Tim Ryan, tryan@wolfrivermedia.com
TOM COTTER
Many people who hold the job of community service officer are at the beginning of a career in law enforcement, using it as a stepping stone to a full-time police job.
That wasn’t the case with Tom Cotter, who had a career in banking behind him when he joined the Shawano Police Department as a CSO at age 60 a little more than 10 years ago.
He is retiring at age 70 on March 30.
“You work most of your adult life and somewhere along the line you’ve got to stop and smell the roses,” he said. “My job has been good. It’s been a good time.”
Cotter has worked part-time about 20 hours a week handling a variety of community service duties, none of which have required him to be a sworn officer or carry a gun.
Most of his time has been spent pursuing city code violations, such as junked or abandoned cars, garbage piled up in yards, unshoveled sidewalks and overgrown grass.
He also serves subpoenas, leads funeral processions, unlocks vehicles, chases dogs and enforces parking violations.
He has also been called upon to assist at the scene of accidents, redirecting traffic when there is road blockage.
“There’s a variety of things to do,” he said.
The city has put an emphasis in the last few years on the quality of life issues that Cotter typically deals with.
“Some people say just leave it up to the neighborhood to police those things, but we’re stepping up and trying to keep the community looking nice,” he said. “We’re always striving to improve the quality of life.”
Though the department relies heavily on citizen tips, Cotter has been out on patrol actively seeking out code violations.
“Quality of life translates into overall tax base for the city,” Cotter said. “If you’ve got properties that are depressed and there’s junk laying all over the yards, those values are going to go down. It’s important that we work on those things and get those things cleaned up to keep the values or maybe improve the values. It works well for the city in that regard.”
There have been a few high points and low points along the way, the most disturbing of which was helping clear out an abandoned residence on Maurer Street a few years back where the occupant left behind dozens of dead animals.
“He left them in cages,” Cotter said. “We had people in Hazmat suits taking those cages out. A lot of times just bone and skin in the cage. It wasn’t pretty. It was nasty.”
Cotter was also the last CSO who practiced the department’s policy of trapping skunks.
“I got sprayed one time and had to change clothes,” he said. “I had to throw the shirt away.”
After that, then-Police Chief Ed Whealon made a decision.
“That’s it; we don’t do any more skunks,” Cotter recalled him saying.
Cotter said he felt lucky to working at the police department, given that he came without knowing anything about police work.
“The staff and the people I work with were wonderful to take me in,” he said. “They work together so well. I’ve enjoyed it almost every day. I didn’t mind getting up Monday morning to come to work because of the variety of things that you do. It was good to work here. I enjoyed my time here.”