Officer honored for moxie, creativity in solving cases
August 10, 2006, by Bob Allen, TowsonTimes.com
Officer Ronald Jones, who was recently chosen 2005 Officer of the Year in the Cockeysville Precinct, spent over a decade in information technology before pursuing his first love, law enforcement. Officer Ronald Jones, recently named the Cockeysville Precinct's 2005 Officer of the Year, was a latecomer to law enforcement.
Before joining the Baltimore County Police Department 13 years ago, Jones spend more than a decade in information technology. But law enforcement had always been his first love. "It's what I always wanted to do," said Jones, 47, who was born in Baltimore and now lives in south-central Pennsylvania. "And it was absolutely the right decision - that's why I'm still here."
Jones was nominated for Precinct 7's annual honor by Sgt. Eric Keith of the precinct's community action team. "Officer Jones has repeatedly shown an ability to be creative in developing his investigative methods," Keith wrote. "He has used every resource at his disposal, as well as a great deal of teamwork to bring (cases) to successful conclusions."
Jones, who serves on Precinct 7's community action team, came to law enforcement in 1993, in his mid- thirties. "I just wanted to do something that would help the citizens out," he said of the career change. Before Cockeysville, he worked out of the Garrison and Woodlawn precincts. He is a also man of relatively few words when it comes to singing his own praises. "I just like to give 100 percent," said "That's just what I'm here for. That's what I do."
In his nominating letter, Keith, his supervisor, sang Jones's praises for him. He said Jones's efforts in 2005 resulted in the completion of 56 field investigation reports and led to 51 arrests, 14 of them for possession of controlled dangerous substances. Jones said that attention to detail required during his years of repairing computers and computer systems serves him well as a police investigator. "You're often putting a puzzle together," he said. "It's a tedious process, but it all comes together in the end.
"I also dealt with the public when I was doing computer work," he said. "That also helped me out as a police officer, just the experience of dealing with other people." As an example of Jones's creativity and doggedness in investigating cases, Keith recalled a complaint that Jones was assigned to follow up that involved a man who was harassing female clerks at a local 7-Eleven. The man flashed a badge and handcuffs and bragged that he was a federal drug enforcement agent.
The man also appeared to be wearing a gun, which was later found to be a pellet gun. At one point, the impersonator gave one of the clerks a piece of paper with his phone number and part of his name on it. With this tidbit and quite a few hours of subsequent investigation, Jones came up with a possible suspect - a man who had previously been arrested for impersonating a police officer and illegally possessing a handgun.
Using mug shots from the subsequent arrest, Jones put together "a photo show" of the suspect. He showed it to the store clerks who confirmed that he'd found their impersonator. A subsequent search of the suspect's home turned up a bullet-proof vest, handcuffs, a badge, a police-style "raid jacket" and a pellet gun in a holster.
Jones said he took that case personally, just as he does with most of his cases. "The two clerks at that store were scared to death by this guy," he said. "That made me want to pursue the case even more." More recently, Jones played a key role in the investigation into the rape of a 90-year-old Cockeysville woman in March. That case was solved when a county police officer happened to spot and recover a red sweatshirt that had been discarded along the roadside a few blocks from the rape scene.
The sweatshirt contained the minuscule DNA sample that led to the arrest of a suspect in the rape. The officer who found it? Jones. In his report, Keith said that he wouldn't mind having a few more officers with Jones's dedication.
"He uses every resource at his disposal, as well as a great deal of teamwork to bring cases to successful conclusions," Keith said. "The example that he sets with his work ethic is one that should be emulated by others striving to be exceptional officers."
E-mail Bob Allen at Bob Allen@patuxent.com
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