Bath cop honored after 32 years
By MARY PERHAM CORNING LEADER

PHOTO BY JASON COX Bath police Sgt. Lester Brown (far left) works on advanced tactics for searching a structure with police officers Bath police Sgt. David Forsythe, Addison police Officer Jesse Grover, Bath Criminal Inv. Heather Wheaton and Bath police Officer Colin Taft at the Bath Police Department 's Regional Training Facility at the Bath Rod and Gun Club.

BATH - Some 30 years ago, Bath Village Police Officer Les Brown responded to a call in a boarding house, entered the room and faced a man holding a shotgun tucked under his chin.

"And then he turned it on us," Brown said, adding with a grin. "I've learned a lot since then."

What Brown has learned, and done in his 32 years on the police force, has led to him being named the state American Legion Law Enforcement Officer of the Year.

Honored by the district post two weeks ago, Brown was feted by his own local Charles E. Westcott American Legion post Saturday night before heading to Albany for the state citation this week.

In a typical reaction, Brown made a slight face and shrugged when asked about his career, downplaying his actions and praising his former and current comrades.

"It's an honor, of course," he said. "But to me, (the award) recognizes the department in Bath, with all the big ones in the state. When a small little department wins, that shows the department gave me the opportunities."

Now a sergeant, Brown has had his share of "opportunities." A Vietnam veteran, serving as a specialist, 4th class, in the U.S. Army during the bloody Dewey Canyon II, Lam Son offensive in Laos in 1971, he came home and joined the village police force.

Since then, he and his former K-9 partner, Axel, have helped locate a dangerous escaped prisoner from the Steuben County Jail and a mentally ill woman lost in the hills of Campbell.

Individually, in 1977, he helped a family of five escape a house fire, sustaining an eye injury after a window exploded.

Less than 10 years later, he and another officer disarmed a man threatening suicide with an 11-inch butcher knife. In this suicide attempt, Brown showed what he had "learned" from the first, shotgun suicide call - he grabbed the blade and hung on until the man was subdued. "I got a cut on my hand," he said.

But one of his most satisfying moments may have been helping to convict Jeff Conklin of the murder of a toddler, Elizabeth Johnson, in 1986.

"I got him to confess," Brown said, his face tightening in disgust as he remembered the incident. "He said he just wanted her to be quiet, so he could go into the other room and play his electric guitar."

In addition to his law enforcement work, Brown is the firearms and tactical instructor and weapons armorer for the department and a seasonal state park policeman for the past 20 years.

His most recent accomplishment was the five-year effort to develop and build the department's regional training facility at the Bath Rod and Gun Club. Brown worked tirelessly to coordinate contractors and volunteers, and locate state funds for the facility, which opened last year.

Police Chief David Rouse said he was approached by Steuben County Veterans Service Agency Service Officer Denis Oliver and local Legion representative John Shaut for information needed to nominate Brown.

"This came from the community, not from within the department," he said. "I am very pleased. Les richly deserves this."

Willard Hughes, the incoming Legion commander, said the honor is long-overdue. "He doesn't look for a lot of notice," Hughes said.

That's just not his way."

Brown deflects the praise, saying he is a police officer because "It's a lot of fun … sometimes."

But asked if he's ready to retire, after 33 years on the force, Brown looks surprised.

"Why would I?" he asked.