Tim Fitzwater, 51, was hired by the Lebanon Police Department in 1978.

He'd grown up in the Crowfoot area and when he started in police work he thought it might be difficult because he knew local people. But he found out that he generally didn't deal with the people he already knew.

Although he knew the area, he discovered that he didn't know all the nooks and crannies in town. The best way to learn is patrolling on night shift. &#8220If you learn (streets) in the dark, you know them in the daylight," he said.

He began as a patrol officer and served as a detective for a couple of years in the mid-1980s. He was promoted to sergeant in 1987 and served two turns as detective sergeant, including the last three and one-half years.

For the most part, he said &#8220nothing real spectacular" happened during his career, but he remembers a few

successes.

A few years ago, Lebanon police caught a man who had robbed coffee shops and small stores up and down the Willamette Valley, including three or four in Lebanon. The arrest cleared up 18 cases.

&#8220It just happened that we got the break on it," he said.

In his early years on the force he remembers clearing up a string of about 25 burglaries with one arrest.

He liked investigating and enjoyed the job of sergeant and &#8220molding people," noting that LPD Captain Mike Schulte was one of his trainees, but said he never had any desire to go into management.

&#8220I'm not politically correct at all and have no desire to be," he said.

He retired officially late in 2005 and worked back through April.

&#8220I was ready to leave," he said.

Although he doesn't miss the work, he does miss the people. In police work you develop a lot of good friendships; it's like a big extended family, he said.

Now he runs a few cattle on his small farm and spends time building fences and working in his shop - when he's not hunting and fishing. Mostly he putters around outside, when the weather isn't nasty.