Chesapeake Crime Line officer takes on new role

CHESAPEAKE

Gus Mojica answered the black phone on the wall in his office at police headquarters one recent afternoon.

"Hello, Chesapeake Crime Line. May I help you?"

A tipster claimed to know who had robbed the Chartway Federal Credit Union in Western Branch a day earlier.

"Where can we find him?" Mojica asked. "Who are his associates? What does he drive?"

Before hanging up, he assigned the tipster a number to use to check on the case and see whether the person will be eligible for a reward.

Up until June 15 - his last day as coordinator of the city's crime line - Mojica was still answering the old landline with no caller ID, helping people who wanted to help the police.

For five years, Mojica learned secrets people wouldn't share with police on the record. Like a caller who knew who had killed someone. Or who was dealing drugs.

Of the 253 tips that came in to the Chesapeake Crime Line last year, 36 led to arrests that covered 327 criminal charges and resulted in $800,000 in property and drugs seized, Mojica said.

His is the voice on the other end when people called 1-888-LOCK-U-UP in the city. The fact that Mojica was taking calls on his last day in that role would surprise few of those who worked with him. He has combined a strong work ethic with a dedication to the program that offers citizens the potential of a reward in return for a crime tip.

Now Mojica, an 18-year veteran of the department, has been transferred to patrol, a move in keeping with department practice that limits the time many employees can hold one position to five years.

"This was my baby," Mojica said of Crime Line. "Doing this job meant a lot to me."

In his time as coordinator, Mojica streamlined processes and quickly delivered tips that helped detectives solve cases.

But you won't hear that from Mojica. Nor would he tell you how he took crime tips paperless. Or how he actively sought information from detectives. Or how he would ensure cases would wind up before the correct detective.

That's not his style.

In a career that is structured like the military, the one-time Marine does what he's told. He neither brags about his accomplishments nor complains about his dual roles and the extra workload that came with being Crime Line coordinator and public information officer.

He's been a fill-in PIO for five years and worked it full time from March to June. He didn't even balk when he got word of his transfer.

Detectives also valued Mojica's ability to work with people.

"If anybody embraces the team concept: Gus Mojica," homicide Detective Robert Hatchell said. "You'd see him there before shift, after a shift, just plugging away.... He's not about himself. He's about the team."

In addition to what was expected of him, Mojica, who speaks Spanish, would help officers who couldn't communicate with a Spanish-speaking crime victim.

"The next thing you know, you've got your answers," Detective Susan Mayo said. "Gus's calm demeanor is an asset. He doesn't get flustered.... He's easy to talk to."

Mojica took pride in starting a local Crime Line for Spanish speakers to feel safe and leave tips in their native language. When they called, Mojica would greet them in Spanish.

On a recent Wednesday, another call came in to the Crime Line - someone asking if the department was buying back guns. Mojica explained that the department no longer did that before saying that if the caller had a tip on an illegal weapon, he could receive up to $100.

Mojica never dreamed of becoming a police officer. Quite the opposite. Growing up in the projects in the Bronx, he didn't trust police.

"I lost a lot of friends," he said. "Whether it be to drugs, getting jailed, being in gangs. A few lost their lives.

"One of the ways I learned to avoid mistakes was by watching others' mistakes. That pretty much kept me straight."

Mojica is the second-youngest of six - and the only son. His father, Agustin, was a chef in an Italian restaurant and worked at a hotel in Times Square. Gladys was a stay-at-home mom. Both had immigrated to New York City from Puerto Rico.

Even before he graduated high school, Mojica saw the Marines as his way out of the projects.

"I chose the Marine Corps because that was the greatest challenge," he said. "If I can do this, there's no stopping me. I can do anything."

He joined the infantry at 18 and served four years - in between conflicts - before he met his future wife. He left the Marines so he could be at home to help raise their daughter, who is 21 now. Mojica and his family moved to Virginia, but he and his wife divorced shortly afterward.

Mojica was working security at the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co. checking ID cards when he realized he wanted more out of life.

So Mojica took the test to become a firefighter at about the same time the Police Department opened its application. The police called first.

His first assignment was working patrol in South Norfolk and Deep Creek before doing community policing by bicycle in South Norfolk.

"That was the best time in the Police Department," he said. "You can actually stop and talk to people more frequently, and you can sneak up on the bad guys, too. Those years solidified me wanting to stick around."

Mojica could relate to the troubled youth who lived in his patrol areas, and he understood how they felt about police.

"I turned quite a few opinions around," he said.

Now that he's back on patrol, Mojica says he wants to make a difference in Deep Creek again.

"I'm kind of excited because the one thing I did miss was being able to have that direct impact on the community, seeing the changes take place. I'm definitely going to make that a positive experience."

Veronica Gonzalez, (757) 222-5208, veronica.gonzalez@pilotonline.com

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