Seventh in a series.
Re: “As a Young Officer, Raetz Brooked No Guff”
In the month of his retirement from a three-decade career at the Culver City Police Dept., equal parts feisty and friendly Officer Jim Raetz was recalling an early conversation with the most memorable cop in community history, all-powerful, all-seeing and all-knowing Chief Ted Cooke.
From the previous installment, he speaks of a 1992 dialogue with Chief Cooke:
As a younger cop, Mr. Raetz was distinctly aggressive, a “hard charger,” as he put it.
“I was making a lot of arrests. I would not be fed a baloney sandwich with a smile. That is not the type of person I am. I will tell you that something makes no sense.
“Lieutenants and sergeants did not appreciate that someone who had four years’ experience was going ‘this is nonsensical.’”
You can see from the nearby photo that in his sixth decade of life, Mr. Raetz appears more youthful than any other city employee if his age.
Roll back the calendar 23 years, and imagine how much more youthful he looked then, squaring off against the notoriously gruff Chief Cooke.
As Mr. Raetz remembers, “we had this long discussion, a fantastic discussion.
“At first, he was like, ‘Maybe this isn’t the place for you.’
“I said, ‘I really like 90 percent of what you do. And you only hear the 10 percent where I disagree.’ I said, ‘I love that we are pro-active. I love that we work in this city and do a great job. That I really do love. And we can do a great job here.
“‘But there will be things that I will disagree with. I am sorry. If you want a ‘yes’ man, I am not the guy. I am the guy who is going to tell you, ‘I think it’s wrong. You have no clothes.’ If you have no clothes, I am going to tell you…”
And here, the now often self-effacing retiring cop laughed at himself and his muscular talent for candor, accompanied by inevitable circumstances.
Chuckling over his lifelong gift/curse for straight talk, “this is why,” said Mr. Raetz, “I am retiring as Officer Raetz,” not as a gentleman of loftier title.
“That’s okay,” the now fulltime lawyer said believably. “I am okay with that.”
(To be continued)
