Agoura Hills motorcycle officer celebrates retirement

Agoura Hills motorcycle officer celebrates retirement By Lori Porter Acorn Staff Writer

Sgt. John Amott

When Agoura Hills resident John Amott first became an LAPD officer, he had to carry a dime in his pocket for emergency phone calls from telephone booths because cellular phones didn’t exist.

That was in 1970 and in the past 33 years, Amott has seen many changes in law enforcement.

Amott’s last day with the Los Angeles Police Department was Fri., July 25 when he turned in his motorcycle and collected 30 years worth of belongings from his desk at the department.

In 1973, Amott began training for motorcycle patrol. "Everyone is good at something," said Amott. "Mine was finding a good violation of traffic."

After three years on the job and with an obvious eye for spotting traffic problems, Amott’s sergeant recommended motorcycle training.

After that, Amott served at diverse locations, including Venice Beach, Hollywood, West Los Angeles, parts of downtown L.A., and he’s worked in the San Fernando Valley traffic division out of Van Nuys since 1990.

Amott saw LAPD go through several high profile cases and troubles such as the Rampart scandal, the Rodney King incident and subsequent riots, and the more recent case involving Donovan Jackson, a young man from Inglewood who was slammed onto the hood of a car by police officers.

When working in administration as a watch officer at an LAPD station, Amott was the policeman in charge who had to sign the arrest report for Rodney King.

"All that stuff you saw on TV was not on the report," Amott said. Amott was called to testify in court by both the defense and prosecutor in the Rodney King case. He was specifically asked about that arrest report.

Since then, LAPD has learned valuable lessons, Amott said, and now has a highly improved administrative system. Morale, Amott said, has greatly improved.

When asked about the recently released video and case with the Inglewood youth, Amott said, "The job of a sergeant is to get to a scene before an incident like that escalates."

A lengthy pursuit or a suspect who’s resisting arrest or is violent causes an adrenaline rush, according to Amott. By the time the arresting officer gets to the suspect, he probably needs a backup to take over while he calms down.

"I’ve shown up on scenes where officers under my supervision were hyped up and I always told them to take a little walk before going on," Amott said.

"There is a fine line between controlling a violent suspect and punishing one."

Amott had a motto that he said was meant to keep officers in control of themselves. They should ask themselves, he said,when approaching a citizen, "How would I want my wife or family to be treated by an officer?"

Policemen who play by the rules quickly learn that the rules help them, according to Amott.

Known as "Big John" to many of his peers in the department and also to many in other agencies such as the sheriff’s and fire departments, Amott seems to have built a large contingency of admirers.

Amott has lived in Agoura Hills since 1972 with his wife, two sons, 34 and 30, and a daughter, 27.

For the past eight years, Amott has been teaching traffic school at Pierce College, which he plans to continue after retirement. He’s also looking forward to playing golf and has recently enrolled in a class.

After turning 60, Amott decided it was time to retire.

"I don’t want to wait for that one more great thing to happen," he said. When a supervisor gets older, he becomes less tolerant of new people, according to Amott.

He wants to get out while he’s still ahead.

On Aug. 15, Amott will enjoy reminiscing with officers from all departments at his retirement party which is planned for Encino Glen Golf Course.