Hallums, Paul

Part 1 of 3 was recorded on April 24th, 2018 and covers the following themes:  

b. 1944 

  • Parents and childhood. Move to Tucson in 1954. 

  • Pueblo Gardens and Western Hills II in the 1950s. White flight. 

  • School at Salpointe and Rincon High. Middle school experience at All Saints. 

  • Work and social life during high school.  Drive-ins.  Miniature golf. 

  • Living in LA near Watts in 1965, studying undertaking and working in the mortuary business.  

  • Interest in law enforcement. 

  • Police academy and joining Tucson Police Department in 1970.  

  • Daily routine at TPD in the early 1970s. 

  • Downtown Tucson before and after Urban Renewal. 

  • Activism and youth protests in the early 1970s: Fox Theater, UA, El Rio Golf Course. 

  • Race and policing in Tucson. 

  • The challenge of policing before handheld radios.  Working alone. Street justice. 

  • Community policing. TPD’s relationship with the Tucson City Council. 

  • Quintessential crimes of 1970s: burglary and drugs.  Norman brothers.  Auto theft.  Burglars hopping international freight trains. 

  • Border Patrol in the 1970s. 

Part 2 of 3 was recorded in Tucson, Arizona on May 7th, 2018 and covers the following themes:

  • Tucson Police Department strike in 1975. 

  • Rising drug trafficking and violence in the 1980s. 

  • Chief Peter Ronstadt’s tenure.  Neighborhood Watch program. 

  • Working as TPD Public Information Officer.  Media relations. 

  • Drug enforcement in the 1980s.  The shootings of officers Barry Headricks and Jeff Ross.  Rise of SWAT Team. 

  • Tucson’s role in national drug trafficking in the 1990s.  Methadone centers.  Drug money and corruption. 

  • Evolving definitions of what makes a good police officer. 

  • Recruiting Latinas in the 1980s. 

  • Being married to a fellow law enforcement officer. 

  • Automatic weapons and the increasing violence of policing. 

  • Decline in traffic enforcement.  Early computers and paperwork. 

  • “Stranger danger” and crimes against minors in the 1980s. 

  • Turbulence, restructuring, and the brief tenure of Chief Doug Smith in the mid-1990s.  Chief Richard Miranda. 

  • Politics and policing. 

  • Changing technology from 1970 to 2000. 

  • Public perceptions and police with rifles.  1990s carjackings and drive-by shootings. 

  • Retirement in 2000. Starting work running traffic safety schools.

Part 3 of 3 was recorded in Tucson, Arizona on July 12th, 2018 and covers the following themes:

  • 1970 Pioneer Hotel fire. 

  • Rotary Club and changes in the culture of fraternal organizations. 

  • Changing self-conception of Tucson Police Department from 1970s to 2000: from military model to community model.  Increasing valuation of college education.  Interest in systemic problems. 

  • Increasing diversity among new officers. 

  • Rise of crime analysis and metrics in policing. 

  • 1972 Rolling Stones concert riot at the Tucson Convention Center. 

  • Side jobs with film companies in Tucson and California. 

  • Working at the Fleetwood Mac concert at UA football stadium in 1977. 

  • Visiting Oklahoma City after 1995 Federal Building bombing to learn about police crisis command. 

  • Increasing police armament after the 1980s. 

PeopleAengus Anderson