By Msgr. Noel C. Burtenshaw

Charlie Rinkevich always knew he would be a cop. And that’s the way it all worked out. The tall, six-footer-plus looks like a cop. He’s in the Kojak vein, a little slimmer with a cigar waving in the air as he speaks rather than the more chic lollipop.

But these days Charlie Rinkevich has gone beyond being a cop. He has become a healer of a community. And the community involved is Atlanta.

When President Ronald Reagan responded to the call from the city of Atlanta for help in funding the continuing investigation of the murdered children, he appointed his vice president to implement a federal response. Vice President Bush looked to the attorney general and that office immediately responded: Set up the program; we have the man.” Charles Francis Rinkevich was appointed.

“As head of the Federal Task Force,” said the lanky Rinkevich in his Marietta Street office, “my job is to see that the federal government responds to the needs of this city. We are not a part of the investigation. That’s in the hands of the Atlanta police and the FBI. But the other needs, the ones that, taken care of, will free the police to do their job--we handle those.”

According to Rinkevich, there are three. Money to assist the investigation, implement prevention programs and respond to the emotional distress of the community. This is where tough cop and head of the federal Law Enforcement Assistance Administration (LEAA) in the Southeast, Charlie Rinkevich, has become a healer.

“The first two needs have been handled well, I think,” said Rinkevich. “We got the money--$1.5 million. The programs, especially for the summer, are on target. It’s the last one that is tough. There is fear and distress in this city.”

“The black community is certainly minimizing the racial aspect,” continues the task force leader. “They tell you they don’t believe it’s racial. But there is constant fear. The people have described it as like living in London during the blitz or living in the tensions of Northern Ireland. Parents are concerned for the children. Now the killer or killers have turned to adults. My own little girl, Monica, she’s eight, wakes after a nightmare and mentions the murdered children to my wife.”

“The community is coping--and visitors to the city can’t believe how well--but there is fear. Don’t go with strange men or strange anyone else is the message. Six-year-olds stand up and say they are tired of being kept in the house. They feel like prisoners. It is tough and it will be tough until we solve this thing. Carol Ann Blair, my assistant, and I have been with Commissioner Lee Brown at town hall meetings and the distress is obvious and it is expressed. Our job is to bring assurance--to bring calm. And it’s happening.”

And what about the solution? You ask the question and you see the investigative mind of this cop go into action.

“We’ll get him,” said Rinkevich, who is a parishioner at Holy Family parish in Marietta. “But we need a break. Don’t forget the Yorkshire Ripper was out there for five years, the English police spent millions on the investigation and eventually needed that one lucky break to catch him. We need that lucky break too.”

Putting his feet up on the desk and re-lighting his cigar that looks, and smells, stale, he makes another point. “The cooperation of the different police departments has been great. Everyone who should know what’s going on, knows. The team is going great. The GBI is in on it. The FBI is in with men on the street and as a federal agency they are working on it. We have the best. We’re well organized. We just need that break.”

How does Rinkevich view the self-help projects implemented in some areas of the city. “Generally good,” comes the reply. “But patrols and other such vigilantes, condemned by the police and city hall, won’t be helpful. This menace will be solved by community responsibility. Block parents are great. The searchers have been most helpful--they, of course, even found one of the bodies. We just don’t need anything that would impede the investigation”

Rinkevich is most gratified by the response from every corner of Atlanta and even the nation. “The White House has been there to be of help. The vice president, on more than one occasion, has shown his human concern and here in the city the one word describing the spirit has been support. In my 20 years in law enforcement, I have not seen the likes. It is great.”

Those 20 years have been spent North and South, state and federal. Born in Grandville near Grand Rapids in Michigan, Rinkevich went to Michigan State. He joined the University Police Department and in 1965 headed South to Savannah. Subsequently he served with police training at the University of Georgia,. After going North for a short time, he joined LEAA in 1981 and has been with that agency ever since. He has assumed head of this federal task force for the Atlanta emergency.

“It’s a two person job,” says Charlie Rinkevich. “My assistant, Carol Ann Blair, was also with LEAA. Together we respond to the needs of this job. And we will continue until this emergency has passed.”

“Safe Summer 81” is a big concern of Rinkevich and the Task Force. “We want it to be a success,” says Charlie Rinkevich, “and we are grateful to everyone who is pitching in. I am personally proud of Camp Promise--the effort of the Catholic community, my own Church, and what that program hopes to do. We want it to be a great summer for our kids. We want plenty of helpful hands.”

In the city of Atlanta, there is evident, great concern and worry that some killer is out there defying our best efforts to slow down his murderous intentions. It is difficult to be at ease while this danger lurks in secret shadows. A man like Charles Francis Rinkevich, a man of strength, knowledge and compassion, gives assurance and provides a healing presence in this emergency.

We are glad he is there.