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Portrait: Chuck Walker has made a favorable impression during his JCPD career
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By Kris Hilgedick
News Tribune
When Police Officer Chuck Walker strides down the street, he's hard not to notice. His six-foot, five-inch frame and friendly demeanor seem to attract attention.
As he walked up Monroe Street on Thursday morning, a pick-up driver waved. Other people asked him how he was doing or shared a quick joke with him. Downtown shop owners greeted him, too.
When he first joined the police force in 1981, that wasn't the case.
“It was difficult at first,” he conceded, saying people didn't necessarily trust the young officer.
Today he's respected by his peers. “He's just a friendly, courteous individual,” remarked Capt. Doug Shoemaker. “He has a genuine interest in the betterment of the community.”
Born into a working-class community in Los Angeles, Walker has come a long way since he first followed his mother to Missouri. Walker had his hands full - assisting his mother following her kidney operation, helping raise his two younger brothers, taking classes at Longview Community College, playing basketball.
Back then, Walker thought he wanted to be a coach or teacher. Law enforcement hadn't entered his mind.
“I was one of those kids undecided about what I wanted to do,” he said.
He held down a few jobs, working as a salesman at Sears and as a youth director.
But he first came to Jefferson City with Union Pacific railroad, as a “track man.”
It was here that he drew the notice of Lincoln University's basketball coach Don Corbett. “He saw I had some talent and asked me to work out with the team,” remembers Walker.
Walker was taking classes at LU and working as a campus security officer when an LU professor told him, “You should apply at the Jefferson City Police Department.”
So, Walker did.
And he got the job.
“One of the main reasons I did it was ... youth in the community didn't have any male role models,” he explained.
If people were standoffish or skeptical at first, Walker soon won them over. Some people in the community already knew him from his basketball skills and league play.
“Within a year or two, people accepted me for who I was. They kind of embraced me and began to get to know me,” he said.
He wasn't the first African-American to work for the Jefferson City Police Department, but there weren't many others, either. Walker said two men - Gene Johnson and Kenny Gove - served as mentors.
Both men were detectives and fired Walker's interest in solving crimes.
Walker started as a patrolman. Over the years, he's worked in the traffic division, rode a motorcycle, served as detective, deployed with the SWAT team, fought narcotics, served undercover and trained others.
Currently he served on the department's Community Action Team, a group charged with solving specific problems and building good relations with the community.
The CAT team has tackled graffiti and helped remove dozens of rusted cars from the Second Ward. It reaches out to landlords and business people, teaching them how to prevent crime.
It's also a part of addressing the “broken window” theory: crime doesn't happen as much in tidy neighborhoods.
Walker regularly meets with the Downtown Association, the Cole County Community Action Team, the Housing Authority and the school district's Multi-ethnic Advisory Council - all in an attempt to encourage citizens to trust and help the police.
The CAT team also reaches out to youth, running the Police Athletic League and the Drum and Bugle Corps.
Walker said during his career, he's attempted to build trust within the older neighborhoods and mend fences with the Lincoln University community. “Me, as a person, I haven't changed,” he said. “I've been a law enforcement person for 27 to 28 years and that's where the trust comes in.”
Although he's enjoying his time on the CAT team, his real love is detective work - a field he hopes to return to before his retirement.
His experiences as a narcotics officer are still vivid. He was serving a three-year stretch when crack cocaine ravaged the country. “We hit it pretty hard and made a lot of cases ... a lot of arrests,” he remembered. “It was unbelievable.”
Today he's married to his wife, Louise, also formerly of Los Angeles. Together they have two boys, Jaidon and Jordan. Walker is also pleased his daughter Kristin from an earlier marriage is attending LU today.
He also helps his brother run Omni Construction, a construction firm.
As he walked up Monroe Street on Thursday morning, a pick-up driver waved. Other people asked him how he was doing or shared a quick joke with him. Downtown shop owners greeted him, too.
When he first joined the police force in 1981, that wasn't the case.
“It was difficult at first,” he conceded, saying people didn't necessarily trust the young officer.
Today he's respected by his peers. “He's just a friendly, courteous individual,” remarked Capt. Doug Shoemaker. “He has a genuine interest in the betterment of the community.”
Born into a working-class community in Los Angeles, Walker has come a long way since he first followed his mother to Missouri. Walker had his hands full - assisting his mother following her kidney operation, helping raise his two younger brothers, taking classes at Longview Community College, playing basketball.
Back then, Walker thought he wanted to be a coach or teacher. Law enforcement hadn't entered his mind.
“I was one of those kids undecided about what I wanted to do,” he said.
He held down a few jobs, working as a salesman at Sears and as a youth director.
But he first came to Jefferson City with Union Pacific railroad, as a “track man.”
It was here that he drew the notice of Lincoln University's basketball coach Don Corbett. “He saw I had some talent and asked me to work out with the team,” remembers Walker.
Walker was taking classes at LU and working as a campus security officer when an LU professor told him, “You should apply at the Jefferson City Police Department.”
So, Walker did.
And he got the job.
“One of the main reasons I did it was ... youth in the community didn't have any male role models,” he explained.
If people were standoffish or skeptical at first, Walker soon won them over. Some people in the community already knew him from his basketball skills and league play.
“Within a year or two, people accepted me for who I was. They kind of embraced me and began to get to know me,” he said.
He wasn't the first African-American to work for the Jefferson City Police Department, but there weren't many others, either. Walker said two men - Gene Johnson and Kenny Gove - served as mentors.
Both men were detectives and fired Walker's interest in solving crimes.
Walker started as a patrolman. Over the years, he's worked in the traffic division, rode a motorcycle, served as detective, deployed with the SWAT team, fought narcotics, served undercover and trained others.
Currently he served on the department's Community Action Team, a group charged with solving specific problems and building good relations with the community.
The CAT team has tackled graffiti and helped remove dozens of rusted cars from the Second Ward. It reaches out to landlords and business people, teaching them how to prevent crime.
It's also a part of addressing the “broken window” theory: crime doesn't happen as much in tidy neighborhoods.
Walker regularly meets with the Downtown Association, the Cole County Community Action Team, the Housing Authority and the school district's Multi-ethnic Advisory Council - all in an attempt to encourage citizens to trust and help the police.
The CAT team also reaches out to youth, running the Police Athletic League and the Drum and Bugle Corps.
Walker said during his career, he's attempted to build trust within the older neighborhoods and mend fences with the Lincoln University community. “Me, as a person, I haven't changed,” he said. “I've been a law enforcement person for 27 to 28 years and that's where the trust comes in.”
Although he's enjoying his time on the CAT team, his real love is detective work - a field he hopes to return to before his retirement.
His experiences as a narcotics officer are still vivid. He was serving a three-year stretch when crack cocaine ravaged the country. “We hit it pretty hard and made a lot of cases ... a lot of arrests,” he remembered. “It was unbelievable.”
Today he's married to his wife, Louise, also formerly of Los Angeles. Together they have two boys, Jaidon and Jordan. Walker is also pleased his daughter Kristin from an earlier marriage is attending LU today.
He also helps his brother run Omni Construction, a construction firm.
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online_editor wrote on Jul 10, 2008 9:00 AM: