BE A BALLER -"Building a lifelong legacy"

Police Chief Gary Lewis: Leaving a legacy of loyalty, respect, and service for the next generation.

• Coach Tim Brown, Uncommon Life • Season 4 • Episode 9

Share episode

Send us a comment about the Be a Baller Podcast Episode. Thanks for support.

Discover how Bexley Police Chief Gary Lewis, the first African-American police chief in Bexley, Ohio, transitioned from his initial passion for art to a career in law enforcement, driven by familial ties and inspiring mentors like his detective uncle and Captain Gilbert Jones. Through  personal stories, Chief Lewis opens up about the profound influence of family and community in his life, underscoring the strength of mentorship and the pivotal role it played in shaping his remarkable journey. As he reflects on his path, you'll gain insights into how he rose to become a decorated leader committed to community policing and mentoring the next wave of officers.

Join us as we explore Chief Lewis's innovative approach to policing as a business model, addressing the diverse needs of the Bexley community, including its Jewish residents and students at Capital University. We delve into the challenges of recruiting diverse backgrounds and the importance of fostering future leaders in law enforcement. Chief Lewis shares how his faith and community service, pillars of his life, continue to guide his mission in leaving a legacy of loyalty, respect, and service. His story, marked by humility and accessibility, serves as a powerful inspiration for the next generation determined to protect and serve with dedication and heart.

Support the show

Speaker 1:

Focusing on not just today but tomorrow, and how critical that is, that, if you believe that you can achieve understanding the dynamics of culture and how black, white or other, that people come into your life for a reason, and building those relationships. My mentor told me this. He said, gary, there is no substitute for loyalty, and I've never forgotten those words.

Speaker 3:

Welcome to Be A Baller podcast. I'm your host, coach Tim Brown. On this podcast, we have guests on the show who are building a lifelong legacy. Today on the show, our guest is lifelong legacy. Today on the show, our guest is Bexley Police Chief Gary Lewis, the first African-American police chief of Bexley, ohio. Chief Lewis has a decorated career in law enforcement, is committed to mentoring and preparing the next generation of police officers to protect and serve Chief Lewis welcome to the show.

Speaker 1:

Good morning and thank you so much for the invitation.

Speaker 3:

Good to see you, you also, sir, thank you, I've seen you out there as a kid. See out there on them streets. Yes, taking care of everybody, you know. Yes, this is an interview I've been really excited about having. First of all, I was reading your bio and you grew up on the west side of Columbus, you know. Talk about that west side experience. Yes, sir.

Speaker 1:

So you know, I have to tell you, growing up here in central Ohio and the hilltop west side was just an amazing experience. So my mother is one of 12. There were nine girls, three boys and you know, in those days families really stuck together and so my grandparents lived on Highland Avenue and I had aunts and uncles and cousins on every street. You could not throw a rock without hitting one of my relatives, and so that experience alone added to my growing up and development. And from you know, throwing Columbus Dispatch newspapers and.

Speaker 1:

Karen newspapers for years and seeing family. So family is a very integral part for me. And how I grew up Awesome. Did you always want to be a police?

Speaker 3:

officer.

Speaker 1:

You know what? There are different dynamics to that question. For me, one I it's just even, most recently, you know, when you're born in the 60s and growing up in the 70s, watching television, the SWAT television series and shows and the A-Team and so many of those types of shows. I think that the allure and the desire was significantly there for me. But my true passion, my God-given abilities, always lied in art.

Speaker 1:

I went to art college, was at Columbus College of Art and Design. Then I went to the Art Institute of Pittsburgh and just have always had a passion for that. But I also have a calling within the law enforcement space. There on the west side there was a substation at Sullivan Avenue in Belvedere and there were some amazing police officers with Columbus Police that interacted with us as kids. I spent a lot of time at that substation. Back in those days they would pass out Columbus Clipper cards of all the athletes and I remember going in and collecting the cards and just engaging with them very differently. So my experience and exposure to law enforcement is different than what today's youth is, and so I'm really trying to bring that community policing back and what I'm able to within the city of Bexley.

Speaker 3:

You know, was there a moment in time when you decided, hey, this is what I, this is what I want to do. What was that? Because you say you had an interest in art and all. What was that moment in time?

Speaker 1:

Yes, sir. So I, after I got out of college, we're looking for careers still in the art space and I had a my uncle, my uncle Daryl, was a detective with the Columbus Division of Police and he had suggested that I potentially look into becoming a sketch artist for law enforcement. And I thought what a great idea. And so I had checked with Columbus. That was his agency, uncle Darrell, really my hero, and looking up to him, seeing him in that uniform and trying to follow from a distance in his footsteps. And so Columbus at the time said young man, we've got state-of-the-art computer software now we just had it implemented. We really don't have a role. Why don't you check with some other agencies? So I had then checked into the Ohio State Highway Patrol, stopped into the patrol academy One day. They're on 17th Avenue, they're across from the fairgrounds, go in.

Speaker 1:

And at the time in the recruitment section I was greeted by a gentleman by the name of Gilbert Jones. Gilbert Jones was a captain African-American who had oversaw the recruitment and I had asked him about the same thing I did with Columbus and he said I'm sorry, young man, we don't have something like that in the highway patrol. Why don't you become a state trooper. I said, sir, I have no desire to become a state trooper. And he challenged me. He said well, where are you from? And I told him. He said, well, who are your relatives? And I told him.

Speaker 1:

And back in those days, long before our cell phones, he pushed over this desktop telephone to me and he said I want you to call your grandfather. So I called my grandfather and handed him the phone. They get to talking kind of chopping it up and he hands me the phone back. My grandfather said fill out the app. And then hangs up the phone. So I'm kind of looking at this gentleman and for those that will hear this podcast and know Colonel Jones, he would have this look on his face and it was a I gotcha kind of look.

Speaker 1:

And he got me and he said you got to fill out the app, don't you? And I said yes, sir. He said what you don't know is my big brother and your grandfather grew up together and were the best of friends, and so I filled out the application and, as they say, the rest is history. He had a mentor to me he had ended up becoming he was a captain at the time was then promoted to major. He oversaw the training academy. I was in his very first academy class, him being the commandant. He was then promoted again to lieutenant colonel and just an amazing man, an amazing legacy. And you know, that is where I get a lot of my passion and purpose is watching people like him, who had an impact directly on me, and so I hope to be used as a vessel to help someone as well.

Speaker 3:

Well, it's powerful. You know, I have this saying from a Jordan. It from a Jordan Miller from the Adolfo Bank. Jordan said this persons need mentors, but they also need a sponsor. They need somebody in the room. Obviously, he was in the room for you. This kid's got to know he's an art man, but let's give him this opportunity.

Speaker 1:

Yes, and I tell you you know, as the saying, oftentimes not what you know, but who you know. And I believe that the Lord puts people in your path for a reason and that purpose. You never know when or why, but he puts them there just on time.

Speaker 3:

Right, right, and I thank you for answering that call. Yes, sir, as I answer that pick it up.

Speaker 1:

Yes, yes sir.

Speaker 3:

As I Pick it up.

Speaker 1:

Yes, yes, yes, you know. I think of my grandfather often, who had such high regard for the Ohio State Highway Patrol and his level of respect and what that uniform meant.

Speaker 1:

He was one of the very first African-American contractors here in central Ohio. He was a plasterer and he had just this amazing ability and gift with plastering and did many homes in Bexley and would talk about those experiences going back in the 50s and 60s, going into those beautiful homes and so me coming full circle and being now the first African-American chief in Bexley and thinking of him being there and how proud he would be of me and these accomplishments.

Speaker 3:

Wow, you know, looking at your bio, you have an associate's degree, bachelor's degree, master's degree, some other certifications. Why is education so important to you?

Speaker 1:

I think that it's so important that, historically, there's a part of me that knows the challenge for us as African Americans and not being able to have access to education and that once you have that, no one can take it from you that it's hard to compete Although you may have the experience, you don't have the education and oftentimes you will not be invited to the table without that. So I always want to make sure that I'm competitive, that I've checked all boxes that could be at question, making sure that all of my children, all my sons, have at least an undergrad Some have their master's in working towards that, and so it's very important to me. I think that on many, many levels, having that education and learning and growing and thinking outside of some of those natural experiences, I know you had extensive experiences in law enforcement.

Speaker 3:

How did that prepare you for your role to be the 10th chief of police in Bexley, Ohio, and the first African-American police chief?

Speaker 1:

Great question. So you know I spent 22 years with the Ohio State Highway Patrol. It served citizens of this great state for 22 years, then spent about another 10 years in universities three different ones, and now chief in Bexley has aided me significantly.

Speaker 1:

I think oftentimes if you are limited in just a one agency, experience and doing things the way we've always done, as opposed to being exposed to different leadership styles, different management, different ways of thought and also seeing over the decades, how this profession has changed and how the deliverables of service have changed. So I think it's important. It's helped me stay relevant and also to be able to provide a level of service.

Speaker 3:

I know you're a true innovator from all those different experiences. What are some of the nuances that you're bringing to Bexley?

Speaker 1:

You know I think some of it is just change of thought I really look at law enforcement as a business model and what I mean by that is that we are here to provide a service and being able to provide that level of service to the amazing citizens and residents of Bexley, those who are traveling through Bexley and looking at it as what are the main topics, the main items, and so for me, you've got the internal dynamic of looking at your team, your staff, and diversifying the product of what they're getting and what they're delivering, but it's also looking at your community. You know, bexley is a very unique place in that it's two and a half square miles. We have three synagogues, places of worship, we have two directly adjacent and then we also have the Jewish Community Center, which is directly south of us. So you have six very specific Jewish focused areas and being very deliberate, very intentional about thinking of their needs, thinking of you know, we're about 30% Jewish population, which then generates, on their day of worship, high pedestrian traffic.

Speaker 1:

And how do we provide that level of service? How do we meet people where they are? And that's just one of the stakeholders in looking at all the residents and being able to do that. So innovation includes providing a new idea and a concept, with a bomb detection canine being very thought-provoking, with not just the idea of being proactive with that, but also taking in mind that oftentimes in law enforcement, our canines are trained in German. We took it a step farther by making sure that we did not want to create any angst or PTSD for a Jewish community in training the dog in German, so she's been trained in Croat, intentional about how we approach innovation. That innovation also includes partnering with other agencies at the federal and state level. We are now partners with the FBI, the US Marshals Task Force and the Fugitive Task Force. So we have really done some things that had never been done before and I'm very proud of that.

Speaker 3:

You mentioned the Jewish community. You also have a university here, capital University. Yes, sir, how is that relationship with those students and that population?

Speaker 1:

You know. So Capital, it's a great, it's a community within a community, yes, and they have their own law enforcement agency. But we work very well, very closely with them, you know. Obviously they too are our stakeholders, and so we make sure that we're visible and highly engaged with them also.

Speaker 3:

Great, you know, you said you said it often that you take a lot of pride in mentoring and preparing the next generation of leaders, police officers. What is your vision for? What is your vision of 21st century policing? Look like.

Speaker 1:

So my vision really is that and I say it about my own department we are more diverse today than we were yesterday and being very intentional about finding the next generation of individuals Jewish, african-american, female, male, white really being diversified and providing that level of service.

Speaker 1:

And we clearly are doing that and being very intentional and changing the look. I mean it's a male-dominated profession and bringing in more young ladies into this profession I think is very important. I think that there are a lot of qualified applicants out there and it's also understanding the nature of this profession across the country that recruitment is a challenge. Many of us are fighting for the same young people and when you look at some of the larger cities, not just in Ohio but across the country, some of them are down two, three, 400 officers and it's making it very challenging. You know I don't say it as a brag or a boast, but I say it in a confident manner that we're at 100 percent capacity of staffing. You know, I think that our mayor, our city council, our community is very supportive of us and that helps and makes my job that much easier.

Speaker 3:

I know you're big on community policing. We hear that thrown out a lot. Now what does that look like to you?

Speaker 1:

So what I've really tried to do is to go back to that little boy in the 70s of seeing that cruiser stop and having that police officer get out, know my name and engage and not hide behind that cruiser. And we do a significantly number high business checks. We do foot patrols. We do a lot of programming with our young people and getting into the schools and again meeting people where they are. I think that it's so important. You know, we are doing a number of.

Speaker 1:

Some of it's innovative and some of it is just kind of rebranding and things that we once did. It was kind of like fashion. It comes back, it comes back, and I think that Bell bottoms are back, yes sir, yes sir. And so I think that you know a lot of it is just bringing some of that old school mentality back and giving this next generation. You know, I believe that I have a shelf life, that my time there is limited, that I really have, I believe, a six to eight-year window to make a difference, to make an impact, prepare the next group, create a succession plan, execute that and then get out of their way and let these young people do what they do and then go somewhere else and look at best practices, help them. I believe process over people, that if you create process and not make it people centric, that that's where your success oftentimes comes. That's good.

Speaker 3:

Process over people. Yes, I like that. You know we've been having a heavy conversation. You know we got to get out of this. Yes, sir, yes sir, please, please.

Speaker 1:

You have, we've got to get out of this heavy conversation. Yes, sir, please, please. You have four sons, I do, and one daughter. Yeah, we'll get to the daughter, okay.

Speaker 3:

Four sons who are proudly serving in the United States Armed Forces. How proud are you of them and the family legacy you know?

Speaker 1:

I poke my chest out any time I talk of my family, poke my chest out anytime I talk of my family and my oldest son, cameron. He's got about 16 years in the United States Army. He's currently stationed in Virginia. Gary's a captain in the United States Army. He's got about nine years in stationed in Hawaii. Nathaniel is here in Ohio. He is here in Ohio. He was a sergeant. He is since no longer full-time active, full-time dad, full-time employment, and he served all over. His last assignment was in Colorado, but he's here now with us. And my youngest is United States Air Force and he's still in the Air Force Reserves, and so I'm very, very proud of him in that not only have they served our country, but they've taken the message of education in, each one of them having gotten at least their bachelor's degree, as I mentioned, two of them working towards or obtaining their master's. Wow.

Speaker 3:

So we got to talk about baby girl.

Speaker 1:

We got to talk about your daughter.

Speaker 3:

Ivy and the joy she brought. I see that smile on your face. Let's talk about baby girl. We got to talk about your daughter, Ivy, and the joy she brought. I see that smile on your face. Let's talk about that joy that she brings to the family.

Speaker 1:

That's my baby. She's having four adult big brothers and her being five years old A lot of what the Lord had really laid on my heart. I was loving life in Louisville, kentucky. I was there at the University of Louisville just a beautiful place and that's where she was born and started to be raised and I really felt compelled to give her the same experiences as her brother and her brothers all going to elementary and middle school and high school here in Central Ohio. And so we started looking for some opportunities to come home and I am proud to say she is walking the same hallways as her brothers and they were with me on the first day of school and walking her and them reminiscing.

Speaker 1:

And so it's another proud Papa moment to see you know them, who are so protective of their little sister, and although you know their mother and I divorced many years ago, I'm remarried and now have Ivy. They don't look at that at all. I mean that's their sister and that protective bond, and so it's a good feeling knowing that I did something right. You know my sons have asked me Dad, how do you want to be remembered? And for all the things done and said in my career, I really only want to be thought of, as here lied our father, a great man. Wow, that's powerful.

Speaker 3:

That's powerful. You know, you mentioned faith quite a bit. I just see it in you all over.

Speaker 1:

Can you talk about the role faith has played in your life? You know I have never been one that, although I have worked in the public space to believe that you should separate church and state For me, god has protected me every step of the way. I know that my steps have been ordered. I know that he's called me to do my ministry very differently. I may not stand behind a pulpit with a Sunday message, but he has delivered me at places in the moment to have that word for someone who needed it most, and so I'm thankful for that. That that is how he's used me. I can tell you, being a state trooper out in the middle of those highways in the dark, it was God who had his angels around me, as he has so faithfully done for my babies and watched over them as well. So I am very thankful that my relationship with God is very strong and at the core of what I believe and knowing what I know to be true.

Speaker 3:

You know, I know you're also a proud member of Phi Beta Sigma. Yes, sir, can you talk about why community service is so important to you?

Speaker 1:

You know, phi Beta, sigma Fraternity Incorporated is such an important integral role of just the service, the culture providing back to community and that is what my fraternity represents. It is an integral part in just that level of involvement. You know, oftentimes I see fraternities who give that establishment during that undergrad moment and those relationships in Ours just begins there and continues well on. And so my fraternity brothers, they do an amazing job, not just in our city but across the world, in making that impact. And we are cultural for service and service for humanity. And knowing that that service and our integration and what we do is impacting so many and so many youth and young people in seeing that example, that's awesome.

Speaker 3:

You know as we come around the corner, this is a legacy podcast, so we talk about legacy on the podcast. What does the word legacy mean to you and what is the lifelong legacy that Police Chief Gary Lewis is building?

Speaker 1:

I want people to know my why.

Speaker 1:

Hmm, I want them to know my why and my why is showing that a African-American kid who parents divorced, and mother on welfare who raised us to do right, a mother who sacrificed so much for us and going through the challenges that she went through, that focusing on not just today but tomorrow, and how critical that is, that, if you believe that you can achieve understanding the dynamics of culture and how black, white or other that people come into your life for a reason and building those relationships. My mentor told me this. He said, gary, there is no substitute for loyalty, and I've never forgotten those words. He has since passed away and I share that with all of my mentees because I want his legacy to continue, not just through me but through those and knowing the impact that Greg Rogers had on me during that time period, and so I think that my legacy as a father, my legacy as a professional, I want those to ring very loud and when people think of me, that I was able to put my thumbprint on them in some capacity.

Speaker 3:

Wow, you know. Lastly, I want to ask you this you have been described as I've talked to a few people about you, you know you've been described as calm, humble, accessible, community-minded. How would you describe yourself?

Speaker 1:

You know, I'm very humbled even with those words and I think that grounded would be a word.

Speaker 1:

I think that I've never nine aunts, they will never let me get too big for my britches, because they will remind you where you've come from and so if you even think of a little bit of haughtiness, they quickly check you and remind you that no, no, no, you steal my baby. And I think that that humility and I think even oftentimes looking at my family there's always and it's funny I just shared this A very close friend of mine were out the other day and there are levels of the game and understanding that there are places in that and although you may outrank or even outshine that, there's still a hierarchy to this. And maintaining that level of respect and decorum and so many who have come before me that might have had a different or higher or lesser rank will never negate the respect that I have for people and I think that has aided me. Wow, Boy, you're going to set a mouthful today, hated me.

Speaker 3:

Wow, boy, you're going to set a mouthful today. This brings us to the end of this episode. I want to thank Baxley police chief, gary Lewis, for his commitment to serving the community and being a positive role model for future police officers. Most importantly, I want to thank you for leading the way and showing the way and the blessing of young people. They can't be what they can't see yes, now they've't see. Yes, now they've seen a police chief yes, so now they can try to be that one because they've seen one. Yes, you know. So I want to thank you for answering that call. Thank you for joining us during this enlightening and informative discussion on building a lifelong legacy and community service. Hope this episode was beneficial to you all. As always, thanks for listening to Be A Baller Podcast, thank you. Thank you, sir Chief Lewis, for being a part of this.

Speaker 2:

All right, if you enjoyed this episode, please share it with family and friends. The Be A Baller Podcast is available on all major podcast platforms. This podcast was created by Coach Tim Brown and recorded and edited by the video production class of Worthington Christian High School. Be sure to come back next week as we continue to discuss on how to build a lifelong legacy. Until then, don't forget to be a baller.