Acting U.S. Park Police Chief Dwight Pettiford is perhaps the only man in the world who has attempted to pacify both angry IMF protesters and angry MEAC football coaches. Pettiford, a member of the North Carolina Central University Hall of Fame, spent 21 years as a MEAC official before giving up officiating several years ago.
Are there similarities between police work and officiating?
| _____ Monday Morning_____
A look back at the weekend and a look ahead at the coming week's action with a fresh new edge.
• Norman Chad's Couch Slouch
• Starting Lineup
• The Chat: Acting U.S. Park Police Chief Dwight Pettiford
• Two-Minute Drill
• 7 Days
_____ The Quote _____
"He would be the first one to appreciate us all having a beer on his behalf."
-- Quarterback Jake Plummer, on his former Arizona State teammate Pat Tillman, whose number was retired at the school Saturday. Tillman, an Army Ranger, was killed in Afghanistan last spring. _____ The Monday Morning Poll _____
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It's common that you have to make decisions very quickly, that's the first thing. But it's about maintaining order, going by the rules in both of them. And that's what our job is, to enforce the rules, to put it very simply.
Did you ever wish you could call for backup on the football field?
No, but I'll tell you, I think officiating gave me the opportunity to practice my decision-making skills in a rapid fashion, because you have to process information in officiating. But it also helped me to develop this philosophy: in officiating we have a phrase, "Let it be there," which means you see what you see, and call it when you see it, and don't rush into a hasty decision. And it's pretty much the same thing in police work -- you don't rush into a hasty decision, but you have to make a very quick decision. Both of them, you learn that you're only as good as your last call.
Which job has more pressure?
Ahhhh. Good question. Well, in officiating you want to get it right and in police work you want to get it right, always. That's the first time that question's ever been put to me in that way. A policeman has more pressure, only because [the possibility of] a life and death decision. This is where the correlation splits off. In sports, there is another day. Sometimes we have situations in police work where there is not another day, and that's where the pressure comes from. Both of them are very subject to public review, and I think that's another similarity; you'll always have Monday Morning quarterbacks in both of them. As a police administrator, your results are always subject to the community and the environment in which you live. In officiating, the fans are going to do it and the coaches are going to do it. That's what we live for, to get it right. Both of them require teamwork; you're not by yourself, you're part of an organization, a group of guys who are functioning for a common goal.
As an official, what was the toughest situation you faced? Do any games stand out?
I was very fortunate to work a game with Howard University and North Carolina A&T, when [Howard] had Jay Walker as a quarterback, the year they went undefeated in the regular season. The reason I remember the game is it went into overtime, and when you're working a game like that, you don't want it to be decided by a bad call. . . . So in overtime the quarterback comes to the line, he noticed there was nobody in the middle but me. He started smiling, he started laughing. So I didn't know what was going on, I moved to the side and he ran untouched to the end zone on the first play from center and won the game. My thing was I didn't want to tip off the defense when I moved to the side. He was winking at me, so I moved back and moved over.
Are people more likely to respect you as a police officer or as an official?
I think people are more likely to respect you as a law enforcement person. I think they'll appreciate what you do when you're not noticed as an official, but they're more appreciative of your police work. I was leaving a football game one time and there was a little old lady there and she said, "That was a great game today," and I said, "Thank you m'am." And she said, "Too bad you didn't see it."
So you never had coaches giving you a hard time?
Oh, man, that's his job. And that's another similarity; when coaches complain about not getting the service they need on the football field, you let them complain, then you have to review the film. In life, the community will clamor out the same way if they're not getting the services they think they need. The only difference is in policing you don't have a film to review; it's always subjected to the media and the public.
When you watch games now, do you watch the action or the officials?
