Casting reflections upon a law enforcement career

Eddie Bogue, who spent 37 years in law enforcement, first at Hannibal, then Palmyra, retired in 2024. He is now working for Hannibal-LaGrange University, as head of the safety department, and as an instructor for the criminal justice program. Contributed photo

MARY LOU MONTGOMERY

Reflecting upon his 37-year career in law enforcement, 62-year-old Eddie Bogue serves as a witness to the many changes that have taken place throughout those years, both in criminality and in the pursuit of justice.

After 20 years with the Hannibal Police Department, and another 17 years as Palmyra’s police chief, late last summer Bogue made the decision to step back into civilian life.

He realized, “I wasn’t as productive as I could be. I could have drank my coffee for three more years, but when you slow down and come to a stop, things start going backward. I didn’t want that for Palmyra.”

Realizing this, “I  didn’t want to be considered a ROD (retired on duty.)”

New career

After a two week break, Bogue went to work as the head of the safety department for Hannibal-LaGrange University, and as an instructor for the criminal justice program.

Working at HLGU is like coming home. He took his first class at the college in 1981; earned an associate’s degree in 1999, and a bachelor’s degree in administration of justice in 2004.

Early years

He now realizes that it was a fluke that he got hired onto the Hannibal Police Department in the first place.

“In 1980s, if you lived in Hannibal and didn’t work at Cyanamid or Pillsbury, you weren’t going to do well,” he said.

He was in his early 20s, and wanted stability, a job with a pension. “I actually tried the fire department first,” he said, and made it through the first round of the hiring process. I tried the second time, but didn’t make it through the testing.

“As a kind of a fluke, I saw a police officer in Dairy Queen, who asked if I had ever considered” the police force.

“After I spoke to the officer in DQ, I applied, August 1987. I went through their testing.  I had an initial interview, but didn’t hear anything. September came, October came. In November I got a call from Kenny Caldwell.

“Are you still interested?”

“Sure,” I said.

After running a mile and a half and a drug screening, he became a conditional officer.

He went to work on Dec. 7, 1987, Pearl Harbor Day.

Three people were hired; one resigned after a year, and the other moved to Bangor, Maine.

“I was the only one of the three who wasn’t certified,” Bogue said. “They had to send me to academy. Back then it was a lot different than today.

“They immediately put me on the street with a field training officer. I hadn’t even been to academy yet. They had up to a year to send new recruits.

“Now they can’t put you to work, in a car, or (give you) a gun,” until you get that certificate.

“Training was very much a crash course. Missouri State Highway Patrol Training Academy, was only three weeks long, 120 hours, to learn all you needed to be a certified officer.”

Now it is nearly 700 hours, he said. 

“We had a block of training, including firearms. Guns were pretty simple, they were revolvers, old style 38 revolvers. We didn’t get automatics until the mid 1990s.

“The Patrol instructors were very professional and knowledgeable, they made sure we paid attention. We had PT every day, like a mini boot camp.

“It was very fast paced; one of the attorneys from the Attorney General’s office” was an instructor. “He was teaching in 10 hours what you would learn in a semester at college. He didn’t take many breaths,” Bogue said.

By the time he went to the academy, “I’d been at work the previous nine months, I was assigned to a shift and had my own car. Working uncertified, I couldn’t technically make a custodial arrest; I’d have to have a watch commander sign off on my paper work.”

He stayed with the department for 20 years and one month, qualifying him for the pension he coveted.

During his tenure at Hannibal, “I was involved in a couple of big cases; one was a counterfeiter from St. Louis up here in Hannibal passing $20 bills, at nightclubs, bars and fast food restaurants.” Bogue caught the suspect via a traffic stop.

“I had to go to federal court in St. Louis to testify. I had a good case, and he was found guilty. He got 18 to 20. I thought years, but it was months. He served about 12 months in prison.

“I spent the majority of my time with Hannibal in the patrol division,” he said. “I worked for a short time as a detective, but I didn’t really care for it.

“I liked the patrol, I stayed in until I got promoted up. I retired at the rank of captain and my title was assistant chief.

“I left Hannibal in January 2008; and was retired for a whole weekend, before I started a new job on Monday. I was hired as police chief at Palmyra.”

When he started work in Palmyra, the police station was housed in an old doctor’s office at the back of city hall. “It was not adequate for modern policing. So in 2013, I started making plans to build a stand-alone police station in Palmyra.

“It took three years and a lot of meetings and yelling and screaming and controversy, but it finally got accomplished in 2016. We went from 620 square feet, to 3,100 square feet.”

The Palmyra police station is located at 200 North Main.

“It actually helped our law enforcement, attracting new recruits. Police have been able to garner the respect of citizens and the town by being able to have a modern facility, to continue our professionalism, all to better the community.”

When he took over the department, “We were kind of behind, by no fault of the administration. We had old police cars and equipment. The first  thing I did was increase our fleet. My philosophy was that bad guys come to Palmyra and see old ratty looking uniforms,” you wouldn’t think that the department had high standards.

“We kept our professionalism as top notch as we could, with continuing training, proper record management systems, and keeping up with the way policing had changed.”

He was able to garner $750,000 in grants in order to help pay for overtime and equipment. One of the items was a $22,000 live scan fingerprint machine.

FBI Academy

The highlight of his police career came when he was selected to attend the FBI National Academy in Quantico, Va., in 2011. “A very small percentage of (officers,) 1 percent, get to attend. It is very sought after.

“I was the smallest agency represented there. There is at least one representative from every state, and 27 countries. Texas has 7 representatives.”

The training is similar to a semester in college with physical training, all wrapped into one. The primary focus is leadership.

“Networking and leadership skills through the FBI. Probably the pinnacle of my career. It was the most amazing time I ever had.” He graduated from the three-month course on Dec. 16, 2011.

“When I was at FBI academy I took a media class. We had to do all  kinds of media stuff, press releases, remote interviews,  in-person interviews, on and off camera interviews. It was pretty extensive.

“The media can be your worst enemy or your best friend,” Bogue said.

Reflection

Now that he’s retired,  “I’ve met with the new (Palmyra) chief (Mike Baker) several times, Bogue said.  “He has come up with new programs I hadn’t even thought of.

“I was wore out. I made the right decision. I was stagnate and now that he’s taken over and is running with these new ideas, (the department) is still climbing up rather than taking a fall back. That’s what I wanted to see happen.”