Met Rudy in 1974 right out of the academy as he and his side partner Sgt Dixon ran the front desk at the Western District. So lucky for me to be assigned to that shift.
It changed my life. In the chaos and violence that surrounded West Baltimore ‘Rudy’ was the voice of reason. Over the years we talked cumulatively of the neighborhood. I don’t know if people at work ever knew that Rudy was a true historian of West Baltimore and the City. He would explain to me the little things like why on Fulton Ave there were large three story dwellings and the immediate block behind on Vincent Street there were much smaller two story small framed houses.
Police officers particularly in a major city such as Baltimore (6th largest in the country at the 1970’s see so much in their lives and meet so many people. As a general rule ‘house cats’ were police that had individual careers that kept them off the streets no matter what. Rudy was not a house cat. Rudy as I knew him always ran the front desk, whether it was in the Western where we met or years later where he was a leader at womans detention. He was never a street cop when I knew him. But for a guy who basically had an inside job he did more to develop officers careers then anyone I’ve ever known. A true diamond in the rough for the City of Baltimore and the officers lives he’d influence. Rudy was a voice of reason when there was no reason. No officer in Baltimore ever effected me more. To know Rudy was in fact indescribable in words. Just a desk officer who was unquestionably the kindest, most knowledgeable, most reasonable, most grounded person I’ve ever met, He was an unsung hero in a violent world and a true Angel on earth. I was a cop for over 40 years and never met a person like him anywhere. On or off the job. I mourn this great man, this unsung hero of the police department and unsung hero of life who was the best to everyone he’d ever meet. Rudy Metzger saved lives. His influence was seemingly inhuman. An angel who was a gatekeeper then and now. Rudy was simply a great man. I’m so lucky to have ever had known him.
Neil Gamerman
