{"id":130376,"date":"2020-04-15T22:57:37","date_gmt":"2020-04-16T03:57:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=130376"},"modified":"2020-04-17T07:53:49","modified_gmt":"2020-04-17T12:53:49","slug":"retiring-vwpd-dare-officer-gets-big-last-day-send-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2020\/04\/15\/retiring-vwpd-dare-officer-gets-big-last-day-send-off\/","title":{"rendered":"Blackmore gets big ‘last day’ send-off"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WYATT RICHARDSON & DAVE MOSIER\/<\/strong>Van Wert independent<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Van Wert Police Officer Greg Blackmore takes his last trip in the DARE-mobile on Wednesday as he officially retired from the VWPD after 30 years of service, 24 as city DARE officer. photos by Wyatt Richardson\/Van Wert independent<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

While April 15 is normally a big day for many taxpayers, this year it was huge<\/em> for Van Wert Police Officer Greg Blackmore, who officially retired Wednesday after 30 years on the police department — 24 of those as city DARE officer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During those decades of service, Officer Blackmore inspired and educated many young students through the DARE program, not only teaching them the dangers of drugs and smoking, but how to be successful young men and women as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Going above and beyond what was expected should have been etched on Blackmore\u2019s VWPD badge. In addition to teaching the DARE program, the officer regularly took late night (and early morning) calls from troubled students and worried parents, as well as pulling a shift as a regular patrol officer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The veteran officer took some time Wednesday to reflect on his 30-year career on the local police force.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cI would have to say my most rewarding experience has been working with all of the kids over the years,\u201d Blackmore said. \u201cI know an officer\u2019s job is to protect and serve, and I feel I\u2019ve done both during my time, but I would say somewhat different than other officers because of becoming a DARE officer 24 years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And, while he feels he was a good patrol officer, Blackmore said he feels his school duties are his legacy to the community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Officer Greg Blackmore ends his final shift for the VWPD.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDon\u2019t get me wrong, I made my fair share of arrests, but I feel I had more of an impact on the community being a DARE officer ad school liaison officer,\u201d he noted. \u201cI look at the amount of students that I have taught over the years on trying to stay on the right path in life, and I strongly feel that a lot of them have listened. I know there were some that didn\u2019t, but I have tried never to give up in helping them to.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the number of signs in the community thanking Blackmore for his service to Van Wert\u2019s youthful population means anything, a lot of parents and kids were listening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to helping kids, Blackmore has developed friendships with young and old alike over the past three decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe amount of friends that I have made during my career is unbelievable, and I know even after retirement they will still be there for me, and I will be there for them,\u201d Blackmore said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many of those friends are those he has worked with over the past 30 years, he added, while also thanking the police chiefs and city officials who have given the DARE program, and him, support over the years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe amount of support that the city and department has given me over the 30 years is unbelievable, and I will always be there to support them also,\u201d Blackmore said. \u201cI am really going to miss working with all of the supervisors, officers, and dispatchers \u2026 but I know I will stay in contact.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The veteran police officer also took a minute to put in some good words for law enforcement officers and the career to which he gave the past 30 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs law enforcement (officers), we tend to catch a lot of grief from some citizens about how we perform our duties,\u201d Blackmore noted. \u201cI am in no way saying anyone is perfect, but we try our hardest to perform our duties at the utmost for our city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt isn\u2019t getting any easier in our world today to be a police officer, but you still have brave individuals stepping forward to protect and serve,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blackmore also acknowledged the world has changed more than a little since he took the oath as a police officer, along with his brother, Jeff, on April 5, 1990. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe thing that has changed the most over the past 30 years \u2026 would have to be respect,\u201d he said. \u201cNot only the respect towards law enforcement, but also the overall respect that some people have towards each other.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, as Blackmore saw Wednesday on his last day on the job, there\u2019s loads of respect in the Van Wert community for his<\/em> service to the DARE program and the city\u2019s children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Officer Blackmore poses with his two work vehicles. A VWPD SUV cruiser (left) and the city DARE-mobile.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WYATT RICHARDSON & DAVE MOSIER\/Van Wert independent While April 15 is normally a big day for many taxpayers, this year it was huge for Van Wert Police Officer Greg Blackmore, who officially retired Wednesday after 30 years on the police department — 24 of those as city DARE officer. During those decades of service, Officer […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-130376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-03 03:21:15","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130376"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130376\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=130376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}