Major Bill Phelps will retire after 32 years: “I’ve never regretted it. Not one bit.”

Major Bill Phelps began his law enforcement career with Perry Police, and on July 2, that’s where he will end it. He recalled the date of his inaugural workday with ease, as though it happened yesterday instead of 32 years ago.

“I started my career here on March 29, 1989,” he shared. “I started as a patrol officer on the road, and since then, I’ve served in many different positions.”

Phelps recounted his first assignment change. The department started what was called a “Power Squad” where an officer, who was deemed one who could work without much supervision, was placed. That officer would report to the assistant chief instead of the squad supervisor as the others on the team would.

“I was selected for that, and I guess I did so well that when a shortage happened in the detective division, I was chosen to be placed there,” Phelps said. “Someone had gone out for a medical operation, so I was placed there to assist the detective with cases,” he explained. “That worked out so well that when the person who had been out came back, they still kept me working in the detective division.”

Phelps said that a long-term career in law enforcements requires that one loves what he or she is doing. He said you have to have a heart for it, and when that’s the case, it shows in performance is recognized with promotion.

“I went back to the road at some point, and began serving as supervisor. Then I got promoted to detective, and then got promoted to captain,” the major shared.

In the mid-’90s, 1995 to be exact, Phelps said that Frank Simons was the police chief, but he parted ways with Perry Police to serve as chief in Valdosta. At around the same time, the detective supervisor, Lou Dekmar, headed to Morrow to serve as chief there. According to Phelps, a detective and patrol commander also left. One went to Morrow with Dekmar, and the other one went to Valdosta with Simons.

“That left me here—a newly promoted captain—to run the department as acting chief,” Phelps recalled.

It was an assignment that he carried out well. Phelps received a proclamation in 1996 that recognized him for his performance in the role.

In his career as a law enforcement officer, there has been only one time that his service in Perry was interrupted, and that was after September 11, 2001. The events of 9/11 changed and shifted the lives of countless people, and Phelps, an Army veteran, was among them.

“I was called back to active duty military, assigned to Fort Stewart and deployed to Kuwait,” he shared. “I stayed in the desert of Kuwait with the 3rd Infantry Division for six months, and then spent the rest of my military obligation at Fort McPherson in Atlanta and also Fort Polk in Louisiana. It was a total of two years that I had to go back into active duty.”

As soon as Phelps’ military obligations were fulfilled, he returned to Perry and to Perry Police Department, where, at the time, Chief George Potter held the position of chief of police. Potter developed bone cancer and ultimately had to retire because of it. With his vacated position, a temporary chief was needed once again, and once again, Phelps was selected. Just as had happened previously, he received a second proclamation for his repeated outstanding performance.

Phelps said that he feels extremely fortunate to have spent his career as a member of Perry’s finest.

“We’ve made some good things happen. The Perry Police Department has always been a professional department. We were nationally certified back in ’94 or ’95, and then when Chief Potter came, we went to state certification because the national certification was too costly and we could get the same benefits from the state certification. State certification means that we are certified like a school or a hospital,” he explained, “where we have to meet certain standards that we are inspected on. We have over 100 policies that we have to go on. We have policies for everything. That’s one of the reasons that Perry Police stands head and shoulders above other departments. We have been doing these things at a certain standard for so long.”

According to Phelps, Perry Police Department has been a community-oriented department since he began working there. He admits that maintaining that strong connection to the community has been made more difficult over time, but the respectful manner in which Perry P.D. treats its citizens is something that Phelps maintains has not changed.

“We’ve had some challenges over the years,” he noted, “but for the most part, we’ve met those challenges in a positive way. We value our citizens here, and we treat them like human beings.”

Phelps admitted that becoming a law enforcement officer wasn’t always his aim and focus. It was his time in the military that ultimately led him in that direction.

“They had a cut back in the military at one time, and I got out and came back home and applied for two jobs—this was one, and the other was on the base.” Phelps further shared, “This one came open first and the base came open right after it. I can’t tell you why I did it, but I took this job. One thing I can tell you though,” he stressed. “I’ve never regretted it. Not one bit.”

The thing that has been most rewarding for Phelps in the more than three decades that he has served the citizens of Perry is the fact that his position has been used far beyond the scope of what most people think about what they consider what officers do. Some of Phelps’ fondest memories of his career surround his counseling of married couples in crisis and giving them words of wisdom that ultimately saved their union.

“Some of them were old enough to be my parents,” he cited, “but they listened and they’re still together today. So, we don’t just lock people up, we also set people free.”

After giving 32 years of his life to police work, Phelps admitted that he’s not exactly sure what he will do after July 2. His official retirement ceremony has been set for June 25 and will take place at Perry Events Center.

“I don’t have the slightest idea what I’m going to do,” he said with a laugh. “I’ve got a bunch of things to do around the house, but after that, I don’t know.”

Phelps is from Marshallville, and as a child who grew up with nine brothers and sisters, he did his share of farming in his time of living there. He is considering the possibility of revisiting that by purchasing two acres of land and a tractor and doing a bit of farming after he retires.

A lot has gone into policing, and Phelps said although sometimes he wants to backtrack on his decision to retire; he knows that it’s time. When he looks back over his career, Phelps said that it is his faith that has been his greatest anchor.

“I’m a firm believer in God,” he said. “God has been in my life since I was a child. I was raised in a Christian family. In my opinion—and I know everybody won’t agree with my opinion, but I know that my faith has helped me in this job. In my job, I believe in prayer. When things happen that I think might not be right, I pray about it, and it ends up working out just fine. So yes, I believe in the power of prayer,” he reiterated. “I don’t try to force my beliefs on anybody else, but it works for me. I’m active in the church and I’m a member of Sunday school; so I strongly believe in God and prayer. Those are the things that helped me get to the point where I am today. These 32 years didn’t happen because of what all I’ve done, but because of my relationship with God.”

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