He Hangs Up Badge but Not Black Belts

Say sayonara to “the Samurai Cop.”

Colleagues of Senior Police Officer Dave Dye will host a send-off Jan. 29 for the 31-year veteran.

Dye, 52, earned the Japanese warrior nickname after three decades of martial arts training. He wears black belts in judo, jujitsu, karate and aikido and trains officers in defensive tactics.

“There’s a lot of officers throughout the county that owe their martial arts and defense training to Dave,” said Costa Mesa Police Chief David L. Snowden. “The other good news is, he’s going to stay with our agency as a reserve.”

Dye, who also runs the Shuyokan Do Jo martial arts studio in Costa Mesa, was inducted into the World Martial Arts Hall of Fame in Ohio in 1993. He also produces videos of the sports.

“It’s strictly a defensive art,” Dye said. “Aikido is primarily used in police work because it’s deemed a nonaggressive form of controlling somebody.”

He said he began studying martial arts as a teenager because his crimson hair attracted taunts. “I was getting picked on a lot in high school, so my dad enrolled me in judo classes,” Dye said.

He also advocates verbal martial arts--techniques to defuse, rather than enrage, suspects.

Dye once placated a man in a domestic dispute by pointing out the suspect’s tattoo.

“It was the yin and yang,” Dye said of the design suggesting balance. “I asked him, ‘Do you believe in that tattoo? If not, you’d better have it removed.’ ”

Retirement should provide time to teach martial arts and volunteer in his son’s classroom, he said. He will spend more time with his wife Sheryl, 42, and children Jeffrey, 7, and Stephanie, 6.

Dye joined the Costa Mesa Police Department in 1967 and worked patrol, the front desk and the city jail. He also has been liaison to Harbor Municipal Court and a police trainer.

He worked his last day on Dec. 25, a Christmas present to himself.