Rookie LAPD Officers Find There’s Life After Baseball

Any burglar fast enough to outrun LAPD officer Will Skett deserves an immediate major-league tryout.

Skett once ran 60 yards in a scorching 6.5 seconds while playing center field for Reseda High, Valley College and Long Beach State. He made it to triple-A ball with the Toronto Blue Jays.

Any purse snatcher smart enough to escape LAPD officer Heath McElwee has pulled off the perfect crime. McElwee caught plenty of people trying to steal while playing catcher for Granada Hills High, Pierce College, Cal State Northridge, The Master’s College and in the Independent Northeast League.

Together, Skett and McElwee have gone from being among the Valley’s finest baseball players to L.A.’s finest. They’re about to trade rides on team buses for their own squad cars. And, if they ever see a crazy guy in a chicken suit stealing someone’s glove, they’ll arrest him.

On Friday, Skett and McElwee graduate from the Los Angeles Police Department Academy during ceremonies in Elysian Park and start careers as patrol officers. Skett is headed for the Wilshire Station, McElwee for Van Nuys.

Each has found a new calling after making the difficult choice to end their baseball careers.

“I can honestly say that was the hardest decision of my life,” Skett said of retiring last year after deciding not to spend another season in the minor leagues.

Only a few months earlier, McElwee came to the same conclusion while playing in Allentown, Pa., and earning $700 a month.

“It was almost a reality check,” McElwee said. “I just knew there was something else for me and time to move on and find a career.”

Skett, 25, and McElwee, 26, were unknowingly pursuing identical paths. Each graduated from high school in 1992, went to junior college, college and the minor leagues. Then, on the same day in November of 1998, they showed up for their first LAPD interview.

“We recognized each other, but we couldn’t place each other,” McElwee said. “We started talking and we clicked.”

They were admitted to the same academy class last June and placed in the same squad. Adding to their similar life experiences, each is engaged.

“It’s amazing,” Skett said.

Besides becoming ringers for LAPD softball teams, Skett and McElwee serve as examples of how life doesn’t end when baseball careers fizzle.

“I was never interested in a regular nine-to-five office job,” McElwee said. “I have the opportunity to really help people when things have gone wrong in their lives.”

Said Skett: “I always wanted to be able to protect people. I’m going to be one of those who goes to trouble and doesn’t run away from it.”

McElwee and Skett have completed a rigorous 28-week training course in which they were taught about ethics, community relations, controlled substances, search and seizure, emergency vehicle operations and cultural diversity. They’ve learned about firearms, self-defense tactics and physical fitness.

For the next 11 months, they’ll work during a probationary period under the guidance of a field training officer.

They relied on the other during training, frequently becoming partners.

“We’ve gotten to know each other pretty good over the last six, seven months,” McElwee said. “He’s real good with martial arts. I pretend I know what I’m doing. We help each other.”

Said Skett: “It’s kind of nice to have someone in there who’s gone through the same road you have. Plus, he’s a real good guy.”

McElwee wouldn’t feel comfortable unless he was wearing a uniform. While attending college, he got a screen actor’s guild card and has appeared as an extra in “JAG,” “ER,” “Chicago Hope” and other television series, usually playing a security officer.

In the “Power Rangers” TV show, producers were looking for someone to pitch and not hurt any of the actors. McElwee fit the build. His biggest role was a six-second spot in the movie, “The General’s Daughter,” in which he portrayed a military police officer.

“You could see my face,” McElwee said.

Now comes real police work.

“They’re excellent,” Officer Jim Buck said of McElwee and Skett. “They’re such solid recruits. They’ve got the biggest hearts and love competition.”

In a time of turmoil in the LAPD, these two rookie cops have the commitment to make a positive contribution.

“I think our society is better off with people like them going into that business,” said Darryl Stroh, football co-coach at Granada Hills and the school’s former baseball coach.

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Eric Sondheimer’s local column appears Wednesday and Sunday. He can be reached at (818) 772-3422 or [email protected]