By Jeff Hampton
The Virginian-Pilot
ELIZABETH CITY, Va. — Capt. Frank Koch leaned back in his desk chair and propped a Sperry boat shoe on top of his desk, pondering a question about his first day with the Elizabeth City Police Department 30 years ago.
Koch (pronounced cook) and a veteran officer responded to a house on Cypress Street over a domestic dispute, one of the most dangerous situations in police work.
As they stepped onto the front porch, a young man emerged from the house and threatened them. Quickly the officers subdued the man, handcuffed him and put him in the patrol car.
Before the officers could leave, the rest of the family, who had just been fighting with each other, surrounded the patrol car demanding the man’s release. The older officer spoke calmly to the group through the window and slowly pulled away.
“I was thinking, ‘What have I gotten myself into?’ ” Koch said. “I didn’t know people acted that way.”
Koch, 48, retires next week. No badge or police cap in sight, Koch wore jeans and a yellow Nautica jacket. He likes to hunt and fish but otherwise is undecided on what he’ll do next. He plans to work somewhere.
Police Chief Charles Crudup was away for the holidays and could not be reached to comment on his captain.
George Frank Koch III comes from a line of emergency service officers, said Maxine Poulos, whose husband was a first cousin to Koch’s late father. George Frank Koch Jr. was a fire chief at Norfolk Naval Air Station. Koch’s grandfather, George Frank Koch, was an assistant fire chief in Elizabeth City.
“He was a good kid,” she said. “He never gave his parents any trouble.”
After hearing that, Koch deadpanned, “I guess I ought to give her some money.”
Koch earned his bachelor’s degree in criminology in 1996 and graduated from the FBI Academy in 1994, his most prized accomplishment, he said.
Standing 6 feet, 5 inches tall, Koch is known for his easy disposition rather than as a tough guy. Before courage or self-defense skills, the most important quality of a good police officer is patience, he said.
“Patience and an ability to talk to people,” Koch said. “Nobody’s a winner in a fight.”
Not that he hasn’t had battles.
Over the years, he has faced angry and armed men as a beat cop and reporters as the department’s spokesman. He stood almost alone when much of the force publicly opposed a new chief. Twice he served as acting chief. He applied for the job once, last year, when the current chief was hired.
As a young policeman, he was called to an upstairs apartment where a woman had reported an intruder. When Koch arrived, he stuck his pistol in his waistband and slowly climbed the narrow steps.
He was close to the top when a man came out pointing a .22-caliber rifle at him. Koch had no place to duck or run so he followed what he had learned on his first day - patience and easy talking. As it turns out, the woman had reported her estranged husband for breaking into her apartment. Koch knew the man and after several minutes, he talked him into putting down the rifle.
“There’s a few stories like that,” Koch said.
He declined to elaborate. In a small town like Elizabeth City, family members and victims are still around and people still know them.
“I don’t think it would be fair to them,” he said.
Five years ago, Koch was acting chief when a man suspected of murdering five family members in California showed up in Elizabeth City, where his mother lived. After a brief hunt, he was found and arrested. Dozens of reporters, some from California, clamored for information about the case. Koch held press conferences, answering some questions, but not all, which ramped up the frenzy for more details.
In 2002, Koch supported Chief Trevor Hampton after many officers blamed the chief for bad morale based on his leadership style. Some said he retaliated against those who questioned him. Others said he was properly imposing discipline.
Koch was criticized by other officers for supporting Hampton. Some were fired and some filed lawsuits. Charges that Hampton had illegally released personnel records were dropped. Hampton later resigned, but the controversy divided the town for several months.
A few years earlier, Koch had supported another controversial chief, one of many during high turnover at the top position in the Elizabeth City Police Department.
“I really didn’t have a problem with any of them,” he said. “I knew who the boss was. I just tried to do my work and stay out of it.”
Recently married for the third time, Koch acknowledged that police work is hard on marriages. His daughter from the second marriage attends Pitt Community College and has no plans for entering police work. That’s a good thing, Koch said.
“It seems like I’ve seen more in this job than some folks see in a lifetime,” he said. “It sort of makes you old quick.”
Copyright 2008 Landmark Communications, Inc.