How I Made It: Ron Boyd, L.A. Port Police Chief
Ron Boyd didn't plan to be a cop, but some well-timed dry cleaning trips, an appetite for learning and a habit of follow-through landed him the top law enforcement job at the nation's busiest seaport.
The gig: Ron Boyd, 53, is chief of the Los Angeles Port Police, the 200-member force assigned to the nation's busiest seaport. That includes 43 miles of waterfront, about 7,300 acres of water channels, terminals, docks and rail yards, cargo ships, cruise ships and tankers, as well as a few thousand recreational boaters. In addition to that high-profile job, Boyd is president of the International Assn. of Airport and Seaport Police.
Unintended results: Boyd was studying to be a radio or television broadcaster at Los Angeles City College when he took a job as a security guard at Universal Studios. "I took the job because it was quiet and gave me a chance to study," said Boyd, who was born and raised in South Los Angeles. "I had no intentions of being a cop."
Next stop, Ray Charles: A buddy Boyd made while working security promised to take him along when he found a better job; he wasn't kidding. Boyd found himself in an office waiting for an interview to become singer Ray Charles' personal valet. Charles wanted to know two things: Was Boyd willing to help him get where he needed to be, on time and with dignity, and did he have a passport?
Boyd hadn't even flown on a plane, much less have a passport. He worked for Charles for the next five years, however, traveling abroad so often that he filled three passports. "Now, I look back on that as my internship with an internationally well-known executive of the entertainment industry," Boyd said. After leaving Charles' employ, Boyd considered a business career in the music industry and figured a law enforcement job might help him pay for his education.
Ask the right people for advice: In 1978, Boyd was looking for career advice when he noticed the African American Los Angeles police captain who used the same dry cleaner. One didn't see very many blacks with that rank, thought Boyd, who started timing his dry cleaning visits to those of the Los Angeles Police Department captain. Boyd summoned the nerve to approach the captain, Bernard C. Parks, who 19 years later would be named chief of the LAPD. Parks had some unexpected advice based on Boyd's uncertainty about a police career: Try the Los Angeles Port Police, then usually composed of retired motorcycle cops and airport police officers.
Docking at the port: Boyd joined the port police in 1982 and was made a sergeant in 1986. Back then, he enjoyed the laid-back atmosphere punctuated by flashes of action at the nation's busiest seaport and at one of its busiest airports, Los Angeles International, where he worked after making captain, from 1999 through much of 2004. "I realized that I was involved in a lot of very exciting stuff, a lot earlier than any of my old friends and colleagues," Boyd said.
A reputation for taking on any task: Boyd took on all assignments, including undercover work. He threw himself into every form of training offered, including Coast Guard classes on the proper way to board a potentially hostile vessel. He even studied at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Va., in 1992. "I was really into the tactics and personal skills training," he said.
Boyd became known as someone who could be counted on to finish a given task, regardless of how long it might take. "Ron's an integral part of our organization," said Jay Grant, chief executive of the International Assn. of Airport and Seaport Police in Washington, which is trying to rebrand itself as being key to the fight against international terrorism as the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks approaches. Boyd recently agreed to serve another term as the organization's president. "We're going through such major changes that he didn't want to leave things unfinished."
Big job, big changes: Boyd was named port police chief in 2004, in the harbor where police work has lost any connection to its old, pre-9/11 relaxed atmosphere. That's something Boyd thinks about every time he's in a major retail store. "Nearly half of everything we touch, from the time we wake up to the time we go to bed, is a shipped good, and much of what you will find on shelves at any Wal-Mart, Target or Home Depot was shipped through this port," Boyd said. "This isn't just a local port, it's a national resource."
Taking the port police to a new level: A new $43-million, port-funded police headquarters is set to open this year. The port police fleet, which had just three patrol boats when Boyd arrived at the department, now has 10 and is still growing, with new boats expected this year. Boyd is most excited about what he hopes will become an internationally recognized maritime law enforcement training facility. Boyd said the port police already have one of the country's most highly regarded underwater dive teams, which gets requests for training from other law enforcement agencies.
"A world-class city with a world-class port deserves a world-class port police department," Boyd said as he stood on the stern deck of a patrol boat cruising slowly through the Los Angeles side of the harbor one late weekday afternoon. He found it unnecessary to hold on to anything for support because "I got my sea legs a long time ago."
"This," Boyd said, "is my dream job."
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