A Calling That Changed His Life

Local D.A.R.E officer Hangs Up His Badge After a Job Well Done

D.A.R.E is a community program many of us are familiar with. Its purpose is to build relationships between local law enforcement and kids within the community by placing officers in the schools each semester. It is setup as a 10-week curriculum, teaching lessons about self-esteem, making good choices, how to say no to drugs, bullying, decision-making and the list goes on. Not every school system in the state participates in D.A.R.E and each county who chooses to offer this program does so differently. For Henderson County, this program is offered to 5th graders in the public-school system and 6th graders at Holy Name, along with a Poster Program for a 2nd grade teacher at Holy Name.

For Henderson County, the D.A.R.E program said goodbye to one of its most dedicated officers thus far, Marty Wilson. Marty officially retired from the Henderson County Police Department, leaving his role as the local D.A.R.E officer, on November 30, 2019. He started his journey on April 6, 1992 working patrol for about 10 years before spending the last 19 years as our community’s D.A.R.E officer.

A Calling that Changed His Life

Marty is originally from Evansville, Indiana. He went to Harrison High School and after graduation went into the Army where he served 4.5 years in Desert Storm. Some kids know exactly what they want to do when they grow up but not Marty. Being a police officer was a career and a calling that found him.

The day he was getting out of the army, he was talking to his grandmother on the phone about what he was going to do after he got out. During his time in the army he had married and had two kids, so he had a family to support. His grandmother told him the HPD was offering the test to become a police officer the next day. Marty had never thought about being a police officer prior to applying but thought he would see where it took him. Marty lived next door to a school liaison officer in Evansville growing up, so he had a good picture of what a police officer was. He drove from Colorado Springs all night to Henderson, took the test and got hired off that test and went into the police academy in 1992.

He had never heard of D.A.R.E, but one of his training officers was a D.A.R.E officer. A couple of days a week they would go to different schools to teach. Marty remembered the three schools they visited, which were Hebbardsville, Robards and East Heights. He helped with a D.A.R.E graduation, and it was really touching to see. Thinking back to that moment, he recalls, “I thought ‘man, that’s awesome. I want to do something like that when I get a chance’, so when the opportunity came up, I decided to become a D.A.R.E officer.”

When Marty was first hired as a police officer, Henderson had three D.A.R.E officers within the schools but then decided to go with one. During Marty’s first year as a D.A.R.E officer, HPD decided to split the year between officers, so his first year was split with another officer and then he became the official D.A.R.E officer in 2000 when they went back to one.

“There were many opportunities to promote and I was advised that I needed to promote, but it just wasn’t what I wanted to do. I liked working with the kids and the schedule I had. That was just my calling. I would rather do that than be a supervisor,” Marty said proudly.

Becoming a D.A.R.E Officer

The Kentucky State Police is mainly in charge of the D.A.R.E program, and a KSP trooper coordinates it.  There is a two-week D.A.R.E training to become a D.A.R.E officer and not everyone passes. Marty explained it isn’t an easy course and some individuals just aren’t cut out for it. “Some police training is like classroom stuff, and I think that’s what a lot of people expect, and it ends up being a whole lot more. You have to go into a classroom and teach and do lesson plans and stay up late and do skits, so it’s really tough,” Marty said.

Anytime school was in session, Marty was teaching classes. When he first started as the D.A.R.E officer, the middle schools didn’t have school resource officers at the time, so when he wasn’t in the elementary schools he would go to the middle schools and teach some career classes. During the summer months, he would work patrol.

An Officer Everyone Knows

Marty had the opportunity to meet and teach so many kids within our community over the last 19 years. He graduated an estimated 12,000 students between Henderson County Public Schools, Holy Name, Central Learning Center and Henderson Christian School.

Even when Marty wasn’t in the school buildings, he always enjoyed going out into the community and showing his support for current and previous students in the program. He would attend extracurricular activities, such as basketball games, and even since his retirement, he will still go visit the kids at the schools. Every year he would attend Holy Name’s Fall Festival and has always been part of Henderson’s Christmas parade, as the D.A.R.E car would lead it right behind the honor guard.

Marty enjoyed so much about his job as the D.A.R.E officer, yet there were also some challenges along the way. His passion for helping the kids he had taught over the years was made known as he stated, “I enjoy the relationships I build with the kids. It really is a gratifying feeling whenever you meet the kids years later, and they remember your name and want to give you a hug and tell you what a good job they have done. That they are drug free, or they got a family and are working. The most challenging is trying to build the confidence with kids who have had a negative opinion of the police. They have had things that have happened in their lives or haven’t gone their way. Trying to get their trust is the most challenging part.”

Marty was D.A.R.E. Officer of the Year in 2011-2012. He was also Vice President in 2013, President in 2014 and, in 2015, received the Past President award. He was active in KDA his entire career as a region representative.

He explained the importance of this program is truly about the relationships with the kids. It’s a huge asset for the safety of the community. Marty gave an example about a hypothetical crime happening in a neighborhood and sending the D.A.R.E officer that all the kids know and trust to investigate. He said, “They may have seen something. They are more likely to speak to an officer than adults would be. That is one example. When the community is happy with the police and like the police, the community is a better place to be.”

A Whole New World

Retirement has been a change for Marty, but he is continuing to stay busy. Now that he has more time, he will continue doing more of the things he enjoyed doing when he was off work, depending on the season, such as skiing, swimming and playing in the river, fishing and playing with remote control airplanes. He has so much he hasn’t been able to do, such as working on his house. However, Marty says he is pretty sure he will get another job eventually and would be open to teaching D.A.R.E again in the future.

He is going to miss the relationships he has built over the years with the staff members he has gotten to know, such as teachers and principals he has become friends with, and his fellow officers at the Henderson Police Department.

For kids wanting to pursue a career as a police officer, Marty said, “It’s definitely a rewarding career. I would say stay out of trouble, don’t be a follower, be a leader and follow your dreams. If that’s what you want to do, then you can do it.”