Federal courthouse security officer honored for work with public
Little Rock AR April 30 2023
Eugene Gray, a federal court security officer since January 2017, was honored Thursday for his work as he was named Court Security Officer of the Year during a ceremony at the Richard Sheppard Arnold U.S. District Courthouse in Little Rock.
Gray, who has been named twice in 18 months as Court Security Officer of the Quarter, was honored with a plaque, two challenge coins and a $1,000 cash award by executives with Walden Security, as Court Security Officer of the Year for the 8th Circuit, which is composed of 10 federal districts spread out across six states.
The court security officers are responsible for screening courthouse visitors, escorting jurors to and from the courtrooms, keeping the peace inside the courtrooms, and protecting the judges and attorneys in the courtroom, among other duties. Dressed in blue uniforms, the “CSOs,” as they are called, monitor courthouse entrances, attend all hearings and trials and oversee the safety of the people in a courthouse. During hearings, a CSO is stationed at the back of the courtroom to watch over the proceedings and remove unruly spectators, prevent unauthorized access beyond the gallery, and sometimes to guard defendants being taken into custody.
Gray said after his retirement from the Little Rock Police Department, he spent some time at home but, after being told of an opening for a CSO, decided to go back to work in 2017.
“I worked for LRPD from 1985 until 2015,” Gray said in an interview just prior to the award ceremony. “I worked as a police officer and served in many departments in the agency. Then, I retired and I was sitting around the house and Gertrude Higginbotham told me about this job, so I applied for it and I’ve been here ever since.”
Gray, a self-described “people person,” said both his favorite and least favorite parts of the job involve interactions with others.
“Working with people,” he said is a favorite part. “Meeting with people.”
His least favorite part, he said with a laugh, is, “being mean to people.”
Gray’s co-workers are quick to point out that Gray, soft-spoken and gentle, is never mean but the nature of the job does require that he sometimes exhibit an intractable firmness when necessary.
“Doing my job, sometimes I have to make an arrest, do my part,” he said. “Sometimes I have to excuse family members from the courtroom because of their behavior.”
When he’s not on duty at the courthouse, Gray said he enjoys spending time with his wife, Safonda, and with their six children and three grandchildren. He said he also enjoys attending church at New Zion Grove Worship Center in North Little Rock.
In the jury orientation room at the Richard Sheppard Arnold Federal Courthouse in Little Rock, Gray mingled with friends, family and co-workers, the spacious room filled nearly to capacity with federal judges, courthouse staff members, current and retired CSOs and others talking and offering their congratulations.
One of the largest privately held security firms in the country, Walden Security contracts with seven of the 12 federal circuits in the nation to provide court security officers. Each quarter, Walden selects a CSO of the quarter from each district and every year it names a CSO of the year from each of the seven U.S. circuits it is responsible for.
Butch Green, district supervisor for the Eastern District of Arkansas, welcomed various guests, including U.S. District Judge James M. Moody Jr., U.S. District Judge Kristine G. Baker, Chief Deputy U.S. Marshal Cory Harris, and others, then tuned his attention to Gray.
“We’re here to talk about Eugene,” Green said. “Now, this is one guy out of 420, so he’s top dog.”
Among the skills Gray brought to his role as court security officer, Green said, was as a hostage negotiator.
“That leads me to his most famous skill,” Green said. “Talking to people … That’s what he loves about his job most, meeting new people and as you know, we have people from every walk of life come through the front doors.”
Green said Gray’s penchant for talking to people often had unexpected results. He said when Gray was early in his career as a Little Rock police officer he was called out to respond to a shoplifting complaint.
“Eugene approached the man who was in the parking lot putting groceries in his car,” Green said. “He had a young child with him. Now, this was $180 worth of groceries. Eugene figured out he was down on his luck so he went in and paid for the man’s groceries. In the last couple of weeks, Eugene went to lunch at a barbecue place and happened to meet the same man. He remembered him.”
Mike Walden, president and co-founder of Walden Security, praised Gray’s service to the company, saying, “he represents everything that’s great about the CSO program,” and presented him with a number of awards. First, Walden presented Gray’s wife, Safonda, with a dozen roses, and presented a commemorative plaque to Gray.
Accidentally knocking the plaque from the table, Walden quipped, “well, that’s never happened before, but the issue is I’m talking in front of federal judges and that makes anybody nervous.”
Walden also presented Gray with two medallions, known as “challenge coins,” one from Walden Security and the other from the U.S. Marshals Service, and explained the military tradition behind challenge coins.
“If you and me meet each other in a bar,” Walden said, “you’re supposed to buy me a drink so it’s kind of self-serving.”
Handing Gray the U.S. Marshals Service coin, he laughed and said, “there, now you owe me two drinks.”
Then, walking over to Safonda, Walden counted out 10 $100 bills into her hand.
“We’re cutting out the middleman,” he said as he presented the cash. “Everybody told me I might as well give it to you because he’s known for giving his money away.”
“It’s a blessing to see everybody together that I can see,” Gray said, as he thanked everyone. “Usually, they give you flowers when you’re …” he trailed off, holding his hand out flat toward the floor, “but I’m alive to see them.”
Gray called the CSOs and the U.S. Marshals Service, “a great team.”
“We all work better together,” he said. “We work great together, the CSOs and the marshals. We are considered as one.”
Capping off the ceremony, Pastor Stephen T. Robinson of Antioch Full Gospel Baptist Church, sang an acapella version of Amazing Grace, the baritone notes filling the jury orientation room and echoing throughout the cavernous hallways of the old Post Office building adjacent to the courthouse annex.
“Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me.”
