Saturday's Internet Edition, May 17, 2008.
|
After nearly 30 years of service, Maj. Ronnie Phillips will work his last day for the Thomasville Police Department on March 31. Accumulating a year and a half of sick days, the Thomasville High School graduate is eligible to add the unused sick leave to his 28 and a half years of experience, making him eligible to retire.
Phillips isn’t totally leaving law enforcement, as he is taking the position of coordinator of basic law enforcement training at Davidson County Community College (DCCC) on April 1.
“It will allow me to remain in touch with a lot of my coworkers,” said Phillips, who has been a part-time instructor at DCCC for 15 years.
Initially, Phillips decided to go into law enforcement because he didn’t want to be cooped up inside a factory like his dad was at Thomasville Furniture Industries. He also didn’t want to follow the norm of his peers, who instead of attempting another career path, settled for textile and manufacturing jobs.
“I never regretted making that decision,” he said. “Even back then it was something I loved doing.”
Graduating from Davidson County Community College with an associate’s degree in criminal justice in 1979, Phillips was soon hired the same year by the Thomasville Police Department.
A young and eager officer, Phillips quickly earned the respect of his coworkers. In 1980, he was named Officer of the Year by the Thomasville Jaycees.
“We have worked together ever since he came here,” Thomasville Chief of Police Ronald S. Bratton said. “It is always good to have someone you can depend on. As police say, ‘You always have someone who has your back.’ He has always had my back.”
When Phillips began in 1979, the police department was still feeling the effects of having two officers murdered on Douglas Drive. For a 21-year-old beginning his career, Phillips remembers being in awe of his working environment.
“I realized then that I had lived a very sheltered life,” he recalls. “At that time, every part of Hunter Street was drug infested, shootings going on and Doak Street was terrible. It has changed so much through the years. Now it is rare to get a call on Doak Street.”
In 1981, Phillips was chosen to be Thomasville’s only Vice/Narcotics officer. He was promoted to sergeant in 1985, then to lieutenant in 1987, captain in 1993 and then major in March of 2007.
The year of 1997 was a great one for Phillips. Not only did he graduate with honors from Guilford College with a B.A. in justice and policy studies, he attended the illustrious FBI National Academy in Quantico, Va.
In attending the academy, Phillips is the only officer to ever represent the City of Thomasville.
“I’m still proud of that,” he said. “You have less than one percent of all law enforcement officers worldwide who have been to the national academy. It is probably the most advanced management type of school in the world.”
As the years have come and gone, Phillips said he became “hooked” on law enforcement, regardless of knowing the dangerous day-to-day risks of his duties. Frequently, the job has been one he takes home with him.
“Anyone who is in law enforcement does that,” he said. “Law enforcement isn’t a job where you get off at 5 p.m. and then you go home. A lot of years, I worked rotating shifts and have been on call during holidays. It is a job you have to do. When you have homicides and things like that, someone has to stand up for the deceased person.”
In fact, Phillips said homicides have been the most interesting cases he has been involved with, but some of the incidents stick out for the wrong reasons. When he worked as a detective, the veteran law enforcement officer investigated 32 homicides.
“Some of the cases I will never forget had children involved,” he said. “It will always stay with you.”
Even having the high ranking title of major, Phillips still goes to high-profile crime scenes. Just this past January he was involved in the capture of four men who were allegedly involved in a rash of robberies in the Chair City. Authorities later connected the men with the death of Joshua Sweitzer – a 21 year old convenience store clerk from Thomasville who was shot in the head at Lucky Mart in High Point on Oct. 31, 2007.
His family has been very supportive of his devotion. He has been married to wife Tammy for 22 years. The couple has two kids, Cameron and Matthew.
“I’m sure when I get up in the middle of the night, they worry,” Phillips said. “I’m putting on the body armor and checking weapons. It is something that the families get used too. You can’t be a police officer unless you have the support of your family.”
Phillips said his colleagues have become just like family.
“I’m going to miss the people I have worked with the most,” he said. “We have got the best trained officers that we have ever had. I feel good leaving the department at this time.”
Staff Writer Darrick Ignasiak can be reached at 472-9500, ext. 231, or ignasiak@tvilletimes.com.