After 42 years of service to the public, Riley County Police Department Director Dennis Butler is officially retiring. Monday will be his last day on duty. Butler began his policing career in 1979 when he was hired as a cadet. After about a year, he went to the academy and was hired as a police officer in 1980. Through his many years of service, Butler says he has made many memories and has seen a change in policing. Reflecting on his 25 years of service in Alexandria, Virginia before coming to Kansas, where he was Chief of Police in Ottawa before coming to Riley County. Butler says he began his first stint in Virginia during a time of much racial strife and violence. “When I got hired there was about 105,000 people living in Alexandria, a much smaller area than Riley County, it was only 15 square miles and we had 105,000 people. But, that first year that I was a police officer, 13,000 part one crimes were reported in the city of Alexandria. Just most recently, it’s been less than 3,000.”
Source: 1350 KMAN
