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By Mike Archer, Golden

Last summer I saw a fight break out at a public gathering. Two middle-aged men exchanged words then, as we used to say, “came to blows.” They had a few too many beers. Several others became involved, chose sides and a brouhaha ensued. Within minutes there were five police cars at the scene.

A half-dozen people got handcuffed and hauled away. A couple of them resisted arrest, more or less, and met with at least matching counterforce.

It wasn’t pretty.

Around 1962 I was attending the Feast of St. Rocco at the Potenza Lodge on 38th Avenue and Shoshone Street. Two men exchanged words and came to blows. A few others got involved. Soon the neighborhood police officer drove up in is 1960 Ford cruiser. If memory serves, he was alone. He walked up calmly to the fighters.

“Hey, Tony, what ya doing? You’re too old for this s---. This is kid’s stuff, Tony. And you, Positrano, your wife is gonna have a cow when she sees you all messed up!”

He broke up the fight, dispersed the crowd, made the boys shake hands — and drove away. I I doubt it was worth doing any paperwork over.

The policeman was a neighbor; he lived on 38th Avenue and Pecos Street. Everyone knew him and he knew everyone. Police were part of the community. The police-as-adversary seems to have started in the 1970s; I wish I knew why.

Today I saw a woman get a ticket for running a stop sign on our side street.

It’s a great stop for the police; a real revenue generator. Thirty years ago you would have gotten a warning.

Yes, it’s dangerous to run a stop sign. Driving is serious business and you need to pay attention. Today your odds of getting a warning are slim to none. There’s very little community between the police and the neighborhood. The police officer is busy and there are new customers waiting for service.

In 1959 a neighborhood teenager stole a brand new Chevrolet Impala off the Murphy-Mahoney car lot on Speer and Federal boulevards. He sped down Umatilla Street honking and waving to the kids; a big, goofy smile on his face. After about the third lap, a policeman gave chase. Jerry took off with a burst of speed but was finally corralled somewhere on 32nd Avenue — by one police cruiser, not a dozen. The policeman escorted Jerry and the Impala back to Murphy-Mahoney. Luckily for Jerry, the manager knew his dad. More community.

The policeman drove Jerry home and let his dad handle the punishment.

Today? It’s your guess.

I learned recently an old school friend, Ron Sloan, just retired as chief of the Arvada Police Department. I read where he worked hard to connect the police to the community, going to Kiwanis Club breakfasts and such. As teens, my older boys helped pay Ron’s salary on several occasions. We need more of that connection with the community, not just from the chiefs but from the officer in the street.

Lawbreakers are more likely to react positively to a person they know, and a police officer is apt to be more sensitive and cautious with a neighbor. Neighborhood informal social gatherings would be a good idea.

We’ve lost the sense of neighborhood community and the police as being part of it. I don’t know how we lost it, but we did. I wish we could get it back.

Mike Archer is a resident of Golden.

READER COMMENTS

J W, It's obvious you have no respect for Police Officers. You paint them all with a very broad brush.
I think this is unfair to the many police officers who are great at what they do.

As far as the Darrent Williams murder,you have no idea how hard it is today to get someone to be a witness.There is a whole culture of "no snitchin" that is entrenched in the worst neighborhoods. Children as young as 4 no what "no snitchin" means and it is now taught to children at an early age.

Darrent Williams was with alot of witnesses that night in the club,where the altercation started. Not one of them saw what the people looked like or cannot identify them.

The blame goes to Darrent Williams ,so called friends who saw nothing and couldn't identify the original people they got into an arguement with that night.
The police can only do their job with the help of people who witness crimes. If that person doesn't have the moral compass to do the right thing and decides to be a coward,what do you expect the Police to do?

The Police were not there the night of the incedent and all the witnesses who will not come forward and help find the killers of Mr. Williams have blood on their hands and are cowards.They cry at his funeral and dishonor his name and disrespect his Mother by not standing up and do the right thing.

The failure of the police to bring the murderers to justice is not the police officer's fault . It is the fault of the cowards who claim they were friends.

So why haven't these worthless Denver cops arrested Darrent Williams killers yet?
When are they going to get off of their collective fat asses and actually start doing their jobs?
Why don't I see them all over 5 points, why don't I see them all the West side?
Where are these useless, worthless "POLICE" when it comes to actually fighting crime and getting results?
Lets see now, it is going on more than a year since Williams was killed and what do these dough-nut cops have to show for it, NOTHING.
Denver cops have never had a very good reputation, and more and more it certainly is evident why.
They are overly trigger happy, they are crime adverse.
They are about as useful as teats on a boar hog.

I was born in "61',but grew up loving sports because we lived so close the the stadium.My stepfather was a gambler. So he bet on football. We used to sit down and watch and root for his team or teams of the day.So I am a huge football fan to this day.Baseball not so much.I do remember when Joe Namath beat the Colts in the last seconds of the Super Bowl.

My earliest memories was my stepdad calling the bookie on Sunday;s and asking hin, " What's the sermon for today? "

It took me years to figure out what that meant and why was he calling church to find out what they were preaching that day.

i can't let my girls go out of our court without supervision.There are 5 sex offenders in our development.One is right around the corner.

If you have any friends,family,or relatives with children,you might want to pass on this website. It was started by Jon Walsh and will give you a map of sex offenders if they work or live near you,also you can sign up for their free service that e-mails you when a sex offender moves in or out . This is all free no charge.The website is,
www.familywatchdog.us
Check it out espedially if you have little ones in your family.

Those were some REAL baseball players; free agency killed baseball - players never in the same city for more than a year or two - like corporations forget loyalty , just show me the buckaroos! Remember the Yankees - Ford, Mantle, Maris, Berra, Pepitone? You either loved 'em or hated 'em! (I was a Pirates fan and hated 'em - LOL - Remember Maz's homer in 1960? I still think that was the greatest moment in sports.)

As kids 10-12 years old we rode all over the neighborhood after dark; we had no reason to worry and neither did our parents. I wouldn't let my kids walk or ride a block in the dark and we live in a good suburb.

Respect seems to have been bred out of people - part of the bigger alienation problem, IMHO. My older boys were harrassed by over-bearing police on numerous occasions which makes teaching respect difficult. Its an 'us-them' paradigm now; in our day wearing a uniform gave them authority but they were still 'us.'

I guess my article will soon disappear into newspaper/internet purgatory; thanks again for your additional thoughts on the subject and blessing on you and your loved ones.

Thanks,Mike. One other great memory is The Baltimore Orioles and The Baltimore Colts. I lived 2 blocks away from the stadium and we used to sell pennets for $1.00 and get paid ,25 cents for each one we sold. Then we would sneak in and watch the games.

It wasn;t unusual to run into Boog Powell,Frank Robinson,Jim Palmer etc...
they were always so nice and would sit and talk to us kids.Those days are gone you have to pay to even meet a professional Athlete now a days.

Remember when you could ride your bikes miles away to a pool or friends house. Now as a mother of 2 girls I can't let them have the childhood I have.

One major change is back in the day ,people had respect for Police Officers,now if they pick their teeth with a toothpick they are critisized. Parents don't teach respect. That's what I miss Respect.

Great story of your sleep walking little brother! Though I imagine it was trying for you and your family the years seem to wash white light over such things.

We did many of the same things you mentioned as kids; most of them would land you in jail today. A group of us called ourselves the Night Crawlers, went out late and 'collected' fancy valve steam covers. Lo the kid who tried that today!

The pace of things is too fast now and everything is bigger though not always better. Technology fosters alienation and society is so complex now. Plus the political correctness stuff makes people up tight.

Those were the neighborhood days; they are gone so the good memories will have to do for us.

Thanks much for writing and sharing.

Mike Archer

I remember the good old days of community policing,growing up in Baltimore.

They knew all the kids and who there parents were.We did kid stuff like egg houses,knock on doors and run,make crank phone calls,got into fights,etc...

If we were caught the police brought us home and our parents were not happy and showed it.

My little brother was a sleep walker at age 3. We had a police trained German Sheperd that would walk with him to protect him. The police would often find him and the dog walking blocks away. Of course only the Police could get near him. So they would put both of them in the car and bring them back to our house carry him up to his bed and put him back to sleep.

After a couple episodes we put 5 locks on the door. He started sleep walking out the window onto the roofs. We live in a row house and would find him 6 houses up and sleeping on the roof ,with the dog of course.

My mom knew a lot of police officers because of where she worked.So we would get a dog from the police academy that didn't quite make the grade.

I remember when I broke,fractured and dislocated my wrist and elbow roller skating. The police came, my mother was at work,and they said my name and your mother's going to be ticked off.They took me to the hospital and called my mom.

That was back when you couldn't get away with nothing.Everybody looked out for everyone else,kids and all.

It was a time when the neighborhood would sit on their porches or stoops and watch the neighborhood kids play street hockey on roller skates,( before my accident) and a crushed can as a puck.

Those days are long gone.They are still in my memory as a child growing up in a real neighborhood.

Mike Archer, Thanks for the memories.

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