Ed Crawford was a Trooper with the Florida Highway Patrol when I got in the police business in 1963. Then, they shared a desk at the NPD. The desk was also used by the wildlife officers and the FBI when needed. These were all agencies that didn't have local offices.
Ed was the personification of the FHP Trooper. He was stern, had little to say, and was the scourge of bad drivers. The FHP had a system in place to insure their Troopers didn't turn into slackers. They were assigned a monthly quota of tickets they had to meet or they got transferred to Florida's equivalent of Lower Slobovia. They didn't need the quota with Ed. He was the first cop I ever heard use a famous cop wisecrack. Ed'd stopped a mouthy speeder who disparaged him with, "Well, I guess you got your quota for the day."
To which Ed replied. "Nope, we don't have a quota any longer. Now I can write all the tickets I want."
Ed was a strong fella, too. Once an enraged motorist bowed up to him at the NPD, and said, "I'm gonna kick your azz."
Ed grabbed him by the neck, with one hand, lifted him in the air arm's length and said, "Well, come on down here and do it."
He was also innovative. He modified his radio car, a Dodge 440, so it would exceed the 120 mph top end. That model had a speedometer that had a horizontal, sliding bar to indicate the speed, instead of the round, regular model. Ed took the stop peg off his so the indicator could continue past 120. Then he wrote on the glass over the meter, 130, 140 and 150. And the meter would get there.
I understand he has a son in law enforcement. Hope so. If he's anything like his Dad we can sure use him.
Back in the day, Troopers like Ed Crawford, Jim Peacock, Jim Decker and Bob Melin were great guys. They got a lot of respect. This was not because people feared them, but because they were consistent and fair. One thing was for sure, if you were stupid enough to bow up, they would open a can a whoop-ass PDQ. God help you if you tried to run...........194
ReplyDelete