Hanging Up the Shield Won’t End Detective’s Aid of Others

She spotted the man, a convicted child molester she’d arrested previously, as he walked in front of her car at a crosswalk near Childrens Hospital of Los Angeles.

Wondering why a child molester would be so close to a children’s hospital, she called to warn hospital security, which confirmed that a series of child molestations had taken place. After her phone call, the man was arrested, prosecuted and sent to prison after five hospitalized children identified him.

For Detective Mary Goldie of the Pasadena Police Department’s Special Assault Detail, the department’s Silver Award of Merit she received 10 years ago for aiding in the apprehension of the molester was but one accolade in a long career.

The career, which includes two Silver Awards of Merit, two departmental commendations and 63 letters of commendation from citizens, ends Oct. 18, when Goldie retires.

Goldie, 49, of San Gabriel plans to write a book teaching crime victims how to get justice in the police and court systems as well as work on a Ph.D. in psychology and human behavior. “I want to get much more involved in the victims movement, which I can’t do as a detective,” she said.

The No. 1 graduate in the Pasadena Police Academy Class of 1965, Goldie is eligible for retirement after 25 years with the Police Department.

“I’ll tell you one thing,” said Detective Sgt. Monte Yancey, Goldie’s supervisor in the detective section. “If I committed a crime, she’s the last detective I’d want on my case.”

Yancey was referring to Goldie’s work in the recent arrest of a man accused of kidnaping several women from public buildings in Pasadena and raping them. Her work in apprehending the man gained her a second Silver Award of Merit.

“The suspect was described as having a certain scar on his face, so she took hundreds, if not thousands, of photographs home with her and went through every one of them picking out everybody who had such a scar,” Yancey said. “She then showed the victims only those photographs.”

Some of the victims were able to identify him, which resulted in his arrest, Yancey said.

While off duty, Goldie often serves as a liaison between crime victims and the law enforcement and judicial systems. She holds a master’s degree in human development and is a licensed marriage, family and child counselor. She also is an adviser to the Pasadena Rape Crisis Center.

Of her law enforcement and counseling duties, Goldie said: “I like to sometimes think of myself as a social worker with leverage.”