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Aardvark or not, policeman takes job seriously
By Amanda Karr, The Daily Reflector
Saturday, June 25, 2005
If he could be any animal in the world, Emerson McLawhorn would be an aardvark.
That's what the East Carolina University police officer told the psychologist questioning him to decide if he was fit to enter law enforcement.
Not that he wants to burrow for termites in the grasslands of Africa.
No, McLawhorn wanted to be the aardvark character in the 1970s "Pink Panther" cartoons, which made him laugh hysterically.
That answer made perfect sense for a man who is quick to crack a joke, even amid a profession more typically composed of the lion or eagle-type.
"I enjoy making people laugh. I enjoy doing favors. I enjoy helping people out. That's the best thing about being in law enforcement; you get to do all that and get paid for it," he said.
McLawhorn, 35, has worked for the ECU Police Department for the past four years, prior to that spending four and a half years as a Pitt County sheriff's deputy.
Born and raised in Greenville, McLawhorn said he hadn't planned on going into law enforcement when he was younger. As a kid, his plans were to become a history and driver's education teacher and coach football.
He changed his mind when his grandfather, a former detective at the Greenville Police Department, passed away. At age 25, after working a variety of jobs and generally lacking direction in life, he enrolled in basic law enforcement training at Pitt Community College.
Ten years later, he's offering advice to college students on finding their own direction.
‘‘I think it makes me a better officer," he said of his younger years, "because I really can tell kids they are going in the wrong direction."
Handing out advice is part of working as a police officer on a college campus, he said.
"We are law enforcement officers, but we do take on the role of being mom, dad, brother, everybody," he said.
It's a heavy responsibility that stems from a true compassion for those he has sworn to serve and protect.
"I get upset when something happens to an ECU student, whether it is on campus or not because I know so many of them. All the officers do. Even if it's not one I know, I think it could be," he said.
Summertime, when most students are gone, provides a much-needed reprieve from juggling the different roles of law officer, counselor and pseudo-parent, he said.
"In the fall, we take on all (these) hats, while in the summer we get a break so we can start over again in the fall," he said.
Not that campus is devoid of activity. Prospective freshman, youth campers and students taking summer classes keep the campus constantly populated.
Cars still drive through and around the university breaking traffic laws and routine duties such as providing an escort from the cashier's office to the bank, still must be kept up with.
However, summertime gives officers the chance to get out of the cruisers more and talk to faculty, staff and other regulars around campus.
"It's like Mayberry around here in the summer, but we don't have a barbershop to hang out in," McLawhorn joked.
Amanda Karr can be contacted at akarr@coxnews.com or 329-9574
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