If there is such a thing as an average cop, Shane Jones is not it.
He's a grandpa who periodically wears an earring. He's a sometime actor and model who loves grizzly bears and Batman.Well-wishers at his retirement party would have been hard-pressed to find punch and cookies. It was held at a downtown club, complete with rock 'n' roll and finger food - a joke on himself because he nearly sliced off three of his fingers with a table saw a few years ago.
After his fingers were made mobile again by surgeons, Jones continued his non-police activities, including ramp modeling, acting with two speaking roles in the television show, "Touched by an Angel," and having his face plastered across a 1992 Salt Lake City Magazine cover.
He's also been in advertisements for Schwinn bicycles and played Joanna Kerns' ex-husband on a CBS movie of the week. Oh, and he once advertised underwear for a local department store.
Friends and co-workers praise him as a great police officer whose relentless energy, sense of humor and commitment has made a big impact on the community.
In his 20 years with the police department, the University of Utah graduate has worked undercover narcotics, the motorcycle squad (where he once sported a plastic pig nose and a Batman mask on Halloween) and community-oriented policing, his favorite job.
He and his partner, Diane Stover, were named Salt Lake officers of the year in a ceremony last week Instead of the traditional firearm, Chief Ruben Ortega presented Jones with a fly-fishing rod.
Capt. Bill Shelton, who heads the department's community support division and has been Jones' boss for about a year, is impressed with Jones' accomplishments.
"Shane is a unique individual. The work he's done has been extremely impressive. He has done a lot of proactive things over the last six years to get the community involved," Shelton said. "There are a number of things that we now take as a matter of practice that are things Shane did pioneer work in."
For six years, Jones has worked to form relationships between the police department and the community. He played a central role in developing the city's first neighborhood watch, and he taught safety classes in schools. He has visited fraternities at the University of Utah to ease relations between police, neighbors and college students. Working out of an office in the Foothill Plaza, Jones, 42, has made a formidable impression on nearby residents and business owners.
So much of one that the local merchant's association held a party for him last week. Sally Smith, owner of A Woman's Place bookstore, has known Jones for about two years and so appreciates his friendship that she helped organize the event.
"All of us at Foothill Plaza have grown to love him," Smith said, adding Jones is proof that police officers can become integrated parts of a community. "He's just been a good friend and a good neighbor."
Salt Lake City Councilwoman Deeda Seed attended one of Jones' farewell parties as a thank-you of sorts for Jones' work in the Federal Heights area of the city. She credits his innovative approach to helping the homeowners and Greek organizations at the U. get along.
"He did a good job working with the two perspectives there," Seed said. "We're very hopeful his work will live on."
The U.'s fraternity/sorority coordinator, Cherry Ridges, also has high praise for Jones.
"His sense of commitment to fair play, I think, is unparalleled in a lot of ways," Ridges said.
Now he has entered retirement, Jones plans to live in St. George for about a year, working with his father's construction company. Then it's probably off to the land he owns in Alaska, Idaho or Wyoming. He and the dogs, Hagar and Emily, will probably hit the great outdoors. Or maybe he'll go to Europe.
"I'm living my life backward," he said, laughing. "I've always beat to a different drummer . . . I feel like I'm in junior high. I don't know what is out there."