SWAT officer took duty to heart
Randal Simmons, killed in a Valley standoff, was a model officer who juggled work, family and a deep commitment to helping the Los Angeles community.
For Randal Simmons, who was killed in a San Fernando Valley police standoff overnight, being an officer was more than just a job. The calling extended into the rest of his life -- from mentoring youth in South Los Angeles to charity efforts.
"He was what you would consider a professional police officer," said close friend and former police academy classmate Capt. James Craig. "Passionate about the job, and passionate about making a difference in the community."
Simmons, 51, had tried as a young man for a career as a professional football player, and was active in police department sports leagues, playing for the "Centurions," LAPD's football club, and running in charity races. "He was a very outgoing guy. Always smiling, always a kind word for everyone," said LAPD Deputy Chief Charlie Beck.
On the job, the married father of two -- a son, 15, and daughter, 13 -- stood out for his kindness and steady temperament. Simmons, originally from New York City, was the son of a minister, according to his former partner, retired LAPD Det. Gregory Grant. Simmons graduated from Fairfax High School in 1974, where he played varsity high school and ran varsity track, according to Los Angeles Unified School District officials.
He then studied criminology at Washington State University, where he played cornerback for the football team in 1976, 1977 and 1978. His final year, he was a varsity starter, playing as No. 17, according to the university's sports information office.
While Simmons was the strongest guy on the team, able to bench-press more than 400 pounds, his friend and college teammate Greg Sykes remembers with a laugh that Simmons "couldn't catch a ball to save his life."
Teammates would joke that the ball would hit Simmons anywhere but his hands, Sykes said.
After college, Simmons was briefly a Dallas Cowboys hopeful, friends said. But his pro-football dreams were cut short by an injury, and he turned to police work. In 1981, he was assigned as a probationary officer to LAPD's Pacific Division, one of three African American probationers in the region at that time, Craig said.
Later, he worked LAPD's South Bureau gang squad, known then as "CRASH."
Grant said Simmons was a physically imposing officer -- "an Adonis" -- known for his superb physical fitness, for connecting with people and for maintaining his calm. Size alone was not the reason he had so few confrontations on the job. "We just talked to people. We had them laughing on the way to jail," Grant said. "He was really able to communicate with people -- able to extract information from unwilling people. He made them comfortable, and put humanity into it."
