Leaston Gerald Crews, known to his fellow policemen as "Red," was born in Starke, Florida, in 1901. He served for several years in the U.S. Army before going to Miami Beach in the early 1920's.  He served on the Miami Beach Police Department for several years as part of their motorcycle patrol, and was one of that department's first officers.  He married a woman named Ida Ruth Warren during this period, but the marriage ended in divorce by the early-1930's.  Crews did have a son from this marriage named Leaston G. Crews, Jr.  Crews married a woman named Nora Stromstead during the early-1930's, but this marriage also ended in divorce by 1940.

Later, Crews was assigned the duty to arrest Al Capone, following a standing order from the City of Miami for Capone to be arrested whenever he entered the city limits.  Crews arrested Capone a total of six times without a show of arms.

In 1932, Crews and several other officers formed the Miami Police Department Pistol Team.  With Crews as the team's Captain, this group of officers competed in a number of matches around the country throughout the 1930's and early-1940's. Other members of the team included brothers Patrick and Gerald Baldwin, James Otto Barker, Charles C. Papy, H. Draughan, Charles Stanton, Marion Tucker, and D. G. Reynolds.  At national competitions held at Camp Perry, Ohio, the Miami team won second place.  They also competed in Cuba several times.  The officers trained to use their pistols entirely on their own time.

The Miami Police Department had no requirements for its officers to qualify in any way with the use of firearms until 1934. The Chief of Police at that time, Sam D. McCreary, ordered all officers to undergo firearms training under the direction of Sergeant Crews.  The efforts of the pistol team to promote firearms training was a significant factor in the Chief's decision.

In 1933, Crews was one of three officers who acted to protect President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt, from an assassination attempt carried out by a gunman named Giuseppe Zangara. Though Zangara's shots did not hit Roosevelt, they did fatally wound Chicago Mayor Anton Cermack.  Both were visiting Miami's Bayfront Park when Zangara fired at them. Crews, along with Officers N. Arthur Clark and Raymond H. Jackson, tackled Zangara and wrestled the gun away from him.

During the 1930's, Crews had a variety of assignments with the department.  He was in charge of the Vehicle Inspection Station at one point, and later became a police radio operator.  He also met and married Yulee Lowe, and gained a stepdaughter, Yvonne (my grandmother).  During World War II, Crews worked as a patrol sergeant until he left the department in 1945.  He was always very proud of the fact that in his entire time as a police officer, he never fired a fatal bullet.

In 1946, Crews' stepdaughter, Yvonne, married Earl Kennedy of Miami, and later had three sons, Harold "Hal", Barry, and Keith.  After Crews left the Miami PD,  he owned and operated Crews Electro Plating Company until 1963, when he sold the business and moved to the Florida Keys.  He and his wife, Yulee, lived in Conch Key for a while, and later acquired a house on Little Torch Key.  While living in the Keys, Crews became a crawfisherman and a member of the Organized Fishermen of Florida. He also joined the Conch Key Volunteer Fire Department.  In 1975, Leaston G. Crews died at Fisherman's Hospital in Marathon from complications related to Emphezema.  His wife, Yulee, died in 1978.