John DeKoven “Deke” Bowen,
Charlottesville City Chief of Police 1971-1994
Recollections on the state of police affairs, local politics and race in Charlottesville
Interview with Beth Sutton by phone October 8, 2020.
Preface: I asked the former police chief to reflect on our recent history after a summer of Covid restrictions, pre- election polarization of the nation, and acrimonious media coverage of extreme police controversy surrounding the tragic demise of Breonna Taylor in Louisville, and George Floyd in Minneapolis. I wanted to ask him about current events, race relations and his career as Charlottesville Chief of police. Through recent work at Grace Episcopal Church in Keswick gathering oral histories from members of the community, in particular with St. John church and St. Johns Family Life and Fitness Center-Rosenwald School I met one of his former officers Dennis Morris who spoke kindly of his former boss. Bowen spoke from his home at Clay Hill on the Owensville road near Ivy, Virginia where he lives with his wife Connie.
Personal History
“I came here when I was 4”, he reminisced, explaining that his father purchased Clay Hill from his grandfather in 1938. Bowen’s mother was a Lewis whose ancestors include Meriwether Lewis. Bowen’s farm once was owned by John Marks, Meriwether’s stepfather (who is buried near Charlottesville at St. Paul’s [Episcopal Church in] Ivy). Bowen said he attended a variety of public and private local schools: Meriwether Lewis (the old one), Venable and “Mrs. Nancy Gordon’s”, then two years at Woodberry Forest and Lane High School where he graduated in 1953. He went off to college at VMI, left there for Loyola in New Orleans, followed by study at UVA and ultimately, he earned a B.S. degree in criminology from Michigan State University. “The draft board got me”, he said with a laugh,” my grades weren’t going to get me out of that so I spent time in artillery training [in Oklahoma, Colorado, and Arkansas].” By the early ‘60s he was in New York City in the DEA during the term of the pro-civil rights, charismatic and liberal Mayor John Lindsay where he spent seven years working in narcotics and law enforcement. (Bowen was involved working in NY on the famous “French Connection” case that was later made in to a film featuring Gene Hackman.) Bowen said that he saw some rough stuff- “riots-all of that sort of thing”, during his years serving as a federal agent in New York and New Jersey.
“I came back down here in 1971, hired by the city manager to work as an assistant with the Charlottesville chief of police to study the department. Cole Hendrix ended up offering me a job of police chief and I worked 23 years.”
Charlottesville community and the Police, Then and now:
“We have gone backwards, and it’s very discouraging”
What do you think made things different back then [in the ‘60s,70s & ‘80s]?
“We had black officers in the service, and in the police department-here and in New York. My partner in New York was a black agent, I will never forget Myron Avon and we all worked together, ate together-it was congenial and respectful and sure, everyone had their own lifestyle.” Bowen stated with deep feeling, “We have moved so far back now it’s hard to believe. It (racial tension) wasn’t in the department. In Charlottesville, we had good people and we worked together to solve problems.” Bowen described the strong local leadership that was responsible for building and maintaining peace through open and honest communications and a sense of shared values and community. He named black community leaders like *Drewary Brown and Eugene Williams, and Reverend Johnson.
Were there any times where we had trouble that got out of hand?
“The Safeway riot was one. There used to be a Safeway located on Main Street that was backed up on Hardy Drive, a rough neighborhood. The security guard at the store caught an adult stealing, and called for the police to get the magistrate for an arrest warrant. Normally it would have been simple misdemeanor-the police came and took the man down and placed him in temporary custody at the police station, but things at the scene got way out of hand. “A few trouble makers that happened to be there exaggerated the situation and started raising hell. [Brown]had been told that the police had assaulted the subject and came to talk to me and the subject about it. We knew this guy-he had been arrested before, and he admitted to it. Bowen explained, “I said to Drewary I figured it was easy to settle it given the obvious truth of the situation and I was ready to go home and get dinner. Drewary told me, “You better plan to come back tonight wearing your uniform and your badge because this isn’t over!” Brown felt it was beyond his control to talk sense to the crowd since the riot was being caused by troublemakers from “the outside”, looking for a reason to stir things up. He told Bowen, “It doesn’t matter what the truth is-the streets won’t listen”. The sad thing, according to Bowen, was that the store closed as a result of the trouble.
What were some of things that worked?
“The best leaders, like Cole Hendrix (Charlottesville City manager 1971-1996) talked to the local leaders like Eugene Williams. I listened to my officers, we had good honest talk. We got help from locals like Cornelia Johnson (in 1976 Charlottesville’s first African American female police officer, and in 1998 first female sheriff elected in the city) who recruited people into the force that we thought would be good - “it’s a people type job”, Bowen said. Having a college degree was not necessary, but Bowen emphasized that education of the minority community is key, “many guys went back and got their GED or enrolled in PVCC on their own.” Bowen also noted that during his time on the force there was a school resource officer program (SRO) that was supported by the superintendent of city schools at the time, where girls and boys were given a uniform, and a scouting post. Adult uniformed security officers (CSO’s) in the housing projects provided useful assistance as well. Bowen explained, “CSO’s carried radios, they knew who was supposed to be there and who wasn’t”. He mentioned a couple of fine officers as examples of self-made, motivated policemen: one notable black career officer was “Tito”, earned an Associate degree from PVCC, served on the mounted police force and later became a ranking officer in the department.” Another was Gary Pleasants who started with the “explorers” scouting program. Gary had a successful career and served side by side with black officers, earning a distinguished reputation with many well-respected friends.
What do you think is causing the problem with today’s police?
“We need better leadership. We need some professionals on city council- bankers, lawyers and business people who know how to run things. We need to get a strong city manager and a strong chief of police that can work well together. These are difficult times and there is no “one” answer. It will take a re-building of trust and cooperation.
How do you see the future?
“I don’t know how we can ever get out from under the cloud of [the white supremacist rally in August ]2017. It never should have happened. There was poor leadership-it all came apart at the seams. Now, we have gone in reverse.”
BS: What can you tell me about the history of the black community and the church in your neighborhood?
“I have been told Owensville was originally a community of black families, all descendants of the people that lived on the farm. Oak Union Church on Owensville Road was founded by the freed black community, and many of the homes surrounding the church were originally owned by black families. There was a one room school located across the road from the church where the brick house is now.” (The area surrounding the church has now been developed extensively is no longer as rural as it once was, but much of the Bowen family’s farm is preserved under a conservation easement.) Bowen said his great grandfather was a farmer, and his family is still living and farming the land that has been in his family for generations. His great grandfather John Marks Lewis was born and raised at “Fielding”, a farm closer to “Locust Hill”, Meriwether Lewis’s birthplace near Ivy on Owensville Road.
*Drewary Brown (1918-1998), a community organizer for civil rights and equal opportunity, and a founder of Monticello Area Community Action Agency was a beloved member of the Charlottesville Community.
Eugene Williams was “a prominent landlord in Charlottesville” who served for years as regional vice president of Universal Life Insurance Co. in Charlottesville, later founded Dogwood Housing, a limited partnership that bought and rehabilitated properties to provide low-cost, high-quality housing at affordable prices. The properties provided racially and economically mixed alternatives to public housing. -DP 9/18/2017) https://www.arch.virginia.edu/ccl/events-ccl/working-for-a-better-day-the-drewary-brown-story
R. A. Johnson served as pastor of Zion Hill for over 40 years, and spoke at Grace Church in 2002 at a joint memorial service for families of those lost in 9/11.” Known for "speaking truth to power," Dr. Johnson enlisted corporate support from the Waynesboro DuPont plant to build a playground for children of color as they were denied access to those in the city. His constitutional beliefs of inalienable rights compelled him to lead families from the Zion Hill Baptist Church in Cismont, to advance the process of integration in two Albemarle County schools, Stone Robinson Elementary and Albemarle High School. Dr. Johnson joined many other members of the community and their actions led to the integration of our city. He could be seen speaking, rallying to integrate the Paramount, Jefferson, University and Drive-In theaters, marching, meeting, mobilizing, sitting in at the counters of Woolworth Inc., the Waffle Shop, Howard Johnson's and the infamous Buddy's Restaurant, standing in hotel lobbies, and seated across the desk from business owners or policy and decision makers in order to cause change bettering the lives of the residents of our city and county.” D.P Obituary, 9/19/2013
Interview with Beth Sutton by phone October 8, 2020.
Preface: I asked the former police chief to reflect on our recent history after a summer of Covid restrictions, pre- election polarization of the nation, and acrimonious media coverage of extreme police controversy surrounding the tragic demise of Breonna Taylor in Louisville, and George Floyd in Minneapolis. I wanted to ask him about current events, race relations and his career as Charlottesville Chief of police. Through recent work at Grace Episcopal Church in Keswick gathering oral histories from members of the community, in particular with St. John church and St. Johns Family Life and Fitness Center-Rosenwald School I met one of his former officers Dennis Morris who spoke kindly of his former boss. Bowen spoke from his home at Clay Hill on the Owensville road near Ivy, Virginia where he lives with his wife Connie.
Personal History
“I came here when I was 4”, he reminisced, explaining that his father purchased Clay Hill from his grandfather in 1938. Bowen’s mother was a Lewis whose ancestors include Meriwether Lewis. Bowen’s farm once was owned by John Marks, Meriwether’s stepfather (who is buried near Charlottesville at St. Paul’s [Episcopal Church in] Ivy). Bowen said he attended a variety of public and private local schools: Meriwether Lewis (the old one), Venable and “Mrs. Nancy Gordon’s”, then two years at Woodberry Forest and Lane High School where he graduated in 1953. He went off to college at VMI, left there for Loyola in New Orleans, followed by study at UVA and ultimately, he earned a B.S. degree in criminology from Michigan State University. “The draft board got me”, he said with a laugh,” my grades weren’t going to get me out of that so I spent time in artillery training [in Oklahoma, Colorado, and Arkansas].” By the early ‘60s he was in New York City in the DEA during the term of the pro-civil rights, charismatic and liberal Mayor John Lindsay where he spent seven years working in narcotics and law enforcement. (Bowen was involved working in NY on the famous “French Connection” case that was later made in to a film featuring Gene Hackman.) Bowen said that he saw some rough stuff- “riots-all of that sort of thing”, during his years serving as a federal agent in New York and New Jersey.
“I came back down here in 1971, hired by the city manager to work as an assistant with the Charlottesville chief of police to study the department. Cole Hendrix ended up offering me a job of police chief and I worked 23 years.”
Charlottesville community and the Police, Then and now:
“We have gone backwards, and it’s very discouraging”
What do you think made things different back then [in the ‘60s,70s & ‘80s]?
“We had black officers in the service, and in the police department-here and in New York. My partner in New York was a black agent, I will never forget Myron Avon and we all worked together, ate together-it was congenial and respectful and sure, everyone had their own lifestyle.” Bowen stated with deep feeling, “We have moved so far back now it’s hard to believe. It (racial tension) wasn’t in the department. In Charlottesville, we had good people and we worked together to solve problems.” Bowen described the strong local leadership that was responsible for building and maintaining peace through open and honest communications and a sense of shared values and community. He named black community leaders like *Drewary Brown and Eugene Williams, and Reverend Johnson.
Were there any times where we had trouble that got out of hand?
“The Safeway riot was one. There used to be a Safeway located on Main Street that was backed up on Hardy Drive, a rough neighborhood. The security guard at the store caught an adult stealing, and called for the police to get the magistrate for an arrest warrant. Normally it would have been simple misdemeanor-the police came and took the man down and placed him in temporary custody at the police station, but things at the scene got way out of hand. “A few trouble makers that happened to be there exaggerated the situation and started raising hell. [Brown]had been told that the police had assaulted the subject and came to talk to me and the subject about it. We knew this guy-he had been arrested before, and he admitted to it. Bowen explained, “I said to Drewary I figured it was easy to settle it given the obvious truth of the situation and I was ready to go home and get dinner. Drewary told me, “You better plan to come back tonight wearing your uniform and your badge because this isn’t over!” Brown felt it was beyond his control to talk sense to the crowd since the riot was being caused by troublemakers from “the outside”, looking for a reason to stir things up. He told Bowen, “It doesn’t matter what the truth is-the streets won’t listen”. The sad thing, according to Bowen, was that the store closed as a result of the trouble.
What were some of things that worked?
“The best leaders, like Cole Hendrix (Charlottesville City manager 1971-1996) talked to the local leaders like Eugene Williams. I listened to my officers, we had good honest talk. We got help from locals like Cornelia Johnson (in 1976 Charlottesville’s first African American female police officer, and in 1998 first female sheriff elected in the city) who recruited people into the force that we thought would be good - “it’s a people type job”, Bowen said. Having a college degree was not necessary, but Bowen emphasized that education of the minority community is key, “many guys went back and got their GED or enrolled in PVCC on their own.” Bowen also noted that during his time on the force there was a school resource officer program (SRO) that was supported by the superintendent of city schools at the time, where girls and boys were given a uniform, and a scouting post. Adult uniformed security officers (CSO’s) in the housing projects provided useful assistance as well. Bowen explained, “CSO’s carried radios, they knew who was supposed to be there and who wasn’t”. He mentioned a couple of fine officers as examples of self-made, motivated policemen: one notable black career officer was “Tito”, earned an Associate degree from PVCC, served on the mounted police force and later became a ranking officer in the department.” Another was Gary Pleasants who started with the “explorers” scouting program. Gary had a successful career and served side by side with black officers, earning a distinguished reputation with many well-respected friends.
What do you think is causing the problem with today’s police?
“We need better leadership. We need some professionals on city council- bankers, lawyers and business people who know how to run things. We need to get a strong city manager and a strong chief of police that can work well together. These are difficult times and there is no “one” answer. It will take a re-building of trust and cooperation.
How do you see the future?
“I don’t know how we can ever get out from under the cloud of [the white supremacist rally in August ]2017. It never should have happened. There was poor leadership-it all came apart at the seams. Now, we have gone in reverse.”
BS: What can you tell me about the history of the black community and the church in your neighborhood?
“I have been told Owensville was originally a community of black families, all descendants of the people that lived on the farm. Oak Union Church on Owensville Road was founded by the freed black community, and many of the homes surrounding the church were originally owned by black families. There was a one room school located across the road from the church where the brick house is now.” (The area surrounding the church has now been developed extensively is no longer as rural as it once was, but much of the Bowen family’s farm is preserved under a conservation easement.) Bowen said his great grandfather was a farmer, and his family is still living and farming the land that has been in his family for generations. His great grandfather John Marks Lewis was born and raised at “Fielding”, a farm closer to “Locust Hill”, Meriwether Lewis’s birthplace near Ivy on Owensville Road.
*Drewary Brown (1918-1998), a community organizer for civil rights and equal opportunity, and a founder of Monticello Area Community Action Agency was a beloved member of the Charlottesville Community.
Eugene Williams was “a prominent landlord in Charlottesville” who served for years as regional vice president of Universal Life Insurance Co. in Charlottesville, later founded Dogwood Housing, a limited partnership that bought and rehabilitated properties to provide low-cost, high-quality housing at affordable prices. The properties provided racially and economically mixed alternatives to public housing. -DP 9/18/2017) https://www.arch.virginia.edu/ccl/events-ccl/working-for-a-better-day-the-drewary-brown-story
R. A. Johnson served as pastor of Zion Hill for over 40 years, and spoke at Grace Church in 2002 at a joint memorial service for families of those lost in 9/11.” Known for "speaking truth to power," Dr. Johnson enlisted corporate support from the Waynesboro DuPont plant to build a playground for children of color as they were denied access to those in the city. His constitutional beliefs of inalienable rights compelled him to lead families from the Zion Hill Baptist Church in Cismont, to advance the process of integration in two Albemarle County schools, Stone Robinson Elementary and Albemarle High School. Dr. Johnson joined many other members of the community and their actions led to the integration of our city. He could be seen speaking, rallying to integrate the Paramount, Jefferson, University and Drive-In theaters, marching, meeting, mobilizing, sitting in at the counters of Woolworth Inc., the Waffle Shop, Howard Johnson's and the infamous Buddy's Restaurant, standing in hotel lobbies, and seated across the desk from business owners or policy and decision makers in order to cause change bettering the lives of the residents of our city and county.” D.P Obituary, 9/19/2013
