RIP Gerry Solan

Gerry Solan, retired Lieutenant from the Onondaga County Sheriff's Office, has passed on. He was 59.

Gerry and I attended the 1974 Fall Semester Regional Police Academy together. In the academy we were the "old guys," he was 27 and I was 25. Gerry sat right behind me in the classroom. I was a loud mouth wise guy and tried to crack Gerry up ... and did so on a regular basis. Jerry would double over laughing and smack me in the back of my head. IIRC there were about a dozen different law enforcement agencies in our academy.

We teased the State Parks Police rookies unmercifully. I drew a picture of an obscene felony bear stop for them and passed it around the class. It was awful. They never forgave me for that.

Gerry worked the road patrol and later was the CO of their Personnel Section. He retired about a year before I did. After leaving the Sheriff's, he worked for the US Marshals Office providing security for the Federal Office Building here in the city. I would see him whenever I visited the US Attorney's Office for meetings and spend some time with him.

He was truly a decent man, a good cop and I will miss him.