But Warren was no stranger to the job. For the last 11 years, he had donated his time to the police department as a reserve officer. And, although he spent the bulk of his working life in the telecommunications industry, the seeds of Warren's calling were planted much earlier.

As a college student, Warren says he aspired to join the police force. However, after he injured his knee playing football, Warren thought his chances of ever becoming a law enforcement officer were finished.

Warren decided instead to become an Emergency Medical Technician and was strongly considering a career in medicine when he met his wife, Theresa.

"The career didn't pay well, and I needed to support a family," Warren says.

Coming from a family of telephone company employees, Warren eventually obtained a job with Pacific Bell. He went on to do contracting work for Covad, a telecommunications corporation, and says he enjoyed and prospered in the career path he "fell into." Warren prospered in his profession until the dot-com bust rattled Silicon Valley like an earthquake. With his colleagues being laid off by the day, the forward-thinking Warren realized he might need to think about an alternative career, but he didn't have to think too hard about another profession he might enjoy. In fact, he was already doing it.

On Reserve

Warren was already working as a reserve police officer in San Jose, which he had been doing since age 40.

"I was testing the waters to see if I still wanted to be a police officer," he says.

The reserves requires its volunteers to serve one 10-hour shift a month; Warren says he averaged about one shift a week. As a reservist, that one shift a week was enough to give the future cop a taste of the exciting and varied life of a law enforcement officer. Warren assisted seasoned police officers with staged narcotics sales, processing prisoners and the drunk-driving task force.

"Reserve officers do a lot of what regular officers do, but they aren't assigned to a beat," he notes.

Although Warren enjoyed volunteering as a reserve police officer, he did not immediately consider a career as a full-time cop. The main reason for his hesitancy was a deal he made with Theresa several years before. Their bargain stipulated that their two children, Andrew and Brian, would have to be grown up before Warren could pursue his passion for policing.

"There is a risk in a law enforcement career," Theresa says. "When the kids were younger, we didn't think about him doing it permanently because of the risk. The risk is still there now, but the kids are raised."

So with the technology industry floundering, Warren decided to escape before he faced unemployment. After putting his dream of being a police officer on hold for so long, he was ready to undergo a major career transformation.

"I saw the way the technology industry was going," he says. "I was 50 years old, and I thought I could make a change. I was burned out, and I wanted something fresh."

Making the change wasn't that simple. First, Warren had to go through an eight-month screening process before entering the academy--and that was the easy part. Then there was the rigor of the academy's training, which lasts for six months.

Each day, Warren began his training at 7 a.m. Throughout the day, he learned about firearms use and the intricacies of the penal code, and engaged in 1 1/2 hours of exercise. For his final exam, Warren had to drag a 150-pound dummy and run six miles on a hilly course.

"Chris lived and breathed his police training," his wife says.

Warren also remembers adjusting to the physical requirements of the academy.

"In the beginning, it was killing me," he says. "I thought I was in good shape. But I took it one day at a time, no matter how difficult it got."

Despite the challenges he faced, Warren endured. He remembers only one time he thought about quitting.

"Once, we were standing at attention early in the morning," Warren recalls. "I thought to myself, 'You're 50 years old, it's seven in the morning and you're freezing your buns off. Are you out of your mind?'"

San Jose Police Sgt. Rick Weger, who was Warren's instructor in the academy and one of his first supervisors, says Warren's age did not hinder his progress in training. In fact, Warren's seniority turned out to be a bonus.

"Chris was an excellent student," Weger says. "He's a little older and has had life experience that recruits typically don't have."

Warren might have been sweating the physical exams while in training, but Weger says he was never concerned that the older recruit couldn't measure up.

"He's in such great health," Weger notes. "He had no problems keeping up with 20 year olds."

Warren also remembers thinking that the other trainees might consider him crazy for going through the academy in his early 50s. These worries, however, turned out to be unfounded even though his middle-aged status earned him the nickname "grandpa" among the younger recruits.

"I was quite pleased with my experience in the academy," he says. "I thought I would be alienated because I was 50 and with people who are my kids' age. But they were very accepting. It was a great group of people."

Warren says the police academy is a place where competitive behavior is discouraged.

"Everyone looks out for one another," he says. "On runs, people wait for the last person, and are cheering them on. In the academy, the goal is to get people working together as a team. Cooperation is important in our line of work. When you have to do something critical, you are going to have to do it as a group."

Team Effort

The camaraderie Warren found in the police academy didn't disappear after graduation. He says one of his favorite aspects of his new career is the companionship police officers have with one another.

"There is more of a bond than in the corporate world," Warren notes. "In the telecommunications job I had, there were layoffs every Friday. If people didn't like you, you could lose your job. It was a stressful environment to be in, not knowing who was going next. In the police force, you don't have that."

But Warren recalls one time on the job in which he learned the value of getting a little help from one's friends--as well as not jumping to conclusions based on appearances.

While Warren was assigned to a beat in Almaden Valley, a family in Santa Cruz called the department to request that an officer check on their mother, who had Alzheimer's Disease and lived with her son. The home was located in well-groomed suburban neighborhood, and the family that had no criminal history. Warren ventured there alone believing it was a routine call. He quickly learned he was mistaken.

The woman's son answered the door, and immediately became belligerent because he was upset that the family had called the police, Warren recalls. The son wouldn't let him inside, which made the police officer suspicious. Warren tried to force his way into the home, but the son pushed him out, he says. The next thing he knew, Warren and the man were physically fighting each other. Warren was alone, and unable to call for backup.

Finally, Warren says, he was able to overcome the man and call for assistance. The mother it turned out was fine. After the incident he realized that officers should never become lulled into a false sense of comfort simply because they are in an affluent neighborhood, he says. Warren knew then that his most valuable source of protection was his fellow officers.

His comrades on the force are just part of the equation. Another important resource is the citizens they serve, Warren says. Reaching out to the community is one of his top priorities.

"I try to make it a point to visit community centers and talk to people in the neighborhood," Warren says. "It's a good way to find out what the community's problems are."

Currently, Warren is assigned to what police officers refer to as District Nora, located in the western part of San Jose and includes Westgate Mall. Like Willow Glen residents, people who live on Warren's beat are especially concerned about traffic safety.

"People drive way too fast," he notes.

As a police officer, Warren is doing his part to clear the roads. He enjoys ditching his patrol car for a bicycle whenever possible. He believes riding a bicycle makes him more approachable to civilians.

"People love it. Kids especially love it," he says. "It's a chance to get out of the car. A police car can become a protective shield. You need to get out and talk to people. That's one of the most important things you can do."

And breaking out of the car and into the real world also helps Warren bust down the intangible wall between cops and community members. He says easing people's fears about approaching a police officer helps him do his job even better.

"We represent an authority figure," Warren says. "People don't know how to approach us. But police officers are just people, too. We have families and bills. Once you get across that barrier, you can relate to them, and they can relate back."

Some people, however, have reason to wish police officers like Warren would just stay tucked away in their patrol car.

"I ride up to drug dealers, and they don't even know I'm coming," he says, laughing.

Risky Business

In a job where he interacts regularly with drug dealers and other lawbreakers, Warren realizes he faces a certain amount of risk. However, he says he isn't plagued by fear of the unknown. In fact, he relishes it after spending years in the "predictable" corporate world.

"I like jobs where you never know what's going to happen day to day," he says.

Warren says the presence of other officers makes him feel safe while on the job.

"One thing I love about San Jose is that there are a lot of police officers working," he says. "We have officers that will respond if we need help. There is open communication. Ninety-nine percent of what we do we can plan for. Of course, there is always that other one percent. But even if you are working behind a desk, you can experience unexpected situations, like suddenly having a stroke."

Yet Warren doesn't anticipate having stress-related health problems any time soon. He says he is living with less tension as a police officer than he did while in the corporate sphere.

"One of the most common questions people ask me is how I handle the stress officer," Warren says. "To me, there is no stress in this job. I came from an environment where I had to out-produce myself from year to year. To me, that is stress."

Theresa also notices an improvement in her husband's temperament since he underwent a career change.

"This is what he should have been doing all his life," she says. "He's happy, and doing what he wants to do. He's happier, and definitely not as stressed as when he worked a corporate job. He loves going to work. Most people dread going back to work, but he polishes off his uniform the night before," she says, laughing.

Theresa says she worries less about her husband now that he is a full-time officer than she did while he was in the reserves. She also tries not to dwell on maybes and what-ifs.

"I just don't think about the potential risks too much," she says. "You really can't."

Although Warren enjoys the spontaneity he finds as a beat cop--not to mention the fresh air--he says he would consider returning to the desk one day as a detective.

"When you're on patrol, you see the crime and write the report. The detectives pick it up from there," he says. "It would be interesting to put the case together."

Warren already has experience gathering clues; he drives an evidence car as a secondary job, and is frequently called to process crime scenes.

"It's interesting. It's like a big jigsaw puzzle," he says. "And with my background [in the telecommunications industry] I'm very detail-oriented."

And Warren's attention to detail has caught the attention of the police department. Weger says he is one of the department's first choices for evidence collection.

"We rely on him heavily when we have a crime scene," he says.

Warren adds that being a crime scene investigator for the San Jose Police Department is quite different than on television shows like CSI and Law and Order.

"We don't have any of that fancy equipment," he says.

But don't expect Warren to forsake his beloved bike for a desk any time soon. For now, he loves life on the beat.

"It's nice to be energetic and to go to work," he says. "I get up in the morning, and I can't wait to start my job."