THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 30, 1994 TAG: 9412280177
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY XIAOHONG ZHANG SWAIN, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 83 lines
OFFICER D.D. THOM of the Chesapeake Police Department believes that arresting drunken drivers helps save their lives.
``One of those I arrested and who was later convicted wrote me a letter, thanking me for waking him up,'' said Thom.
Thom, who made many drunken driving arrests in 1994, has been awarded the Drug Incentive Award by the police department.
``The award makes you feel what you have been doing is appreciated,'' said Thom. ``It makes me want to work harder.''
Dealing with drunken drivers is not easy. Thom has been yelled at and punched while making arrests. Once he had to fight with a drunken driver in order to subdue him.
``He was very nice and cooperative at the beginning,'' Thom recalled. ``But after I said I'm arresting him, he became violent.''
Though Thom works the midnight shift and has to make arrests on his own on many occasions, he has no room for fear in his mind.
``That's part of the police training,'' he said. ``You have to be prepared. You cannot be afraid of people.''
Thom has been on the Chesapeake police force for three years, but he is originally from the Caribbean. He was born in Barbados and grew up in Guyana. Two of his uncles and several cousins were police officers in Guyana, giving young Thom the inspiration for his own career.
``I always wanted to be a police officer,'' recalled Thom, now 35. ``My relatives had an influence on me. I liked the clean and neat look of the police uniform.''
At 21, Thom became a Guyanese police officer and worked at the post for five years. In 1983, while vacationing in New York City, Thom met his future wife, Sandra, a native of Barbados who was an American citizen. The same year, Thom moved to the United States. When he obtained American citizenship in 1989, Thom planned to join the New York City police department.
Instead, after he and his wife vacationed in Virginia Beach, the two decided that Hampton Roads would be a nice place for them to settle down.
Thom said being a police officer in the United States is different from being a police officer in Guyana.
``Back home, people respect police officers,'' he said. ``People say `Yes, sir,' `No, sir' to you.''
Thom said since the population in Guyana is mostly black, there's less racial tension between the residents and the police. ``Trust has a lot to do with it,'' he said.
In the United States, he said, the population is much more racially diversified, and thus there's more racial tension.
``If a black officer is placed in a majority white neighborhood, or a white officer in a majority black neighborhood, people may look at him as a racist when he enforces the law,'' he said. ``You have to initially prove yourself and win people's trust.''
Because of his origin, Thom has to make other adjustments.
``People say I talk funny. They call me a foreigner,'' he said.
His way of dealing with that, Thom said, is not to listen to it.
To keep himself abreast of the law, Thom is working toward a bachelor's degree in criminal justice, taking classes at Saint Leo's College and the Virginia Beach campus of Tidewater Community College.
Thom has a clear outline of his career goals.
``I want to be a detective,'' he said. ``Then, to be promoted to a sergeant. And maybe, one day, to become a lieutenant and a captain.''
Thom said his wife had been concerned about him becoming a police officer in New York City back in 1989 because of the dangers associated with the job. But when he decided to join the Chesapeake police force, she didn't object, he said.
``She knew that's what I wanted to do,'' he said.
In his limited spare time, Thom works out three times a week at a Virginia Beach recreation center. He misses playing soccer and rugby, two of his favorite sports.
Now, Thom enjoys watching his three children - sons, Desean, 8, and David Jr., 2, and daughter Senealle, 3 - participate in sports. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by STEVE EARLEY
``The (Drug Incentive Award) makes you feel what you have been doing
is appreciated,'' says Officer D.D. Thom.
by CNB