Rural Retreat police chief quits

Rural Retreat Police Chief Bob Lewis has helped solve multiple cases of stabbings and assaults during his nearly 24 years on the job.
He’s also solved the case of too few television channels.
“I had an incident where an elderly lady got a new television set and she turned her new television set on that night…she could only get two stations on her TV and she called and said ‘I think something has gone wrong here, I don’t think I got what I purchased,’” Lewis recalled. “And I had to go up and program her TV for her. We set on the coach with her and the remote and we programmed the TV so she could get everything that was available on the cable.”
As the sole member of the Rural Retreat Police Department, Lewis carries the title of chief, but also plays the role of deputy, lieutenant, sergeant, patrol officer and investigator – not to mention counselor, spiritual adviser and, on occasion, TV repairman.
Lewis presented the Town Council with written notification of his impending retirement during its late February meeting.
“It’s just time,” he said during an interview in his office Friday afternoon. “I’ll be 66 years old and police work is a young man’s business. It’s just time has caught up with me I think.”
According to the most recent statewide crime statistics report put out by the Virginia State Police in 2006, only 12 other police departments around the state have just one sworn officer.
The chief plans to continue working until the end of June, or longer if the town needs more time to find his replacement. Lewis added that he won’t play a role in the hiring process, but hopes to have about a month working alongside his successor to help train the newcomer before leaving the department in the hands of his protégé.
Mayor Timothy Litz said Lewis’ desire to prepare his replacement for the job demonstrates his commitment to the community.
“He did not want to leave the town in a lurch in a sense and that speaks a lot of him,” Litz said.
After Lewis announced his retirement plans, Litz said the Town Council discussed not filling the position. But the governing body decided that the benefits of having a dedicated local police presence made the role too valuable to discontinue.
Prefacing his TV programming story, Lewis acknowledged that his job usually doesn’t involve chasing down criminals or making arrests.
“People look to you for other things other than police work,” Lewis said. “I’ve always looked at it as you’re here to serve the citizens of the community and what they want is what you need to do.”
“Small-town policing takes a very dedicated individual particularly in a one- or two-person operation,” Lewis added. “It’s not gang-busters crime fighting, it’s dealing with people in the way that you would want to be dealt with. I would hope my successor would have that philosophy when he came into the job, he or she came into the job.”
Before starting his job as Rural Retreat’s police chief in 1984, Lewis spent 22 years serving in the U.S. Army and as a member of the Military Police Corps.
The military job brought the Illinois native to Southwest Virginia in the mid-1960s as he was assigned to the region to track down soldiers who had gone on absence without leave.
In addition to finding the AWOL Army members, Lewis also found himself a wife.
He met Sandra, a Rural Retreat native, in 1965 while in Wytheville and the couple were married later that year. Since Lewis’ job required him to travel a lot, the newlyweds decided to settle in Sandra’s hometown so she would be around family and friends when he wasn’t home.
As Lewis was considering retiring from his Army position, the Rural Retreat job became available and in the ensuing two and a half decades the out-of-towner had become an integral part of the community.
“We’re going to miss him, there’s no question about that,” Litz said. “He’s been a big help in the day-to-day operations of the town.”
Litz added that the town will look to fill the vacancy with someone who can match – or at least aspire to match – the gregarious chief’s devotion to the community.
According to a classified listing in a recent edition of the Enterprise, applications for the job are available through the Virginia Employment Commission or the Rural Retreat Town Office and are due by 4:30 p.m. on March 28. Additional information on job qualifications and benefits can be obtained by calling (276) 686-4221.
Town Manager Raymond Matney said the salary range for the position is $27,000-$35,700, based on experience.
Although he said he has seen an increase in the visibility of crimes such as shoplifting and domestic violence during the last few years, Lewis said Rural Retreat mostly remains a calm and safe town.
In the last eight years of available state police data, the Rural Retreat Police Department has not reported any incidents of “Group A” offenses – serious crimes such as murder, robbery, arson, fraud and aggravated assault.
“Heinous crimes are – I have not seen any since I’ve been here,” Lewis said. “In the past 24 years there has not been [Lewis knocks three times on his wooden desk] a murder in the town of Rural Retreat, but there have been some around Rural Retreat.”
Assisting the Wythe County Sheriff’s Office and state police, Lewis has helped solve a number of nearby crimes that occurred just outside his jurisdiction.
Lewis pointed to the 1992 murder of the Crockett postmaster as one of the most significant cases that he played a role in solving. The man eventually convicted of the crime, Jimmy Nance, claimed that he had not been in Wythe County on the day of the murder, but Lewis was able to retrieve a newspaper Nance left at a Rural Retreat restaurant with Nance’s fingerprints on it, placing him in the area.
The chief also was the first responder to a stabbing just outside Rural Retreat in Smyth County near Cedar Springs when the county deputies asked for help because they weren’t familiar with the area the crime occurred.
“I was the first on the scene there and recovered the murder weapon,” Lewis remembered.
Most incidents in Lewis’ town limits jurisdiction, though, took more mentoring than sleuthing to unravel.
“There have been three mayors in the town of Rural Retreat since I’ve worked here and it has always been the philosophy that if you can handle it by dealing with someone with some words of wisdom or a moment of prayer, handle it that way,” Lewis said. “If it can’t be handled that way, then make an arrest. In most cases, you can handle it with a moment of prayer or some guidance.”
Litz confirmed Lewis’ sentiment, saying that he’ll look for the new chief to practice law enforcement with a “firm, but understanding hand.”
With his thoughts beginning to turn to life as a retiree, Lewis said he’s looking forward to visiting family in Illinois and spending more time with his wife.
“I think I just intend to enjoy myself and do whatever is presented that day,” he said.
Lewis said he’s happy to see that plans call for the police department to remain a part of Rural Retreat even after he steps down, adding that having a town law enforcement officer helps the community maintain its identity.
“We were doing something to make Rural Retreat a safe and secure community for people to raise their children and for our senior citizens to feel comfortable in their homes,” Lewis said regarding the enjoyment he’s gotten out of his job. “I think there’s a sense of satisfaction knowing you were contributing in some way to that.”
Nate Hubbard can be reached at 228-6611 or .