Historical June 1990 report or notice. Original dates, prices and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.
Born and raised in Chicago, Skinker DeBaliviere resident Jerald Barnes received his college education at St. Paul’s College in Lawrenceville, Virginia on a basketball scholarship before moving to St. Louis.
He still plays basketball as well as softball on the St. Louis Police Department teams besides his work as an officer in St. Louis’ “finest!’ In his two years with the department he has chalked up an impressive number of honors, most recently receiving the Chief’s Performance Award Plaque.
He also has received a Quarterly Award for best over all performance, was an officer of the month in January and been selected for the Captain’s awards of excellence. Officer Barnes is one of the most promising young policemen Captain Everett Page of the 7th District has seen in a while. Sergeant Beverly Nobel, his superior, says “He really loves his job, even to the extent of using his own time to work on 7th District cases:’ She cites the remarkable detective work done with his partner, Officer Tom Bergman, on a case where a man was shooting out street lights in the Skinker DeBaliviere neighborhood.
They kept vigil at night in civilian clothes until they caught the suspect. Sergeant Nobel also describes an incident where Barnes walked in on a hold-up in progress.
The hold-up man began firing shots at Barnes while running.
Because children were nearby Barnes did not return the shots although he did not believe he would get out of the situation alive. Sergeant Nobel adds, “The job has become increasingly dangerous. People don’t respect police officers anymore and this is probably a result of the drug culture:’ An empathetic person, Officer Barnes told of recently trying to resuscitate a baby on the way to the hospital, but despite his CPR and first aid efforts, the baby died.
He felt terribly, carrying that feeling with him for days.
On the personal side Officer Barnes lives in the Skinker-DeBaliviere neighborhood and also patrols it.
He loves the neighborhood and is saving his money to buy a house here.
He is an animal lover and looks forward to having a Dalmatian in that house with him.
He is very attractive, of medium height and has a disarming smile.
He emphasizes that he is single and available. Officer Barnes was wearing civilian clothes the first time he appeared at the St. Louis Public Library Kiosk-blue jeans and a shirt hanging out to cover his gun (which police officers must wear at all times).
He was ordering books from the CD-rom when a man walked in and was being abusive to the librarian. Officer Barnes simply turned around and said, “I’m a police officer.; showing his badge.
He told the man to head out or he would arrest him.
The man has never come back although he had been a nuisance around the library for some time. Books on Black History are favorites of Officer Barnes.
He read several books on Marcus Garvey but was so impressed with the book Black Men: obsolete, single, dangerous? by Haki R. Madhubuti that he bought one for himself and another for his father in Chicago.
When he retires from the police department, Officer Barnes says he will buy a boat big enough to live on and sail to the Cayman Islands in the British West Indies.
There he will live out his days swimming, diving, scuba diving and reading books.
For now he settles for vacations in the Caymans.
We wish Jerald Barnes a lot of success in his life.
He deserves it.
Original photograph caption
Officer Jerald Barnes. Photo by Mary Ann Shickman. The Times of Skinker-DeBaliviere, June1990, page7.
Originally published in The Times of Skinker-DeBaliviere, June 1990.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Archival transcription note: Original police incidents and awards attributed to the profile, not to new case verification.
Original source: SD_Times1990_06.pdf, printed page(s) 7; PDF page(s) 6.
