“Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.”
We all know people to whom that may apply, and maybe you are lucky enough to actually be one of those people. I have known many, and one of the first people who always comes to mind is retired Aurora Police Officer Joe Beyke.
Officer Beyke passed away in February at age 81, and his memory will live on in the minds of all of the young people he touched in his career in law enforcement.
He had a unique role as an officer of the law, and was a pioneer in many ways, along with his fellow Aurora Police Officer Bill Messmer. They faced the task of blazing the trail in Aurora’s public high schools in a new and somewhat experimental program.
“A new idea was introduced in Aurora’s high schools in the mid-1970s known as the Police Counselor Program,” said Tom Madden, an East Aurora administrator at that time. “It placed an Aurora police officer in the school on all school days and during many school events.”
The officers would be in plain clothes during the school day, but in uniform for evening school events. Students were to learn that the person they grew to like, trust and respect during the day was the same person as the uniformed officer working during an evening event.
Officer Beyke was assigned to East Aurora High School from 1976-84, and Officer Messmer to West Aurora High School from 1975-83. In 2014, I caught up with both officers to write a Beacon-News article about the parts they played in the infancy of what would become a very successful program.
“We were to try to communicate to students that we — all of us — had to solve problems together,” Beyke said at the time. “We were not assigned to pester or arrest kids and that was not the theme at all.
“We were there to assist students and teachers, and to try to solve things at the school level to avoid kids getting into the criminal justice system.”
Beyke proved to be a “natural” for the position. First and foremost, he loved kids, and it began with the love for his own daughters. He loved being with the students, and almost all liked, trusted and respected him — the precise goals of the program. As a fringe benefit of that trust, he would sometimes learn of a potentially dangerous situation that was brewing, and was able to take action to avert it.
“I got to relate to the students, and I think they related to me,” Beyke said in 2014. “They were probably the best eight years of my career as a police officer.
“My wife Donna and I met hundreds of students, and many would come to our house. We met many wonderful people, and when they graduated, we were in weddings and were even Godparents. We’ve been lifelong friends and still see a few of them to this day,” he said at the time.
East Aurora students during Officer Beyke’s time at the school, who are now in their 50s and 60s, posted some wonderful tributes on Facebook. These were only a few: “He was a good man, and always treated everyone with respect,” “RIP, you were a difference maker,” “He was a true soldier, always motivating youths to be all they could be and to never give up. I was one of those youths,” “He helped me a lot through personal issues. I’ll never forget his compassion to help us kids.”
But it was a two-way street for Officer Beyke as he told me in 2014.
“I matured as a man because I was fortunate enough to work with fantastic staff, teachers and especially students,” he said.
The Police Counselor Program which began at the Aurora schools served as a beginning, and was then implemented at many high schools and middle schools in our area. Madden remembered the earlier days and Officer Beyke’s role in particular.
“I have worked with many outstanding police counselors over the years, and Joe Beyke was certainly one of them in his role at East Aurora,” he said. “He had a unique ability, based on his respect for the mission of schools, to relate extremely well with students to make the school environment safer and more productive for them and the entire community.”
As a faculty member at East Aurora High School for most of my career, I was lucky to know Joe Beyke as an outstanding police officer and as a personal friend. I can only echo the thoughts of some of his “kids.”
Officer Beyke, you were a true soldier and a difference maker, and I’ll never forget your compassion to help kids. Rest in peace, Officer Beyke.
Tom Strong is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
