TOP COP A One on One with the Chief of Police
	MARCH 2004

by Donald Huntington
Photos by Brad Shifflett

I asked Mike Davies if there was any excitement in his role as the Brentwood Chief of Police. He humorously replied, "It's dangerous being the Chief of Police; last week I almost got a paper cut! Terrifying!"

Other than an occasional escapade with some piece of office equipment, Chief Davies said that the excitement of police work died down considerably when he moved from behind the wheel of a squad car to a desk job.

RECALLING POLICE DRAMA
Mike reached back into his memory and recounted an exciting story of an incident in which he and his partner chased down a carload of people, one of whom had killed the occupant of another vehicle. The car was fleeing the scene of the homicide. The shooter, decked out in full camouflage gear, escaped on foot, while the others continued their flight in their vehicle.

Police procedures sometimes really do work as advertised. Even though only Mike and his partner were on the scene at the beginning of the incident, they called for assistance from the sheriff's department and other area police departments, called in K-9 units, organized everybody's efforts, and eventually captured the killer hiding in a ravine. This was pretty exciting stuff, Mike said, still pleased with the happy outcome.

BUT WHERE'S AUNT BEA?
According to Chief Davies, the story of that pursuit was not at all typical of a Brentwood police officer's life in the early days of his service on the force. When he first started here, Mike said, keeping the law usually felt more like living in Mayberry RFD than like starring in an episode from Cops. He said that on most days the job requirements left him feeling like Sheriff Andy.

Occasionally Mike might have felt more like Barney Fife than like Andy Griffith. He said that he used to go on solo patrol, especially on the midnight shift. One dark night he was on the far outskirts of the city and, leaving his cruiser to investigate what seemed a suspicious circumstance, he locked his keys in the car.

This was before cell phones and since Mike was virtually in the country at that time, he had to walk all the way back downtown from his location. After finally arriving at the station, Mike got a second cruiser from the lot and retrieved his own car. When the day shift officer arrived, Mike drove him back to retrieve the second patrol car from where he had left it, swearing him to secrecy.

It's astonishing now for Mike to realize that the exciting "Case of the Locked Keys" took place on the corner of Fairview and Balfour Road. Between there and downtown Brentwood in those days not a single gas station, 7-11, or mom-and-pop store was open for business at night. He walked the whole way and not one vehicle was on the road that could stop and assist a police officer.

UP THROUGH THE RANKS
Chief Davies has a law degree and has served in Brentwood law enforcement since April, 1980, coming here from a stint as a deputy sheriff in Alameda County. His original contact with government service, even before that, was working for two years as a clerk with the FBI.

Mike said that he didn't learn much law enforcement as a clerk, but later had the great opportunity to be part of the 207th graduating class from the FBI Academy.

The FBI training was excellent, Mike said. It exposed him to ideas and processes from police departments from around the nation, and from other countries as well. He found the FBI Academy to be a wonderful resource for learning new ideas for running a police department.

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