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New Bern native to take top trooper job Friday
The man to be sworn in Friday as the colonel of the North Carolina Highway Patrol used to be known as one part of Frick and Frack.
Randy Glover, 49, a New Bern resident, served in the New Bern patrol district office first as a trooper, then as a first sergeant.
The Frick and Frack name was shared with former state trooper Ray Leggett. Leggett is the president of CarolinaEast Medical Center.
Glover will be given the oath by Secretary of State Elaine Marshall. Gov. Bev Perdue, who appointed Glover to the highest post with the patrol, will be at the 10 a.m. ceremony at the state Capitol.
Many of Glover’s friends and fomer co-workers plan to attend the event.
Former district highway patrol secretary Faye Willingham said she would not miss the event.
“No matter where he goes he will always be my son. All of those guys are my sons,” Willingham said. She was the patrol secretary from 1988 to 2004.
“He had a quiet sense of humor. He followed the patrol manual to the tee,” Willingham said.
She recalls Glover as a great father and husband. Willingham said Glover’s wife Cindy was always supportive. Cindy works in the Craven County tax office.
“He will never forget to be a trooper and I hope he will always remember the difficulties the troopers encounter each day. I expect nothing but good things from him,” Willingham said.
“He may be the colonel of the highway patrol but his youngest daughter Taylor has him wrapped around her finger,” Willingham said.
Former patrol line sergeant David Garrish was once the boss of Glover and Leggett in New Bern during the mid-1980s.
Garrish is now captain of the CarolinaEast Medical Center police force.
“I tried to keep Randy and Ray on the same shift. They were like Pete and Repete. Randy is a country boy and has those values. He was a good trooper. While he went by the book, he had a soft spot and would use discretion in his decision-making. He had a humane side to him,” Garrish said.
Garrish named Glover and Leggett Frick and Frack.
“It makes me proud to see how both Randy and Ray moved up. It speaks well for the young troopers who have served here. Randy will make a fine colonel,” said Garrish.
“I wished him well and we talked about many things. I told him I had to help with some in-laws and I would probably miss his ceremony,” Garrish said.
Leggett and Glover could not be separated as they worked the roads of Craven and Pamlico counties in the mid-1980s.
“He was an outstanding person and outstanding trooper,” Leggett said of his friend.
“He always did the right thing and cared. He will be an outstanding leader,” Leggett said.
Leggett said he did not think at the time of how the two men would continue their careers.
Part of the caravan to Raleigh on Friday will include the pastor of First Baptist Church of New Bern, Dr. Steve Fitzgerald.
Fitzgerald is the chaplain for the New Bern district office and pastor of the church that Glover and his family attend.
Fitzgerald is honored that he will give the closing prayer of the swearing-in ceremony. He said the prayer would be for Glover and his job and for all the first responders in the state who put their lives on the line for the people.
“It is a dangerous job to be a trooper. Think about stopping on a rural road at 2 a.m. You never know what you will be faced with,” Fitzgerald said.
Some members of the New Bern district office of the state Highway Patrol will travel to the Friday morning ceremony.
Who is Randy Glover?
He is a Nash County native.
Joined highway patrol in 1980 as a member of the 60 th Basic Patrol School and was first assigned to Harnett County. He was transferred as a trooper to Craven County in 1987.
He was promoted to line sergeant in 1992 and first sergeant in 1995, lieutenant 2002, captain in 2004, major in 2007 and lieutenant colonel in 2008.
His duty stations included Dunn, New Bern (in 1987), Jackson, Morehead City, New Bern (in 1995), Monroe, Greenville and Raleigh.
He graduated from the Southern Police Institute in Louisville and is a member of the First Baptist Church in New Bern. He is a Mason and Shriner.
Glover and his wife Cindy have three children, Taylor,Tiffany and Paige.
NC Highway Patrol to revamp K-9 unit
North Carolina’s State Highway Patrol said Monday that it will use dogs solely to sniff out narcotics, and avoid the kind of rough training tactics – swinging, suspending and kicking of patrol dogs — that caused a national furor when one trooper’s treatment of his dog showed up on Youtube.
“This is rebuilding the unit from the ground up,” said Capt. Everett Clendenin, a patrol spokesman.
The patrol suspended the canine unit in April after several troopers testified in a personnel hearing that the dogs had been subjected to disciplinary tactics such as swinging them around by their leads, suspending them until they nearly passed out, shocking them with stun guns and throwing plastic bottles filled with pebbles at them.
The troopers defended Sgt. Charles L. Jones, who was fired last year for kicking his police dog, Ricoh, several times after suspending him so that his hind legs barely touched the ground.
The Raleigh News and Observer reports that the patrol plans to acquire six Labrador retrievers, which are known for being passive, obedient dogs with good noses for narcotics. The dogs will be paired with newly trained officers who were not part of the previous canine unit. The new unit should be up and running by mid 2009.
The patrol said that the new program will not use dogs to track down suspects or defend their handlers. As a result, the patrol does not need aggressive dogs such as Belgian Malinois or German shepherds, nor does it need to use strict disciplinary measures so the dogs will obey, Clendenin said.
“Our dogs are going to strictly be sniffing and searching for narcotics,” he said.
He said the unit will adopt the practices of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Canine Program. The new training procedures, Clendenin said, will specifically prohibit punching, kicking, beating and choking of dogs.
“We’re not going to tolerate that kind of behavior and we don’t think it’s going to be a problem again,” Clendenin said.
Hope Hancock, executive director of the SPCA of Wake County, said she supports the changes. She said she wants to make sure the patrol’s training provides no wiggle room for abusive tactics.
“On behalf of the SPCA, I think this is a very good measure towards a much better program,” Hancock said.
Hancock said the Jones case shows that state lawmakers need to redefine animal abuse statutes. A state administrative law judge and the State Personnel Commission have found that Jones should be reinstated, in part because the evidence indicated he was doing as he was taught. The patrol has appealed those decisions.
“There’s a loophole that says if you are training a dog, then the cruelty and the mistreatment is defined differently,” Hancock said. “This is the perfect time to look at the statutes to tighten them up.”
Highway Patrol Halts All K-9 Operations
Raleigh, NC — State officials suspended all K-9 operations in the Highway Patrol Wednesday afternoon, following testimony in an administrative hearing regarding controversial training techniques.
