An Oral History of Thirty Five Years of Police Work from Retired City of Wooster Police Chief Steve Thornton: How Have Things Changed?

An Oral History of Thirty Five Years of Police Work

from Retired City of Wooster Police Chief Steve Thornton:

How Have Things Changed?

By Matthew Fisher

Introduction:

Steve Thornton, promoted to the position of Chief in the fall of 1998, served as head of the Wooster Police Department for eight and a half years. He retired from that career in 2007, exactly thirty-five years to the day after his work in law enforcement began.

As is the case with many officers who work thru departmental ranks to achieve the highest level within the police department, Thornton has much to share with others regarding his career, the lessons he’s learned, and the direction that he sees for law enforcement in the future. While many within the Wooster Police Department did not always agree with his decisions, Thornton’s door was always open, and he would make himself available to listen to what many within his organization had to say. Therefore, it was no surprise when Chief Thornton was agreeable and enthusiastic about sharing his perspectives of police work through a reported oral history.

A historical report from former Chief Thornton is invaluable to others for a number of reasons. First, Thornton rose through the ranks of the Wooster Police department. He started as a patrolman, moved to sergeant and then to lieutenant; although he bypassed the rank of captain, Thornton landed squarely in the position of Chief in 1998. Having worked through the ranks in this fashion, Chief Thornton could arguably have better insight into Wooster’s law enforcement than someone who moved into the Chief’s position from an outside agency; he could share experienced perspectives and views with the various ranks within a department that he now ran.

Second, Thornton spent many years working in the area of law enforcement. Over such a long period, the changes that he has witnessed in all aspects of law enforcement have been substantial. He is able to provide invaluable personal insight into how such changes have influenced law enforcement in every way, from hiring to education to technology.

Finally, few people can say they spent thirty-five years in a single career field. In today’s modern society, people frequently change jobs and careers. Thornton never did this; he spent his entire working life in one occupation. Such focused dedication likely contributes to significant insight and feelings about a police career, and ultimately what it was like to be Chief in the rapidly growing, and changing, city of Wooster, Ohio.

Literature Review

Why is important for a Chief to be a leader? According to Regoli (2007), “leadership is essential for effective policing” (p. 3) and both Krimmel (2001) and Williams (2006) emphasized the importance of positive leadership practices for a police chief. Schafer (2009) further explored the idea of leadership by examining how leadership practices could be better developed. In his book, Enter (2006) addresses many of the leadership failures of today’s police executives and offers sensible solutions to attempt to overcome these failures.

Many officers dream of becoming Chief, and several authors have examined the career path of police officers on their way through the promotional process. Schulz (2003) attempted to find discernable patterns into female police chiefs who rose through the ranks. Unfortunately, she was unsuccessful and ended up with merely a simple census of women chiefs. Endell (1981) also tried to identify career mobility characteristics of top police executives in Alaska. His data revealed no clear path, and erased the myth that a bureaucratic system was the only way to reach the top.

As is the case in any area of employment, problems with the promotional process are inevitable, and law enforcement is no exception. According to Rowe (2006), in order for officers of rank to keep the respect of their subordinates, it is important that they continue to work the street on regular basis rather than spend all their time behind a desk. Mikkelsen (2006), addressed the problem of officers spending long periods of time holding one rank. His research indicated that failure to achieve promotions caused officers to view their work experiences as negative. King (1995) found that the police promotional process could be handled better to maximize learning and reduce stress among candidates. Smith (1997) emphasizes the importance of education as it relates to both promotion and police performance, stating “that a college education requirement for police departments is beneficial to the level of performance achieved by its police officers” (p. 13).

Some police departments now face a transition to “customer oriented policing”. Both Trommel (2009) and Galloway (1994) conclude that shifting to a new method of policing requires a significant shift in a departments core values, and that shift could require considerable time and resources.

Police chiefs often face various challenges throughout their careers. These challenges can range from union dealings to working with city government to stress. Kadlek (2003) addressed the union issue and concluded that many police unions feel that police management cannot be trusted to make good decisions. Another departmental challenge, city government, was addressed by both Potts (1980) and Wiesel (2001), who concluded that police executives must work closely with members of city government to achieve success. Additionally, in the serious area of stress, Dodge (2001) stated that, “stress was a key dynamic for many police chiefs” (p.275) and played a significant role in their tenure as chief.

A final, ever changing aspect for the police executive is technology. Technology can have positive benefits to police departments; O’reilly (2002) reported the advantages for the use of in-car video, and Chan (2001) found that technology was aiding police agencies with strategic planning and crime prevention. In what many street level officers might see as a problem, Nunn (2001) found that in many large cities (population over 100,000), computerization seems to be “replacing” sworn officers.

The information and guidance from the above noted literature was used to develop several areas of interest which could then be expanded upon during an oral history recording with Chief Thornton.

Methodology:

While interviewing and tape recording Thornton’s oral report regarding his career in law enforcement, specific insight could be gained into some key areas of experience. First, how had education impacted, not only his career, but also the jobs of other employed and perspective officers within the department. Was formal education important? Had he noticed any difference between officers with a high school diploma versus advanced educational degrees? Did he feel that upcoming police leaders would benefit from collegiate educations?

Second, what impact did an ever-changing technology have on his experiences in law enforcement through thirty-five years? Did the advent of computers in cruisers, newer radios and various other technologies seem like a blessing or a curse? Did he feel that these advancements were helpful to the profession, or did they lesson officers’ skills, making them not as “sharp” as they once were? Is it possible that technology had become a crutch; did he feel that officers are relying too heavily upon technology, lessening the focus of more traditional police strategies, like interviewing and interrogation?

Chief Thornton arrived at my home on October 23, 2009, to record his oral history. He seemed very relaxed, and after a few moments of talking and catching up, the interview began. A small tape recorder was used to document our interaction, and a copy of my research outline, which contained fifteen questions of interest, was nearby so that it could be referred to when needed. The hope was to ask a limited number of open-ended questions, and then allow Thornton to tell his story in his own words.

Results:

Background

Thornton was born in 1951 and grew up in Doylestown, Ohio. After graduating from high school, he attended Mt. Union College for two semesters and then transferred to the University of Akron for one semester; he reported that “the college didn’t like me and I didn’t like them, so we parted on mutual terms.” Realizing that college had not been the right route (at least initially), Thornton looked to other areas. He confessed that, at age nineteen, he had “no real burning desire” pushing him towards law enforcement. Instead, he worked several odd jobs around his hometown of Doylestown, including at a gas station, a Christmas tree farm, and as a part-time volunteer firefighter. It was during his time working as a firefighter that Thornton began to have frequent contact with law enforcement; he admitted that this contact helped him to realize that law enforcement was a career field he was interested in pursuing. “I was a volunteer firefighter, so I was seeing State Troopers and Deputies and Akron PD a lot, so that was one thing that probably pushed me over the top.”

Becoming an officer

Thornton began his law enforcement career in 1972, when he was hired by the Rittman Police Department. Once on the force there, it didn’t take him long to realize that it was a temporary placement.

“I realized early on that Rittman wasn’t the place I wanted to stay. There was no room for advancement. It was just literally, as I said, seven patrolmen and the Chief. Follow up was almost nonexistent if there was a crime, and it was just, I kind of jokingly say, but it’s more true than I probably want to admit, that in Rittman you had two classes of people. They were either really nice or they were on parole. There was nothing in the middle, and you had a lot of both. It was just one of those places that I didn’t want to stay. So probably in July or August of that first year, Wooster gave a test and I took it and obviously got hired in Wooster starting in January of 1973, and that’s where I stayed until I retired in 2007.”

Thornton explained that he made several adjustments when transitioning from Wooster to Rittman. First, and most obvious was that “Wooster P.D. was about four times the size of Rittman P.D”. Furthermore, he reported that Wooster had more specialized opportunities within the department, including a detective bureau and a community relations officer. He said that the type of calls received in Wooster were varied in comparison to his experiences in Rittman; in Wooster there were frequent traffic crashes, cruising in downtown on the weekends, and “a lot of bar fights”.

Moving up and Mentors

At what point did Thornton decide that he wanted to become a supervisor? As his career progressed, was there a peer or mentor who encouraged him in his path? While denying that any one person had particularly pushed him towards becoming a supervisor, Thornton did speak fondly of a Lieutenant named Ron Smith.

“… Ron Smith was probably the one guy that I looked up to and wanted to be like him. He treated people very fairly I thought, both in the department and outside. I thought he was pretty well respected in the community. If he went on calls, most people knew him because he’d been around a while. They may not have liked what he ultimately did, but most people said, he treated me fair in the process, so I guess that’s kind of what you’ve got to hope for, you know? You know you’re not going to make people happy particularly after you arrest them, but if they go away saying, “yeah but he was ok to me in the process”, I guess that’s what you look for.”

With regards to beginning to progress through departmental ranks, Thornton admitted to being on the force for only a few years before considering advancement.

“…I started thinking; yeah I can do a sergeant job. I’d seen what they had done and thought I could do the job. I took the first sergeant test that came along. I didn’t get the first promotion that came out of that test, Jerry Hinton did, which certainly was not a bad choice by the department. But another opening within that same year, and I got promoted… that was May of [1975]. So I had only been a cop for three and a half years when I got promoted to sergeant. I went through a big learning curve for me. I guess the best way to put it was that I had to mature myself into the position. That was a little challenge. I kind of had sergeant-itis. Again, not uncommon, but it took a little bit for me to realize it and then to adjust to it. But the guys for the most part, I got along with everybody, they treated me well. I treated them well. A couple times some older guys came and reined me in a little bit which, in retrospect, I’m glad they did. I may not have appreciated it at the time, but you know, I had to mature into the position and that was helpful.”

Becoming a new supervisor

Thornton concedes that he was relatively young when promoted (age 24), but reported that he felt that he handled it well, although there were some adjustments.

“I know I had to make some adjustments. I don’t think too many people that get in that position at some point don’t have to make adjustments. You’ve gone from being one of the guys to being the boss, and whether you like it or not, that’s what the department expects of you. So that’s tough to do, and being one of the younger guys on the department made it just that much tougher. Maybe had I been five years older, even if I didn’t have the experience, I would have been older, and guys would have looked at me a little differently.”

Questioned about the demographics of the department at the time of his first promotion, Thornton reported that he was probably the youngest guy there. In addition, he revealed that because of the time period (mid 1970’s), many of the officers he worked with had prior military experience.

“…I was probably the youngest guy on the department. Or there might have been one guy younger than me. But, I mean, surely everyone was older than I or most of them. The other difference was, and you’ve got to think back to that we’re talking the mid 70’s, most of the guys on the department had been in the military and I hadn’t. So they had that worldliness about that a little bit. They were used to being in a structured organization. They also knew when to fight the system a little bit and do it the right way, and that’s something that I’d never been exposed to because I was never in the military in any fashion… so when I came in and these guys had been in Vietnam, or they had been in Korea, I couldn’t relate to that. “

Expanding upon his lack of military experience when first promoted, Thornton replied that he did not believe serving or not serving time in the military was relevant; he said “officers just saw me as me”.

Moving up

Following the discussion regarding his initial promotion, Thornton expanded upon subsequent advancements:

“I decided I wanted to retire no less than a lieutenant. So that goal was set relatively early. Obviously I got the sergeant’s spot relatively early, and I stayed as a sergeant for 17 years. …The only way we got lieutenant positions was through a couple retirements and there were only a couple of those. So, you know, the opportunity to get promoted was kind of few and far between. So, I really can’t say when I started looking at wanting to get promoted, I just knew I did. And I say, I wanted to end up no less than a lieutenant.”

Did he notice any real change between the position of sergeant and lieutenant?

“No, other than I was in charge every day as opposed to two days a week when the lieutenant was off. I got to make my own decisions a little bit more as opposed to, you know, kind of following my lieutenant’s lead. I got to make the lead now, as much as I could within the shift. I did a couple things differently than what had been done in the past. Nothing major, but just a couple little organizational things. We tried to be a little more organized in terms of giving guys direction on, hey go out and work a school zone today or do this or do that, as opposed to saying, ok guys go out and hit the street.

At this point, Thornton had been working almost twenty years on the force; he had been promoted from patrolman, to sergeant, to lieutenant. Even at this stage of his career, had he begun to notice differences in the police work of new officers?

“When I started, most of the people you hired had military background. Very few had any serious college behind them. As time went on, that started to reverse itself. Because the draft was no longer part of our society, guys weren’t going into the military like they had been. There were more people going into college. So, we started seeing guys coming through with some college. We started getting guys with four year degrees. We started seeing a little more liberal thought process. We started seeing people who admittedly had some drug use in the past. You know, not anything major, but they admitted that they had smoked marijuana. When I started, if you said that, your conversation was over. You were told to hit the road. As time went on, that started to get relaxed a little bit. If you had just a little bit of a drug history and it was some years ago, they would write it off because we were getting so many people that we couldn’t eliminate everybody, or we just wouldn’t get anywhere. Collective bargaining came into the picture, you know, some years down the road. That changed a little bit of the way we did business. That’s probably the biggest change in terms of hiring. I think in terms of activity on the street, you saw a lot more drug use, more drug crimes. I think domestic violence has gone up. Guns certainly had floated around more than what we used to have, and big guns, not just a guy with a little 25 auto. Now you’re getting, and even when I was on the department and working the road, you start hearing about guys with multiple guns. Good quality semi-automatic pistols. On occasion, you get a guy who’s got a high powered semi-auto rifle. The drug dealers came in from out of the area. We were kind of virgin territory for a long time. When we’d joke about the Detroit boys coming to town, it became reality. That changed our dynamics and how we had to attack some of that thing. We had a big influence from Canton, and Mansfield, and Akron, and Cleveland, and Columbus that we didn’t have before. I mean, we were really kind of our little island for many years, and then people realized that there was money in this town, and people that would spend it on the wrong thing, but they would spend it.”

Becoming the Chief

Thornton eventually began his transition from Lieutenant to Chief. Had his sights turned to the Chief position early on, or was his decision to take the Chief’s test more of a whim? This question would lead to some interesting details about a situation which occurred within the Wooster Police Department in the late nineteen nineties.

“Well, for sake of your listening audience, let me give you, let me remind people what was going on. Bob Merillat had been promoted to Chief in 1988. In 1997, there was a big drug case that went down, that was county-wide, actually it was more than county- wide. It involved multiple states. It had federal agencies, all the local agencies. [It was] a big, big drug bust, first one in our county ever of that kind. Somewhere down the road after that…well, the night of the drug bust, the big, big drug dealer, they went to his house and they found absolutely nothing, and there was no doubt that he had got word that this was coming. There were some allegations made by some other law enforcement heads, some elected, some otherwise, that the word had got leaked out through Bob Merillat. Ultimately, what happened once that became public, Bob’s credibility went down the tubes and the mayor, at that time, had no choice but to remove him from office. That’s how the Chief’s vacancy came about. Just as a foot note, I’m going to throw this in: an investigation later on cleared Bob of any wrong doing. It did say that Bob’s fault was he left the media too wide open to figure things out on their own, because they knew too much about what our day-to-day operations were, but there was never any indication that Bob leaked it out for any purpose. Anyway the department, at that point, had a big black eye, both in the community as a whole and in the community as in the law enforcement world. There was a lot of mistrust within the law enforcement community.

I was about two years from retirement at that point, or could be if I wanted to, and I really didn’t want to get into that mess. I really figured I’ll retire when I can and just go on to something else. A couple people asked me if I was going to take the test, and basically, I said, no, I didn’t think I was going to do it. I just didn’t see the need to get into that kind of headaches, and for whatever reason… I cannot explain it to this day, [but] Vic Nedoma (a patrolman with the Wooster Police Department) cornered me in the hallway one day and said, “you really ought to take that test.” And again, for whatever, whatever happened, the little light bulb came on in my head and said, “ok I’ll take the test”. I had given, prior to this, I had been giving assessment centers for the OACP, so I knew a little bit about the process, and I had taken [the tests] in the past also. So, I decided I’ll take the test and see what happens. For the first time in our history, we opened the test up to outsiders. We had two outside candidates, both from the Cleveland area, and six internal candidates, including Bob Merillat. They couldn’t keep [Merillat] from taking the test, although it was pretty clear that he wasn’t going to get the job back. After all was said and done, and they eliminated Bob from the list, and they added seniority points and did all the things they do with the stuff, I came out number one, Steve Glick was number two and John Gianotto was number three on the test. Mayor [Jamie] Howey, at that point, interviewed us and he called me one day at home and said, “If you want the job, it’s yours”, and I said, “ok”. In retrospect, it was a good decision. Going into it, I wasn’t sure, but Jamie was very good to work with, as was Jean Baird (Director of Administration for the City of Wooster).

Ultimately, Mike Sigg (who replaced Jean as Director of Administration) came in. They treated me very well. They gave me almost everything I asked for. They’re supportive of the department, and I guess I saw my job, at that point, at least the first two years, as probably doing damage control. So I got out, spoke to some groups, walked downtown a few times, just went in and out of businesses and said, “Hi”. I wanted the people to have a name and a face to put together, and it worked out well for me, and I hope it worked out well for the department.”

Changes

Thornton re-explained that he spent thirty five years in law enforcement. Given the substantial length of time, he witnessed many changes within the law enforcement community. Was there one major change that Thornton felt shaped police work, or, for instance in the areas of recruitment or technology, were there a multitude of influential changes?

“Well, you hit a couple big ones. Education is one, of the people coming in. Technology is just unbelievable. I mean, when I started, the technology was fingerprints if you had them, and a radar unit. [Those were] the tools of the trade. Now of course, touch DNA is everywhere. You can do so much with forensics. You’ve got so many tools to use in a patrol car, between a laser and multi functional radar and a taser. When I started, pepper spray was the big thing, and it was less than effective in some cases. Then it changed, it went through a metamorphosis where you had different kinds. You know, the straight baton was all you carried. Then we went to the one with the little handle, a PR 24. Then you went to an expandable. I mean all these tools have changed. The first computer in law enforcement that I was around was when I came to Wooster, and it was only in the dispatch center, and it was a great big thing that was about the size of an old television, and it was noisy. It actually had a box made around it as a noise suppressor. Now of course, you want to do something with your computer, you just sit in your car and type it in, or you hold it in your hand and type it in. So, that kind of technology that the world has seen, law enforcement is part of it. Cell phones were just somebody’s pipe dream at that point. You know, communications, we had one channel radios. If you got too far out of the city, you just couldn’t talk to anybody. Now with repeater systems and, even though the city doesn’t use it yet, the Highway Patrol, for example, the system they’re using and other places are using it, you can talk from in the car or from your walkie-talkie from one end of the state to another. So that technology is there, it’s just a matter of paying for it. And I think that we’ll see that… not too many years down the road.”

But did Thornton feel that all of this technology was truly beneficial, or has it, in some ways, made officers less “sharp”? Were the advancements and implementation of police technology becoming a crutch that officers were now too reliant upon?

“No, I can’t say that some of it’s, that any of it’s non-beneficial. I think what you’re alluding to, that people depend on it a little more than they should. I think we’ve lost a lot of the old detective mentality, for lack of better phrase, where you had to go out and work to get a case solved. Now people think, oh if I have fingerprints or DNA, my case is easily solved, and that’s not necessarily the case. Certainly that gives you a good start, but maybe people are getting a little lax in that. Where before, you didn’t have much to work with and if you were going to solve a case, you just had to go out and pound the pavement and make it work. A good detective still does that. A good cop does that, whether he’s a detective, or working the street, he still has to do that. So that’s just one piece you put into it to make it work.”

Education and its role in Police Departments

Following his stated views of technology and its influence on police work, the conversation then shifted to the area of education. What were Thornton’s thoughts on education and the role it should play in career advancement? Did he believe that police chiefs should possess some type of college degree? Thornton’s response began simply:

“I do. I think it’s a good thing for the Chief to at least have a bachelor’s degree. It’s not only my opinion… One of the things that the OACP group… studied… and made recommendations [about] was that the Chief ought to have a bachelor’s degree. The reason they said that, in part was, [because of] the community we live in, and we’re talking Wooster, not anybody else. You’ve got [institutions] of higher learning in the city, and you only have to go 12 miles east, and you hook into Wayne College, University of Akron… and 20 miles the other way, you’ve got Ashland[University]. So we’re really in an area with a lot of academia. They said because of that, the Chief ought to be someone who has, as they put it, paid his academic dues because the community is going to look at that and they’re going to say, you know, here’s a guy leading a department with a multi- million [dollar] budget, and hiring people that are going to make decisions that are going to affect a lot of people every day…he ought to be well educated. Not necessarily looking at some specific degree program, but kind of that rounded “I went through college, I took all the basic courses and succeeded in it and also came along with [the] little bit of maturity that comes with going through a college program”. I was the first Chief that had a college degree. Be that good or bad, it’s just the way it worked out…”

Thornton’s reference to a college degree was, at this point, a surprise, particularly since he had previously reported that he and college did not “see eye to eye”. He clarified this point as follows:

“I went back to school [college] probably about 1975. I had a year of college credit, so I had a couple courses out of the way that were requirements of everybody. When I went to college, strange enough, I started as a music major. Got there and didn’t like the program, so I switched to biology with the intent of teaching… I got a couple science courses out of the way. I had psychology, I think, out of the way. I don’t remember what all I had, but anyway, then I left. When I went back in 1975, I went back working towards an associate in criminal justice, so a two year degree, and most of that was done at Wayne College because they offered the course. I completed that in 1977, and then just didn’t go back for a while… Probably about 1993, I decided I wanted to go back and get my bachelor’s, and worked on technical education. It was either going to be that or political science, and tech-ed was the one that, scheduling wise, worked out well for me… so I did that. My ultimate goal at that point was to retire and then teach somewhere. That didn’t really fall into place like I’d hoped it would, but that’s ok at this point. So I guess that’s part of it. The other thing I [wanted], more… personal than professional, was that I wanted my kids to see that I thought education was important and for them to do that same thing.”

From his perspective as a former administrator, how did Thornton feel agencies could emphasize the importance of education to officers?

“I think the first thing to do is set a good example, and by that I mean, if you’ve got a couple officers, particularly administrative or ranking officers, that are in school or have been through school and finished, they can say, “hey it actually is a benefit to [me], it’s a benefit to the department, it’s a benefit to the community if you get more education.” Certainly, if you get a guy who wants to be promoted to take classes that are law enforcement related, [there’s] going to be a direct benefit. I know when I took the Sergeant’s test, a lot of stuff on the Sergeant’s test, I had just taken in college several months before. So that helped me on my test. I mean, it was all fresh in my head. And that’s one of the, maybe the first thing, I would say is, if you have some interest somewhere down the road to get promoted, start getting more education because it’s going to help you. It could never hurt you that way…”

Summing it all up

Ultimately, what it was like to be Chief of police in Wooster? Thornton’s initial response was brief: “I loved it.” With some prompting, he expanded:

“You know, I went in when times were kind of tough. I knew that there was going to be a challenge to get the community back on our side again, and I was able to do that. And that wasn’t just me. All the stuff that I got credit for, there was 35 people helping me look good, and I realized that from the day I walked in… I wasn’t going to win the community over. Those people working the cars, and working the detective work, and doing everything else… I was just going to steer the boat, but the crew was going to make it float. So, with things like PR details that we did… we got the public to be looking at us favorably again. And I’m not sure it was that hard of a sell. I think we just had to get past that once incident and then people started realizing, yeah, the department as a whole is still pretty good and always has been. The department treats people well and I think that we are, in turn, treated pretty well by the community. There have been some people that have made statements that they think that we treat people differently because of their socioeconomic status. I don’t see that wide spread. Now that doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen on a one-on-one basis, but overall, I think the department treats people pretty well, and that’s just the mentality of the department, that’s our history.

All in all, I had a good time. People treated me well. I was welcomed wherever I went. The city administration treated me very well. City Council treated me very well, even though I didn’t necessarily agree with some of their stuff. Again, they would call me up and we would talk, and they always treated me well. They always were respectable, and they thanked me for the information or my opinion. You know, I really couldn’t complain about the way I was treated by anybody or anything like that. I got to see some things that I probably never would have seen before. I got to travel for the department, to go to conferences. I was in eight or ten big cities for conferences around the eastern half of the United States. I got education through PELC and some other things that I wouldn’t have gotten anywhere else. I got to meet some really interesting people, so again, I had a great time. And I don’t know if I’m leading into your question or not here later, but it just came to the point when that eight and a half years was there, it got to the point where I’m saying, I realize now that I probably peaked and I’m going downhill, and at that point, it was time for me to get out. I had always said that I’d probably stay about that time frame, but there came a time that I knew that it was time for me to go. I had been there long enough as a cop and a chief, and it was time for somebody else to move in and bring in some fresh ideas and let the department move on.”

A final, memorable moment

Every cop has “the story”, the one incident that happened during the course of their career that they will never forget. Usually, the story is one of great humor, but for Thornton, it was one of great sadness. As he sat to explain what happened, his eyes filled with despair. It was clear to see that, even though this incident happened many years ago, its affect was still very strong.

“You know, most cops have a funny story; I got some of those too. But the story I will remember forever, and it’s not as emotional for me as it used to be…we had a fatal motorcycle crash down on Timken Road, and it occurred probably around midnight… ultimately, I had to go tell the family that this guy had been killed. So as luck would have it, people came down when they saw the flashing lights, and a guy said, “hey I know who that guy is, that’s my cousin”… we got information about where to go find family members and stuff, and it turned out he was a young guy, had a young wife. What I wanted to do is, I didn’t want to go tell her myself, so I got a hold of her mother and said, “Would you meet me at 6:00 AM and we’ll go tell her?” She said, “Ok.” So we met at 6:00 AM and went in and told [the wife] that her husband had been killed. The tough part was that we went to the maternity ward at Dunlap Hospital. She had given birth to their first child 24 hours before. I sat out in the hallway for a long time waiting for mom to show up and just, “How do I say this? What am I going to say to her?” And when we walked in, we had it arranged with the nursing staff that they would take the baby in, let her feed the baby about 5:30 or so, and then take the baby out on the pretext that they’re going to clean him/her up, weigh or do the stuff you do with a newborn. And then as soon as that nurse walked out with the baby, another nurse walked in ahead of her, and then her mom, and then me. And when the nurse walked in, I heard this lady say, “Hi, how are you doing?” And then when her mom came into view. I heard her say, “What are you doing here so early?”, kind of cheerful. When I walked in, it was, “What’s going on?” Mom went to her left side and took her hand. I went to her right side and took her hand and I said, “Kathy, honey, I’m sorry, but your husband was killed in a motorcycle accident last night.” That’s the words, I can remember those words, and she screamed. She put out one of those death defying screams you always hear in the movies, and we all cried. It was just one of those things that happens, and I’ll never forget that. I have no idea what ever happened to that family after that. I still wonder about her child; it’s got to be 18-20 years old by now, it’s been that long ago. But, whatever happened to the one- day-old whose father was killed.”

Conclusion:

Thornton’s oral history, beginning from young patrolman and ending as Police Chief, provides valuable insight into his thoughts and ideas. His climb through the ranks over a thirty-five year time span provided him with a view of law enforcement that many people in the field will never see. Thornton has witnessed major technological advancements, and while he believes technology is evolving in a way that helps law enforcement, he also stresses that much of crime solving comes down to interactions between people.

Education is another major issue that Thornton has strong feelings about, both personally and professionally. His own, initial departure from higher learning, followed by a later re-entrance, illustrates how important he feels that education is. By his own admission, Thornton wanted to set a good example to his own children by finishing his degree. At the same time, he also has developed the opinion that police administrators need to set an example by getting their degrees and encouraging those in supervisory positions to do the same.

Finally, and perhaps the most interesting, is the personal responsibility that Chief Thornton brought to his career; he advised that the most important function he had as Chief was keeping everyone safe.

“That was the only fear I had as a Chief… getting a phone call in the middle of the night that somebody got hurt or killed. That would just, I mean, I didn’t dwell on it, but in the back of my mind, if that phone rang in the middle of the night, I had that momentary, “oh my God feeling”, that scared the daylights out of me.”

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