February 18, 1999
Retiring Fostoria officer reflects on changes
By Jefferson Wolfe
Staff Writer
FOSTORIA -- A 25-year veteran of the police department is to retire in early March.
Capt. Joel Hutchins joined the Fostoria Police Department in 1974. He was a patrol officer until 1984, when he became a detective. He was promoted to sergeant in 1988 and served in that position until he was promoted to captain in 1991.
The profession has changed a lot in 25 years, Hutchins said. He cited a lack of respect toward police officers in society and an decrease in parental control of children. There has been an increase in parents who come to the police station and tell police they simply cannot handle their children, he said.
''It can be frustrating for those of us who have been here for that period of time,'' Hutchins said.
One of the problems that hurts the city is a negative image, which Hutchins says Fostoria does not deserve.
''I was born and raised in Fostoria,'' he said. ''I'm a native 'Fostorican.' We take a lot of bad publicity we don't deserve.''
Recent police statistics show that Fostoria's crime rate is down, there are more officers, officers are making more arrests and the gang problem is not as bad as is perceived. In fact, the gang problem virtually disappeared last summer, he said.
Although Fostoria has a reputation for being unsafe, Hutchins said random physical violence -- like muggings on the street -- are very rare.
''It is a small number of people getting all the publicity,'' Hutchins said. ''We just aren't seeing the violent crimes.''
The rash of murders from a few years ago, Hutchins said, were largely random events. All have been solved and prosecuted.
When Hutchins started, Fostoria had a problem with bar fights.
''It seemed like every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night was bar-fight night,'' he said. Now, police are rarely called to those incidents.
However, business break-ins, which used to be very rare, have increased, Hutchins said.
He lists several achievements during his time in the police department, including being involved in negotiating the first union contract with the city.
''Up until that time, it was kind of a gentleman's agreement with the city,'' Hutchins said.
One of the problems that still plagues the department is that state law mandates command officers negotiate a different contract than patrol officers. That puts the two sides at odds at times, recently manifesting itself in a controversy about which group -- the command officers or the patrol officers -- would perform hourly jail checks, Hutchins said.
Serving the public is the most important part of the job, Hutchins said. Sometimes officers -- including himself -- lose touch with that, he said. Many of the young officers are helping by bringing a focus on service, he said.
Hutchins was the first Fostoria officer to have a bachelor's degree, which he earned from Tiffin University in 1984. Hutchins said he graduated magna cum laude with a degree in criminal justice.
''Now, we have at least three additional officers that have a bachelor's degree,'' he said.
Hutchins also was one of the first certified elderly service officers in Ohio. He was certified through the early efforts of Seneca County's TRIAD program.The TRIAD program involved police working with elderly people in the community to reduce crime. He said he never used the training in the city of Fostoria, however.
After being an EMT with Fostoria ambulance service for 16 years, Hutchins has been the department's CRP instructor for 10 years.
Hutchins' last day is to be March 2.
''At first, I'm not going to do anything.'' he said. ''In the fall, I'm going to back to school and get a second degree, probably in computers and management systems. I got the computer bug about six years ago.''
Hutchins was involved in planning and developing the department's new $250,000 computer-aided dispatch system, similar to systems in Tiffin, Perrysburg and Bowling Green.
''I wanted to leave the department giving the department, and the citizens, something it needed, a computer dispatch system.''
Because he is retiring, Officer Matt Jankowski has been sent to training and appointed the new systems administrator.
Hutchins said he offered to stay as a part-time employee to get the system running, but the city denied his request.
He said it has been discussed that -- in order to get the system running more quickly -- the department use the default system, which would not use all the system's features. The city paid a lot of money for the system, Hutchins said, and he hopes the computer-aided dispatch system will be put to its fullest use.
Also, Jankowski will have to address $4,600 in 911 equipment that appears to be in limbo, he said.
Hutchins said his job has many rewards, but the best is thank-yous from citizens.
He has a file of numerous letters of thank-yous from officials, but the ones he values most are the ones from people he has helped.
''The real true ones are when the citizen you have served take the time out of their day to write a letter and say thanks,'' he said.