“I always wanted to be a nurse, but one thing led to another and I ended up having a career in law enforcement. I started out as a crossing guard and wound up retiring as security manager for the school district. My number one concern was the safety and security of the students and staff.

“It was a stressful job with a lot of politics involved. In fact, when I finally left it was because someone had brought a grievance against me. I was told that I had to use a certain police officer, but I chose not to and they fought me on it. I felt justified in my decision and wasn’t going to change my mind.

“Since I had my pension all lined up, I decided that was the perfect time to leave. And that’s what I did.”

Related:

• Long-ago friends reconnect after husband’s death

The post School security manager role was plenty stressful appeared first on The Baytown Project.

“I did security in the military for 14 years with the Army infantry and spent time in Iraq, Germany and Korea.

“When we were stationed in Iraq, we helped to allow the country’s very first presidential elections. Even though the elections were open to the public, a lot of people were scared to vote because they didn’t know if they might become the next target for the bad guys.

“That was a very difficult assignment. We had to not only provide security for these people, but also treat them as if they could be coming in to betray us … either to shoot us or blow us up. We came across a lot of IEDs near the election site. Thank God, we didn’t have any near-death experiences.”

Related:

• College security officer just trying to do his job

The post Proud of role in Iraq’s first presidential election appeared first on The Baytown Project.

As a college security officer, do students take you seriously?

“It’s 50-50, and we probably have the media to thank for some of that. With all the movies that have comedians doing security stuff, it kind of gives people a bad perception of us.

“I really enjoy doing this, and I take my job very seriously. But I’m not here to give anyone a hard time. I’m here to protect the students if anything does happen.

“There are times when you come across students who don’t give you much respect. But they don’t really know you as a person. They just see the uniform and assume you’re there to give them a hard time. It doesn’t matter if you’re Baytown police, HPD or a security officer who’s armed. It probably has something to do with the way some of these kids are brought up these days.”

Related:

• Proud of role in Iraq’s first presidential election

The post College security officer just trying to do his job appeared first on The Baytown Project.