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Sergeant Edward Cyr Plans Retirement

40 Year Law Enforcement Veteran Will End Service to Middlebury by Month’s End

photo by Mike Cameron Long time Middlebury Police Sergeant Edward Cyr spoke with the Voice about his career in law enforcement during an interview last Friday morning March 20th, 2009. Cyr will now be spending more time with his family and plans to play some golf and do a litttle fishing in the Carolinas. The veteran officer has seen many changes both in the department and in the field of law enforcement during his career.

photo by Mike Cameron (L to R) Middlebury Police Chief Tom Hanley with Sergeant Ed Cyr displaying his retirement badge on Friday evening March 20th, 2009

Tuesday March 24, 2009

By Mike Cameron

    In 40 years, Ed Cyr has logged in literally thousands of hours of duty time here in Addison County in various capacities of public service and now he will be able to plan a well deserved retirement.

   In a recent conversation with The Voice, Cyr recalled some of the memories of those years of service.  “I started out in law enforcement in 1969 and was working full time in the City of Vergennes by 1975.   “During those early days I worked alone but knew that my friends in the State Police would be there if need be.  They knew that I was working alone and late at night.  We helped each other.  That’s the way it was,” he recalled.  

   The night shift was a thread of Cyr’s professional life throughout his entire career.  As most people were getting ready to go to work their day jobs, Ed was more than likely completing his shift.  While most of us slept safely in our homes Ed and his colleagues were out and about making sure that we remained safe and that our property remained secure.  8 p.m. to 4 a.m. and other late night hours was prime time to be on the job for Ed Cyr.  “You get used to it,” he said with just the hint of a smile.

   As a police professional now Sergeant and Supervisor who has spent his entire life interviewing others, Cyr is very comfortable being interviewed and in a soft-spoken manner is very easy to communicate with.

   Asked about confronting a hostile individual in the field, a person for example needing to be calmed down, Cyr is matter of fact.  “It is important to use this he said pointing to his head before using this, he continued pointing to his right bicep.”  “I’ve always tried to put myself in the position of the other person and treat them they way I would want to be treated in the same situation,” he continued.

   Cyr came to Middlebury in 1977 when local citizens voted to add a 5th police officer to the  Department’s  roster at Town Meeting.  A well timed CETA Grant helped to fund the position and Ed was on the job under the direction of Middlebury Police Chief Bob VanNess.  “Let’s see we had five patrolmen, Jim Coons was the investigator, Bonnie was here as the dispatcher and others. We have all worked together since.”

   Asked to recall several of his most memorable high profile cases, Cyr doesn’t take long to reflect.  “The Pinewood Homicides in 1996 involved a person who killed a male minister and a female at the same murder scene and then turned the gun on himself,” he remembers.  The case received statewide television, newspaper and radio coverage and for a time it was not clear to police if the shooter was still at large even as he lay dead at the crime scene.  It initially appeared that he was a third victim of a yet to be determined suspect.  That was later made clear when the murder weapon was found under his body
after he shot himself.

   “The Garza Case and the Middlebury Train Derailment Cases were also memorable for a number of reasons,”  Cyr recalled.  The train derailment shut down the center of town while fire and police officials along with many outside agencies worked to prevent what could have been a massive fuel tank car explosion and fire.  The case of missing Middlebury College Student Nicholas Garza involved hundreds of hours of interviews and agency co-ordination led by Middlebury Police.  The young man’s body was recovered in Otter Creek below the falls last May.  The Middlebury Police Department’s final report on the case was recently released and the case closed.  Cyr is quick to credit Chief Thomas Hanley and everyone in the department who participated in the Garza case.  And then there was the time a number of years back when the Dali Lama, the exiled spiritual leader of Tibet came to Middlebury College and was in need of personal security.  It was supplied by MPD in the persons of Officers Ed Cyr and Scott Fisher.  “Scott got his picture on the cover of Time magazine,” Ed remembers.  “I’m sure he still has a copy of that issue.”  Cyr added that he was just out of the frame when the Time photographer snapped the photo on campus during this world famous man’s visit to Middlebury.

   Later that evening Ed Cyr was the guest of honor at a retirement dinner organized by fellow officers.  He was presented with his retirement badge by Chief Hanley.  The large gathering of family members, friends, off duty police and fish and game officers, town officials and members of the Addison County Legal Community gave him a standing ovation.

   Cyr was gracious in accepting the accolades.  He thanked his wife and family and his lifelong associates and friends who had come to wish him well in the years ahead.  “This means a lot to me and I love all of you.  Thank you very much,” he said as the applause began all over again.

   For the rest of the evening there would be dancing to the music of DJ’s Brad and Dad and an opportunity for Ed and his wife Susan to begin to enjoy the moment and begin to plan those retirement years ahead.      

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