HomeMy WebLinkAbout03/05/2007 Employee Recognition - John King
March 5, 2007
Springfield Upbeat
Employee Recognition'. John King, 35 Years of Service
· Sergeant John King became an Officer with the Springfield Police Department on
February 14. 1972. Yes, Valentines Day. We expected a sweetheart, but what we
got was......well, John.
· He was trained by a 23 year old officer by the name of ...., Jerry Smith.
· John has served under five police chiefs and experienced many assignments during
his career at SPD including: Patrol Officer, Motorcycle Officer, Detective, Detective
Sergeant, Patrol Sergeant and served on the SWAT Team.
· John was promoted to Sergeant in January, 1998. His consistency in supervisory
style and calm demeanor has been an asset to providing guidance to new officers.
· As a detective, he worked closely with Jerry Smith, expanding Jerry's culinary world
beyond grilled cheese sandwiches. John has worked investigations of all varieties
from Burglary, Robbery to Murder and is well respected in the District Attorney's
Office for his thoroughness and competency.
· John is known as the Felix Unger in the department for his cleanliness, organization
and tidiness. As a detective, his desk was immaculately arranged to perfection. It
was rumored that a certain person was responsible for rearranging John's desktop
with the sole intent of driving John to exasperation.
· Frankly, fear of future retaliation prevents me from sharing humorous and/or
embarrassing moments about John. I have included a photograph from 1975 when
neither of us had gray hair - although John suspiciously remains without gray in his
hair. We are left to wonder why that is so.
· John has experienced a tremendous transition in the Law Enforcement. The City
has grown from about 25,000 to a population of 60,000. John has been instrumental
in the training and supervision of dozens of new police officers during his career.
Technology (have gone from pin maps to computerized mapping of crimes),
communications, defensive protective devices have all advanced during his career.
We just have no~ eliminated the bad guys.