Tim Ryan, tryan@wolfrivermedia.com
Shawano Police Capt. Jeff Heffernon announced his retirement Tuesday after 25 years with the department and nearly three decades in law enforcement.
His official retirement date is Jan. 10, but he will be taking vacation and compensatory time he has accrued prior to that, so the exact departure date was uncertain.
“Twenty-nine years with a badge and a gun is a long time,” Heffernon said.
Heffernon said the time was right not so much for retirement as for a transition to “something less taxing.”
He said he’d like to return to substitute teaching, which he’s done in the past.
“I thoroughly enjoyed that,” he said.
Heffernon and his wife, Deb, moved to Shawano in 1986 and have been active in the community since then.
“I’ll continue to do that,” he said.
The couple have two adult children, Holly and Scott. Holly has followed in Heffernon’s footsteps and is a sheriff’s deputy with a northern Wisconsin county. Scott is serving with the U.S. Army.
As for whatever lies beyond the Shawano Police Department, Heffernon said, “I’ll see where life takes me.”
Heffernon was a Shawano County sheriff’s deputy before he started with the department in May 1989 as a patrol officer.
He served as a school resource officer in the Shawano School District from 2001-2002, when he was promoted to lieutenant. He was promoted to captain in 2007.
“Jeff will be deeply missed by his co-workers and those individuals he has had a positive influence over,” Chief Mark Kohl said.
In addition to police duties, Heffernon has served on numerous committees, including the Shawano County Highway Safety Committee, Sexual Predator Ordinance Committee, Shawano Schools Safety Committee and the Shawano County Child Death Review Team.
Recent department activity includes helping introduce the community to ALICE, a school safety response system; managing the transition from paper citations and crash reports to the computerized TRACS program; overseeing the squad computer program and the transition from paper work schedule to a web-based digital calendar for the patrol staff; managing the transition to the web-based, state training database; and review all criminal cases prior to referral to the district attorney’s office and Department of Social Services.
Heffernon’s is one of two vacancies the department will have to fill next year. Officer Adam Bieber was elected Nov. 4 as Shawano County sheriff.
The Shawano Police and Fire Commission will meet in mid-December to address staffing vacancies.