After four decades of service, the Darien police chief is retiring from the force on April 1. Chief Donald Anderson says he’s accomplished more than he ever thought possible and did it without taking a single sick day.
“You just don’t see the horizon out in front of you 40 years later, but in reality, it does seem like it’s gone by pretty quickly,” Chief Anderson said.
Time has flown for Darien police chief Donald Anderson. He reflects on the four decades he’s put in on the force, starting as a rookie officer.
“They gave me a job. Took a leap of faith on a 20-year-old kid who didn’t have much more than a little bit of name recognition and the desire to do the best he could,” he said.
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Name recognition that came with his father also serving as a Darien police officer and eventually police chief. As Anderson moved up the ranks, he saw the community impact he could have as an officer.
“You have that opportunity to step into somebody’s life at a moment’s notice and start the post-incident correction to put their life back together,” he said.
Anderson says he never took any sick days and is fortunate to have good health. He also was able to work through tough situations on the job.
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“If you can work through those, it gives you the resiliency to just continue to go on,” he said.
The moment Anderson says he realized the difference he was making was helping a victim of sexual assault more than 20 years ago as a lieutenant and seeing her face filled with relief.
“Someone was there now to help her put her life back together and was going to believe her, because certainly we did believe her,” he said.
Anderson says he’s accomplished everything he could have dreamed of in Darien and is passing the reins to his successor, Captain Jeremiah Marron. He believes giving the next generation of officers an opportunity to perform gives the department a bright future.
“By stepping aside now at this point, we have excellent staff here who can step up and they can achieve their dream,” he said.
