March 11, 2004
Police lose 60 years of experience all at once
University Police says goodbye this month to their two funniest officers. Of course Sgt. Mel Perez and Patrol Officer Chris Clewell, who are both retiring after about 30 years on the force, are also two of the department’s most experienced and respected officers.
Clewell, 55, who doesn’t like to be labeled a war hero despite his two bronze stars from service in the Vietnam War, will be best remembered for the human approach he took to the job, according to his co-workers.
“Christian is friendly with the good people; he is friendly with the bad people,” his friend Perez said during a joint interview. “He’s one of the friendliest guys I know.”
Clewell is a graduate of Kent State who ended up in Washington after visiting Seattle and falling in love with the area and the people. Originally he wanted to become a lawyer, but he found after a short time as a police officer that the work suited him. Several people at the station said Clewell is probably the best-known officer on the force.
Clewell was involved in the field training of 60 people over the 24 years he was a field officer. He also worked as a detective for six years. Both he and Perez have been officer of the year during their tenure and Clewell was also regional officer of the year for campus police forces.
Perez, 59, an immigrant from the Philippines who wasn’t even an American citizen when he was hired by University Police, hopes to be remembered for his efforts to improve community policing and his work in crime prevention. He is the police officer behind the “code blue” emergency phones on campus.
“If it saves one life, it will have been worth all the effort it took,” Perez said.
He is well known for his participation in the New Student Orientation during his tenure as a Crime Prevention officer. He wrote humorous articles for the monthly police newsletters on Police Beat, Blockwatch, and Campus Capers. He started other outreach efforts like Crime Watch, which is available by e-mail, and the Citizen’s Academy.
Perez coordinates the Husky Food Drive which nets an average of 13-14,000 pounds of non perishable food during the last football game of the season. All is donated to Northwest Harvest.
While Perez was working in Crime Prevention in 1990, the lawyer for Jean Cleary (Students Right to Know Act) contacted Perez and asked how the UW Police Department disseminated information to the campus community.
This information was used as an example in Congress as to how universities should publicize crime information and make it available to incoming students. Consequently, when the Jeanne Cleary Act was passed by Congress in 1990, the example used became part of the Congressional Record.
Perez said he especially enjoyed doing international student orientations because he could share his own personal experience with the new students. “There are a lot of things I’ve done here which I’m proud of,” Perez said.
Perez was literally born in a cave during World War II. His father was in the guerilla movement against the Japanese occupation and moved the whole family into the mountains. While his mother was in labor, a Japanese air patrol passed over the thatched house where they lived. Fearing that the planes would return and destroy the house, they evacuated her to a nearby cave where he was born.
He came to the United States in 1964 as a foreign student. After a few jobs working in data processing and office management, Perez felt trapped inside and started working toward his dream to have a job that allowed him to spend his day outside. When a friend convinced him to sign up for the police force 30 years ago, no one asked Perez if he was a United States citizen. He finished No. 1 at the police academy. He became a citizen in the same year as a requirement to keep his job.
No one in the department will ever forget the story about the time Perez recovered his own stolen car, when he made a traffic stop the same day his personal vehicle was reported missing from a repair shop. The perpetrators wanted to know how Perez knew they were driving a stolen vehicle. They dropped their jaws when he told them they were driving his car. The amusing story made the national TV news.
They also like to talk about the time Perez, a relatively small man, went up against a very large man and used his wits to get out of what could have been a deadly situation, by broadcasting both his condition and his location so he could be rescued. He also survived the only shooting on campus to result in the death of a knife wielding suspect who wounded him and another officer.
Sgt. Kaye Shea refused to share any further information after letting slip that Perez and Clewell are also two of the biggest pranksters in the department. “We wouldn’t be able share a prank because we’re not sure the statute of limitations has run out,” she said.
Perez plans to spend more time fishing, kayaking, playing tennis and other sports and going on cruises with his wife, after he turns in his badge on March 31. Clewell said before his Feb. 29 retirement that he plans to lose 50 pounds and spend more time with his grandchildren. And neither has any plans to stop attending the 28-year-old monthly department poker game.
