Lynch, who will reach the department's mandatory retirement age of 65, wishes he could keep working.
Photo by Lori Stabile. Palmer Officer James J. Lynch is retiring at the end of April. PALMER – Police Officer James J. Lynch is retiring on April 29, but wishes he could keep working.
The department, which follows civil service requirements, has a mandatory retirement age of 65. Lynch, the school resource officer, turns 65 on April 28.
“It’s tough for me to leave. Even at this age I still love coming to work,” said Lynch, who said he loves being the school resource officer, a position he has had for more than a decade.
Through that job, he splits his time between Palmer High School and Pathfinder Regional Vocational Technical High School.
“It’s one reason I never went for a promotion,” Lynch said.
Lynch worked as an industrial engineer at the former Wright’s factory in Warren, but he always dreamed of being a police officer.
It was 1972 when he started working toward that goal. Lynch started off as an auxiliary officer, and spent three years in that role, working alongside the full-time police officers. Auxiliary officers are unpaid and do not have arrest powers. Then he worked as a part-time officer for 11 years, becoming full-time in 1986.
School officials, and his colleagues, agreed Lynch will be hard to replace.
“In my view you couldn’t find a better school resource officer anywhere. I say that because he was not here to look for trouble, he was here to help kids and to be vigilant and to make sure the student body was not only safe but knew that they had a friend in uniform. Students respected him and liked him, and the faculty respected him and liked him. He will be a very tough act to follow,” Pathfinder Regional Vocational Technical High School Superintendent Gerald L. Paist said.
The department received a three-year grant in 2000 to fund a school resource officer. When it expired, officials at Palmer High and Pathfinder felt so strongly about the position that they agreed to split the cost with the police to keep it going, Police Chief Robert P. Frydryk said.
“He’s a shining example of what a good, kind, compassionate police officer should be and how you conduct yourself on duty and off duty. He’s had a remarkable career,” Frydryk said.
Officer Richard Wahlers will replace Lynch. The former Drug Awareness Resistance Education (DARE) officer, Wahlers has been shadowing Lynch to learn the job. Lynch also was the town’s first DARE officer in 1992.
Lynch said he liked being the school resource officer “because it’s nice to be able to interact with the good kids.”
Over the years, students have approached him with all kinds of problems, from personal issues at home to questions about speeding tickets. A child once told him that he was being molested by a man who lived in the mobile home park. That tip led to the man’s arrest, Lynch said. Police discovered that the man abused several children.
Lynch said he became a police officer to help people, and has enjoyed his run.
Said Frydryk: “He left an indelible mark on the lives of a lot of young students.”