TDN Weekend December 2016 Issue 9
Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1045316
Again, the fist bangs the table; again, that piercing gaze. And that is merely in reprising the moment, over half a century later. You can only imagine the effect he had, at the time. Even the most slovenly and disenchanted of troopers must have felt an incipient shame; must have started wondering whether a little more self-re- spect might yet help win the respect of the community. Bassett began to put the jigsaw of grievances together. Yes, they should get more competitive wages. Yes, they need- ed more manpower. But there would be a trade-off, in the way his men looked and behaved. "They had these stupid, big old over- coats that went down to their ankles," Bassett smiles. "A guy could shoot you ten times before you could get inside there. So we got them out of those and into Eisenhower jackets. Then a physical fitness programme. And not just what to eat. How to eat! That is one thing they did almost rebel on: table etiquette. They had to understand this idea that you're on stage, 24/7. When you walk in, every eye is going to turn on you. Now, look the part. Act the part." He changed the car markings, from blue-and-white to grey—an idea bor- rowed from West Point, the thin grey line. As contentious as anything, curi- ously enough, was the blue light. "Every volunteer fireman, every wrecker, every delivery guy, they've all got a red light up there," Bassett explained to his men. "I don't want it on state police cars. When that blue light comes on, it says: 'Po- lice, and you damned well better stop.' And, when they stop, they need to know they'll be treated right. So you'd better be professional, you'd better know what you're doing." The problem was that the city sheriffs wanted the blue light, too. Bassett demurred. They gave him hell for that, for elitism. But that was a price he was prepared to pay, for his men to gain be- lief—in themselves, and in their mission. Perhaps the most important step was the foundation of a training programme at Eastern Kentucky University. "Before, when a new recruit came in, what did you do?" he asks. "You gave him a little pep talk. 'And what you're going to do today, you're going to walk the beat with old Joe, and he's going to give