Police chief retires after 41 years with East Troy Township
By Tracy Ouellette
SLN Staff
Town of East Troy Police Chief James Surges rang out 2016 with his retirement from the force on Dec. 31.
“I’ve been here for 41 years,” he said Tuesday. “I’m not very creative, I started off at the Town of East Troy and finished at the Town of East Troy.”
The 67-year-old Surges said he loved working for the town and wouldn’t have had it any other way.
“It’s a great place to work. It’s one of those places you look forward to going in every day,” he said.
Surges celebrated his law enforcement career at an open house at Ivan’s on the Square Wednesday night. The evening included a few speakers and a plaque presentation from the State of Wisconsin.
Surges grew up in Chicago, but got to know the area because his parents had a house on Lauderdale Lakes.
“While being up here, I met my future wife, who was from Waukesha,” he recalled. “So that brought me up here to finish college at Whitewater. We traveled a bit after we got married, but we were back in East Troy in 1975.”
He and his wife Debra, have been married for 46 years. They have two kids, a daughter, Jamie, who lives in Los Angels, and a son, Zachary, who lives in East Troy.
Surges said he was hired by the Town of East Troy as a patrolman in November of 1975.
“Back then it was different,” he said. “You got hired and worked for quite a long time with absolutely no training. I didn’t go to recruit school until March.
“I was loose on the streets for months not knowing at all what to do. Thank God I got through it!”
He graduated from the Racine Police Academy after about six weeks.
“We got about 240 hours of training back then. Now a days you get about 720 hours and you get that before you even think of starting. It’s much better now,” he said.
Surges worked as an officer of the township for a little more than five years before being appointed chief on Jan. 1, 1981.
“I was like 31 years old,” he said with a laugh. “And I’ve served as chief ever since.”
He went back to school and finished his master’s degree in 1986 and seriously considered moving on to a larger department, but it wasn’t in the cards for him.
“I really had quite a few offers from bigger departments,” he recalled, “but the board really wanted to keep me, so in 1985 they made me the personnel admin for the town. It gave me another title and a little more money and allowed me to stay here and make about the same as if I moved to a bigger department.
The new responsibilities included being in charge of town staff and street department, boat launch and other areas.
“I even did the town financial for a while,” Surges said. “I was a jack of all trades for a while. I even got a commercial drivers license in 80s and starting driving plows when they needed it. I did a little bit of everything – that’s a small town.
Surges said working in a small town led to some interesting times and recounted one particular story.
“I suppose it won’t hurt to tell it now,” he began. “Back then we did all our own work on our cars – we still do, actually – but one time I was working on one of the squad cars in the police garage. I was trying to set up the back seat to prevent a suspect from grabbing an officer who was driving.
“After doing the work, I figured the only way to know if what I did would work would be to try to reach the front seat. So, I got into the back seat … and as soon as I closed the door, I realized I couldn’t get out. Good think I had my potable radio. I had to radio my secretary and tell her to come into the garage.
“She asked why, I said ‘just come out.’ She dis and was was looking all around didn’t see me. Eventually found me and let me out. She promised not to tell anyone, but I said it was okay, it was my own fault.”
Surges also spoke of one of the hardest times it was to be the police chief.
“It was the involvement with the four kids who drowned in Lake Beulah last year,” he said. That was one of the harder ones. I was the liaison for family and it was really tough. There were a lot of ups and downs, but it was something I was really glad I could do. It was one of the most significant things I did during my career was helping them through it. This one a long grinder of an affair and it made a difference.”
Surges said he will be working part-time as a substitute teacher in the East Troy School District.
“My wife works with the East Troy school and she’s not going to let me slide,” he said with a laugh. “I’m actually starting next week. So, not a lot of time off. I have lots of hobbies to keep me busy too, I’m just looking for more time to do fun stuff.”
Surges said he wanted to thank the community and the Town of East Troy for all the support he received over the years
“It made the job so much easier to do,” he said. “They always had your back.”
The new chief, Don Jensen, will be sworn in on Jan. 9 and Surges wished him well.
“The new chief is a great guy, he asked ‘What do I need to look out for?’ I said nothing really, it’s a great community.”
