Meramec gives him the opportunity to ‘help kids do the right thing’
By: ZACH ROBERTS
Staff Writer
This semester a new face on campus is bringing his years of expertise in law enforcement to the table. Although a lot of kids want to be police officers when they get older, not many can achieve their dream, let alone train Iraqi police officers. Meramec Police Officer Gerald Colvin has done just that.
STLCC-Meramec has recently hired an Officer named Colvin. While Officer Colvin is new to the campus, he is not new to law enforcement. Officer Colvin has 21 years of experience as a Rock Hill Police Officer and two and a half years training Iraqis.
Colvin retired from Rock Hill Police Department in 2009 and then started working for Dyncorp, a private military contractor. While working for Dyncorp his responsibility was to “train, mentor and advise the Iraqi police in democratic policing,” according to Colvin, so they could be better soldiers and police officers.
“I worked for Dyncorp for two and a half years,” Colvin said. “I left because I was no longer under contract and wanted to go home.”
Helping to train the Iraqi police can come with its fair share of difficulties. One such difficulty would be officers planted to cause damage.
“There were people who joined to just get a shot at us,” Colvin said. “We had people open fire on the shooting instructors and kill them. After that we had soldiers stand guard to make sure that it wouldn’t happen [again].”
After returning from Iraq, Colvin stayed home to spend time with his family. He has five children who are: 27, 24, 22, 20 and 18. Colvin decided to work at Meramec because he wanted to get back to work in law enforcement.
“Meramec was hiring for an officer, so I applied for the job,” Colvin said. Working at Meramec gives him the opportunity to “help kids do the right thing and do their thing.”
At the end of the day Colvin wants to show that police officers are friendly and interested in the well-being of the students at the school.
“A lot of kids have a dislike of law enforcement; I want to show that officers are kind and approachable,” Colvin said.
