2. Austin Roche: Career Lawman

In early 1937, Austin J. Roche had every reason to take pride in a job well done and relax. He was 58 years old and thought his life in law enforcement was over as of 1933. He was contemplating a tempting job offer: representing brewers from northwestern New York state. The job would be a challenge, but Roche seems to have been a man who loved solving difficult problems. The fact that the job came with a $10,000 yearly salary only sweetened the pot. After all, he was almost retirement age and had a wife and daughter to consider.

Such was his life when a visitor named James S. Dean came calling. Dean was city manager of Sacramento, California. He came to interview Roche for the position of police chief. After interviewing dozens of candidates over the course of two months, none other than J. Edgar Hoover recommended Roche for the job.

If Dean studied the career of Roche, which he almost certainly did, he was probably quite impressed. Sacramento had a problem. Roche had the skills needed to address the problem. He had been tested in gun battles with bootleggers near the Canadian border as both a cop and eventually police commissioner. Very much a hands on problem solver and an excellent administrator, he personally oversaw raids and arrests.

In short, Austin J. Roche was one bad man to have as an enemy. Well-spoken and well-read, he seemed to take the actions of criminals personally. Unsurprisingly, he would not tolerate corruption or incompetence from cops. Notable successes were achieved in the towns of Lockport and Dunkirk, New York. One of these towns was so impressed with his reforms that he was offered the job of police chief there. He declined.

As impressed as he was, Dean knew that Roche would be up against corruption so institutionalized that it reached the very highest levels of city government. His first quote to the newspapers, when Roche accepted the job, was, "I do not expect him to perform miracles."

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