when a bunch of us were hanging around in the parking lot, looking for something to jump off. A lone cruiser pulls into the lot, and over the loudspeaker comes the voice of perhaps the scariest of the bunch....

"This is Officer_________; you have thirty seconds to clear this area."

We cleared it in fifteen.

Lorain cops didn't play, back then-if you made them break a sweat, you might wind up making a side trip to St. Joe's. The above-described officer once pulled a round from his cartridge belt, and showed it to me....he said it was my eighteenth birthday present. With some of them, you were best served taking such things seriously.

By the same token, as I mentioned in a previous entry, one of the old bulls once corrected his rookie partner for being rude to me, which he certainly didn't have to do-I WAS tresspassing.

Even back then, I knew those folks were doing a job that someone had to do, and I certainly wasn't gonna, not without a big "S" on my chest.

Thanks, all of you. Cel, if you ever get to read this, glad you stuck it out all these years.