Chief Sam Dawson Salt Lake Tribune Obituary
He was born May 7, 1945 to Mae Kemp and Darrell Dawson in Orofino, Idaho, and grew up in Murray, UT. On December 17, 1971 he married his beautiful wife Brigitte, and was later sealed to her in the Salt Lake LDS Temple. She is the love of his life. Together they had two sons, Sam and Chris. He received a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Utah in 1976, and a Master of Public Administration from BYU in 1983. Sam's greatest joy in life was his family and friends. There was nothing he enjoyed more than spending time with all of them. They always came first. Sam was a man who truly touched many people's lives and made a difference in this world. He was known for his unsurpassed honesty, integrity, and great strength of character. He was our best friend. He will be missed deeply by everyone who knew him. Survived by his wife Brigitte; sons, Sam (Teresa), Chris (Cheree); stepdaughter, Angela (Alan) Lykins; grandchildren, Adrian Lykins, Alexandra Lykins, Molly Dawson; father, Doc; mother, Pat Freeze; stepfather J.P. (Joyce) Freeze; brother, Brad (Cassie) Freeze; sister, Sherene Freeze, and nieces and nephews. Funeral services will be held Saturday, July 7, 2001 at 12 Noon in the Jordan High School Auditorium, 9950 South State Street, Sandy, Utah. Friends may call Friday 6-8 p.m. at the Larkin Sunset Gardens Mortuary, 10600 South 1700 East and Saturday at the Jordan High School 10-11:30 a.m. Interment will follow at the Larkin Sunset Gardens with honors afforded. Also, check out: The UPOA President's page at: http://www.upoa.org/presidents/SamDawson.html where you will see Chief Dawson as UPOA President and read Chief Dawson's "Teach Your
Children" article.
A Stunned Sandy Mourns Police Chief BY
FRANK CURRERI
SANDY -- Few things in life gave
Sam Dawson more enjoyment than cruising long stretches of road on his Harley-Davidson
motorcycle.
After 34 years of service . . . we acknowledge your service is complete and show you off duty, Sandy City Chief Sam Dawson July 2, 2001 UPOA Magazine Vol 78 Issue 3 "More than a friend"
Seated in my rocking chair,
Wondering how many lives he touched,
He made me feel so special,
I admired his tenacity,
Chief Wayne Shepherd first introduced me to Sam,
"Are you a strong supporter of this organization," he said,
He treated me with respect and compassion,
Sam always talked about his sons and daughter,
Brigitte and Sam were inseparable,
I've never observed two people,
I asked Sam at a recent convention,
With a sparkle in his eye and a smile,
It was truly Sam, with humor and wit,
Sam is more than a friend, he is family,
"A cops cop," I've heard them say,
He wanted the best for Sandy City,
Sam was one in a million and very unique,
For our Father above has called him back home,
Brigitte, Angela, Sammy and Chris,
I love you Sam and I always will,
Your memory will never leave us.
I love you Sam.
SAM DAWSON MY FRIEND, AND A FRIEND TO MORE PEOPLE THAN I REALIZED By Rich Bergan UPOA Magazine Vol 78 Issue 3 In 1967 Sam became a Reserve for Murray Police Department and that was what gave him the ìbugî to seek a career in law enforcement. Sam told me that there were experiences in his police reserve assignment that made him feel that he could do well and help the community. In January of 1971 Sam Dawson was hired by Salt Lake County Sheriff's office. He attended POST at the University of Utah (Orson, Spencer Hall). There were about 30 people in the class and over half were S.L.Co. deputies. This is where I met Sam. At first I felt that he was overly confident in himself. He didn't seem to study and he generally had answers to questions asked by the instructors. After a few weeks I realized that Sam was absorbing the information in class better than most of the rest of us (especially me). I think that if someone told me that Sam had a goal or a drive for seeking the betterment of our community in those early days of his career I would probably disagree. I think that he developed over time a value that if he was going to handle something, he was going to do as good as he could and after looking at what he had done, he would do it better the next time. He approached people in a professional and dignified manner and left each contact with the feeling that they had been dealing with an honest and straight-forward person, whether they agreed with him or not. When Sam and I were assigned to East Patrol in the Sheriffs office we learned to work together, and I learned that two of Sam's skills were (A) the ability to talk to and negotiate with people and (B) the ability to back up what he said. We often worked the State Street area and frequently responded to disputes in bars or domestics involving alcohol, drugs, weapons or all three. Anyone who has worked this job with other people know what I mean when I say that there are people who are assigned to assist you and you almost wish that they would get delayed in a crash before they arrive to ìhelpî you. I never had that thought when I heard that Sam was en route, nor have I talked to anyone else who has. Sam and I were selected to work in the Sheriff's Tactical Squad. I considered this as a great honor. We were trained with special weapons and tactics. This was an innovative approach to law enforcement in Salt Lake County. We worked in high crime areas and targeted known offenders. This assignment gave Sam an opportunity to work closely with other agencies and begin to develop good contacts with those agencies. Sam and I were concerned about our skills with our hand guns so we tried out for, and were accepted as members of the Salt Lake County Sheriffs pistol team. He and I were always chiding each other about who was the best shot. We truly enjoyed the time we spent working with all the other people in the UPOA. The competition on the range, the honors at the Banquets and the memorial services. They were all important, but we often talked about the social gatherings, after the pistols were cleaned and put away, at the pool at some hotel in Vernal, Cedar City, St. George, Brigham City, Moab. Those evenings all contributed to the wealth of Sam's experiences and there is no telling how many times those contacts came in handy, if, while working on a case, information was developed about someone or something in another city or county, we could call on someone who we had shot with at convention and that person would invariably come up with help on the case. One case we worked on led us to a ranch in Duchesne. We called Leonard Ferguson (a.k.a. Hungry) of the U.H.P. We had met Leonard several years before, while shooting against him and the other guys from the U.H.P. team (and losing regularly). He helped us not only with information about just where the house and out-buildings were located, but who lived there and whom he knew in the area. The search warrant was served and we recovered thousands of dollars in stolen property, and the case led to several felony arrests. Our next assignment was in the Sheriff's Assisting Youth unit (SAY). Sam was assigned to Brighton High and its feeder middle and elementary schools. Like every other assignment, Sam went into it whole-heartedly. He met with the faculties of the schools and found out what they felt was needed for the kids. He developed lectures and classes for almost every subject. History of law enforcement for History, police and legal vocabulary for English, self protection for baby sitters taught in Gym. "Why do we need cops" in the alternative education programs. Sam came across school administrators who were opposed to our program and having Cops "peeking" in the classrooms. He met individually with those people and one by one they came to see the benefit to the program and several became staunch supporters of the program. I think that these programs would have been much less successful if it had not been for Sam's diligence and his ability to explain the good of our program. True to Sam's style, many of the people he worked with became good friends for life. In 1976 Sam was transferred to the Detective division. He was first assigned to investigate burglaries, and like most of us, it became frustrating trying to catch people with no faces and no fingerprints. But he enjoyed the job and began making cases and arresting crooks. Sam once told me that part of the frustration of the job was in talking to victims who had lost irreplaceable memories or large amounts of money and there were no leads and no evidence to work on. He decided to concentrate on cases that had workable leads and make regular visits to the jail and have nice conversations with known offenders. Sam studied interrogation techniques and talked with other experienced detectives. He always amazed me with the number of people who confessed to him. I once asked him how he does it and he told me, ìIt's because I talk to them.î He was more concerned about solving cases than personal recognition. Many times Sam got information, followed it up and discovered evidence which led to crimes that had occurred in other jurisdictions. He contacted the officer of that city and turned over the information. By doing that he met many cops from other departments, and those acquaintances were maintained through the years. I guess that Sam was networking before it became vogue. Sam was contacted by the Salt Lake County Attorney and asked if he would be interested in working as an investigator for the County Attorney. He accepted the position and began working for Paul Van Dam. The duties of the investigation unit was to investigate political corruption, officer involved shootings, post filing investigations on major crimes and major fraud cases. Because of Sam's work ethics, reputation for complete and organized work, his reputation for confidentiality and his ethics, and his truth and honesty (some referred to this as being blunt), he worked for three County Attorneys and through all of them he became Chief Investigator. Sam directed us on many high level cases and ran interference for us if we were working on a sensitive political case and people who thought they were above the law tried to interfere with our cases. While in the Sheriff's office Sam and I and others were involved in an officer involved fatal shooting. This happened back in the old days when we all carried wheel guns. When the incident was over, we were told to write our reports and get back on the road. The next day we were back on shift and handling cases. This is not a complaint, it is just the way things happened then. Because of that incident and all the others that Sam was assigned to, when a class was offered about investigating officer involved fatal incidents, Sam sent two of us. He told me that Utah peace officers need to be trained on handling officer involved fatal incidents. Up to this point, each department dealt with each incident without coordination. We had seen incidents where there had been jurisdictional infighting about who was going to do what and when. The bottom line was that the officer who had taken another life, was always the ultimate victim, and the officers family was most certainly the next victim. With Sam's direction and his commitment to having a uniform way of handling these incidents, he and the other law enforcement administrators adopted the Officer Involved Fatal Incident Protocol that is used today. Sam's plan was that every peace officer should be prepared for what is going to happen if they are involved in a fatal incident. This protocol, the TIC teams, and spouse support groups that have been developed have saved the careers and maybe the lives of many law enforcement families. He was struck with the statistic that, without counseling and support, an officer who is involved in an incident is likely to quit or begin developing unsatisfactory habits within five years of the incident. He was determined to beat those odds and have all officers involved in justified shootings return to their jobs, and work assignments in a good state of mind. Sam and I worked together on many cases. Our families spent untold hours together. We hunted, fished, shot and watched each others children grow up. We laughed during the good times and cried in the sad times. But in all those times I never knew Sam to let down a friend or his family. And I knew that if he told you something you could believe it, (unless he was telling you that he caught bigger fish than me). Sam is a man of great truth and integrity. Chief Sam Dawson By Lt. Kevin Thacker, Sandy City PD UPOA Magazine Vol 78 Issue 3 He was a leader among Chiefs. When he saw what he perceived as an injustice he fought against it with a passion unequaled by few. As I worked next to Chief Dawson the past few years I was able to see another side of him. I saw a man who deeply loved his wife and children. He was a grandpa who loved to brag about his grandchildren and who had recently quipped that he would have to revise his policy of not allowing babies in the administrative office so he could bring in his new grand daughter and show her off. He was also a man who was solidly devoted to the officers of Sandy City. He worked endlessly to provide our officers with the best and most up to date equipment possible. Through grants and other funding he was able to equip the majority of the police cars with computers. He recently found the money for a new automated fingerprint machine for the department. Byron Jorgenson, CAO, of Sandy City said shortly after Chief Dawson died that it did not require a lengthy list of accomplishments to see if he was successful. What matters is where the department is today as opposed to where it was when he started here. There is no doubt that Sandy Police Department is a far better department now than it was seven years ago. The professionalism and values that direct our agency were largely ingrained in us through the leadership of Chief Dawson and I'm sure those qualities will carry on for many years to come. He commanded respect and required perfection from his employees. He was not without fault but his desire to make Sandy City a premier organization overshadowed the weaknesses that were there. He will be missed by all who knew him but his legacy will carry on for years to come. He was a man who truly made a difference and he touched many lives in the process. Living Next Door to the Police Chief By Monica Koronkowski July 4, 2001 When we first looked at the house we currently live in, we did not know the police chief lived right next door. The neighbors were quick to tell us, however, and we thought that living next to the chief could be an added bonusóa criminal wouldn't dare target the street Sam Dawson lived on. We made an offer on the house, and it was accepted. During the mandatory pre-sale home inspection, we told the contractor about our neighbor's occupation. He laughed and replied. "I guess you won't be growing any marijuana in this basement!" Our son was also proud to live next to Mr. Dawson, and could frequently be overheard telling his school friends that he lived next door to "the boss of all the police!" Living next to Sam inspired all of us to be better citizens. We were more mindful of the length of our grass, the state of our constantly overgrown rose bushes that threatened to overshadow his wife's lovely flower gardens, and of not shoveling our snow out into the street. I also felt like I was an extension of Sam's eyes and ears, and was ever watchful for any signs of trouble in the neighborhood. Sam's presence in my life also helped me to be a better and more cautious driver. I'd have been mortified if my name had crossed his police desk blotter for having received a citation or traffic ticket! My last conversation with Sam, approximately three weeks ago, revolved around whether it is safe to let young children play in the front yard without adult supervision. Sam was quick to cite for me the statistics supporting the safety of Sandy City, and reported proudly that there had not been a child abduction by a stranger in Sandy since 1984. Sam is responsible for helping make Sandy City the wonderful and safe place it is, and he was rightfully proud of this. Sam's sons followed in his footsteps and also entered the helping professions. At times we would see a shiny police car out front, and at other times, Chris, who is a firefighter and a paramedic, would stop by his Dad's with the fire truck. Joe and his friends loved to run down the street to look at it. It was such a thrill for them! Sam's sons are also "the finest". What a wonderful example they set for our young son. We will miss Sam with all our hearts, but will always have with us what he left behindóóone of the safest places in the country to raise a child, the desire to be the best citizens we can be, and our son's healthy respect and admiration for policemen and firemen. Setting Standards, by B. L. Smith
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