Posted on

Officer Vetter can’t stop, won’t stop

  • Charles City police with Officer Bill Vetter at his retirement party. Press photo by Thomas Nelson

  • Charles City Police Officer Bill Vetter. Contributed photo.

By Thomas Nelson, tnelson@charlescitypress.com

Charles City Police Officer Bill Vetter will be retiring for the second time.

Vetter’s first retirement was from the United States Marine Corps in March 2006 at the rank of sergeant major. This year, Vetter is retiring from the Charles City Police Department.

He’ll be going to work at Mitas next, because Vetter just can’t sit still.

Vetter was the Charles City Police Department’s first full-time school resource officer.

“My last day at the PD is Sunday and my first day out there is Monday morning,” Vetter said. “My retirement is going to be short-lived.”

Vetter started working at the Charles City Police Department as a county-wide dispatcher and a reserve officer, and was hired as a full-time police officer in June 2006. He was later appointed as Charles City’s first community-oriented police officer.

“When I was in school I wanted to be a state trooper, so I went out to talk to troopers, and you have to be 21 to get in,” Vetter said.

Vetter was told that if he went into the service for four years he’d be a shoe-in when he got out, he said.

“My four years were up, and I just enjoyed the Marine Corps so much, so I re-enlisted,” Vetter said.

One re-enlist led to another and the next thing he knew, Vetter was in for 26 years.

Vetter did well in the corps, reaching the second highest enlisted leadership rank of sergeant major. The only rank higher is sergeant major of the Marine Corps.

“I was sergeant major of the biggest independent battalion,” Vetter said. “Out of Courthouse Bay.”

When Vetter got out of the Marine Corps he still wanted to be in law enforcement.

“I put an application in for a police position. There wasn’t one open at the time,” Vetter said.

Shortly after that he got called saying that a dispatcher position was open.

“I wasn’t a dispatcher for more than 40 days and then I became a full-time police officer,” Vetter said.

Between being a Marine and then a dispatcher, and then a police officer, Vetter hasn’t had much time off.

“In the police field when you hit 55, that’s when most officers retire,” Vetter said. “It’s a young man’s game.”

Police officers usually need 22 years to max out their benefits, but Vetter said he wasn’t going stick around long enough to do that.

“There’s a lot of people that may not want to hire you after that,” Vetter said.

“I wasn’t going to delay that because you’re going to make yourself less marketable for a job after that,” Vetter said. “I’m going to work up at Mitas.”

Vetter’s job at Mitas will be his first normal job, so to speak.

“I like being busy,” he said. “I don’t like being at home sitting and watching TV. I’d rather be doing something.”

At his new job at Mitas, Vetter will be the environmental safety coordinator.

“This will be the first normal job that I’ve ever had,” Vetter said. “I’m waiting to see what the other half lives like.”

Vetter currently serves as a commissioner for the Floyd County Veteran’s Affairs Office and is a member of the Marine Corps League.

Vetter’s wife, Tami, is the owner of the Rustic Corner in Charles City. His son, Capt. Garrett Vetter, is currently an active duty Marine deployed with a special-purpose Marine air-ground task force, based out of Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, for six months.

“You stay busy, you stay young,” Vetter said. “I like being active.”

Social Share

LATEST NEWS