School System police officer makes dramatic transformation

ALBANY — Even for Benjamin Wright, a troubled young man who, as far back as he could remember, was a Grade A juvenile delinquent who had little respect for anyone in authority and would fight anyone, no matter how big or small, at the drop of a hat, the decision was an easy one.

“A(n) RYDC caseworker told me: ‘You’re going to Turner Job Corps in Albany, or you’re going back to RYDC (detention),” Wright remembers as he reflected recently on his rough-and-tumble childhood. “That was an easy choice; I’d been fighting my way through youth detention centers for years.”

But something clicked for Wright at TJC as he worked to get his GED and certification as an electrician’s apprentice. He graduated from the program, worked at several jobs, all the while with a seemingly untenable thought running through his head.

“I really can’t explain why, but in the back of my mind, I’d always had this idea of getting into law enforcement,” Wright, who turned 36 on Saturday, said. “I thought I could maybe help kids who were growing up like I did; I felt I had a deeper understanding of the things they were facing.

“I guess you could say my lesson to these kids was that ‘if I could change, anybody could change.’”

The epitome of Wright’s transformation came recently when he wrote a warts-and-all accounting of his life in a book he titled “From a Juvenile Delinquent to a Police Officer.” The book, published by gatekeeper press of Tampa, Fla., and available now on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, iBooks, Kobo and other booksellers, is a riveting account of a young man who fought his way through life, bouncing from one detention center to another before making what was a miraculous turn.

“In school, I was frequently written up for being disrespectful, defiant, not following directions, talking when the teacher was talking, and not being where I was supposed to be,” Wright writes of his early school days in “From a Juvenile Delinquent to a Police Officer.” In another excerpt, he notes, “By the time I was in third grade, I began to lose control of the anger built up inside me. … I would often take my anger out on other kids in school.”

Such honest appraisal, the author said, comes from the transformation that his faith helped bring about.

“I give God all the credit for helping me overcome the way I was when I was younger,” Wright said. “I want to show others that, with God, you can change your life.”

After a couple of missed opportunities, Wright finally realized his law enforcement dream. He signed on with the Albany Police Department, passed the Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College Police Academy, and started working with APD as an officer. He recently took a position with the Dougherty County School System Police Department because, he said, “I think I can have a greater impact on young people who are going through the same things I went through. I feel connected to the identity and anger issues they are facing.”

Shortly after Wright became a certified police officer, his father and brother told him, “You know, man, you should write a book. Your story is unbelievable.”

So Wright did just that, telling his story in chapter after chapter, the words coming to him surprisingly easily.

“I just sat down and started writing out my story,” he said. “I did it a little bit at a time, wrote a couple of chapters a day. It was a surreal kind of relief to actually finish it and then see it published. Going back and forth through the proofreading process with the folks at gatekeepr was an ordeal, but they really helped me get through it.

“My goal in writing the book was not so much about making money, it was about motivating others to turn their lives around.”

Wright said there may be another book or so in him, but he said he wanted to make sure people like Mother Virginia and Pastor Arthur Wright, as well as his parents, Frank and Betty Wright, knew how much they inspired him to turn his life around.”

“After reading this book, I hope that it not only inspires you but it also motivates you to see what calling God has in store for you,” Wright wrote in his book. “Every good thing comes from God, so we owe Him all the credit.”

Not exactly the words some who watched Benjamin Wright grow up hard and mean might have expected from an obviously troubled young man. But a testament to a man who went from being a societal problem to a man of honor.

Special Photo: Benjamin WrightSpecial Photo: Benjamin Wright

Special Photo: Benjamin Wright

Special Photo: Benjamin Wright