Monday, June 23, 2008

Gary Voerge


Gary, who now goes by Garrett, is a police officer in Concord. He's on the right in this photo. That would make two NG alums in the Concord PD if the Giacobazzi rumor is confirmed. In 2007 Garrett was promoted to Lieutenant. I found this article from 2001, apparently he was on a TV show: "If "Street Smart" has a star, it's the affable Voerge, who looks a bit like Garth Brooks with more hair and less heft."

Here's an excerpt:

For those of you who don't live in Concord or those of you in Concord who don't find your way at 7 p.m. Thursdays to channels 24 or 25 or 29, depending on your cable provider, "Street Smart" is a slice of reality TV that delivers just the facts, ma'am. No car chases, no fuzzed-out faces, just Norris and Voerge sitting on a makeshift set in front of the dais in the council chambers, the only room at Concord City Hall wired for live television.

The show -- which this week helped Concord win a statewide award for community policing efforts -- debuted in 1999 and is produced twice each month, mostly by volunteers within the Police Department. It is part viewer call-in, part community bulletin board, part safety tips and part crime blotter. The result? An oddly watchable mix that draws viewers from all facets of the community.

"One night, I stopped a known drug dealer I was following. Lights swirling, everything," recalls Voerge, 33, a six-year veteran of the force. "I approach the car, and I hear from the backseat, 'Hey! It's Garrett!' . . . I'm putting on the cuffs, and they're telling me about the show. I realized later that sure, they're crooks, but they're citizens, too."

If "Street Smart" has a star, it's the affable Voerge, who looks a bit like Garth Brooks with more hair and less heft. An investigator of financial crimes except on Thursday nights, he's the one who tends to dominate the interviews, or riff on the scripts, that give the show a bare structure.

"Garrett drives the TelePrompTer guy crazy because he'll ad-lib all the time," says David Chilimidos, a former homicide inspector who produces the show on an annual budget of $30,000. "And in the interviews, he's very smooth."

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