By Chris Scarnati
Times-Picayune
NEW ORLEANS — Dean Moore reclined in a swivel chair at the headquarters of the New Orleans Police Department’s Special Operations Division.
It was 7 p.m. on a Friday, scant moments before he’d begin the night shift patrolling some of the most dangerous streets in America as a member of the city’s SWAT team. Nevertheless, the 36-year-old officer happily chitchatted about his childhood and shared humorous anecdotes about his family.
“Dean is a great guy who is always joking around,” NOPD Sgt. Merlin Bush said. “This job can get stressful because you deal with some of the worst criminals, and he still loves his work and is almost always in a good mood.”
But Moore knows when to be serious.
Underneath the gregarious veneer beats the heart of a selfless soldier willing to protect his colleagues and serve the residents of New Orleans.
It’s somewhat of a familiar role for Moore, one hockey fans remember seeing him fill on the ice as a battle-tested enforcer for the East Coast Hockey League’s now-defunct New Orleans Brass.
“I skated with some of the toughest guys in the NHL, and from a fighting standpoint, Deano would have been up there with all the heavyweights,” said former Brass teammate Jeff Lazaro, referring to his stints with the Boston Bruins and Ottawa Senators. “He would drop the gloves with anyone.”
In doing so, Moore (6 feet 2, 215 pounds) created breathing room for snipers like Lazaro, who finished as the Brass’ all-time leading scorer.
“I never had many God-given talents, but that’s the story of my life,” Moore said. “I’ve really had to work hard for everything I’ve achieved.”
The fighter
Moore grew up in a Canadian town called Springfield, a tiny hamlet along the outskirts of Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Like many of his classmates, he dreamed of becoming a professional hockey player.
Moore progressed through the youth hockey ranks and eventually landed a spot with a Junior-A level team.
At age 20, he enrolled at the University of Manitoba with aspirations of joining the school’s varsity roster. His career was on track.
Then it was quickly derailed.
Moore absorbed a jarring cross-check during Manitoba’s training camp. The hit caused internal bleeding that triggered a stroke, rendering paralysis to the left side of his body.
Medical experts told Moore he would never walk again.
“One doctor said, ‘It’s not like you’re going to be a Wayne Weasely anyway,’ ” Moore said. “I told him ‘It’s (Wayne) Gretzky, and if you don’t know who he is, you certainly don’t know about me.’”
Or about his determination.
After three months of intensive rehabilitation, Moore defied the naysayers and walked out of the hospital.
And he wasn’t finished. Moore completed a rigorous offseason regimen at the rink and earned a spot on the Knoxville (Tenn.) Cherokees, an East Coast Hockey League affiliate of the Los Angeles Kings.
Two years later, he served brief tours with the Manitoba Moose of the International Hockey League and the ECHL’s Charlotte Checkers, before eventually being traded to the Brass midway through the 1997-98 season.
That’s when the love affair began.
“Dean was a fan favorite,” said Lenny Alsfeld, a longtime Brass supporter and current coach of the LSU men’s hockey club. “Not long on hockey talent, he went into every game to make his teammates and the fans happy.”
Spectators particularly appreciated Moore’s willingness to defend his teammates (he posted team highs in penalty minutes with 448 over 2 1/2 seasons).
The scar tissue on his knuckles became as thick as orange rinds.
“I’ve broken a lot of noses and jaws, but never had it happen to me,” he said. “If you’re down three goals and needed to do something to fire up your team, you’d be surprised at what a good fight can do.”
Moore was the only player to have his jersey retired during the Brass’ five-year existence.
“I moved all around during my hockey career, but when I came to New Orleans it just felt like home,” Moore said. “The people who came to the games were some of the best in pro sports.”
Call to arms
An atrial septal defect (tear in the heart) ultimately forced Moore to retire in 2000.
With that, the Brass’ most punishing player packed up his wife, Christy, and family and moved to St. Catharines, Canada, where he learned to fight in an office as a director for the Professional Hockey Players’ Association.
Moore was close to the sport he loved, but waging a war of words wasn’t his calling.
“My first dream was to play pro hockey, and my second a police officer,” he said. “And if you want to be the police, New Orleans is the place to do it.”
Moore returned to the city in 2004 and completed police academy training.
His first day on the job: Aug. 29, 2005.
“Yeah, I started during (Hurricane) Katrina,” he said. “I patrolled the streets until the winds exceeded 55 mph, then hunkered down at a Hampton Inn when (the storm) struck.”
Moore and his fellow officers worked around the clock to arrest looters and secure the surrounding neighborhoods. He lived on water, crackers and canned ravioli for many weeks.
Katrina destroyed Moore’s home, forcing his family to spend the ensuing months living out of a suitcase.
Like many residents, though, they survived and moved forward.
“This city is very resilient,” he said. “It has come a long way since the storm.”
So has his career. Moore started as an officer, moved to the Task Force and ended up a detective in the Criminal Intelligence Bureau before finally transferring to SWAT, where he primarily works as a breacher.
It’s a fitting position. Moore once was revered for beating up players, and now is responsible for beating down doors (with an apparatus called a “Hooligan”) to help carry out high-risk arrest warrants for murder suspects.
“The qualities found in Deano are rare in today’s society,” Alsfeld said. “Just as he had done his whole life in hockey, he put his own health and life on the side and took up arms to protect life and property for New Orleanians.”
Rolling with the punches
Besides obvious differences in climate and population, Moore’s childhood environment was the antithesis of the one he serves today. Chances of witnessing a crime in Springfield were as remote as seeing a Zamboni in the 9th Ward.
Nonetheless, Moore feels connected to New Orleans because he thrives on adversity and has made a habit of overcoming the odds.
He did it on skates, and he’s committed to doing it with a badge.
“I could move to my hometown and become an officer in a place that has less crime, but I don’t want to do that,” Moore said.
Then he paused, leaned forward and grinned.
“If it’s easy, it wouldn’t be fun.”
Copyright 2009 Times-Picayune