Walter Brey
This book is a chronology of my 31 years as a trooper with the Michigan State Police. It contains a blow by blow rendition of continued police commander misuse and abuse of power. This book is a chronology of commander misconduct and persecution which continued for the totality of my career. You will read about how I made them pay for their transgressions.
This vengeful and hateful behavior by the police commanders is intertwined with some of the most bizarre events and circumstances you could imagine. This book will take you inside the cop shop. It will take you behind the scenes and you will become enlightened to some of the strangest happenings that could ever occur there. You will also meet some of the most interesting characters within the police community.
This book will give you a better understanding of why sometimes crimes go unsolved or why sometimes it takes forever for a criminal to be brought to justice. In reading this book, you will sometimes wonder how there would ever be any time left for crime investigation with all else that is going on within the department. It will give an understanding of what type of person becomes a police officer.
The book is serious, sad and comical all wrapped up in one package.
You will walk and sometimes run along side me through my career while I describe in detail the battles I encountered.
I was born in 1949 in the little town of Stambaugh, Michigan. I grew up next door in Iron River, Michigan. Both towns are located towards the center of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
After completing high school, I did a four year tour of duty with the U.S. Coast Guard. After honorably discharging from the Coast Guard, I worked briefly with Williams & Works Engineering Co. out of Grand Rapids, Mich.
At the age of 22 I joined the Michigan State Police. I spent 31 years with the department retiring in 2003. During my 31 years, I related the multi numerous events that occurred to and around me with my family and friends. As a result of their sheer astonishment with the complexity of my stories, they responded by continually telling me to put my career in writing and publish a book. When my dear wife insisted that I reduce my career to print, I submitted to her loving prompt and wrote this book.
I am now back to being a rookie as this is my first book. I thoughorly enjoyed this endeavor. It was completely self fulfilling and a very exciting thing for me to do. It gave me a real feeling of self satisfaction and accomplishment. I feel that people really need to know what goes on behind the scenes of the police department.
I am married to my lovely wife Doris. I have two daughters; Rhonda and Jaclyn and four step children; Larenda, Malenda, Nicholas and Christina.
I am now using my driving skills as a truck driver for a delivery company. Ride on!
I have always considered myself the common man fighting with and for the little guy and the disadvantaged. I believe that was God's purpose for me in this world.
I had been on the job as a cop for only a couple of months when I decided to go see my parents on one of my weekends off. I only lived about ninety miles from my work station so it was rather easy to go and visit. I did not realize that this visit would change the course of my entire thirty one year career. After this visit, I would be reclassified by the police commanders as a criminal and a radical in the state police. I had been an innocent and upstanding man my entire life but that was about to end. Now, I will have to cope with police commander venom that would now flow my way as freely as the lava from a thunderous, exploding volcano.
I arrived home to visit with my mother and dad. We talked about how well my new career was going and how much I loved my job and how I enjoyed working with all the good people. Life couldn’t be better. I was healthy, single, and I had a nice car and a good job that paid well. My parents and I were having a wonderful visit. My dad said we should go downtown and have a beer. He was pretty proud of me. I think he wanted to show me off.
So my dad and I walk into the local tavern, and there sit several of my dad’s friends. He talks to them. He tells them how proud he is of his son who is now a state trooper. I’m beaming but keeping a low profile. We have two beers. That is all my dad’s medical condition would allow him to drink. We now need to move on. THE TIMING IS PERFECT FOR MY FATEFUL ENCOUNTER AN ENCOUNTER THAT WOULD SHAPE & TONE THE REST OF MY 31 YEAR CAREER WITH THE MICHIGAN STATE POLICE. I don't even realize it at the time. We walk out of the bar and the local commander of the state police force is walking by right at that time. He looks at me and he looks at the tavern. He asks me what I was doing in a tavern while I was on probation. I told him that I was just having a beer while visiting with my dad. He told me very sternly that I was not allowed to drink while I was on probation. I quizzed his knowledge of this issue. I told him that I had checked with the command where I worked before I did this, and they told me that years earlier, you could not drink while on probation, but that had all changed and it was now OK as long as I did not overdo it. At this, the command officer got irate. He told me that I had a very poor attitude and that he would personally see to it that I got transferred or fired before he retired. He then walked away. I was stunned. What had I done that was so wrong? What did he actually mean? I had been doing my job to the best of my ability. My probation reports were superb and now because of having two beers, I had someone who wanted to fire me? I did not understand. I was not drunk. I was not even close. My dad was sober. I took the positive road and thought that this guy was having a bad day. I was not the criminal he had just made me out to be. I basically disregarded what he said. I did not realize that this guy would lie and go out of his way to try and destroy my career with the state police. I did not realize that this guy would actually work overtime to destroy my good reputation, and this would all be done just because I tested his knowledge on probationary drinking. I was right but I was soon to learn that right does not always mean innocent, especially if you are just a lowly trooper in the police business. I was right, he was wrong, and he knew it. He could not handle being wrong, and then being told by a rookie that he was wrong. So he had to use and abuse his authority. He would stoop to no less than criminal behavior.
I did not realize it at the time, but this event was the beginning of a thirty-one-year curse on my police career. It would be a curse that I would eventually fight with all the strength in my body. This event would eventually give me the strength to fight the evil that was just bestowed on me. It would give me the strength to fight that evil and the evil that would follow me through my career.
