NEWS FLASH:

Capitol Hill is getting a new “top cop.” One leading contender has a degree in theology, a master’s in philosophy, is a big fan of Aristotle and his idea of a good read is Greek poetry.

Not too sure about him.

Let’s look at another candidate. Turns out he was a late entrant into the police force because he was busy bumming-out in Mexico, Guatemala and earning a dollar as a New Orleans-based deck-hand on a Mississippi tug. Broke and wandering what to do with his life he arrived in DC with $40 in his pocket and promptly had his beat-up old van clamped and towed.

Interesting, but sounds whacky.

How about this guy? Spent a year, as a high school student in Bologna, Italy, followed by a season playing basketball for Moscow

University, and then traveled in India. Sounds like he should be

in Interpol.

Stop sweating! The “new” cop is already in our midst. And we love him. By the way, the above,

resumes all belong to Inspector Andy Solberg.

Next month, Inspector Solberg celebrates his first year at the First District sub-station, opposite Marion Park, on E Street, SE. Because he refuses to spend much time behind his desk, he’s become a familiar figure on the Hill. He gets out among us. Talks to us. Especially the social-misfits, the street-yobs, and those darned drug-dealers.

The children

Every Wednesday morning he’s on special-duty. He reads to fourth graders at the Friendship Edison Charter School, on Potomac Avenue, SE. Currently the book is Alex Hailey’s classic Roots.

Kaye Davis, the class teacher says: “Inspector Solberg has made me look at our police department with a new eye— a new respect.”

But he confesses that he and the kids, are not making a lot of progress, in the reading department that is. Much of the hour is spent chatting, as he pauses often to ask the children what they think of what they’ve just heard. They express their views and in so doing open-up to him. He listens, he talks, they have a giggle and exchange knowing nods. He believes what he’s doing is an investment in the future.

That belief is prompted by a framed statement in his office. It reads: “What young people these days lack, more than anything, is good healthy role models.”

With 49-year-old Solberg as a role-model for police officers, there shouldn’t be a lot wrong with the MPD. But he almost didn’t make it. DC nearly missed-out on one of its star cops. When he moved to DC,

after his gig on the mighty Mississippi, he decided that the fire service was his future. But the city was not hiring. So he switched his attention to the police department. But it was no-go there too.

Not because it didn’t need officers—but because he was “medically unfit.” Strange jargon, for a strange “condition” that initially got him barred from the force. Solberg was too tall! At 6’8", he exceeded the cut-off height by three inches.

He set about changing the

archaic, bizarre, peculiar-to-DC, law. He wrote to every member of the City Council, pointing out the stupidity of the situation. He recalls: “I told them: you know what, I could be a police officer if I was gay, Jewish, left-handed, Hindu, or whatever. But you’re discriminating against me because I am tall. There’s no purpose to this law. In the end they said I was right. But it was a convoluted process.”

It was 1987 before Solberg was allowed into the police academy.

Instinctively he knew he’d made the right career move. He knew because his colorful background, and varied experiences gave him plenty to compare policing to.

Raised in Urbana, Illinois, Solberg’s father lectured in American history, his mother taught fifth grade, his older sister is an art historian in Italy and his younger sister a criminal-defense lawyer.

As a 12-year-old he spent a year in Bologna, Italy, when his father taught there; later he lived there again when his father went on an exchange program. He spent a semester in Moscow, when his height had the university basketball team drooling over him.

He got a degree in religion from Haverford College, a liberal arts college outside Philadelphia. With no burning ambition in any special direction he went to New Orleans, simply because he had a pal there he could crash with. “I spent three glorious years being kind of a bum,” Solberg laughs. “Other than being a policeman, my favorite job has been working on the Mississippi River as a deck-hand on a tug. I tied coal-barges together. Outdoors, physical labor.”

But in the end he knew his

roving days had to end. Broke, with only $40 and a Volkswagen van to his name, he headed for DC because he knew he could find another crash-pad with his legal-intern sister. “And so began a wonderful

relationship with this city,” he says.

But he still didn’t settle down. He tended bar. As for his parents? “They were hoping that one day I would find myself.” But that was not to happen until he “bummed-off” again, this time back and forth to Central America.

It took a pretty-girl in a pink jump-suit to get him to stay put. He was working at Au Pied de Couchon, in Georgetown. He couldn’t help but notice the young woman, who kept coming in to use the restroom. A recently arrived Turkish immigrant, she was selling leather handbags on the sidewalk outside the restaurant.

Their first date was a day-long reading of James Joyce’s Ulysses, at Kramer Books. Shortly after that he got his career act together and applied to join the police force. A year later, they married. Now Solberg and wife Yasemin, who teaches English as a second language in Fairfax County, have four children, Suzi, 15; Tark, 13; Matt, 9 and Ben, 6.

While waiting the long wait for the height-rule to be tossed-out,

Solberg got a teacher’s diploma. He was on the staff of Cardoza High School when the green light came. The terse communique told him, ”The law has been overturned — start at the academy straight away.”

After his frustrating wait, he hit the police fast-track. He made

sergeant within five years, lieutenant by 1995, captain in 2001 and arrived on Capitol Hill as an inspector.

During those years, as he worked in four of the seven police districts, he got a masters in philosophy at American University. And the Latin and Greek he studied at college stayed with him. He still

recites part of the book of John in Greek.

Does his education have an

effect on the way he works? “Only in as much as I wasn’t the type who was interested in, or studied, economics, business management or criminal law. But who I am, I

suppose, is partly based on the

education I got.”

Warming to the thought, he reveals that he wrote a philosophy paper titled: Aristotleian Cops in a Hobbesian World. “I’m a big fan of Aristotle,” he says. “His theory that you become good by doing good is as close to a philosophy of police work as I have. As for Hobbes, the 17th century English philosopher, he thought that everything is chaos. That life is nasty, brutish and short. That social activities are like the free-

market—everything that is going to happen is just going to happen. So in my paper I tried to figure out how cops could bring a philosophical

underpinning to this complete chaos they see every day.”

His idea of a good read is Greek poetry. His favorite is Cavafy’s

Ithaca. The message is one Solberg tries to adhere to. “It’s a wonderful poem, about how the voyage through life should be,” he says. “It’s not the arrival, but how you get there that counts. Slow down, take your time, stop at every flower market on the way, have fun getting there.”

Lives on Capitol Hill have certainly been changed with Solberg’s presence. He’s known for happily handing out his cell phone number to anyone and everyone. That’s had an impact; it’s a sure sign that he wants to be involved, wants to know what’s going on, wants to help. “I think that’s one of the things I do best,” he says. “I listen. I try to be aware of the community’s concerns.”

Another thing he does, and encourages his officers to do, is explain to the people on the front-porch what is happening when the squad cars come screeching into their street. “Going over and saying, ‘I bet you’re wondering what we’re here for ...’ is an easy way of building bridges.”

The rank and file under his command like Solberg’s style. One 11-year MPD veteran enthuses: “He’s a terrific supervisor. And for cops on the beat, like me, there’s nothing better.

“He’s got a refreshing approach to policing. The great thing about his command is that he has an open-door policy. Any of us can go and see him, at any time, and talk about our work. He’s very receptive to any ideas we have. He’s very into prevention and having us get involved without waiting for an emergency.”

His influence on the 350 officers under his command is paying

dividends. Like many on the Hill, Paul Meagher, owner of the Hawk and Dove, on Pennsylvania Ave., SE, and long-time Hill activist, has noticed a huge, and healthy, change in police presence and attitude. “We see more officers on the street now. Especially at night, when we might need them. Also, their attitude is very good. They’re not into the

trivia of policing—like finding some nit-picking thing to move on. This has helped tremendously in the Hill’s renaissance.”

Solberg’s take on Capitol Hill’s drug-selling “black-spots” is brutally realistic. “As long as society has drug addicts, we’ll have street corner drug-markets,” he says. “We can move them on, but you know where they go? They go to another street corner.”

He knows there is a high level of frustration in the community about the drug-dealers. The residents are frustrated because they think the cops aren’t doing anything about them. The cops are frustrated

because they know it’s hard to do anything about them that really has any real significance.

Despite that grim view, the verdict is that Solberg is doing more than a splendid job. Observations label him as hands-on, a bit of a maverick, gets involved, gets things done, has a novel approach. He finds all those statements bewildering.

“I don’t know what they mean, unless they mean I’m responsive. I’m certainly an action-junkie. That’s why I love the job. I like to get out on the street, and I do that as much as I possibly can.” He has his own

patrol car and at every chance he jumps in it and cruises his patch—with frequent stops to get out and chat with whoever is around.

“So much of police work is just communication, so if we do that well— and take on board some of the information out there—everyone is happier and there’s a good chance things will get fixed,” he says.

Reflecting on his first year at 1D1 he says: “I’m impressed by the community involvement. I like the way people on Capitol Hill demand things of the police department. That’s the only way we’re going to get better.”

And, for the “blotter,” his name is pronounced “Soulberg,” as in heart and soul. Both of which he’s obvioiusly got a lot of.