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Thomas Anthony Lind

 

 

  • Cincinnati Police Sergeant
  • First Cincinnati Police Network Administrator
    • Certified Novell Engineer
  • First City of Cincinnati Architecture Work Group Chairman
  • Greater Cincinnati Police Museum Webmaster

 

Tom and his twin, Timothy, were born on February 15, 1946 to Cincinnati Police Recruit (and future Cincinnati Police legend) Carl Anthony and Helen R. (Holland) Lind. Sadly, Tim died on April 10, 1950. Tom attended McNicholas High School.

On June 18, 1963, at 17, with obvious signs that we were about to fully engage in the Vietnam War, Tom enlisted in the United States Navy. He was assigned to the Navy Security Group of the Atlantic Surface Force as a Communications Technician (CT) stationed in Istanbul, Turkey, Karamursel, Turkey, and Bremerhaven Germany. During 1968 he switched his rating to Radioman (RM) and was assigned to sea duty.  He served aboard the USS Rigel (AF-58) as a teletype repairman and aboard the USS Hoist (ARS-40) and the USS Papago (ATF160) as Lead Radioman. After eight years and two enlistments, Petty Officer 2nd Class Lind was honorably discharged on May 6, 1971 with a National Defense Medal and a unit Battle Efficiency award.

Less than two months after coming home, on July 3, 1971, Tom joined the Cincinnati Police Division as a Clerk-Typist 2 in the Research and Development Section.Clerk Typist Lind was promoted to Police Recruit on October 29, 1972 and entered the 58th Police Recruit Class. On February 25, 1973, he was promoted to Patrolman, issued Badge 378, and assigned to District 5 (1012 Ludlow Avenue). A year later, Patrolman Lind was rotated to District 2 (3295 Erie Avenue). He also served in District 1 (310 Lincoln Park Drive) and, again on Erie Avenue, by then designated as District 2 where he was sometimes detailed to the prestigious Robbery Task Force during the holidays.. He was promoted to Police Specialist on November 8, 1981 and issued Badge PS-122. Specialist Lind transferred to District 4 (4150 Reading Road) in 1981.

On August 11, 1991, he was promoted to Police Sergeant, issued Badge S-99, reassigned to District 1, and assigned to Lieutenant Stephen Kramer’s Second Relief. One Assistant Chief commented, “Lind and Kramer together? That’s going to be interesting.” It was prescient. The two formed an interdependent professional bond that would last more than three decades.

In November 1992, Chief Michael C. Snowden set out to modernize the division’s information technology and business machines. Though the personal computer had become available in 1981, the Internet was growing, and the World Wide Web was positioned to come online in 1993, the Division was operating with ‘dumb’ slave terminals attached to independent master terminals in 17 districts and sections. On February 14, 1994, dissatisfied with the IT assistance he was receiving from the professional the Division had hired, Chief Snowden assigned the task to Lieutenant Kramer, at that time the Assistant Planning Section Commander.

Lieutenant Kramer was comfortable designing the physical design of computer networks (topography), but knew he needed help with the software, electronic routing, etc. (topology). By then, Sergeant Lind was already operating a private personal Bulletin Board System (BBS) across the Internet and Lieutenant Kramer considered him a genius when it came to inside ‘the box.’ Chief Snowden agreed to transfer him to Planning Section on April 17, 1994. Together, Kramer and Lind planned and, with a federal grant, implemented the first (LAN) at headquarters. By the end of the year, they built several LANs at districts and sections and attached them to the first City of Cincinnati wide area network (WAN). These LANs became the model for the rest of the city’s departments.

Sergeant Lind then went to school to become a Certified Novel Engineer (CNE) and became the new network’s first administrator. He managed the network for the rest of his career, through at least four commanders, a civilian director, four name changes, and four police chiefs.

Sergeant Lind and Lieutenant Kramer also conspired to create a Cincinnati Police BBS, the first law enforcement BBS. Without a budget, Lieutenant Kramer supplied the modem and Sergeant Lind the software and expertise.

In 1995, the City Manager created the Management of Information Systems Committee of all the city’s department heads to determine the city’s IT path to the future. That committee determined an IT Master Plan Project was in order and the City Manager named Lieutenant Kramer as its Project Director. With a $250,000 budget for consultants and participation of more than 20 IT and management personnel, the project came in on time and under budget. Once again, Lieutenant Kramer relied heavily on Sergeant Lind and his practical expertise. The final report recommended three standing committees to carry on the work in establishing guidelines and named Sergeant Lind to chair the Architecture Work Group.

Sergeant Lind retired on August 10, 1996. He returned to service on August 11, 1996 as a civilian Computer Programmer Analyst II (CPA2) in the Computer Systems Unit. The Division’s LANs and WAN continued to grow, and the various city departments came online using the first LAN as their model and in accordance with the recommendations of Sergeant Lind’s AWG.

The two conspired again at the end of 1996, propositioning the Command Staff to allow them to publish a Cincinnati Police website. Though Lieutenant Kramer transferred to Patrol in December, by April 1, 1997, www.CincinnatiPolice.org became the first law enforcement website in the world, along with its first electronic line-of-duty-death memorial. Soon after, there was an explosion of law enforcement sites on the Web. Its memorial page was very soon thereafter emulated by the new Officers Down Memorial Page (www.ODMP.org) and National Law Enforcement Officer Memorial Fund page (www.NLEOMF.org). As the Cincinnati site improved, the ODMP and NLEOMF followed.

In July 1997, Sergeant Lind’s Computer Systems Unit was moved to the newly created Data Management Section and its commander, Lieutenant Kramer. About that time, the city recognized the upcoming possible conflagration known as the Y2K bug and appointed Lieutenant Kramer to coordinate the city’s efforts to find and remediate the problem wherever it may be found. He directed CPA2 Lind to find and remediate the bug within the Police Division, by far the largest of the city’s departments. On May 17, 1998, Lind was promoted to Senior Computer Programmer Analyst (SCPA). In July 1998, the breadth and depth of IT in the Division had grown to a level that it was broken out into its own section, the Information Technology Management Section, commanded again by Lieutenant Kramer and supervised by SCPA Lind. By the end of 1999, SCPA Lind was additionally tasked with setting up the first fully Internet-integrated City of Cincinnati Emergency Operations Center (EOC) which opened on during the afternoon of December 31, 1999. At 12:20 a.m. on January 1, 2000, Lieutenant Kramer, at his first planned press conference, announced that only three of the city’s systems had failed, that all three had been anticipated, and none involved any Safety Department systems – a testament to SCPA Lind.

Lieutenant Kramer transferred back to Patrol again eight days later and SCPA Lind continued running the division’s networks. Thirteen years later, the first civilian employee that SCPA Lind helped hire into the ITMS was Lind’s boss and unabashedly declared on Lind’s performance evaluation that he considered SCPA Lind to be his mentor. The director spoke in glowing terms of Lind’s availability to provide guidance, instruction, or discussion; and his dedication to the Department regarding decisions, enhancements, updates, new technologies, and hiring new employees. He further asserted that SCPA Lind was the “unofficial leader” of the section.

On January 18, 2014, SCPA Lind, unable to live up to his own standards due to macular degeneration, resigned from the Police Department having served his country and community as a war-veteran sailor, police civilian, police officer, police supervisor, and information technology professional for 51 years.

But he was not through serving. Lieutenant Kramer, by then retired and president of the Greater Cincinnati Police Historical Society, once again recruited his old partner to take over as the Museum’s webmaster. The city’s memorial page was transferred to the Museum and expanded to include the 200+ line-of-duty deaths in the eight-county region of Greater Cincinnati. It is world class and the ODMP and NLEOMF have long since ceased trying to keep up with it. Sergeant Lind has also improved the rest of the site, adding a calendar, archive obituaries for law enforcement employees, and Legends and Notable Career pages.

Sixty-one years after enlisting in the Navy, Sergeant Lind is still doing what he can to make a difference.