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YPD bids farewell to Detective Sgt. Jose Morales
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
It’s fitting that as the city police department said goodbye Friday to Detective Sgt. Jose Morales after 34 years on the job, there was a lot of people and a lot of laughter.
Morales, one of the last of a dying breed of officers who had worked in the steel mills before coming on the department, was a popular figure because of his outgoing personality, and the laughter and hugs and handshakes were commonplace during his retirement celebration, observed in the department’s roll call room.
He was a patrol officer and then worked as a homicide detective in the 1990s, one of the grimmest periods in the city’s history, when the homicide rate annually was often over 50 – and sometimes 60.
Detective Sgt. Tom Parry, who specializes in burglaries and robberies and has worked for the department more than 30 years himself, said wherever he goes in the city, people ask about Morales and say he helped them during a tough period in their lives.
“I can’t count the amount of people that you’ve touched,” Parry said.
Chief Robin Lees said a good example of the type of career Morales had was evident in those who attended his party. There were people of all races and backgrounds and departments in the city who came to wish him well.
“It’s a testament to his character and professionalism.” Lees said.
“He embodies the philosophy of pride and commitment,” added Lt. Brian Butler, who has worked with Morales in internal affairs for the past several years.
Morales, an East High School graduate, said he was working at the seamless plant at the Youngstown Sheet & Tube Campbell Works but knew after Black Monday he probably would have to find a new job.
“We could see the writing on the wall,” Morales said.
He said he went to Youngstown State University, and while there, he attended a job fair at which the police department was looking for minority recruits. That got him interested in police work, he said.
He said one of the biggest changes now facing police is the attitude of the public. But he added in Youngstown, he thinks police get along well with the public because of the high amount of training officers receive before they are assigned a beat of their own.
Detective Sgt. Darryl Martin, who also works in the detective bureau, presented Morales with a plaque on behalf of his colleagues. Martin said he met Morales for the first time when they both took their physicals, and they were hired the same day. They both worked a North Side beat for a few years before becoming detectives.
Lees said Morales is one of the most decorated officers on the department, but Morales does not wear his decorations nor talk about them much. Lees said there are several commendations for Morales in his file along with letters from citizens praising Morales for his work and help.
Morales said the one case that still sticks with him is the death of Lashawanda Aziz, 21, her 4-year-old son and unborn child during a home invasion at her Lansdowne Boulevard home in November 2008. Another child of hers also was wounded.
Morales was the lead detective on the case, and two men were convicted in the deaths and are in prison for the rest of their lives. Morales said the fact both men were friends of the victim and her boyfriend as well as the cruelty of the murders, are why the case sticks out for him.
Something that sticks out on a happier note is that Morales has been able to serve on the department with one of his two sons, Jose Morales Jr. He said it was one of the proudest days of his life when his son joined the department.
Morales Jr. said he will miss working with his father.
“It was pretty mind-blowing when people would see us together in the same uniform,” Morales Jr. said.