No regrets for retiring Batavia deputy police chief

Batavia Police Deputy Chief Dennis R. Thomas figures he's had a "good run."

Thirty-nine years on a job that he got on a coincidence, but grew to love.

Friday, he walks away into retirement.

Hometown boyAsked where he is from, 61-year-old Thomas responds, "Batavia. Forever."He grew up in Batavia. He started working odd jobs in sixth grade at a farm implement dealer where the Thai restaurant now is at State and River streets, tried a printing company in Aurora and ended up working for a service station on Route 25.Young Thomas was looking for a place to live. The station's owner introduced him to a Batavia police officer who was looking for a roommate. Still, "I had no desire to be a policeman at that time," Thomas says.But things changed, as he met his roommate's co-workers. "I started to see things a little differently," Thomas said. He began to take ride-alongs, then joined the police auxiliary when he turned 21 in 1970.The start of his full-time career in 1971 was tinged with sadness, however. He was hired to fill the vacancy left by the death of his former roommate, who had accidentally shot himself."It was an ironic, strange way of things happening," Thomas says. "That was not a fun way to start off a career."Thomas started on patrol. "I thought being a patrolman - that's just the only place to be," he says.But his time on the streets was relatively short. He spent about seven years as patrolman, was promoted to detective for six months, then sergeant for 18 months, then became second-in-command as a lieutenant in 1979. That title has changed over the years, to deputy commander and then deputy chief.He supervised street shifts from 1981 to 1985, and since then has been the department's go-to guy on budgets, training and equipment. You can see him sometimes on the scene of an incident, making sure those investigating have the right equipment and enough staff. "It gives me the excuse to get out of the office," he says.Over the years, Thomas earned an associate degree at Waubonsee Community College and a bachelor's degree in criminal justice at Judson University. He also graduated from the FBI's three-month National Police Academy, a stint he calls a "highlight" of his career.Time on his sideThirty-nine years is a long time to be a police officer. Many choose to retire in their 50s, especially if they are eligible to receive a pension. But Thomas stuck around. Not that he didn't try for a few other things. He tried to become the Batavia Township highway commissioner, "but that didn't pan out." In 2001, he interviewed to become Elburn's police chief, but didn't get it. He also sought the chief's job twice in Batavia, first when Bob Warner retired in 1998 and then when Dennis Anderson retired in 2005. Some residents criticized Batavia leaders for hiring an outsider the last time instead of Thomas."That's OK. I still liked coming here. I still like coming here today," Thomas says.He wanted to make it an even 40 years, but the early-retirement incentives the city offered were too good to pass up. His position will be filled, but an administrative sergeant position is being eliminated. And the other deputy chief, Gregory Thrun, is retiring in July under the same deal.Looking backWhat's different about police work in 1971 and police work today?The technology, Thomas says.They did not have personal portable radios when he started. "When you walked away from the (squad) car, if you needed help, better yell like hell and hope someone hears you," he said.And the computers. In the early 1970s, personal computers were still a dream; mainframes filled offices. Now, officers have them in their patrol cars. "There is tremendous, instant information. It's just huge, technical advancements," he says.Of course, "the bad guy has now become as proficient" in using the technology, to commit fraud, sexual crimes and identification theft, and instantly communicate with one another. "We don't have the money the bad guy does to buy the equipment that the bad guy does," Thomas says.Memorable casesA few cases stick with Thomas.He responded to a fire in the 1970s in which a little girl died. "That one stayed with me. I was in my 20s. That was my first experience with that type of situation," he recalled.He recalls with pride an investigation into a fatal shooting at a packaging company on Kirk Road in 1972. It was a nighttime call, and he worked a 36-hour day, chasing leads, recovering the weapon, making the arrest. "That was the first big thing I'd been involved with. The drive was there to get to the bottom of things," he said.But he's also proud of finding ways to get the equipment he believes the officers need to do a good job, and of special projects such as a traffic enforcement effort that reduced accidents on "Killer Kirk," as it used to be known, in the 1980s.He can laugh over "dumb crook" stories, including a time when people got caught growing marijuana because the plants were 8 feet tall, and the backyard fence only 6 feet. "Thank goodness they are not brain surgeons," he said of some criminals.What now?You won't find him tuning in to a police scanner in retirement. He's never had one at home.The other retiring deputy chief, Thrun, has lined up a job with the Batavia school district. But Thomas doesn't have any plans beyond building a garage this summer and spending "quite a bit of deck time" with his family, including his wife, two grown daughters and a 7-month-old grandson. He'd like to visit his son, who recently became a Marine Corps combat engineer officer, at his base in Hawaii."You never know what tomorrow will bring. I'm not going out of my way to look for it," he says of other job possibilities.And he has no regrets about the long hours spent protecting Batavia."I was very proud to be a Batavia policeman," he emphasized.