Echo Times

Issue date: 9/19/07 Section: News

Media Credit: Photo provided by subject COM police officer, Dan Widger, takes a break next to a military vehicle in Fallujah, Iraq, where he served as counter intelligence.

Media Credit: Vienna Bower Widger reviews photos from his service back at home in his office.

Some may think Dan Widger is just another college cop. But what many might not know is that he wears another uniform as well. A committed police officer since 1979, devoted husband, and father of two grown boys, Widger, or "Widge", as his friends and coworkers call him, also serves as a Counterintelligence Agent for the California National Guard.

But Widger's career of service and protection began a long time ago. After graduating from Novato High School in 1974, Widger enrolled in classes in auto technology at the College of Marin. He then enlisted and served in the military for two years before being discharged in 1976. Dan's old high school friends convinced him to take a class in Administration of Justice with them. "Out of the four. I was the only one who got into Law Enforcement," said Widger.

In 1979 Widger accepted his first position as a police officer
serving Sonoma County. He then took a position with the San Anselmo Police Department. Right around that time a friend told him about a position at the College of Marin. "When I worked in San Anselmo, one of the places I liked working was in the schools with the students and principals," said Widger. He preferred counseling students. "I'd rather talk to them and say, If you do this, this is going to happen. It's your choice. I'd let them know ahead of time what the ramifications were." He got the position at the college and has served as police officer there for more than 20 years.

In 1988 Widger decided to add another title to his list of service
positions. He enlisted in the California National Guard.
After talking with a friend who was a Sheriff Deputy, in charge of the Combat Engineer Unit, or as Widger calls it, "Ghilotti Bros. with
machine guns," he thought he'd try it out.

Widger was assigned to serve during various natural disasters, one being the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. He used heavy equipment to clear roadways and built floors for tents for people who had lost their homes.

By 1998, Widger was ready for a change and switched to the San Rafael Counterintelligence Unit, which specialized in interrogating insurgents. For two years he was trained in this area preparing him for what was to come.

September 11, 2001 - "Twin Towers Attacked by Terrorists," newspaper headlines read all over the country. Having already completed his National Guard term, Widger made the decision to re-enlist. "I knew they were going to need military intelligence people here to go after the Al-Qaeda," said Widger.

In July 2003, he was sent to Bosnia, where he served nine
months. His main job, as part of the HUMIT (Human Intelligence) team, was to track down people who had committed war crimes. His unit learned how to interrogate people without using force. "The best way to get information out of people does not require torture. That's inhumane and it's illegal. Just talking to people and treating them like human beings, I got all sorts of information from them," said Widger.

In 2004, after being home for only three months, Widger was sent out again for a three month training, then overseas to Iraq, where he served another year. Based out of Baghdad he was involved in conducting special investigations relating to espionage. Widger felt prepared for the role, "I'd been doing that my entire career," said Widger. "Even when I worked on Patrol, I did the investigation too. I'd figure out as much as I
could, then I'd go catch them."

Widger interrogated insurgents throughout Iraq. Falluja was one of the first places he went. According to a CNN report (Nov. 9, 2004), thousands of U.S. and Iraqi troops streamed into Falluja in an all out effort to drive insurgents out of the city. It was considered, "an insurgent command-and-control center for the rest of the country," according to the report.

"We worked with the Marines," stated Widger. "The Senior Marine Sergeant I worked with was a homicide lieutenant from a large police department in the US."

He went on to describe the combatants he encountered. They were "…young people who don't care if they die," said Widger. "They're not dying for their country, they're either brainwashed, on hash or acting on a whim because a friend invited them to join in. Many of them aren't doing it for religious reasons either. They don't even know the Koran."

Widger's response when he was called to serve was, without hesitation, "Okay, it's my duty."

Widger became in charge of team management, where he tried to come up with safer ways for the teams to go out. Units were doing 12 hour convoys, sometimes 7 days a week. "They were exhausted, so I tried to think of ways to cut down the number of days they went out," said Widger. "My main concern was to keep them safe and alive."

Widger returned home Nov. 2005. "When I went over there, I'd been a cop for 25 years and had seen a lot of crazy things here, but nothing like Iraq," said Widger.

His duty with the California National Guard will be completed in 2009. His unit is scheduled to go back in a few years, but by then his service will be completed.

The way he conducts his police work is basically the same. "It doesn't matter if I'm talking with somebody who's stolen secret information or stolen your car," said Widger. "If you can do one well, you can do the other. The main thing is, can you talk with people? Here at COM nobody's firing mortars or trying to blow people up or trying to shoot anybody, but it's still about what can we do to keep everyone safe."

Now that Widger's been back for a few years serving as a police
officer at College of Marin, life goes on as usual. The difference
is that Widger's point of view has changed. "Treat everybody, family and friends, like it's the last day you're going to see them, because tomorrow they could get in a car wreck or have a heart attack and you'll never see them again," suggested Widger. I had friends who were seriously wounded and some who died. Is that going to change you? Yes, of course."

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