'Wannabe cop' looks back at unexpected and unorthodox career in law enforcement

Oct. 1—ALBANY — The Western genre is not without its share of movies with the theme of a preacher picking up a gun to right the wrongs in a town, with Clint Eastwood's "Pale Rider" being perhaps the most famous, and "Heaven With a Gun" starring Glenn Ford being another of the type.

For David Underwood, that metamorphosis happened in real life about 17 years ago, when he decided to make the transformation from minister and part-time chaplain with the Moultrie Police Department to cop on the beat.

What's just as interesting is that, at the age when most police officers are looking forward to retirement — with the average age of retirement at 55 — the MPD sergeant jumped into the field as he neared his fifth decade of life.

"The more time I spent here, the more I saw a unique opportunity for me," Underwood said. "After a lot of prayer and thought and discussion with the chief, who at the time was Chief (Frank) Lang, I wanted to come on full-time as a chaplain.

"That's when the chief said, 'Have you ever thought about going to the academy?' I was 48 at the time and I thought maybe I was too old."

Underwood had a police pedigree. His father was an officer with the campus police department at Duke University.

"He loved being a cop, (but) I never thought in my life I'd end up as a police officer," he said. "The more I was involved in the chaplaincy, the more I knew I wanted to be a cop. Here I am, 17 years later."

Now 65 and himself thinking about hanging up his badge and gun, at least in a full-time capacity, Underwood has reissued his book "Confessions of a Wannabe Cop: My Journey From Being a Minister of Grace to An Enforcer of the Law" with a new chapter and additional insights.

As for the minister with a gun part, he has drawn his weapon once in the line of duty, but as it turned out he did not have to use it on that occasion.

For his book, the officer drew on his experiences in law enforcement. Underwood started out as a patrol officer on the streets and later moved into criminal investigations before returning to the road. Now he is the department's evidence custodian.

"Right now I'm in the rear with the gear," he said of his office job. "I don't even do crime scenes anymore except on rare occasions. I think that time has passed, and it's time to leave it to those younger guys in CID. I also take reports in the lobby, almost like a desk sergeant."

The new chapter in his book is titled "Confessions," and some of that material has been published online at lawofficer.com, where he is a regular contributor. Those include "commonsense" knowledge that actually was not so easy to learn.

"There's no such thing as an open-and-shut case," is one of the lessons he cited. "Another one was just because you have evidence that points to a suspect, it doesn't mean you can make an arrest.

"One other one was leadership can make or break an investigation. That's one of those that I learned. It's only part of a police department, but it's so important."

Reflecting on his career and his faith, the sergeant discussed how the job can take a toll. Underwood still fills in occasionally at churches as a minister, and his faith is just as important as ever.

The infamous beating of Rodney King by police and the murder of George Floyd, which launched nationwide protests, are some of the incidents that reflect poorly on police, he said. It's not just the salty language, which one will hear at police stations.

"That's part of it," he said. "But the longer I've worked here, the longer I've done things, I've realized — and I don't want this to sound bad — it's really not a comfortable place for people to be, especially for a Christian. It's been hard on my Christian faith, to be honest.

"It has been amazing to see the similarities between this work and church work, particularly internally and perhaps externally, because you're working with the sinners. Sometimes it's easier to work with the sinners."

The job of a police officer also means dealing with those sinners on a regular basis, and as an investigator Underwood was front-and-center at some grisly crime scenes. Having worked in that role and now as evidence custodian, he also knows the stress of how a mistake in evidence gathering or preservation can foul up a prosecution.

"I feel like I am maybe a little more callous, a little more anesthetized to things that should bother me that don't anymore," he said. "I don't know if it's the job. What really gets me is how mean people can be. I mean, I know that goes back to Adam and Eve. I think you learn it's easy not to trust people.

"But by the grace of God, I'm still here. I'm the oldest here, and I've been here the longest, consecutively."