For one detective, the most rewarding part of the job is easing the burden of another person’s pain.
“To say to them, ‘We got him. You don’t have to worry about him anymore.’ ”
Det. Alexander Mac Bean won the award for Detective of the Year, his first major award as a detective, at the DC Police Foundation’s recent Seventh Annual Law Enforcement Awards Ceremony. Mac Bean was recognized for his dedication to the sex crimes unit of the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department, or MPD. He has served in that unit for two years and had a 120 percent case closure rate in 2011, which means he assisted in closing current and cold cases.
Among the cases he has worked on, two stick out in his mind: a 12-year-old rape case and a case of a serial rapist. In the first, a man named Lawrence Gibson abducted and raped a 16 year old in 2000. With the help of Mac Bean, Gibson was sentenced this April to 15 years to life. The second case was closed with a strong effort by Mac Bean and occurred within the first few months of his being employed in the sex crimes unit.
A man was raping prostitutes, and when officers found the man and arrested him, Mac Bean said there was so much evidence against the perpetrator that he took an early plea bargain and a 17-year sentence. Mac Bean said the case taught him an important lesson.
“He pulled the gun out after pulling the money out to pay [the prostitute]. He still raped her for his own reason,” Mac Bean said. “Anybody can be a victim of sexual assault and that includes prostitutes. It still affected their lives in such a terrible way.”
Mac Bean, 39, said it was not a single person or event that drew him to becoming a detective. He was fascinated with solving crimes and mysteries all his life, but ended up joining the police department later than normal because of what he called getting “sidetracked with a different dream job.” He joined the MPD seven and a half years ago and has been a detective for four.
“I got a late start, but I think it kind of helped me,” Mac Bean said. “I was out in the real world working.”
