By CHRIS MORRIS
Mathie Anderson admits it won’t be easy walking away from police work. After 33 years and 7 months of service, however, he is ready to give it a try.
“It’s sad in a way,” he said Tuesday prior to a retirement party in his honor on his last day on the job. “I’ve been getting up five days a week, putting on the badge and gun and coming here. It will take some adjustment. But I would say 25 percent is sad and the other 75 is ready to go.”
Anderson has served in all levels of the New Albany Police Department from patrolman, to chief to his present role as detective.
“I knew him from the first day on the department,” Chief of Detectives Capt. Keith Whitlow said. “I just can’t say enough about him.
“He has taken on a whole lot of extra responsibility — you can always count on him. He will be tough to replace.”
Anderson served as chief from 1992 to 1999. He said he is proud of the accomplishments made by the department during his tenure. Under his reign, the NAPD was completely computerized, the bicycle patrol was started and the DARE program was put in every school in Floyd County.
Anderson said since 2001 he has worked 342 cases and served warrants or made arrests in 90 percent of those cases. He said most of the crime he has worked on since 2000 has dealt with credit card fraud and bad checks.
“A lot of it centers around cocaine and meth. They will do anything they can to get it,” he said.
Whitlow said it will be hard to replace Anderson’s knowledge of the area.
“He knows everyone,” Whitlow said. “People would tell him things just because they knew him.”
Clark Miles served as an assistant chief under Anderson and said many of the younger officers could learn a lot from Anderson.
“He had a great rapport with people,” Miles said. “He treated people with respect, and that can be difficult in this business sometimes. Today it’s more dangerous and they have to take a different approach. So many more people have guns and weapons.
“When he was named chief he said he wanted me as his assistant and I have always appreciated that.”
Like Miles, Capt. Rick Denny has fond memories of Anderson. He said he will never forget his first day on the force 25 years ago. He said the officer he rode with that day was Anderson.
“Everything happened that day. That was probably the busiest day I ever had on the department,” Denny said. “We had a personal injury accident, attempted suicide ... all kind of stuff.
“I remember we pulled into Burger Chef and he asked me if I wanted something to eat. I couldn’t believe he could eat after all that, but he said it was probably our last chance. And he was right, it was.”
Denny, the NAPD training officer, said Anderson always went through training with the other officers when he was chief.
“He never thought he was better than anyone else,” he said. “I respect him for that.”
Anderson said he may work part-time for Kraft Funeral Service in the future.
