Law Enforcement Legacies - The Evans Family

The stereotype of Irish cop family where son follows in father’s footsteps for generations upon generations is often seen in the movies. Many a popular television show has been written around the police family that spans generations. The reality of this circumstance is often lost in the popular fiction that leans on it so heavily. This new monthly column from Endeavor Business Media’s Law Enforcement group will call out and honor these Law Enforcement Legacy families. What we have sought out (and continue to seek) are those families wherein three or more generations have served in law enforcement OR wherein there are four or more law enforcement professionals either in the same generation or concurrent generations.

This circumstance isn’t unique to the law enforcement profession. It is quite common in both the firefighting service and in military service. In fact, many of our law enforcement legacy families are also military legacy families. That’s probably not a surprise given the similarities between military and law enforcement services: the uniform, command structure and sometimes dangerous nature of the work demonstrate the similarities. Military “protects and defends,” while law enforcement “protects and serves.” Both PROTECT.

This inaugural law enforcement legacies column honors the Evans family in southern Maryland. In 1956 Mr. Ted Evans entered the Maryland State Police and became a Trooper. That same year his wife gave birth to his son Mike who would follow in his footsteps 22 years later. Mike’s two sons, Eric and Charlie would also follow in what was quickly becoming a family tradition, joining the Maryland State Police when they were of age as well.

Trooper Ted Evans steadily rose through the ranks and eventually became a Lieutenant Colonel and was the Deputy Superintendent of the State Police. LtCol. Evans retired after 30 years of service in 1986. The second generation Trooper Mike Evans served from 1978 through 1995, retiring honorably after receiving an injury in the line of duty. Trooper First Class Mike Evans also served on the state’s “SWAT” team (in quotes because Maryland State Police call it a STATE team - not SWAT) from 1982-1993. Not feeling like he was done with his law enforcement career, he continued to serve as a Courthouse Deputy from 1997 through 2002 when he ran for and was elected as Sheriff of Calvert County.

Sheriff Evans’ two sons, as mentioned, also both serve on the Maryland State Police. The older of the two, Eric, entered service as a cadet in 2002 before going to the police academy, graduating in 2003 and entering service as a trooper. The younger of the two brothers, Charlie, went to college before joining the force and ended up about three years behind his older brother as he became a trooper in 2006. Eric is now a Master Trooper while Charlie is a Sergeant.

All of that law enforcement / public safety service followed military service time for the first two generations mentioned. LtCol. Ted Evans started out in the Marine Corps from 1952 through 1955. Sheriff Mike Evans served two years in the U.S. Army as a Combat Engineer in the mid-seventies.

Both Trooper Mike Evans and his son, Master Trooper Eric Evans have been cited as Trooper of the Year - a commendation not easily earned. Trooper Mike Evans further was awarded the Commendation for Life Saving in 1991 which indicated commendable performance in direct action to save a life. And the law enforcement service for the Evans bloodline doesn’t stop there. LtCol. Evans has another grandson, Deputy Ryan Evans (Sheriff Evans’ nephew) who graduated from the academy and joined the Sheriff’s Office in 2014. Deputy Evans’ step-dad, while he married into the family, rose to the rank of Lieutenant with Fairfax City PD in Virginia where he served over 30 years.

With four troopers, one Sheriff and another deputy all in three generations of family, quite often the question gets asked: Why? Sheriff Evans, when asked that, answers that he grew up seeing his father in uniform; seeing the work he did; the commitment to duty he had and Mike says he grew up emulating that.  He assumes (or hopes) that the same is true of his two sons. While they (Eric and Charlie) took different paths to the state police agency - one joining as a cadet as quickly as he could out of high school while the other went to college for a Criminal Justice degree first - the end result is the same: they both protect and serve. Sheriff Evans emphasized that his dad never pushed him to join the state police, or any other agency for that matter. He said his dad didn’t push him to serve in the military either. Sheriff Evans says he took the same approach with his sons, not pushing them in any particular direction, but just trying to set a good example for what a man and father ought to be. He compliments both his sons on how well they’ve done both.

As a final note, if you add up to the total years of service (so far), you get 30 for the Lieutenant Colonel, 35+ for Sheriff Evans, 18 for Master Trooper Evans and 12 more for Sergeant Evans and four so far for Deputy Evans. That’s 99 years of service given in three generations of family SO FAR. That is a significant amount of service and doesn’t adequately indicate the number of holidays missed, meals missed, overtime hours worked, threats managed or the pure number of citizens who have benefited from those years of service. Honoring that is what this new monthly column is being initiated for. We’d like to recognize and thank the Evans family for their history of and on-going service. Stay safe, gentlemen.