August 15, 2008 Conducted by Dannette Turner
Seth Allen became an Officer in 1956. He was 25 years old, married, and moved to Phoenix from Thatcher, Arizona. When he joined the Phoenix Police Department he lived at 723 N 28th street in Phoenix. He was born and raised in Thatcher where he attended Thatcher Public School until 1945, and graduated from Thatcher High School in n1949.
After graduating High School War broke out in Korea, shortly afterward Seth joined the United States Navy for one year and attained the rank of A.D.A. N. After basic training, Seth enrolled in a special program to train Reserve Officers in Helicopter mechanics. Seth was later transferred to Air Sea rescue duty. After his tour he returned to Thatcher and from 1950 to 1952 he attended Eastern Arizona Junior College majoring in education. Eventually he was recalled to Duty preventing Seth from graduating.
After his enlistment was completed Seth began working in a family business. While working he heard an advertisement for the Phoenix Police department who were looking for Police recruits. Seth came to Phoenix where he took the Police exam at the Phoenix Public Library with about five hundred other applicants. Seth was invited back the next day for the physical agility test. When the testing was completed Seth ended up second on the hiring list. The number one applicant was a Beverly Hills Police Officer who failed to show up for the Academy when called. Seth then began his career at the Phoenix Police Academy at South Mountain with many other Recruits. Previous recruit classes had to attend class at a Jail Annex. Seth’s class used an empty prisoner barracks for a classroom at the new South Mountain Academy. There was no form of Air Cooling at the academy in those early years. Most classes were about six weeks long and there was no physical conditioning. Approximately twenty graduated in Seth’s class. This was an extraordinarily large class compared to the previous average of only three or four graduates.
At this time the Phoenix Police department was planning a very large expansion to keep up with the many people who were now moving into the valley of the sun to enjoy the wonderful weather. The Phoenix City limits at that time were about twenty five square miles, which was patrolled by about 120 sworn Officers.
After graduation Seth was assigned to patrol. Police headquarters at the time was at 120 South 2nd avenue, the building currently occupied by the Maricopa County Superior Court. The jail was also inside this building occupying the upper level. The police uniform at the time was all dark blue wool. They also had to wear a visor style cap, which had to be worn at all times. There was no clothing allowance and all uniforms were supplied at John’s Uniform shop.
Seth’s training Officer was Lee Bartleson. Lee was considered by many as an excellent cop and very good trainer. The patrol car at that time was primarily a Nash Lark. In 1960 it was the first Police patrol car that came equipped with Air Conditioning. Prior to 1960 none of the patrol cars came with Air Conditioning.
His first day on the job brought him to briefing in the basement of the Old City Hall located at 17 South 2nd avenue. He arrived early for work and immediately observed a shabby looking Officer wearing cowboy boots, passed out drunk lying on a table in the briefing room. The sight of this made him wonder if he had chosen the right career path. Apparently this inebriated gentleman was an old timer on the department who did not last much longer.
Seth’s first call solo without a training Officer was an Airplane Crash. A Plane from California with four elderly people aboard crashed. It was raining and they couldn’t find the airport. The plane ran out of gas and crashed into a house. The scene was very gory and he could not differentiate if the bodies were male or female. This occurred in 1957.
The Chief of Police was Charlie Thomas, who was very set in mandating constant wear of the new visor style hat. At first Seth was a little afraid of Charlie Thomas because he seemed like such a grouch. Seth eventually learned to love Thomas and the two would become good friends. Seth remembers that just before Charlie Thomas died, while at Charlie’s house, Charlie asked to see Seth. Charlie then told Seth that he wanted Seth to have his original Patrolman’s badge. Charlie said, “ I wanted to give you my Chief’s badge but my grandson wanted it”. Charlie had Officer Badge number 54. Charlie had come on in the 1940’s.
Seth felt that Charlie Thomas had helped his career allot. Seth remembered how initially he tried to stay away from Charlie because he seemed to always find something wrong. He remembered how one day when he (Seth) was a Sgt in Investigations he was walking down the hallway when Charlie stopped him and asked him, “How would you like to work in the jail”? Well Seth had a pretty good job at the time and certainly did not want to work in the jail. Seth thought for a minute and replied, “Chief I don’t want to work in the jail, but if you want me to and you transfer me to the jail I will be the best jail Sergeant you ever had”. Charlie replied, “You’re a loud mouth” and transferred Seth to the jail. On his first day at the jail Charlie walked him around and showed Seth everything about the jail he did not like. He also pointed out the jail procedures he did not care for. Charlie told Seth, “When you get this jail the way it should be call me and I’ll come down and inspect it, and if I feel it’s in shape, you can name your transfer to wherever you want to go”.
Seth began his task of reworking the jail. At the time they used Officers for jailers. Officers treated a transfer to the jail as a sentence, or punishment. They definitely did not want to be there. Seth proposed that they stop that policy and hire civilians to be jailers. Seth found some good retired military men to work the jail. One of them a retired Navy Chief Bosom’s mate from WWII. He knew how to clean this place up and that he did. Prior to this undertaking the jail had never been cleaned, just repainted. So Seth and his knew crew sanded and scraped the bars to the bare metal, top to bottom. For seven months they toiled at the tough task. One day Charlie Thomas came up to Seth and took the jail keys from him. Charlie then went all through the jail inspecting it. Charlie never said a word until he returned to the front desk. Charlie set the keys down, looked sternly at Seth and stated, “Where do you want to transfer to”?
When Seth left the jail he became a Motor Sergeant. Seth did this because he thought he needed the experience to further his career. He also needed to be a Motor sergeant if he was ever going to command a Motor squad. In the past Seth had always been critical of Motor Officers because he saw them form little clicks and they seemed to separate themselves from others. He saw them hide and get together to have their own little meetings. Seth decided to change all that. He ordered his men not to get together in groups at the same time, unless they were directing traffic. This did not make him very popular with his troops. He also had not ever taken the Motor training. So there wouldn’t be an objection he attended Motor training.
When Seth was a Patrol Sergeant the city annexed South Phoenix from the County. He was given a squad that became the first Phoenix Police squad to patrol South Phoenix. He remembers they were stationed in an old store. The city annexed so much land within that area that eventually it got so busy they had to put a substation out there.
When Seth thinks back at his career he remembers his days as a dispatcher in Communications. It was a raise in pay which was nice, but it was a nightmare job to work. His desk was situated in a small cubicle at the rear of the jail. There was only one man on duty at a time, so you had no breaks, and no meal time. Before there were multi-phone lines, he had 14 separate telephones to answer. All had different rings, and you had to know which phone had what ring. To communicate with the County Sheriff’s office they only had radio, no phone. This shift lasted eight grueling hours. Every incoming call had to be typed up on an old fashioned typewriter. The extremely busy job was also very stressful. They rotated shifts regularly, the worst shift being second shift which ended at 2:00 am.
Seth remembers when he was working as a dispatcher the day Paul Bluhm was killed. Motor Cycle Officer Bluhm tried to stop a pickup truck that had a camper shell on the back. A man in the back of the truck opened fire on Officer Bluhm from inside the camper shell. Officer Bluhm was shot through the chest. Seth was working the radio when this occurred. Officer Bluhm, after being shot was able to use his radio and cleared, “301 (pause) 999-998”! Seth remembers Bluhm’s voice sounding somewhat gurgled. Seth asked, “301 what is your location”? Again Bluhm said, “999”! Again Seth asked, “301 what’s your location”? Bluhm last replied, “9” (only) and Seth heard nothing more. Seth knew that Bluhm had to be found quickly. Every available Officer was out looking for Motor Officer Bluhm. That same day Motor Officer Dale Stone was racing the streets everywhere looking for his good friend Paul Bluhm. Dale was involved in an accident and he also was killed. This was the first death of a fellow Officer in young Seth Allen’s career and tragically it had to involve two dead Officers in the same day.
Seth remembers that when he came on they were just starting to issue radios to all Officers. Prior to that, Officers had to use “Call Boxes” which were strategically placed around the city for Officers to use to get information on what was happening in the city. The busiest of these phones was located in “Paris Alley”.
There was also a Private Ambulance service at the time called “Silvio’s”. Most PD Officers back then would say to each other, “if anything happens to me please don’t call Silvio”s. Phoenix Memorial Hospital was the main hospital at the time. It was the closest to downtown. “Memorial” as it was known, never questioned people as to whether they could pay or not, everyone was treated. Other hospitals at the time would and did refuse to treat people who could not pay, even if they came in bleeding.
Early in Seth’s career he would have to regularly go down to the shooting range and shoot. He quite often would take his young son along with him especially on night shoots. Seth’s son Paul would carry along his cap gun and stand in the back areas with range master Frank Costello
Charlie Thomas once told Seth that he wanted to hire married men who had roots rather than single men that were wilder. Charlie also preferred men of the Mormon faith, although he would never advertise this. Charlie knew the city preferred LDS members because a great deal of them spoke foreign languages and they did not get drunk and carouse around with other women. LDS Officers eliminated problems with young Officers starting a new career.
During his career Seth worked in the Vice unit. Back then you did not ask to go to Vice, you were asked if you were interested in working Vice. Your wife also had input into whether or not you were assigned to Vice. There was even an Academy for the wives of Vice Officers so they could be told what to expect. Seth’s wife would lead the meetings at the Ladies Vice Academy. She was also very glad when Seth left the Vice Unit.
Seth Allen was assigned at the Academy as the Training Director when the department first began to hire female Police Officers. Mary Van Doren was the first female Phoenix Police Officer. Mary would eventually end up working as a plain clothes detective in the Juvenile crimes detail. When the Police department first began to hire females there was no female uniform for them to wear. Seth’s wife was a seamstress, so she and Seth went to John’s Uniform shop and bought the material to make them a uniform. The first female Police Officers wore a skirt which they did not like at all. Eventually they ended up wearing slacks from John’s with the zipper in the back. Eventually they would end up with the same uniform as the men.
Seth was glad to see the implementation of the bullet proof vest. He feels that Officer Paul Bluhm may have survived his shooting had he been wearing a vest. Seth never wore a vest in his entire career. He does not even remember any Officer working for him that ever wore a vest. Later on in Seth’s career two plain clothes detectives were killed in a bar in a shootout with an armed robber and they too would probably have been saved if they had been wearing a vest. But even today’s detectives seldom wear vests.
When Seth was a young patrolman the police department seldom ran a two man car. Seth never really worried about being killed on duty. At no time has he even felt like he was in danger. Seth once had a partner named Jack Cozad(sp) who was shot through the hand. The doctors were able to rebuild his hand. The tragedy of this was prior to being a Police Officer he was the lead guitar player for Country singer Marty Robbins. Marty Robbins was also his brother-in-law. Jack was a very gifted musician.
Later on Seth would become a Sergeant. To be a Sergeant back then you had to be an Officer for at least four years. There were 21 or 22 Officers that were all shy 1 day of qualifying for the Sergeant’s test. The decision on whether or not they could take the test lie in the hands of Charlie Thomas. Charlie barely hesitated in allowing all the Officers to take the test. Of that list Seth was included in a group of 4 or 5 Officers who were promoted together on the same day. All were in Seth Allen’s Academy class. One of these was Ed Cassidy. Little did Seth realize that by the time he had twelve years on he would be a captain.
During his career Seth Allen would work in every unit on the Police department. He later learned that he had been used as a trouble shooter. If there was a problem in Burglary he ended up a Sergeant in Burglary. If there was a problem in Homicide he was sent to Homicide as a Lieutenant. He attributes this to why he was moved around so frequently. He was concerned that it looked bad on paper but he had nothing to do with it. Seth’s career ran very smoothly until Paul Blubaum was made the chief. Paul Blubaum also came up through the ranks quickly.
When Charlie Thomas retired the city council had to pick a new chief. There was great debate among the councilmen about who to select. They seemed to be evenly divided between Herb Neal and another Captain. Because the deadlock could not be broke Paul Blubaum who was the alternate was picked. Nobody seemed to know much about Paul at the time. Being elected chief seemed to go to Paul’s head. He immediately became impossible to work with. He would come to staff meetings literally grinding his teeth.
Captain Herb Neal lived within a few blocks of Seth’s house. Herb had a take home car and at the time Seth did not. Both worked together so Herb would pick Seth up every day and they would ride together to work. Chief Blubaum hated Herb Neal so the riding together was stopped.
Sgt. Allen soon tested for Lieutenant. Seth made the list but was soon passed over again and again. He was passed over three times. Seth complained to the City Council and they looked into the matter and made Chief Blubaum promote Seth. Seth was a Motor Sergeant at the time when he was told he had to do a V.I.P. motorcycle escort. Seth went into the Office to see the Chief’s secretary. Instead the chief was seated in his chair in his Office. The chair was pointed at the wall behind his desk. The Chief refused to turn and look at Seth. Seth said, “Do you want to see me Chief”? Chief Blubaum said, “Yea, I’ve got to promote you to Lieutenant. I don’t think you’re capable of being a Lieutenant on a police department and I will do everything in my power to see you are fired and if you were smart you’d retire right now”. Seth told him, “That’s not going to happen”. Chief Blubaum said, “Marilyn has your badges, take them and get out of here”! Seth stated, “Chief, I have an assignment tonight, it would be difficult to wear Sergeant stripes with Lieutenant bars”. Chief Blubaum said, “Do you want to be a Lieutenant’? Seth said. “Yes”! Chief Blubaum said, “Then take your badges and get out of here”. Seth had to take his Sergeant stripes off one of his uniforms and put his bars on before returning to work that night.
Later on when Seth was testing for Captain, he did what he thought was a very good Oral Interview after placing number one on the written exam. Seth was told he flunked the Oral Interview. He asked why he failed and he was told that he didn’t impress the board as to why he knew the answers. Seth was confused. Later after Chief Blubaum retired the Asst Chief that Flunked him told him, “We were ordered by the Chief to flunk you”. Only 2 or 3 Lieutenants passed that exam so the Police department did another process soon afterward. Seth was number one on both the written and the oral interview. Seth knew that the people on that review board knew about what the Chief had done on his last attempt to make Captain. There had never before been someone who received a 100 on both the written and the oral. When Seth was promoted to Captain, Paul Blubaum left the department.
While Blubaum was still the chief, Seth was assigned to Internal Security, which was later renamed Internal Affairs. He was afraid Blubaum would still mess with him. He was assured by his superiors that this would not happen. The department began using the Polygraph at that time. This created some animosity within the department. In those days Officers became paranoid when they would see anyone from Internal Affairs. This was because of prior conduct by people previously in the unit. It was alleged that they falsely planted evidence in Officers cars in cases against Officers. Seth tried to assure all Officers that this would not happen while he was there. In the late 1960’s a Phoenix Police Officer shot a black man and the department was afraid there would be problems. Seth went to the scene and learned there had been a traffic accident. When Officers arrived at the traffic accident they learned there had also been a shooting. When Chief Blubaum arrived he would not speak to Seth. That night at about midnight Seth was informed that the Chief was busting him from Lieutenant back to Sergeant. Chief Blubaum was doing this because of the way Seth had handled the shooting incident. The chief was mad about Seth’s lack of scene control. Seth advised that he was not in charge of the scene and that another Lieutenant was in charge and he was just doing what he was told to do. Nothing else was said and Seth was not demoted. The other Lieutenant who was in charge of the scene had it out with the Chief over the Chief’s actions.
Eventually the council also became angry with Chief Blubaum and sequestered him until he completed his 20 years at which time he was forced to retire. During this time Asst. Chief Larry Wetzel was appointed Acting Chief, and after Blubaum’s retirement was promoted to Chief. Blubaum went on to Newark New Jersey where he was made Chief of Police and given a three year contract. They also had problems with him and since he had a contract and could not be fired, they put his desk in the Lobby and told him to sit there and he was not to leave his desk. He refused to do that and eventually quit. Blubaum returned to Phoenix.
When Seth was a Major, one day he was sent to a meeting at the Civic Plaza, with the manager of the Civic Plaza whose name was also Allen. A much disheveled man who looked like a homeless person came into the meeting room. This man had long hair and a gray beard and very wrinkled clothing. He was walking around the room when the manager asked the man, “who are you, what do you want”? The man replied, “My name is Paul Blubaum and I work for the security company that guards the civic plaza”. Manager Allen said, “ you don’t work for me and this is my meeting, get out of here, I know about you”. That was the last Seth saw of Paul Blubaum.
When Phoenix got there first Helicopters Seth was heading up the Air Support Unit. At the time there were only two fixed wing aircraft, and three small Helicopters. Hughes Aircraft Company supplied the small style Helicopter used by the department. This Helicopter was intended to be the eyes and ears for patrol. This philosophy started changing when Phoenix bought a new Helicopter. The Fire department was concerned about fighting fires on huge high rise buildings where it would be necessary to transport firefighters to the roofs of buildings. At that time only the military had Helicopters big enough to do this. In Tucson, the Air Support unit found nearly new surplus Helicopters from the Viet Nam war that could be purchased for just $500 each. These Helicopters were worth Millions. Seth wrote up a plan for the department to purchase several of these Helicopters for use by the Air Support Unit. Eventually lawyers became involved and when they were done these $500 Helicopters would cost 1 ½ million dollars to rebuild them no matter how few hours they had on them. The plan to buy the Helicopters obviously fell through.
When Seth was a Major he was asked to look into the purchase of new motorcycles. The department had always driven Harley Davidson’s. Seth decided to look into another brand of Police Motorcycle, the Kawasaki. He purchased one each of Harley Davidson and the Kawasaki that were offered for Police use. He mandated that each Motor Officer spend one day on each Motorcycle, and then evaluate each. Seth remembers one day when Bill Wallach who was a Harley man through and through was asked to do the same evaluation. Wallach refused to ride the Kawasaki. Wallach said, “I’m not riding that Japanese piece of crap”! Major Allen then replied calmly, “Okay just tell me where you want to go on your transfer request, if you’re gonna ride Motor’s you will ride that motorcycle or I will help you get a job somewhere else”! Seth remembers when Bill Wallach returned the Kawasaki after riding it for 2 or 3 days. He came into Major Allen’s Office and said, “Major, buy me one of those”! That is when Seth decided to buy Kawasaki’s instead of Harley Davidson’s.
Other agencies had experimented with Community or District Policing, and it worked well. The phoenix City Council liked the idea and told the department they wanted it implemented. The police department experimented and did some research and development. Seth’s unit contacted all the agencies that had implemented District Policing. Afterwards they wrote up a report and Seth put in the last paragraph in the report that he thought District or Community Policing was a disaster and will never work and has never worked anywhere that it was used. Because of the Politics involved the Police department announced that they were implementing District Policing, but the program we began was a completely different program instead. The name was changed and the department eventually returned to the original way they were policing.
Seth Allen was also involved in the implementation of the Mobile Digital Terminal (MDT). This was a Federally Subsidized program to put computers into Police cars. This was a very successful program because of the Fed’s involvement. Eventually, the research that the Phoenix Police Department did on this became available to every other agency interested in the program. The department was contacted from all over the world wanting to know about how we were able to implement the program. The entire program was paid for by the Federal Government. The department had to install 20 tons of air conditioning in the main computer room for this system to work without overheating.
Around the time of the Miranda decision Seth Allen went to Prison to interview Miranda. Seth found him working in the prison barber shop shining shoes. He charged $10 to sign Officers Miranda Cards. Seth described Miranda as just a dumb criminal and ended up getting shot to death on the streets of Phoenix. When the Supreme Court issued the Miranda decision everyone in Law Enforcement felt the effects of the decision. Everyone felt as if Law Enforcement was doomed because of this monumental decision. Seth Allen believes that this decision woke us up to personal rights and caused Officers to go to school and learn all the legal aspects surrounding the decision. Now Law Enforcement thinks nothing of it. Seth predicts that the decision continues to be re-examined by legal experts and someday soon the decision will be reversed.
Seth also feels that the decision has caused Law Enforcement to look closely at technology and are now using tools such as DNA to solve crimes instead on relying so heavily on suspects incriminating themselves in Interrogations. Seth believes that DNA is the greatest tool since Fingerprint identification to assist Law Enforcement. He believes that the Miranda decision has led us to these areas of crime fighting techniques.
Seth states that his favorite job on the Police department would have to be when he was the Director/Commander at the Training Academy. His wife also seemed to enjoy his stint there. While he was the Commander there he was promoted to Major and remained at the Academy. He remembers an incident while there involving a female recruit who refused to run. One day she showed up at the PT class with a cast on her leg. She told her Sergeant that her Doctor said she had to wear the cast, but she had no note or documentation. It turned out her Doctor was her boyfriend. Seth got involved and told her she would have to continue running with her class with or without her cast. That day she ran with the cast on. The next day she arrived for the run without the cast. Seth was assigned to the academy for 1 ½ years. When he was promoted to Major, Chief Wetzel initiated it as an appointed position. Appointed by the Chief at the pleasure of the Chief.
Seth remembers when he was a Major there was a bad plane crash in San Diego. Approximately 67 people were killed in the crash. The Mayor called the Chief and asked that he send someone to San Diego to oversee how the City and the Police handled the situation. The thought was that someday Phoenix could have such a catastrophe and what problems arise in such an event. Seth was immediately told to get there as soon as possible. A Phoenix Police plane flew him to San Diego. Because of his going there, Phoenix was able to set up the necessary infrastructure in case this or a similar event should occur in the Valley. He learned about the pitfalls encountered in San Diego such as no morgue facilities for so many bodies, and the need for teams of Officers to scour miles of terrain to collect body parts. Refrigerated tractor trailers had to be brought in for both stationary holding facilities and mobile collection facilities. When Seth returned he wrote up the procedures for what Phoenix should do if and when this occurs here.
In the 1970’s Phoenix was the recipient of two one hundred year floods in two years. The bridges washed out and people on the east side of town couldn’t travel to the west side and west side couldn’t reach the east side. Near Seth’s home was a vacant lot. His home was on the opposite side of a washed out bridge, so every day a Phoenix Police helicopter had to pick him up in the vacant lot and bring him downtown. As the flooding got worse it was reported that the main Central Avenue Bridge was shaking. He was flown by helicopter to the south end of the bridge. The DPS Director landed on the north side of the bridge. They both walked toward each other and Seth could feel the bridge shaking badly. When they met at the center they both looked at each other and said, “What do we do”? The DPS director then said, “The first thing we do should be get off of this bridge”. They got safely off of the bridge but not too long afterward a section of the bridge collapsed. About the same time this was going on a DPS Officer in Northern Arizona was killed when a bridge he was on collapsed.
While serving the Phoenix Police Department as Assistant Chief, Seth Allen retired. Shortly afterwards he was approached by a Citizens Committee that was seeking an Under Sheriff for the County. The current Sheriff had fired the three previous Under Sheriff’s. Seth was asked if he would consider taking the job. He accepted the job and went before a Board of Supervisors meeting which was attended by the County Attorney and several Judges. Seth was introduced. The Sheriff went before them and said, “Here’s the guy I want but he won’t work for the small salary of $27,000 per year the job pays”. Seth wanted a minimum of $30,000. The County Attorney said that if they could get someone with his experience for just $30,000 they should pay it. The board said, “OK you’re hired”.
Seth came on board and found the current Deputies to be a bunch of Yokels. This was typical of what was happening at the time. Seth had an extremely hard time adjusting. The Deputy’s were very deficient. Some were refusing to answer calls. Others were sleeping on the job. One particular Deputy, an older veteran, refused to answer potential violent calls. One night Seth told the dispatcher to send him to the Geronimo Bar on a fight call. He came on the air and said he was a long way off, on the other side of the County. Seth told her to call him back and send him to the Santa Fe Lodge, which was a bar near him on another fight call. This time he cleared her back and said he couldn’t because he had a flat tire. At that point Seth got on the radio and told him to come into the Office and see him. When the Deputy arrived Seth said to him, “You didn’t have a flat tire did you”? He said, “No”. Seth asked him, “What’s going on”? The deputy told Seth how it’s become a young man’s job and retired right there.
Seth then told the dispatchers that there is no such thing as “nobody available” to answer a call because from now on he would be available 24/7. After that Seth started getting called out from home to answer calls all over the County. When he would arrive at the calls nothing would be there as if he was being tested to see if he really meant what he said. When everyone realized that he would respond at any time the calls stopped. Seth remembers having an issue very similar in Phoenix. One morning very early, Seth could not sleep, so he decided to just get dressed and go to work real early. While traveling into work about 5:30 AM a call came out and nobody would answer up, so he did. The reason nobody would answer up was because the shift change was at 6:00 am, and everybody wanted to get off on time. When everyone heard “Patrol 2 I’ll take that call”, them all of a sudden 3 Officers answered up for the call. Seth heard this and told the dispatcher that he wanted her to send him a printout of where everyone was at in the district when that call came out. When Seth got the printout he tore it up, but nobody knew that.
About one year ago Seth was approached by a man at a baseball game in Thatcher. He identified himself as a retired Phoenix Police Officer. This man remembered an incident many years ago about 3am when he was at a Burglary in progress call alone and saw a hole in the roof, and he knew the suspects were inside. Then Seth arrived at the scene. Seth remembered the call and when he arrived the Lieutenant didn’t seem to know what to do. Seth asked him “what are you going to do”? The Lieutenant said, “I don’t know”. So Seth said watch, and then found an employee entrance. He went inside and found 3 people on the floor with their hands on their heads. They were the burglars. Seth knocked on the window and made one of them open the door. Seth summoned 3 patrolmen and had them handcuff the suspects. Later Seth heard someone say, “Who was that guy”?
One of Seth’s funniest moments was many years ago as a patrolman riding the wagon one night. The wagon had no air conditioning. It was slow and nothing was going on so he and his partner decided to take the wagon to the City Ice plant and fill the back of it up with shaved ice. They eventually were given a wagon to do. They arrived at the jail and backed up to the entrance. Of all people to be at the jail Chief Thomas was standing there and immediately noticed water dripping from the back doors. They opened the backdoors for the Chief. We never did that again!
Since retiring, Seth has been the Town Magistrate in Thatcher. He was sworn in as Judge Pro Tem and used in conflict cases in many cities near Thatcher.
Seth’s hobbies include collecting Badges. He has Phoenix Patrol Badge #1. He also collects Guns. His prize possession is a Rifle that once belonged to Chief Geronimo. Seth’s final comment in this Interview: “This is the greatest job you will ever hate”.
