By Jay Sewards (LASD ret. 2001)
Editor’s note: Retired Commander Jay Sewards reached out to PPOA recently to share the following story about his late father, Sergeant George Sewards (LASD Academy Class #22).
My dad had quite a storied career with the Sheriff’s Department. In 1948, as you would expect, the Sheriff’s Department was a much smaller department. Everyone seemed to know each other. The Academy, by today standards, was abbreviated, and most training occurred on the job.
Dad’s first assignment was Firestone Park Station. The station fielded only a couple of cars per shift. It was a very busy patrol assignment, even back in the day. Dad patrolled the Willowbrook area, which was very close to our home on Ainsworth Street.
I remember Dad talking to me about his patrol experiences. He recalled that things were handled much differently during those days. Calls were often backed up. Drunk drivers were, at times, given a “field release” for lack of a better term. Dad said on more than one occasion that they would “clear the call” by throwing a suspect’s keys into a field before telling him to walk home. Dad and his partner would then move on to the next call. Try that today, and you would have a very short career.
As a kid, I would listen to dad’s partners recount many stories of days past. He was very close to his “boys,” as he referred to them, and apparently, they felt the same about him. They were truly a band of brothers.
Frequently, when I was a boot deputy, senior deputies and supervisors would say to me, “So, you’re George’s kid?” as they would recount stories of my dad. My brother Vern Sewards (LASD ret. 2004) and I were always very proud to be George’s sons.
In law enforcement, partners are like family, as one often spends more time with their partner than he does with their wife and family. You therefore become very close, develop a sense of camaraderie and learn to “have each other’s back.”
I can still recall his crew helping us move or landscape a new home. Due to the holidays and rotating shifts that law enforcement officers work, it is often the case that most of your friends are also law enforcement officers. Generally, friends who one might have had prior to the Sheriff’s Department often fell by the wayside, as working weekends and holidays made it very difficult to maintain a social life or relationships with former friends.
When Dad worked at the Firestone Station, he was known as the “Mayor of Willowbrook,” I even remember seeing it inscribed on his coffee cup. He was a big man and known to be a very aggressive cop. He was also the smartest man I have ever known. Although he was a USC graduate, he never said much about it and certainly had the ability to promote above the rank of sergeant. However, he chose to remain a narco sergeant. I recall him saying he was happy being a detective sergeant and did not want to go back to the jail or shift work if promoted to lieutenant. I found this to be common in the Sheriff’s Department, as most of us have worked with many men and women who could have moved up the ladder, but chose to remain in an assignment they loved. Assignments are often more important to deputies than rank. The Department is better for it, as the deputies and the first level of supervision are where a lot of the work gets done.