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Susan Whitney-Wilkerson⁄The Star
Prince George’s Police Lt. Col. Vincent Gay retired this week after
21 years on the police force. See story on Page A-9.
Retiring police commander looks back at 21 years
Thursday, Nov. 2, 2006
by Guy Leonard
Staff Writer
Lt. Col Vincent Gay, deputy chief in charge of the Prince George’s Police Department’s Investigative Services Bureau, looks back on his 21
years with the department with fondness and a hard-earned realization that it takes a whole community to fight crime.
Gay, 44, retired this week and plans to accept a job with an international firm, directing financial
security.
When he joined the force as a patrolman in 1985, serving in Hyattsville District 1, the police department
was just starting to embrace the idea of community policing.
‘‘What community policing is is problem-solving policing,” Gay told The Gazette. ‘‘It’s not just
responding to calls for service.
‘‘You may have people dealing drugs on the corner, but you need to find out what leads to that.”
Gay said that he has seen the department evolve from a point where patrol officers and plainclothes
investigators had their own duties and agendas to having a much more integrated view of fighting crime.
He said his mission as commander of the Investigative Services Bureau, which solves crimes, was to
maintain that level of cooperation between the two and thus to make the overall department more
effective.
The bureau is responsible for investigating homicides, narcotics and other major violent crimes like
rapes and carjackings and assaults. There are four divisions, with just over 300 investigators and staff.
‘‘What this bureau really does is support our patrol officers,” Gay said. ‘‘Patrol officers are the backbone
of the department.
‘‘But a lot of people [don’t] understand how investigators fit into community policing.”
Patrol officers were often the most visible police element in the community , Gay said. Investigators
come across reams of information in their inquiries that they relay to patrol officers so they can actually
prevent crimes on their beats.
Gay started out on the streets and had a rapid rise through the ranks.
‘‘You see the good and the bad,” Gay said. ‘‘I saw a lot of good in the community, and that strengthened
my reason for being a police officer.
‘‘But I saw a lot of behavior that was not encouraging... as a police officer you see people who really
don’t have a great respect for human life.”
While working in District 1 one night in 1993, Gay and a fellow officer met one such person.
They responded to a domestic violence call and saw a man, stabbing his wife with a butcher knife in the
home he shared with her and their two children.
Gay and the other officer forced their way into the home and told the man to stop. But he turned,
brandishing his knife, and started towards Gay and his partner.
They fired, killing the suspect.
Gay was awarded the Bronze Medal of Valor for his actions that day.
He remembers that day without reservation, regarding it as a time when he was doing his duty. Gay said
he wishes the justifiable killing had not been necessary.
‘‘Unfortunately, we had to use deadly force,” Gay said. ‘‘I look at it from the side of saving three lives.”
Gay had made the rank of patrol sergeant by that time, and his career continued to flourish. .
He went to be sergeant in charge of the community policing program at District 1, and then took over the
same job in the police District 3 in Landover.
He was promoted to lieutenant in charge of the Repeat Offenders Unit.
‘‘We chased down some of the baddest people in the county,” Gay said.
Gay recognizes that the Prince George’s police department has developed a reputation over the years for
civil rights violations or suspects and for outright racism against minorities.
‘‘The department has made significant strides to allay those concerns,” Gay said. ‘‘There’s a better
partnership [between the force and the community] today than 20 years ago.
‘‘There’s a lot more trust on both ends.”
The department is still monitored by the U.S. Justice Department because of concerns about the use of force, particularly with the department’s K-9 unit.
The department has also learned to work more effectively in a racially diverse community, Gay said.
‘‘During the course of 20 years, the department realized they had to change,” Gay said. ‘‘They clearly understood in order to be effective, you had to
work with the community.”
By 1999 he’d earned the rank of captain and was the assistant commander for the Criminal Investigations Division. Two years later, he became the
assistant commander at the District 2 station in Bowie, moving up to commander before moving on in 2005.
That year, became commander of the Criminal Investigations Division. In February, he was promoted to head the Investigative Services Bureau.
Boh Newsom, head of the District 2 Citizens Advisory Council(CAC), said Gay dedicated himself wholly to the policing of his district and to the
community he served.
‘‘He was a community-oriented person,” Newsom said of Gay. ‘‘He would always have his finger on the pulse of community.
‘‘He was there for you 24⁄7.”
Newsom said Gay and his officers reached out to youth in the community to increase understanding on both sides. That led to a prevention of crime,
Newsom said. And Gay was instrumental, he said, in generating more community interest in the CAC, which is a group of citizens that advises their
police on how better to work within the community to fight crime.
‘‘Together we built one of the most effective CACs around,’ Newsom said. ‘‘If it wasn’t for Vince, this wouldn’t have happened.”
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2. When Gay took over has head of CID he worked during the worst year for homicides in Prince George’s history. In 2005 173 people lost their lives.
‘‘It was a challenging crime year,” Gay said. ‘‘Nobody’s happy with rising crime; we’re in a business where people die.
‘‘The frustrating thing for me was, I knew this department was doing the right thing, and yet there are homicides.”
Gay said the department poured out resources and adjusted its tactics near the end of last year to fight crime, with dividends that paid off in double-digit
drops this quarter.
‘‘We worked hard,” Gay said. ‘‘We put the right things in place.”Gay speaks little of his family life for security reasons (he describes himself as
unmarried but being a father.)
Police Chief Melvin High said he promoted Gay because he understood the link between community involvement and crime fighting.
‘‘[He’s] a top-notch police officer,” High said. ‘‘This business is about dealing with people, and he had a knack for it.”
While he looks to his future, Gay also looks back on his past career with a distinct lack of regret.
‘‘I’ve had the best 21 years anyone could have as a police officer,” Gay said. ‘‘It was just something... I think the Lord had planned for me.
‘‘I’m certainly glad I took this path.”
E-mail Guy Leonard at gleonard@gazette.net.
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