Catching bad guys and serving the public in many other fashions was apart of the daily routine for now retired 59 year old Police Lt. Steven Hall. He served on the Providence Police Department for twenty-two year and has currently working in an administrative position for the past seventeen years. Lt. Hall worked his way up in the ranking system starting off as a patrol officer in 1972. He was promoted to Sergeant in August 1978. Ten years later in 1988 he was again promoted but this time to the rank of Lt. In order to serve on the force every officer must complete the proper police training. The police academy consisted of physical training and classroom instruction. Training at the academy lasted for about fourteen weeks which was extremely intense.
After graduating from the police academy Hall was assigned to a mix of both foot patrol and cruiser patrol. Following a year on the job he requested a patrol car and was a patrol officer from February 1973 until August of 1978. Lt. Hall went to Roger Williams College and attained a degree in administrative justice which then followed his promotion to Sergeant. When asked what was the most frightening experience he had during his career Hall says, “In all honesty there was almost never time to get frightened.” Afterwards looking back he realizes he was put in quiet a few scary situations.
A common question asked when working in law enforcement is how to handle the obvious risks that an officer could encounter by criminals trying to seek revenge. Hall’s response was that he never encountered a criminal seeking revenge on either on him or his family as many other officers have experienced. Officers are required to carry a gun at all times, even when off duty.
Law enforcement is a definite passion for Lt. Hall who says “I love the chase, chasing the bad guys.” In particular capturing rapists Hall says was extremely rewarding seeing the victims faces when the offenders were caught. One evening Lt. Hall was having dinner with his daughter and wife at a local restaurant and noticed a man was walking to the bathroom. The man looked Hall recognizing him and says hey what’s going on, Hall immediately recalled having several encounters with the individual and had taken weapons from him. Hall laughs and says “not a pleasant experience when I’m having dinner with my family.” He explains that law enforcement agents “have to deal with that kind of stuff.” Officers are use to that kind of material and are almost immune to the danger.
He says that being a Lt. was not as exciting as the role of Sergeant. The role of a Lt. required more administrative work and rarely patrolment. When asked if he had ever been threatened by criminals with any potential dangerous weapons Hall says “ I’ve been stabbed in the side of the head, bitten badly a few times, almost lost a thump, had chairs thrown at me and guns pointed at me” He was fortunate enough that no such encounter ever resulted in anything life threatening. Lt. Hall loves the law enforcement he says “It’s almost like being a professional athlete, you’re getting paid to do what you love, but I would never encourage a young person today to go into law enforcement.” He explains that it’s much more dangerous than it was when he first began in the force due to the numbers and the wide variety of types of weapons which seem to be more available to criminals presently
Thankfully Lt. Hall never had to kill anyone when on the job but used force when needed. Now a days he says its better because officers have pepper spray and tasers which helps out enormously instead of having to use deadly force.
Along with the usual duties of a law enforcement there have been several medical emergencies that Lt. Hall was confronted with and had to respond to. One of the most interesting stories he recalls was when he was told to rush to Rhode Island Hospital and was given a little cooler with eyes in them. They were going to be rushed up to Boston for an eye transplant. I found that story to be unusual for a police officer to encounter. According to Hall the most troubling and frustrating duties that he was obligated to perform were responding to crimes where children were involved. There was one case in which Lt. Hall vividly recalls a father with a mental condition who use to like to play with guns. The father pointed the 44 magnum at his four year old daughter, claiming he was not aware the gun was loaded, shot his daughter and “blew her skull apart.” Hall still has nightmares about the case and was able to charge the man with manslaughter. He even was proud to be apart of helping out with getting a warrant and arrest for a serial killer.
My interview of Lt. Hall was extremely insightful and interesting. This made me even more aware of the vast variety of situations that a police officer encounters during his career. I thoroughly enjoyed hearing first hand of the many experiences that this police officer had preformed throughout his career. It made me appreciate even more the responsibilities and the limitless number of experiences that these men and women are presented with during their career. We should all appreciate their dedication and respect them for their courageous and incredibly important job that they inquire.
