{"id":9845,"date":"2022-08-08T08:14:00","date_gmt":"2022-08-08T12:14:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/?p=9845"},"modified":"2022-08-17T09:37:48","modified_gmt":"2022-08-17T13:37:48","slug":"protect-and-serve","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/2022\/08\/08\/protect-and-serve\/","title":{"rendered":"Protect and Serve"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Watching the terrorist attacks on America unfold on Sept. 11, Richard Conti \u201976 remembers he \u201ckept thinking that I couldn\u2019t just sit there. I wanted to help protect our country in my own small way.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Too old for active military service and rooted in San Francisco with a career as a vice president at The Clorox Co., he considered how he was already using his commercial pilot\u2019s license as a volunteer for a nonprofit that transports patients in need of specialized medical care. He decided to join the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary and wound up flying security patrols over infrastructure \u2014 like bridges and military installations \u2014 along the San Francisco Bay. \u201cThe Coast Guard became a significant part of my life,\u201d he says, \u201cand it continues to be. These days, I fly mainly search and rescue missions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recently, Conti has stepped back from his corporate career so he can further push his personal imperative to contribute. This time, the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd was the impetus. \u201cThere was a lot of talk about defunding the police,\u201d he notes. \u201cBut I had become interested in the more nuanced question of \u2018How can we move policing forward in a way that benefits the community?\u2019\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To unlock some answers, Conti decided to become a police officer. He entered an eight-month program at a California state-sponsored police academy. By far the oldest recruit in his class, he held his own while undergoing rigorous physical training and tackling challenging coursework. Upon graduation, he was in the pipeline for several openings, including on the San Francisco city and county police forces, but he chose a position as deputy sheriff for Contra Costa County because it gave him the opportunity to do more. It\u2019s a part-time, unpaid job that has the 67-year-old Pennsylvania native out patrolling and responding to dispatch calls. He \u201ccouldn\u2019t be more excited or motivated\u201d by the work, but Conti has bigger plans. \u201cUltimately, I\u2019d like to teach,\u201d he says. \u201cI want to gain experience, then use it for the future.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Combined with a few more years of patrol work, he intends to pursue a master\u2019s in criminal justice and earn certification to teach law enforcement at a police academy or community college. As both a student and potential instructor, Conti wants to examine how data can be collected and interpreted to enhance police performance, effectiveness, and deployment. He is particularly interested in countering gang activity, which, he says, is a \u201cnational phenomenon and no longer just an urban one.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Policing is going to change, with or without his contributions, Conti believes. \u201cI think we will see a broader range of tools available to law enforcement officers. The traditional underpinnings of a commanding presence and leadership skills will be better balanced with a sense of empathy and respect for citizens. That will earn us greater community support and in turn improve the quality of life for the people we serve.\u201d  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Richard Conti \u201976 decided to step back from his corporate career to become a police officer. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1263,"featured_media":9888,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2],"tags":[1088,1089,1087],"coauthors":[842],"class_list":["post-9845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-alumni-spotlights","category-alumni-updates","tag-coast-guard","tag-criminal-justice","tag-police"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/palXSH-2yN","amp_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2022\/08\/RTCDanvilleResize.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9845","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1263"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9845"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9845\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10177,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9845\/revisions\/10177"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9845"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=9845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}