Photo Courtesy of SCPD
‘PEOPLE PERSON’—A former soldier, popular SCPD Officer Adam Cato is a visible and energetic campus presence be it on foot, bicycle, Segway or patrol vehicle. He said he enjoys meeting students and hearing about their experiences.
By Anissa Durham
Adam Cato was a good soldier and enjoyed life in the U.S. Army, but something was missing.
So he left.
“The Army had a motto: ‘Be all you can be,’” Cato recalled. “I did not feel I could be all that I could be by staying in the military.”
For 24 years Cato has been many things to many people at Southwestern College, including one of the SCPD’s most respected officers. He is also the only black officer, which makes him a role model and a source of contact for many students of color.
“I am the only African-American police officer at this time,” he said. “It’s important that people are able to see themselves in people like me.”
Cato is built like an NFL linebacker and carries a serious countenance, but underneath lives a gentleman who values courtesy, respect and friendliness. He is mannerly and formal, but congenial. His colleagues say he is tough enough to handle any situation, but prefers to settle issues on the down low when possible. He is, they insist, a natural diplomat and a people person at heart.
“Adam Cato is a great guy and a terrific cop,” said Silvia Nogales, the CSEA president who has worked with him for more than 20 years. “He is a pro to the core and he has our best interests at heart at all times. I feel better knowing Cato is around.”
SCPD Officer David Felix agreed.
“Adam is soft spoken and quiet, but is assertive when necessary and can handle any incident well,” he said. “He likes to engage people with conversation and find a way out of a potential situation if he can. He is always willing help others and guide them down the right path.”
Felix has worked with Cato for 10 years, he said, and learned many valuable lessons from his formidable but friendly friend.
“Adam likes to say that campus police officers should go out there on campus and get to know (people) one on one,” he said. “That’s better than sitting in a patrol car and driving around.”
Cato is frequently seen peddling around campus on a bicycle and when he is not two-wheeling it he is two-footing it. He is one of the few SCPD officers who regularly walks the campus and talks to students and staff he encounters.
“I am stoic, but approachable,” he said stoically. “I like to meet people. I like to meet our students. They are all such interesting folks.”
Police brutality is unacceptable and unprofessional, he said, and police officers should never profile.
“Some officers say they have a sixth sense (and can intuit trouble),” he said. “We don’t. Profiling is a bad thing. A lot of time people seem to think profiling is something that happens on the East Coast or down South, but it can happen anywhere.”
He got a taste of it growing in Santee at a time when black children and families were rare in the conservative East County community some people of color derisively call “Klantee.” Cato was often the only African-American kid in his school and had to deal with primitive racial stereotyping. He said he would never profile others.
“Every student has the right to be on campus,” he said. “If I see folks with backpacks or notebooks, they look like students to me.”
Cato left Santee for a three-year hitch in the Army that included billets in Germany and Oklahoma. He said they were three of the best years of his life, but not enough to dissuade him from his goal of becoming a police officer. Southwestern College was his first job and he liked it so much he never left, even though he had opportunities to join a municipal agency.
“I enjoy the interactions I have with the people at Southwestern College,” he said. “It’s not just an assembly line of students coming and going. It’s not like you just do a report and move on. I feel like I am part of the fabric of the institution. I can check up on people who may need a little support.”
SCPD Officer Zach Jones called Cato his role model.
“He’s everything I aspire to be as I grow older and progress in my career,” he said. “He is a hard-working family man who treats everyone fairly and with respect.”
On a police force with no women, Cato is frequently the officer female students prefer to talk to, according to college counselors. Married for many years and the father of a daughter, he is a good listener and sensitive to many of the issues young women face at college.
“He is someone people just instinctively know they can trust,” Nogales said.
Cato said he plans to retire in three years, but is in no hurry to leave Southwestern. Even during the COVID-19 shutdown of the campus, Cato is there keeping an eye on things, anticipating the return of students and staff.
“It’s a little quiet here,” he said recently as he was about to embark on a patrol of the mostly-empty campus. “We’ll hold down the fort until it’s safe for everyone to return. Hopefully that won’t be too long.”
