Officer calls it a career after 30 years

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Officer calls it a career after 30 years

County News

Wednesday, 09 March 2011 14:02

News-Gazette Photo/Brian McBride
Kissimmee Mayor Jim Swan, left, shakes hands with retired Kissimmee police officer Jerome Godwin at the March 1 City Commission meeting.

Brian McBride
Associate Editor
Writing his letter of resignation was one of the hardest things Kissimmee Police Department Master Officer Jerome Godwin had to do. But after 30 years on the force, he’s content with the fact that he accomplished everything he wanted to do as a law enforcement officer. Godwin was given a retirement watch by Mayor Jim Swan at the March 1 City Commission meeting before a standing ovation from the audience.
“I tried to give my best everyday,” he said.
Speaking about his career over the years, Godwin, 54, whose deep, hearty laugh often followed some of the stories he told the News-Gazette before the meeting, worked in many factions of the police department including the patrol and criminal investigations division. But he spent most of his career as a motorcycle traffic enforcement officer and school resource officer.
“I’ll miss the people and the motorcycle,” he said with his signature laugh.
Godwin touched the lives of many people at the Kissimmee Police Department, as well as the community, Police Chief Fran Iwanski said.
“His encouragement, compassion and understanding will forever be present in those Jerome came in contact with,” she said. “The city of Kissimmee is a better place today because of officers like Jerome Godwin.”
Godwin, who in his early years worked picking citrus in orange groves in Groveland, said he wanted a better life for himself. He decided on police work and went to the police academy in Orange County. Because the Orange County Sheriff’s Office wasn’t hiring at the time, he found himself with the neighboring Kissimmee Police Department in December of 1980. For his first two days, he rode with a training officer from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. The third day, he was on his own.
He recalled a disturbance call that came over the police radio in his patrol car that night. Thinking it was something serious, he hit the gas and barreled to the location with sirens blaring and lights flashing. An officer already on scene questioned why he drove up in such loud fashion. The disturbance call was merely a barking dog.
“I went in with lights and sirens on for a barking dog,” he said, laughing.
While starting out on the job, he had to learn some things for himself that the academy never taught him, such as “how to deal with different people from different cultures and backgrounds,” he said.
For example, when Godwin went to calls at some homes of the “ranchers,” he said some would spit on his shoes. And sometimes he would answer a call to a house only to have the door slammed in his face because he was black. But the agency supported its staff. Either they accepted the officer or the caller received nobody, Godwin said.
Life on a bike
In 1987, Godwin became a certified motorcycle traffic officer. Running red lights was the top violation he responded to. And he heard his fair share of excuses.
“I got, ‘I’ve got to go to the bathroom,’ all the time,” he said
One guy even tried to claim that his acceleration pedal got stuck.
But Godwin liked to lighten the moment at times. He’d offer the red light runner some leniency if he or she could answer a question.
“If you can tell me something (excuse) I never heard before, I’ll let you go,” he said.
But one tactic motorists tried to use always failed.
“Tears never worked,” he said.
What was the fastest speed he ever clocked a motorist at? How about 99 mph in a 45 mph zone.
Handling the irate driver was part of the job. If he walked up to the window after a traffic stop and they immediately started yelling, he had an answer for that. He’d turn around, walk back to his motorcycle and wait 30 seconds. Then, he’d approach the car again. He said he would execute that maneuver as many times as necessary.
“By the time we got done, we established a line of conversation,” Godwin said.
According to city officials, Godwin’s calm demeanor and pleasant manner helped him enforce traffic laws with ease.
Swan said oftentimes when a driver is stopped by a law enforcement officer it can likely ruin the driver’s day. But it was always different with Godwin.
“If he stopped somebody, even if he had to write them a ticket, they still had a great day,” Swan said. “And those are the kind of leaders we have scattered throughout every day in our city.
The day he’ll always remember
It’s no secret that police work doesn’t come without its dangers. And Godwin remembered his most harrowing day. It was the night shift in 1983, and three officers were on duty, including Godwin. A call was radioed in that a man was outside an apartment off Hoagland Boulevard firing a shotgun. The officers arrived and saw the front window of the apartment was shattered. When the officers went to the front door to make contact, they could hear a female voice, Godwin said, that cried out, “Please help me, I’ve been shot.”
“The adrenaline is way high at this point,” Godwin said.
When they entered the door, they saw a woman who had been shot in the arm and it was hanging by a thread, Godwin said. In the same room, a male lay dead on the floor. He had been shot in the head.
In an adjacent room, the officers found a second deceased man. He too had been shot in the head.
It had been a domestic altercation gone wrong, Godwin said. The woman’s boyfriend had gone to the apartment, where she had been visiting the victims. He ordered her to leave. But when she refused and said she did not want to see him anymore, he left and returned with a .357 pistol and committed the murders. The man with the shotgun was actually a third victim who had escaped. The boyfriend was eventually caught.
He still remembered the sights and the smells in that apartment vividly.
“This sticks in my mind like it was yesterday,” he said.
School days
After six years on patrol, Godwin became a school resource officer. He would hold that post for 14 years, working both Kissimmee and Cyprus elementary schools. He said he liked to think he had a positive impact on the children and their parents.
“It was excellent,” he said. “They (students) would tell me anything.”
He also had a monthly meeting with the parents to field any concerns they had.
Did he have an impact?
Well, to this day, Godwin said he’s asked to attend weddings, birthday parties and graduations from the former students he mentored in the schools.
Retirement
In 2007, he returned to traffic enforcement. But after 30 years, he said it was just time to retire. He’s bothered by a herniated disc in his back and he said he’s satisfied with his career accomplishments.
“If you can look at yourself and say, ‘Is there anything else I want to do before I retire,’ I have done everything I wanted to do,” he said.
But it wasn’t that easy.
“The hardest part was turning in my resignation,” he said.
Godwin said he plans to spend his retirement fishing and taking rides with friends on his Honda Gold Wing. He’ll also work part time at the Orange Osceola Safety Institute teaching motorcycle instruction and traffic ticket courses.
So for those pondering going into law enforcement, what advice would Godwin give? Make sure you are certain it’s something you are committed to doing, he said
“It’s a mind-changing career,” he added. “You will see the best and the worst.”