Marco Kittrell started his police career on Monday, June 2, 1972, as a Metropolitan Police Cadet in Washington, DC. That is a program that hires young men and women between the ages of 17 to 19 years old and prepares them to become police officers in the great city of Washington, DC. He really had no idea what to expect from the department. He was young and somewhat inexperienced in the way of life. He had no idea what lay before me as a police cadet or as a police officer. However, he learned very quickly what is needed to be a police officer in Washington, DC. For three years, he worked in only two division assignments; Community Relations Division and Traffic Division. They both were great jobs. He met a lot of important people and had a great time working there. He performed mostly public relations work for the department. A few months before he was scheduled to attend the Police Academy, Kittrell was transferred to the Traffic Division. He used every possible contact he had to have the transfer canceled, but to no avail. Everyone told him that it was to his benefit to get some exposure to real police work. Kittrell didn't want to hear that. He wanted to keep his good inside job in community relations. Thanks to others who cared for Kittrell, he was transferred to the Traffic Division. It turned out to be one of the best assignments he ever experienced. He met new friends and learned a great deal about police work that benefited him later as a police officer and supervisor. These are the reasons why young people need to experience new things, places, and take on new adventures. Once Kittrell completed and graduated from the police academy, he was assigned to the First District Sub Station located on Capitol Hill and worked there for one year. He then requested a transfer to the Seventh District located in the South East sector of the city and worked there for 5 years and really learned how to become a police officer. Later his experiences there made Kittrell a better police supervisor and manager. He was promoted to Sergeant in 1980 and was assigned to the Fourth District, located on Peabody Street, Northwest. There he worked as a patrol sergeant and later as an administrative sergeant for the police district. In 1983, Kittrell was promoted to Lieutenant and reassigned back to the Seventh District as a Sector Commander. He supervised/managed four sergeants and 33 police officers. During his12 years as a lieutenant, Kittrell was the commander of: - Vice/Task Force that targeted and investigated illegal drug criminal activities and prostitution offenses.3- Detective Investigation Section that investigated all criminal activities. - Investigation Unit called Rope that targeted career criminals and repeat offenders. This book covers some of Kittrell's experiences while working as a policeman from 1972 to 1995. He hopes everyone who reads this book will appreciate the sacrifices that police officers make every day to keep citizens and their families safe. To you we say, "Thanks for your dedicated service." Even though the stories are true, the names have been changed to protect the families, especially the children, of the police officers. These stories are in no way intended to disrespect his fellow police officers or their families. Kittrell simply would like to share his experiences, especially with young police officers. As a young officer, he made several mistakes, but learned from them to better himself and became the a successful police manager. Most leaders are not born into the job, they learn from their mistakes and turn those incidents into successes for others to benefit from. Kittrell had the pleasure to socialize with many good police officers; men and women. They helped him and assisted with his growth, not only as a policeman but as a man as well.
