The chief's new title is HH — "household husband."
James Anderson retired Jan. 19 after 30 years on the Decatur Police Department, the last five as chief
“HH is not a bad thing,” he said after celebrating his 54th birthday in February. “I’m a pretty good cook, and my wife, Teresa, appreciates a hot meal when she gets home from work. So far, I’ve cleaned the cars, raked the lawn and am planning to re-do more rooms when we decide on the colors. Gardening is next, particularly a flower garden.
“I walk every day; I enjoy walking.
“I’ve been to Arizona. The day after the big snow, I got my place shoveled and my mom’s place shoveled and left for Arizona to visit friends.
“I’m doing just fine, although there are too many things to do on my list. Sleep? I sleep good after those years of answering the telephone in the middle of the night.
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“Work? I’m not going to work another city job. I’m not going to ADM.
“I want to work on my golf game, travel a little, take care of Mom. I’m not on a job search.”
Showing obedience dogs is also on the agenda. He and Teresa have a miniature schnauzer named Monty. “He’s a lover, but you wouldn’t know it when you come to the front door,” Anderson said. “He owns the street.”
As he relaxes from the stress of overseeing 158 police officers and 35 civilian employees, he is missed, particularly by the neighborhood organizations.
“We like the police department,” Sue Lawson, GM Square president, has said many times. “The police do a lot for us. A police officer attends every monthly GM Square meeting and hears our complaints and suggestions.”
Anderson said: “If I tell them I’ll do it, I’ll do it. We have a lot better relationship with the neighborhoods. They’re comfortable in calling me. Maybe they don’t always realize they’re being helped. The city works hard behind the scenes for the neighborhoods.”
A football player at Decatur High School and Northwestern Oklahoma State, the chief has had law enforcement in his sights continuously.
“I always wanted to be a policeman,” he recalls. “I was a crossing guard supervisor in grade school at Enterprise.”
Anderson graduated in 1979 from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale and was a park ranger for 1½ years before joining the police department to work on patrol on the third shift, 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. He had those hours for 10½ years. “That’s where the real police work is done,” he said.
He then moved to the second shift, 3 to 11 p.m., and after three years, switched to the detective bureau. In 1997, he was promoted to lieutenant and went back on the third shift. Then it was the deputy chief job before replacing the retiring Mark Barthelemy as chief in January 2006.
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