Laney Davis
“I had a guy, one time, on the loop. He was riding a motorcycle extremely fast. He was driving at a very high-speed rate, and I was going the opposite way. Of course, my radar got him, and I turned around in the median and went back after him. He was drunk. I don’t know how he got on the motorcycle, much less drove it. I wasn’t even caught up to him. He was going that fast. He slowed down to make that curve, but he didn’t slow down enough.”
Edward Emilia, a middle aged native New Yorker, began his journey serving the United States right out of high school as a Marine. He believed that it was the right thing to do. He had military in his blood. His every life decision came naturally for him. Emilia served for four years and came to Texarkana to go to college where his family was. Texarkana and Texarkana College did not offer the opportunities that he was hoping for, his degree in Architectural Engineering did not work out, and he was struggling to find a job in the area.
At that time he was dating his present day wife, Tina, a Texarkana local. Emilia fortunately found a job working for the prison system down in South Texas. Emilia always has a positive outlook on life and thanks each bump in the road for it. His luck with job hunting and college gave him an inner competition of always staying optimistic and seeing the best in every situation.
He stayed at the prison for three years and even dealt with a national prison riot. Thankfully he was not injured. The ways of military were imbedded in him. Since he grew up around it, it was all he knew. “You come with a sense of duty and wanting to help people,” Emilia says, “They fall hand in hand.”
After his three-year milestone working for the prison, he found a job closer to home working for the city of Texarkana as a police officer. He has served for the city of Texarkana for over 29 years. After all of the crime he has dealt with over the span of his career, Emilia enforces that everyone must stay positive and keep a positive outlook in life, or it will get to you.
Emilia states that his family has been behind him every step of the way, and he could not do it without his wife, Tina, and his two daughters. He and his wife have been married for 30 years. His job working for the prison and for the city kept him away more than he bargained for. While serving the city, he was on the streets for nine years and seven years as a CID and Detective. Over a span of 29 years, he has seen a lot of crime and has had many close calls.
He loves his career path and having the opportunity to change lives. ”He slowed down to make the curve, but he didn’t slow down enough. He actually crashed his bike. Five or six years later, I was in bi state and guy came up to me. He shook my hand and thanked me. He said I had actually saved his life. It was the man who wrecked his bike. He had seen my lights in his mirror and began to slow down. If I wouldn’t have been there he could’ve died if he was going faster. Now he is totally off of alcohol.”
Emilia had decided it was time to retire until he heard about his current job. “When I retire, I don’t want to put another badge back on.” He was very hesitant about working here, but the benefits of Texarkana A&M sold it for him. He is still in culture shock after working as a campus police officer for over a year and a half.
Ed describes himself as a people person. His career path has actually changed his everyday habits and responses. He loves humor and has become more self-aware, open minded, and outgoing toward others.
Emilia loves his job working for Texas A&M. He says most of his job is customer service, and less crime. The first and primary thing is to protect life and property. Texas A&M has a very low crime rate. He gives a lot of advice to students on campus, and states that he always wants students to stay optimistic no matter what they are going through. If he can give some advice that works, that gives him an inner sense of peace. He knows one day a student will come to him with a story that will impact his life, and he is waiting. Emilia plans on retiring in 8 years and after being in the military, working for a prison, and serving for the city of Texarkana, he says this will be a breeze.
“Cops, for the most part — we do our jobs and go home, and we’re not there for the public to give us praise. We don’t thrive on it. Having a positive or negative outlook on life is up to the individual. I don’t let the negative get me down. I went through that period. The negative will eat you up. The positive will end up equaling out.”