Veteran Policeman Recalls Law Enforcement Career

By Andrew Gorosko

Gary Wheeler knows the town well, having worked as a town police patrolman for almost 23 years, and having driven a local school bus for 35 years.

Mr Wheeler, 56, of Sandy Hook subtracted one component from that dual role, when he retired as a police officer earlier this month.

Born in Stamford, he moved to Newtown in 1955, having spent the past 53 years here.

Recalling his long career in law enforcement, Mr Wheeler said, “It was my town, my people, my responsibility.” He said he enjoyed being out in public, helping members of the public.

Working the two jobs simultaneously was time-consuming, he said. He worked the second police patrol shift from 4 pm to midnight, thus allowing him to drive a school bus in the daytime.

Mr Wheeler said he expects to keep driving a school bus for at least another decade, provided that the town’s school bus transportation system continues to be organized as it has been, with independent owner-operators driving the vehicles.

The school bus that he currently drives makes many stops during the day, carrying students who attend Newtown High School, Newtown Middle School, Reed Intermediate School, Sandy Hook School, and Middle Gate School. The school system’s staggered class schedule allows bus drivers to travel to multiple schools.

Mr Wheeler explained that members of the police department were supportive of his working the two jobs for many years.

Mr Wheeler began work as a policeman in July 1985. “When you live here, you know the background,” he said, explaining that having lived in the town where he worked in law enforcement provided him with some insights into incidents that he encountered. The large majority of local police officers live outside Newtown.

Mr Wheeler said he expects he will most miss the comradeship with coworkers that he experienced at the police department. He added he will not miss having to work a schedule that often required him to be away from his family on holidays. Mr Wheeler is married and has three grown children.

Mr Wheeler said that one especially challenging aspect of police work was dealing with violent situations. In such cases, he sought to defuse tense incidents. A number of times over the years, members of the public had told him that his actions as policeman had put their troubled lives on the proper course, he said.

Of his comradeship with coworkers, Mr Wheeler said, “I love each and every one for different reasons…They all have their distinct personalities and working styles,” he said. “They are all professionals. The town should be proud they have them.”

Of the changes he has seen in law enforcement since he started as a police officer, Mr Wheeler said, police work has become a much more complex task. In the various incidents that they encounter, police need to function as psychologists, social workers, and medical technicians, he said. Police are being required to deal with many more issues than they had in the past, he said.

As the town’s population has increased, so has the number of calls for service by police, he said. Consequently, police training and equipment has improved over the years, he added.

“At times, the job can be extremely frustrating,” he said, noting that sometimes people will call police to investigate a suspicious incident that had occurred five days earlier, making it a difficult case to investigate.

Traffic control is a major police activity. There is a range of behavior among motorists, Mr Wheeler observed.

“The aggressive ones will always be aggressive, no matter how many speeches or tickets they get,” he said. However, “sometimes the people who made a mistake just need a break,” he added.

Having worked two jobs for many years, Mr Wheeler found scant time for recreation. But now that he has retired from law enforcement, he expects he may be spending more time at his vacation house in the Adirondacks where there are opportunities for hiking, fishing, and water sports.

“It’ll be a more low-key life,” he said. Reducing his workload also will provide more time for him to enjoy his pets, which include two parrots, three dogs, three cats, and some freshwater tropical fish.