When did you know you wanted to be a police officer?

I really didn’t. I came down here, I was getting away. The Flint, Mich., area where I was from, the automotive industry was kind of failing, and I was just looking for a change so I came down here. My uncle worked here [CPD] and I got a job working at the jail a month after I got here. It was January of 1988 when I started here.

I went to chef school for a while, but I got a job [patrolling] on the road and I never looked back. Once it gets you, it gets you. You kind of get lost in it.

What are some of your favorite moments?

First of all, just the relationships you have with the guys on your shift. That’s some of the best times. That’s the people you hang out with when you’re off, too. We tend to kind of float towards being friends with each other.

There’s nothing better, too, than putting the bad guys in jail. That feeling never goes away.

And helping people out. I think we do a really good job of that here, with all our community outreach. I run most of the community policing programs. We try to do something just about every few months. We have four or five that we do every year. Covid put a dent in that last year, but we replaced some of the live events with other things. Trunk or Treat, for example, we got names from DHR and the schools and we went and bought food, brought it back here and we had a bunch of volunteers, and we loaded boxes and we delivered food. That took the place with Trunk or Treat last year. Our Shop with a Cop we weren’t able to do a live event, but we still went out and bought for 30-40 people. It was delivered or parents came and picked it up.

That’s why we’re here. First, to serve the public, but also to build those relationships, some of the problems you would normally have tend not to be there because you have such a good relationship with the public.

What is your favorite part of the job?

There is nothing better than investigating a case and solving a case. Not necessarily putting someone in jail; our job is to correct behavior. But just to work a case and solve a case and please a victim – there’s nothing better than that to me.

But also doing the community relations stuff to me is great. I like the relationships we build.

What is something you think people don’t know about your job?

I think in this job, everybody gets very cynical in this position because of the people that you deal with and the stuff that happens. I think that you really need to overcome that. That’s not how you want to be. We’re usually dealing with the bad side of it, not the good side and you tend to become a little cynical, and that’s not really a great thing.

How do you deal with that?

You have to talk to an array of people. You can’t just talk to the bad guy. You’ve got to get out here and talk to your business owners, walk through town and talk to people, hold some doors and just have some faith in people, and you’ll see it’s there. Especially in this town. We’re fortunate to live in a town that really supports the police department and really supports those relationships.