ULM Warhawks

By Paul Letlow, ULMWarhawks.com Online Columnist

MONROE, La. – Chandra Griffith always figured her youngest child David would gravitate toward community service, although not necessarily as a policeman.

"It was surprising at first because when he was small, we lived on a street with a fire station at the end," she told ULMWarhawks.com. "The fireman would drive by and wave. He would visit the station and they even stopped at the house one time. He truly wanted to be a fireman."

Now armed with a degree in criminal justice and a family history in law enforcement, David Griffith's career plan should be no shocker.

"I want to be Dallas SWAT," ULM's fifth-year senior linebacker said on Sun Belt Conference Media Day in New Orleans. "But of course, first, you have to be a police officer. I want to do that."

His mother Chandra is a lieutenant with the Dallas Police Department and one of his sisters is already committed to join the profession.

"My father was also a criminal justice major, so we were all in the criminal justice major," the Plano, Texas, product said. "My other sister said she's not doing it and my brother said he's not doing it. I'll be the last one if I do it."

Contacted a few days after her son represented ULM at Sun Belt Media Day, Chandra Griffith said that David "has always had service in his blood. As a teen, he did a lot of community service. He volunteered at the food bank, was part of an organization that helped the elderly do chores at their homes, read to children at their schools weekly and talked to them about saying no to drugs. He even did a program for one year which paired young people in older grades with kids with special needs. He did all that while lettering in three sports with a good GPA."

Asked for his mother's take on two of her children joining the police force, Griffith said, "She's a little scared. She was scared more for my sister because my sister was actually a kinesiology major before she was a police officer. But I told my mom she shouldn't worry because 'you were a nurse before you were a police officer. You have nowhere to talk.' She just wants us to be safe. Seeing some of the things that she's seen, it makes a difference. She wants just wants us to be safe, but she's knows we're capable of handling ourselves."  

Griffith has already entered his master's program at ULM and beamed with pride when he talked to reporters about the family trade.

"I like helping people," Griffith said. "I like knowing that where I'm staying and where my family is staying is safe. I love Dallas, but also know Dallas has problems and things we need to fix about those problems."

He wore a wide smile as he made the rounds at Sun Belt Media Day, but Griffith turned serious for a moment as he continued his thoughts on policemen.  Speaking from the heart, he said he wants to help others see law enforcement officers in a positive light.

"On top of that, there are things we need to fix about the look of those police officers too," he said. "My mother has never shot anyone. She's never killed anyone. She's never done anything illegal. We get a lot of bad reps about police officers due to one person or another doing something they shouldn't have. I don't want that to be the rep for police officers. I don't want my child – when I have one – to think that police officers are bad people and you can't trust them or if you get pulled over you should be scared. That's not how it should be. I love police officers. They get bad reps because someone didn't do what they should have."  

Griffith figures to be a vocal leader on ULM's defense this season and hopes to help the unit improve. He's the leading returning tackler with 76 through 12 games in 2017. He added two sacks, three quarterback hurries and eight tackles for losses.

Watching him interact at Media Day, Griffith showcased qualities that will suit him well beyond football.  Dressed neatly in a well-tailored outfit and fielding questions on multiple platforms, Griffith represented ULM with class. He savored the time with teammate Marcus Green and head coach Matt Viator and had fun, but also treated it like a business trip.

"It's been awesome," Griffith said. "Everyone has been treating me nicely. Everyone has been very respectful. It's more than I thought it would be. I thought we'd do a couple of interviews, but it's been so much more. I've learned a lot actually from seeing what the other players are doing and saying and what the coaches are doing and saying. There's a lot of insight on their thought processes on a lot of things. It's been really nice to see what they're thinking and doing."