Since he was a junior in high school, Redmond Police Chief Ron Gibson knew he wanted a career in law enforcement.

His father had been a steel worker, but also a volunteer firefighter in their small town of New Chicago, Ind. Gibson’s father also served on the town board. This example instilled the importance of public service in Gibson, though he did not have plans to follow exactly in his father’s footsteps.

“I joke with (Redmond Fire Chief Tommy Smith) that I definitely didn’t want to be a firefighter,” Gibson said.

He became a police officer when he turned 21 — having served in the army for three years with military police until he was old enough to join the force. Gibson has served the public for 36 and a half years — spending the last almost six with the Redmond Police Department (RPD) as the top cop. Prior to his stint with Redmond, Gibson served on the Colorado Springs Police Department (CSPD) in Colorado Springs, Colo.

And now, after more than three and a half decades of policing, at age 57, Gibson is retiring. His last day is Thursday. There will be a farewell ceremony in his honor that day from 2-4 p.m. at the Bytes Café at Redmond City Hall, 15670 N.E. 85th St. Anyone can stop by during that time to wish him well.

COMING TO REDMOND

Gibson started at RPD on June 1, 2010.

Prior to joining the department, he had served as CSPD’s deputy chief. Gibson was also the precinct commander for the Sand Creek Division of Colorado Springs from 2002-05. At the time, the precinct had about 120 total personnel and Gibson said when looking for a police chief position, he wanted to find a department of a similar size. At about 130 employees, RPD fit the bill.

Gibson said he wanted to be able to walk down the hall of his police department and know most of the people he encountered. He recalled how in Colorado Springs — which had nearly 1,000 personnel, including 675 sworn officers while he was there — it was not uncommon for him to sit in meetings with officers who had been on the force for several years and still not know who they were.

Gibson said he also didn’t want to be chief of a really small police department as he wasn’t looking into answering calls. He was looking for a purely administrator’s position.

In addition to fitting his professional criteria, Gibson said coming to Redmond also had a personal aspect as his adult daughter had been living — and still lives — in the Pacific Northwest. He said she works at REI headquarters in Kent and prior to accepting the RPD chief position, he and his wife had been up here to visit.

“It was close to (our daughter),” Gibson said about the job. “My wife was very happy.”

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

In the almost six years he has been with Redmond, Gibson said one of the highlights of his career here has been promoting 10 out of the department’s 11 commanders and four out of the department’s five commanders. He said he is proud of the caliber of people he has hired and promoted to leadership positions.

“Redmond has definitely been one of the pinnacles of my career,” Gibson said.

For Gibson, there are two types of decisions a police chief can make to make a difference in the department: who to hire and who to promote.

He added that when he was hired into RPD, one of his goals was to have at least one or two candidates within the department the mayor and City Council could look at for his replacement when he retired. Gibson achieved this goal and current Assistant Chief Kristi Wilson will be promoted to police chief. She will be sworn at the City Council meeting on Tuesday in Council Chambers.

Gibson said with Wilson lined up to become chief, he feels he is leaving the department on the right note.

“Chief Gibson has been a tremendous asset to the community,” said Redmond Mayor John Marchione. “He has implemented new ideas, like the neighborhood resource officer program and Coffee with a Cop. Ron’s command presence is calm and firm. He is a natural leader and a pleasure to work with. I wish him the best on his retirement. We will miss him.”

PERSONAL IMPACT

While Gibson has had an impact on the Redmond community, Redmond has also had an impact on him.

He said in the time that he has been with RPD, there have been a few cases that stand out in his mind.

The first is the manslaughter case from February 2012. A 40-caliber semiautomatic handgun previously thought to be unloaded was fired and resulted in the death of 20-year-old Claire Thompson of Sammamish when the bullet traveled through the wall of an Education Hill home and struck her in the neck. The suspect, Cornelius De Jong IV, pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter in September 2012 and was sentenced to 27 months in prison.

Gibson said another case that stands out for him is the homicide case from July 2014 in which 17-year-old Cara Neil was stabbed and killed just outside of Soulfood Coffeehouse in downtown Redmond. The suspect in that case, Daniel Haggart, pleaded guilty in January and was sentenced in February to almost 22 and a half years in prison.

There are also cases in which there has been no resolution that have stuck with Gibson.

The case of Sky Metalwala, the then-2-year-old boy who went missing in November 2011, is one of those cases. Gibson said while Bellevue police took the lead on that case, Redmond detectives have been and are still involved in the case. He said he knows the family, as well, as the police want closure on the case.

“I always think about what happened to that boy,” he said, adding one final plea to the community for anyone who knows anything about the case to come forward.

Someone knows something about what happened to Sky, Gibson said.

There is also the case of Lorill Sinclaire, the Redmond woman who also disappeared in November 2011. Like with Sky, Gibson said he still wonders about Sinclaire and whether she is OK.

DIFFERENT BUT STILL THE SAME

Having been in law enforcement upwards of three decades, Gibson said he has seen a lot change — specifically in the case of technology.

Gibson recalls how in his early days, they would have to hand write their police reports. He said they would also have to physically visit the department’s records division to request someone’s criminal history. All of these tasks — and more — can now be done by computer and officers don’t even need to be in the building; they can access this information from their cars.

And while technology has changed how police do their jobs, Gibson said it has also changed how crimes can be committed. He said technology has affected the sophistication of fraud being committed. Nowadays, he said, a fraud suspect doesn’t even have to be in the same country as their victims.

But one thing Gibson said that has not changed in policing is how individual officers relate to crime victims.

“It’s how you treat people,” he said. “That hasn’t changed.”

MISSING THAT CONNECTION

When he hangs up his police uniform for the last time, Gibson said he will miss the camaraderie and connection with other law enforcement that he has formed over the years in both Redmond and Colorado Springs.

He said a law enforcement officer can go into any police department in the country, identify themselves as police in need of help and people will be there to offer that assistance.

Gibson said he will miss being part of that club.

One thing he will not miss is the sometimes unrealistic expectations people can have for law enforcement in terms of what the police can and cannot do. Gibson said people don’t always understand the law and restrictions law enforcement is held to and as a result, people can think police are overstepping their bounds or not doing enough on a case — or both.

“I don’t think they get enough credit,” he said about the complexity of cases police often deal with in their jobs.

CIVILIAN LIFE

At 57, Gibson knows he is on the young side for retirement, but he said he and his wife — who is already retired — want to enjoy their senior years before they are too old to do so.

Gibson said he and his wife plan to travel, with a good amount of that traveling to be between the Pacific Northwest and Colorado as they plan to spend more time with their kids and grandkids.

Gibson has no plans to work part time while retired, but he is not ruling it out, adding that it is amazing how once he said he was retiring, how many people offered him a job. He said he may do some volunteer work with nonprofits, but not until he and his wife put some miles on their fifth-wheel trailer and travel and go camping.

“We’re avid campers,” he said.