Career in policing
Truro is ‘away from the madness’ for retired officer
Many memories for Henry Glover, who served as an officer for 22 years in New York City.
Henry Glover was a New York City police o cer for 22 years. He served as a detective working out of Queens for most of his career.
Glover has been a resident of Truro since 2011, the year he married Yvonne Chase. Glover’s journey is a story of perseverance, which led to an outstanding police career. He shared a treasure trove of stories and real life experiences.
He was born August 10, 1938 in Orangeburg, South Carolina and his family moved to Baltimore, Maryland when he was eight and in 1952. When he was 14, they moved to
Queens, New York, where he graduated from Farrockaway Queens High School in 1957.
After completing high school, Glover worked for a summer in Orange, South Carolina.
An uncle, who had been in the United States Air Force, in uenced Glover and he too joined the air force, serving from 1958 until 1962.
Returning to Queens, Glover worked for a couple of years for a recording company as a driver, warehouse worker and troubleshooter. Later, he was employed by a lighting company.
“While working for this lighting company I met a New York city policeman, Tom
Flannigan,” Glover recalled. “Tom was moonlighting, getting in some part-time hours.
Tom was a big in uence on
me; he helped me a lot and this led to me going to Police Academy.”
Travelling from the academy to his home in Queens on the subway provided Glover with a lasting memory.
“People would rag out at you when you were in uniform; it was pinned on your chest and you couldn’t hide that you were going to become a police o cer. It was very minor, nothing to be alarmed about.”
Glover recalled an early career highlight.
“I was sworn in June 7, 1968. It was on a Monday, I was a
29-year-old rookie. One of my first impressions was when I got on the subway near the Police Academy – I realized that I could now use public transportation at no charge.”
As a patrol o cer early in his career, Glover took a homicide investigator’s course.
He worked ve years as a detective in the auto crime division, several years in robbery investigation and prevention and from 1984 until his retirement in April, 1990 he served with the homicide task force unit. During his career, Glover was decorated for a unit citation, meritorious and commendations.
“Something will happen these days and things will kick in and I find myself remembering things that happened during my police career. My memory is good, I can recall many experiences; I have a thousand stories in my head, I realize I was lucky a number of times.
“I’m thankful for my police career; it took care of me and I worked with some wonderful people.”
During the early 1970s, a New York city police Sergeant Reddy and an O cer Andrew Glover were killed in the line of duty.
“I was a patrol o cer at the time and the word travelled fast and my family received dozens of telephone calls from people thinking it was me who had that been killed. With my name also being Glover, you can see how the confusion started.”
Of the many serious cases he worked, Glover recalled Millie Green, a 63-year-old grandmother who was a witness to a shooting by a drug dealer in Queens.
“We had made the arrest and while the shooter was incarcerated, he conspired and contracted to have the woman shot. When she was assassinated, the city was really upset.
ere was a $65,000 reward put up for information leading to the arrest of the shooters; the case was eventually solved. I still think of that case.”
Glover worked on “e Son Of Sam” homicides involving the murders of couples. He was honoured for interceding in armed robberies and in October 1989, he received the Honour Legion of the Police Department, City of New York Award for contributions in the arrest of the shooter of a fellow police o cer.
“I’m really enjoying Truro,” Glover told me. “I love Nova Scotia. It’s away from the madness. I learned about this area from my wife Yvonne; she is from Truro.”