Law Enforcement Career

Captain John C. Sigler (Retired)

 

 

Rehoboth Beach Police Department:

            My career as a law enforcement officer began almost by accident.

            Upon completion of my four-year active-duty obligation with the United States Navy (See Military Service Page), I prepared to return to college to complete the undergraduate degree I had begun before entering the Navy (See Education Page).

            Having been re-admitted to college with classes to begin in the Fall, I needed a job. It being early Spring, the Rehoboth Beach Police Department (Delaware) was hiring Summer Officers, so I applied and was hired - it seemed like an enjoyable way to earn some money while awaiting the beginning of the next school year in September.

            I spent that summer walking a beat dealing with drunks, breaking up fights and arresting college students for drugs.  Rehoboth Beach is a summer resort town sometimes called "The Nation's Summer Capitol" because so many people from Washington, D.C. made the town their summer home. Lyndon Johnson owned a home there at the time. Joe Biden now has a home there as well.

            As fate would have it, one of the things I learned during that long, hot and exciting summer was that the United States had changed dramatically during my time away in the Navy and that I had absolutely nothing in common with the "college kids" with whom I would be returning to school. I did not like them and their anti-American attitudes, and they obviously did not like me - "The Pig."

            Sometime during that summer, I was invited to apply and test for the City of Dover Police Department. I accepted the challenge and was offered a job - I took it.

 

City of Dover Police Department (DPD) (Delaware)

 

            The year was 1971. As the state capitol, the City of Dover was growing and needed more police officers. Racial unrest and violence were the order of the day as was the anti-war sentiment that occasionally caused problems due to the presence of Dover Air Force Base and the thousands of service members stationed there and passing through on the way to other assignments. The Black Panthers had marched through downtown Dover and a Dover Officer had been lured into an ambush and nearly killed by a hate-filled radical with a sawed-off shotgun two summers before. Tensions were still high. Merchants were frightened and Dover was hiring.

            After six months of "bootcamp" (again) at the Delaware State Police Academy, I spent my first few years as a uniformed patrol officer responding to calls and enforcing traffic laws, interspersed with several "soft clothes" assignments chasing robbers, burglars, drug dealers, and other ne'er-do-wells. It was during this time that I first became a part of Dover PD's "Barricade Team" - SWAT.

 

Detective Corporal Sigler moving into position during a "shots-fired" hostage situation.

 

            Over the years I progressed from being a "point man" on entry, to a Long Rifle (sniper and counter-sniper), to the unit's Training Sergeant and eventually its Commander.

            Then I was assigned as the Department's first "Crime Prevention Officer" and then as a Detective in the Criminal Investigation Unit, a unit I would later command. During this time, I investigated numerous armed robberies, rapes, burglaries, white collar crimes, narcotics cases, and homicides.

            My next assignment was as the first commander of the Planning, Training, and Inspections Unit. At the time I was an NRA-Trained and Certified Firearms Training Officer. The City of Dover Police Training Academy was my responsibility. I was also the Department's Public Information Officer.

 

Sergeant Sigler (center)

Press conference with State Police - Joint homicide investigation.

 

            My next command was the Criminal Investigation Unit. Under my command were the regular Detectives, the Drug, Vice and Organized Crime Unit, the Juvenile Unit, and the Barricade Team (you would call it SWAT). The Evidence Locker was also my responsibility.

            Upon my promotion to the rank of Captain, I became the Administrative Division Commander. I had responsibility for everything that was not directly part of Operations, including the Planning, Training and Inspections Unit, Records Unit, the Special Services Unit, Communications, Fleet Management, and Facilities Management.

            My collateral duties included being the Department's first Accreditation Manager (COLEA), Public Information Officer (again), and In-House Legal Counsel to the Chief of Police. I had been a Sergeant when admitted to the Delaware Bar (See Legal Career Page).

 

Dover Police Pistol Team

            Early in my career I was recruited to join the Dover Police Pistol Team. The Dover Police Pistol Team participated in NRA's National Police Shooting Championships for many years. We also shot "Bullseye" (now called "NRA Precision Pistol"), International Free Pistol, and Air Pistol. (See Competitive Shooting Page).

 

Patrolman First Class John C. Sigler

NRA National Police Shooting Championships

Mississippi Highway Patrol Range

Jackson, Mississippi

Becoming an NRA Life Member

            I became an NRA Life Member soon after becoming an NRA Certified Police Firearms Instructor, probably 1976 or 1977, I think. A Life Membership cost $100 at the time, a good investment even for a lowly Patrolman First Class.

Standing my ground - Second Amendment - Almost Fired

            Throughout my police career I firmly believed that the right to keep and bear arms is an individual right protected by the Second Amendment. That position sometimes put me at odds with "the powers that be."

            At the time, the leadership of both the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) and the International Association of Chiefs of Police were openly hostile to the Second Amendment as we know it today. By then, Delaware's Joe Biden was gaining power in the United States Senate, first as a member and later as the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

            Biden had co-opted the FOP, both nationally and in Delaware. The State Lodge of the FOP was firmly Democrat and firmly behind Biden as he pushed for bans on so-called Saturday Night Specials and so-called "Cop-Killer Bullets." Several members of the FOP from our Department went to Washington to testify in support of Biden's gun-grabbing proposals.

            I had always been open and vocal in my support for the Second Amendment and my loyalty to both NRA and its state affiliate, the Delaware State Sportsmen's Association (DSSA), having first served on DSSA's Board as the Law Enforcement Representative in 1978. I later learned that my loyalty to NRA and the Second Amendment had been the primary reason I spent five years as a PFC, six years as a Corporal, and was passed over at least once for Lieutenant, despite having both a Masters Degree and a law degree and being a practicing attorney.

            Delaware had enjoyed eight years under the best governor this state has ever had, Pete du Pont. Du Pont was a strong Second Amendment advocate, and things were good during those years. And then along came Governor Mike Castle, a gun-hating "RINO in the First Degree."

            By then I had risen to the rank of Captain and was a member of the Delaware Bar. Castle was pushing Delaware's first attempt to ban so-called "assault weapons" and the AR-15 in particular. That bill was scheduled for a hearing before the House Public Safety Committee.

            Long story short - I was ordered to appear before the committee as the Department's representative and testify in favor of the bill. I warned my superior that I could not support the bill. I was ordered to appear and testify anyway.

            With only a few months left until my planned retirement, I appeared as ordered but instead of testifying for the bill as ordered, I testified against the bill. That almost cost me both my job and my retirement.

(For a more complete description of those events please see the link to the
Endorsement Letter from The Honorable Charles W. Welch III on the Endorsements Page.)

 

Retirement

            I entered "terminal leave" status in July of 1991 and began practicing law on a full-time basis. (See Legal Career Page). I formally retired from the City of Dover Police Department in February of 1992.

Post-Retirement Law Enforcement Management Consulting

            As one might expect, a retired Police Captain from a major agency with a graduate degree in business management, a law degree, and licenses to practice law in an adjoining state attracts attention, especially from those attorneys representing municipalities having issues with their local police departments where the benefits and protections of the attorney-client privilege is desired and/or needed. As a result, I was asked to perform an in-depth management audit for one such agency and thus began my side career as an independent law enforcement management consultant.

            Without divulging any confidences, suffice it to say that I performed such in-depth management audits as an independent consultant for three separate law enforcement agencies over a period of several years, and continue to provide specialized consulting services under contract upon request.