Honor Our Veterans: Ken McCoy, retired Air Force, Highland Police Department officer
When wanting to emulate child-rearing practices, veteran Ken McCoy needs to look no further than his own parents.
Ken and his twin brother, Keith, made their debut July 11, 1984, in Belleville. Their parents are Joe McCoy and Susie McCreary.
Even though they became latch-key kids about second grade, Ken’s recollections are those of happy and harmonious parenting by both parents, along with their new spouses.
“I felt completely at home, loved, safe and secure at both homes,” said Ken. “We spent a lot of time at my dad’s house and we lived on a cul-de-sac which enabled us to run and play freely in the evenings.
Whenever the street lights would come on, we could hear our dad whistling and we knew it was time to go home. There was an open lot behind the house and we used a lawnmower to create a game field where we could play soccer, T-ball and baseball. We also had our chores and rules in both places, but we all worked together.”
As Ken matured, he tried wrestling and basketball, but acknowledges those were not his particular bailiwicks. He graduated a semester early from Belleville East High School in 2002. He was 17 and became interested in serving in the military due to what he heard and seen during the 9/11 terror attacks.
After having scored extremely high on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery, ASVAB, and thoroughly investigating every branch of the military, he zeroed in on the United States Air Force.
Initially he had aspirations of becoming a pilot, but a vision disorder prevented it. He then chose security and signed up for six years.
Ken remembers sharing the news with his grandfather.
“My grandpa always seemed so strong and invincible to me,” said Ken. “But the day I told him, he cried. I’d never seen him cry before. That’s when I really realized the importance of family. He was concerned for my safety due to recent world events. But I knew I wanted to be part of something bigger than myself.”
His basic and advanced training took place at Whiteman Air Force Base in Knob Noster, Missouri. This is where Ken said he discovered who he was going to be and learned to embrace the USAF core values of “Integrity First, Service Before Self and Excellence in All We Do.”
Ken gets deployed
In 2005, Ken, a Three-Stripe Senior Airman, was promoted to staff sergeant and deployed to Japan for two months. Then he and 35 others went to Bucca Base Camp in Southern Iraq near the Kuwaiti border.
They had extensive training to support the U.S. Army’s detention facility and to keep the base secure. There were approximately 19,000 detainees. Even though they came under occasional mortar and rocket attacks, Ken said everyone returned home alive.
“Being there intensified my appreciation of how good we have it here in America,” emphasized Ken. “The entire experience gives you a whole new understanding of the many things some might take for granted. Even some of our most impoverished citizens here still have it better than many in other countries.”
According to a recent Gallup poll, most Americans acknowledge and openly appreciate the liberties afforded to all regardless of race or religion. But there is a plethora of freedoms of which many are not aware of. Included in this list is running water, paved roads, the right to marry whom one wants, a fair trial and the choice of child’s name.
Also, the right to an education, to wear whatever one wants, drive, show off, terminate a marriage, hair style, freedom of speech, traveling, language of choice and accessing information. These, and others, are enumerated at Bestlife.com.
Back to the States in 2009, Ken returned to school for a higher education, but soon realized his desire for academics was not what he wanted to pursue. He spent a short time as a cook, changing oil, working on a horse farm and studied a bit of engineering. Ultimately Ken enrolled in a Combat Life Saver course and became an emergency medical technician in Highland in 2012 because he said he knew he “wanted to serve others.”
Meeting and marrying Amy, joining the Highland PD
Backtracking a bit to 2011, he had met his future wife, Abby, online. They had their first date in St. Louis, where she lived.
“She was beautiful, confident, independent and self-assured,” said Ken. “I felt lucky to be dating her. I also received numerous parking tickets because she lived downtown.”
They tied the knot Sept. 6, 2015, and made their home in Highland.
In 2016, Ken became a patrolman for the Highland Police Department.
“This is a great community to work for,” said Ken. “The public trusts us to maintain the safe, hometown atmosphere.”
While at the police academy, Ken was the recipient of the Southern Illinois Police Chief’s Association Outstanding Officer Award, took the Jeremy Chambers Top-Gun Firearms Award, the High Academic Award and was chosen as class president.
Ken humorously recalls a mishap when he pulled over a car in the Tru Buy parking lot for an open container violation and was still under the watchful eye of his Field Training Officer, Mark McKinney.
Trying to execute the stop with perfection, Ken got out of his squad car and approached the other vehicle. After a few seconds he realized his cop car was rolling backwards. He had placed it in reverse rather than park.
He and Abby became parents to son, Dalton, in 2018. Most recently in January 2020, he was presented with Highland’s Employee of the Year Award. While their permanent home in Highland is under construction, Ken and his family reside in New Baden in his father’s home.