More vets find work with police

Adam Lynch has patrolled the streets of Fallujah in an M1A1 main battle tank and the fields of Afghanistan in a Humvee.

Now, he's keeping the streets of Charleston safe in a black-and-white Crown Victoria.

"There's a lot more room in a patrol car," Lynch said. "And there's no air conditioning in a tank."

Lynch, 31, a Marine Corps veteran and former tank commander, is a new recruit with the Charleston Police Department. In recent years, the department has gone out of its way to try to attract people with military experience.

Not only is it the right thing to do as a patriotic employer, it's good for the department, said Officer Tom Adams, the department's full-time recruiter.

"A lot of military guys bring a lot of training with them, but they don't all necessarily have four-year degrees," Adams said.

When Police Chief Greg Mullen took the reins of the department in October 2006, he started looking for a way to attract more veterans, Adams said. Mullen's predecessor, Reuben Greenberg, had required all new applicants to have four-year college degrees, but military experience carried no weight. Mullen, an Air Force veteran, changed the department's educational requirements to give credit for military service.

The department still requires four-year degrees for civilians, but veterans can qualify with four years of military experience, plus an associate's degree, or eight years of military experience and a high school diploma, Adams said.

Lynch, 31, has all of that and more.

He grew up in Cape Cod, Mass., and earned a bachelor's degree from Plymouth State College in New Hampshire, where his goal was to be a high school teacher.

Though he obtained a teaching certificate, he never taught in high school. Instead, he signed up with the Marines before graduating. He went into Officers Candidate School in 2003 and joined the Marine Corps as a lieutenant.

He spent eight years in the Marines, commanding a tank platoon in Iraq in 2006 and a special 21-man platoon during the 2008 surge in Afghanistan.

"I was in countless firefights," Lynch said. "When we first got to Afghanistan in 2008, we were in a firefight that lasted 45 days."

He ended his active duty status in January with the rank of captain in the Marine Corps Reserve.

A month later, he was hired by the police department. He's been through the pre-academy training, through the police academy and through some post-academy on-the-job training, and was only recently deemed ready to go out on his own in a patrol car.

Adams, a Navy veteran, said recruits with military experience are good for the department.

"They love their country. They are used to a command structure, to chain of command, and to long hours in dangerous situations," Adams said. "Not only do they bring skills in firearms, weaponry and leadership training, they've seen and worked with cutting edge technology and tactics."

Lynch, for example, was rewriting the Marine Corps training manuals for tank operations at his last duty station in Quantico, Va.

The department uses several tools to attract and recruit veterans, including job fairs at Joint Base Charleston. It also solicits applicants through a website, civilianjobs.com, Adams said.

Several ex-military applicants have been recruited by current police officers, he said.

"We have a large number of reservists in the Charleston area and a lot of our police officers are in the reserve or the National Guard. Through word of mouth, they recruit also."

Current police officers get a small cash bonus for a recruit that makes it all the way to being hired, Adams said.

Filling out an application is only the first step, he said.

The department has a rigorous screening process that includes psychological testing and evaluation for all recruits. It effectively screens out applicants who might have post-traumatic stress disorder or other mental health conditions that would make them unsuitable for police work, Adams said.

Adams said he doesn't know how many military folks have been recruited since Mullen changed the educational requirements, but there are so many that the department has recently set up a special program to aid them in making transitions from military life to civilian life, and back to military life for those who are recalled to active duty.

Lynch, who is assigned to patrol duty in Team One, which is peninsular Charleston above Calhoun Street, said there are big differences between law enforcement and military service, but there are some striking similarities.

"Now that I'm not in charge of anyone, there are only five or six other officers out here with me, but I'm still patrolling on my own. It's up to me to go out and be proactive, to make the stops."

He said the sense of brotherhood among police officers reminds him of the military.

"I know that when I make a call on the radio, I'll have backup," he said.

Reach David W. MacDougall at 937-5655.