Gary Black

In 1948 Gary was born in Compton, California. He was raised there with a father who in time rose to the rank of Commander at Compton PD. After graduating from Compton College where he was also a campus cop he wanted to be the real thing. His dad was concerned about some rogue cops in his department and said, “Not here!” He wanted only the best experience in police work for his son. Gary applied to numerous PDs, but Newport was the first to test and hired him in October of 1969.

He went through the academy with John Furrow and Doug Nicholson. While at NBPD he was on SWAT and was asked by Captain Gary Petersen to be the first Field Training Officer, a brand new program. His different assignments were in patrol, motors, burg detectives, and special investigations with Lee Roberts. He and Ginger, a PCO, were quite an item around the department. They finally married in November of 1972. He left Newport Beach in 1978 and was hired by Placerville PD. Because he had, as he puts itM “Hair down to my back and a beard down to my chest when I interviewed,” they put him in a joint powers drug-buy program. It was more narcotics enforcement, and he was very good at it. In 6 months he had over 200 hand to hand buys that resulted in the biggest bust in that county’s history, 70 arrests. Gary could make friends easily with his wry sense, but that did not help him after the buys from Hell’s Angels and their like. For several years there was a contract out on his life that only went away after a number of arrests on his property, special enforcement protection, pressure on the Hell’s Angels, and the help of a gang member turned informant. While in patrol he was promoted to Watch Commander, but further promotion was out of the question after he had fallen down both on a mountain slope and later on a foot chase that paralyzed him from the waist down for three hours. Even though he had received his BA at the University of Redlands, his Masters at the National University in Sacramento in Education & Administration, had a both a Teaching and Teaching Administration Credential, had taught ROP to high school kids and taught Criminology classes at the junior college, they would not promote him to Lieutenant. (It is ironic that one of the high school boys that was on the fence to either go good or bad that he mentored in the ROP program has since joined Placerville PD and risen to second in command and is clearly going to be the next Chief of Police.) Gary was forced to retire in 1986 and worked in the private sector managing an insurance special investigation unit for Fireman’s Fund, Director of Corporate Security for Dunbar Armored Car Service, and currently as the Corporate Director of Field Security at Continental Currency. He says that unfortunately he and Ginger divorced after 25 years. They still communicate and are on good terms. Three years ago, Gary married a former Deputy from the San Bernardino County Sheriff Department. The four fishing boats he owns and the house where he lives now in Huntington Harbor would not be possible if his fishing lures company had not taken off. It seems his company, Phenix Bait, sold a lure that won the first three FLW Bass competitions the year it was first used by professionals! Gary plans to seriously retire in the next few years and take his boat south through the Panama Canal, the Caribbean, up the East Coast, into the Great Lakes, and down the Mississippi to New Orleans. If any of his Newport PD comrades need a little help with their fishing, he enthusiastically says, “Give me a call!