Dan Dotson may be Utah's new U.S. marshal, but he wants to make it clear up front that he can't commandeer helicopters with the jerk of a thumb and he can't turn off dams.
Not that he doesn't get asked to often enough. After "The Fugitive" captivated American moviegoers last summer, colleagues in other law enforcement agencies started teasing Utah's deputy U.S. marshals with references to Tommy Lee Jones' more authoritarian movie moments."They'll say, `How come you can't shut down this dam?' or `Where's your helicopter?' " Dotson said with a grimace.
And even though he will be sworn in Friday as Utah's new marshal, he doesn't call himself "big dog" either.
But moviegoers, take heart. Not all of the movie was fantasy. If a rich, handsome, sexy federal prisoner escaped during a bus collision with a train, Dotson would go after him.
And if Dotson filled out a requisition, made a phone call or two and waited for authorization, he might even get to use a helicopter to do it.
What Dotson's daily routine lacks in drama, his past assignments make up for.
Take his first big job in June 1968. Dotson had just quit his fingerprint technician job with the FBI.
"I couldn't stand the monotony. You put one set of fingerprints down and you pick up another one that looks just like it."
He figured the marshals could offer more. They did. One of Dotson's first assignments was guarding the Kennedy clan in the days following the assassination of Robert Kennedy. The first week, Dotson was assigned to Ted Kennedy's children.
Then he was sent to Hickory Hill, Robert Kennedy's rambling home in McClean, Va., to guard the young widow and her brood.
"It was kind of fun to watch the celebrities come through. Rosie Greer. Rafer Johnson," he remembered.
He played football with the Kennedy kids and their guests. Tackling Greer "was like running into a big ole wall. It wasn't much of a contest," he remembered.
Dotson's string of assignments read like historical highlights from the '60s and '70s. When Indians took over the Naval air station in Minneapolis in 1970 "we had to go there and remove them," Dotson said.
When Indians made a stand at Wounded Knee, S.D., in 1973, Dotson was there. When Khruschev met with Pres. Richard Nixon at San Clemente, Dotson was there to provide security.
But like most law enforcement types, Dotson isn't the chatty sort. He doesn't spin the tales that bring history to life. Asked what Wounded Knee was like, he replied, "Cold."
Sick of Washington, D.C., politics, Dotson brought his family to Utah in 1974, taking the chief deputy post here. The Utah years have been quiet but happy, he said.
The marshal service won't change under Dotson, he said. U.S. marshals provide court security, seize and manage assets that are part of federal cases, manage the witness protection program and ocassionally show up to the more popular stand-offs.
"Our jobs are pretty much etched in stone. I can't see where anything will change much," he said. But for Dotson himself, this promotion is a big change. At 54, Dotson's been eligible for retirement since 1990, but he's been sticking around hoping for a boost like this.
"It's a way to climax my career. It's great to go out as the U.S. marshal. In my field, I can't go any further. I can go out saying, `I was The Man.' "