OPD Chief Phil Schenck retires

OTHELLO — It was through a partnership with the Othello School District that Othello Police Chief Phil Schenck found what he wants to do next.

Schenck announced his retirement from the chief’s job, effective this month. He’s been a police officer for 34 years, nine as OPD chief.

But he already has a new job lined up, courtesy of the criminal justice class at OHS; Schenck and OPD officers are among the instructors.

“When I started teaching the high school class, our criminal justice class, I found I really enjoyed it,” he said. “And the principals, the (program) director, other teachers have encouraged me over the last few years, (saying), ‘Hey, you should come and teach.’ And it’s like, ‘But I’m a cop.’”

The idea of teaching wouldn’t go away, he said.

“This year I saw that (OHS) had a couple of teacher positions open up that I was interested in,” he said. “So the idea of going to the high school and teaching full time, I let myself think about it. So I interviewed and they offered me the job,” he said.

Retiring from law enforcement had been on his mind for a while, Schenck said, but he was unsure about post-retirement life.

“It used to be police officers would retire and then die within a couple of years,” he said. “That’s a lack of purpose. I don’t think any (law enforcement officers) are designed to just quit and go home and put our feet up on the couch.”

A sense of purpose is something that’s always motivated him, he said, and being a teacher also feeds that sense. The criminal justice class is, in Schenck’s view, not really about careers in law enforcement.

“We’re trying to share with young people different careers, and see that there’s something bigger, there’s more than they can do,” he said. “Having a student come up to you a couple of years later and say, ‘Hey man, that class you taught, it really opened my eyes and I’m interested in (a career). Or I’m interested in this.’ That feels good.

“As a police officer, I serve people and I serve my community. And the idea of stopping just didn’t work for me. So when the opportunity came to go teach, it’s like, ‘Okay. I can see strong purpose in that,’” he said.

Schenck spent 25 years working as a police officer in Sunnyside before being hired as OPD chief. He’s proud of some of the initiatives he devised to address problems he saw in his community, he said.

“In Sunnyside, I, with my team, developed an extremely effective gang reduction strategy that really saved lives. It made the community a better place,” he said. “Coming to Othello I was able to use some of the same strategies here.”

Schenck said that getting school resource officers into Othello schools, restarting the OPD’s Dare program and reviving its Explorer program are initiatives that will have a lasting effect.

“Going out and making certain arrests – there’s key arrests that happen where you know you’ve made a difference. But for me, it’s never been about going out and writing speeding tickets. I like working with the community, being a partner in the community to make it the town we want it to be,” Schenck said.

With changes in state law, it becomes even more important to find ways to reach people, especially young people, he said. Teaching young people about substance abuse, keeping them from committing crimes, means they will be less likely to grow up and do those things, he said.

He said he will miss the OPD staff.

“I work with an amazing group. Our officers, our dispatchers, our code enforcement – I might be the boss, but I consider these people to be friends. And family. Law enforcement is a family,” he said. “And working with the city council and the mayor – we’ve got a fantastic city council.”

Schenck said there are things he won’t miss, such as informing people about an accident that killed a family member.

“We deal with stuff so that our community members don’t have to,” he said.

Schenck will start his new job in the 2023-24 school year, and he’s ready for it.

“I”m actually looking forward to the coming school year,” he said. “This is an exciting new path.”

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at education@columbiabasinherald.com.