In the world of good cop-bad cop, Gary Creason is a good cop. He likes kids, is chivalrous and loves dogs.
Especially Eric.
Creason, professor of administration of justice, keeps two yellowed photos on his uncluttered office counter, one of his police officer dad with a 1940s squad car and the other of him and his canine partner Eric from the 1970s. His eyes smile as he reminisces about those pictures.
“I always knew I would go into police work,” Creason said, because he was inspired by his father’s work.
He grew up in a rough neighborhood in East San Diego, but has no regrets. His diverse mix of childhood friends gave him an acceptance of multiculturalism, he said.
Even as a youngster he rode along with his dad in the patrol car. Creason saw his first autopsy at the tender age of eight and shared his father’s interest in forensics.
A self-described terrible student in school, he dropped out of high school and enlisted in the army in 1964. He was 17.
Discipline suited him and Creason said he thrived in the military. He was selected for the U.S. Army Security Agency, an elite group charged with intelligence gathering. He was sent to Korea and Vietnam on information gathering missions.
Honorably discharged at 20, Creason enrolled at Grossmont College. He studied police science and became a campus police officer. He earned his associate’s degree in administration of justice and a certificate in law enforcement.
Then his career went to the dogs.
As a state Humane Society officer, Creason said he investigated animal cruelty cases. His boss gave him a six-month-old German shepherd puppy named Eric on the condition he obedience train it to the first level. The two became partners and stayed together for 16 1/2 years.
Creason joined the El Cajon Police Department in 1970. He became part of the Canine Patrol with Eric, who was then four years old.
Eric passed his obedience tests with flying colors and the partners worked together for the next four years. Eric the wonder dog was so good he and Creason gave obedience demonstrations annually at the Del Mar Fair.
Eric retired to become a yard dog at age eight and Creason went on to traffic, where he investigated hit and runs, injuries, fatalities and even a deadly plane crash. After three years he went on to work in burglary, fraud/forgery, homicide and training community relations/neighborhood watch. During this time he began teaching firearms training and caught the teaching bug.
Creason said he came to SWC for the first time while doing background investigations for the El Cajon PD. He was impressed enough to fill out an application, and in April 1986 he was hired as a part-time recruit training officer.
In 1994 he became a full-time tenured professor and took command of the SWC Police Academy.
When SWC security became a full police department in May of 2000, Creason was named chief of police. He was chief for four years and is credited by college employees with modernizing and professionalizing the campus police. Creason also successfully convinced the governing board to arm the campus officers.
“If it looks like a duck, and walks like a duck, it’s probably a police officer requiring the tools necessary to protect our community,” he told members of the campus staff.
Long time friend Andrew Rempt, coordinator of Learning Assistance Services, said
Creason professionalized the campus police and lent credibility to the program.
“Arming our campus police was a controversial move,” Rempt said. “I was not 100 percent in favor of it, but his background and the respect for the man himself made me feel he would see to it the officers were trained and understood appropriate use of force.”
Now back in the relative safety of the classroom, Creason acknowledged that police work can be dangerous, consuming and tough on marriage. Twice divorced, Creason said he has lived the past nine years with the “love of my life.”
“Police work really does affect your personal life,” he said. “The biggest obstacle and constant challenge in police work is to keep from becoming cynical from working with the negative aspects of human character. It is easy to think that the only good guys are other cops.”
Creason came from a very supportive family and he has continued that pattern with his own son, a Las Vegas Police officer. He said he would support his grandson to enter law enforcement, but offered a word of advice to “be careful, be very careful.”
“I would not change my experience for anything, but I would not want to be a cop today,” he said. “Society has changed, laws have changed and it is just a different culture now.”
Creason has words of wisdom for his students. “Integrity is everything,” he said. “No matter what field you are in that is the one thing a person must never compromise.”