CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A longtime lawman is stepping down from his post at the State Capitol this week.
Bob Long retires with 51 years of law enforcement experience under his belt.
Currently he’s a member of the Capitol Police but previously served as the chief of the Yeager Airport Police for a period of time and before that spent 26 years with the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Department and started his career with the St. Albans Police Department in 1971
“I always wanted to be a police officer ever since I was a kid. When we played cops and robbers, I always wanted to be the cop and never wanted to be the robber,” he laughed after leaving his post for the day Wednesday at the state capitol.
His career has been highlighted with a series of interesting duties over time. He was part of the routine road patrols during his early days, but advanced into leadership positions with the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Department and left his position there where he had advanced to the head of courtroom security.
The job at the capitol has been one which is still enforcement but serves it in a different way.
“Anytime we have 3,000 people on the campus on any given day and then it really ramps up when the Legislature is in session,” he said.
The role is one in which he has to walk a narrow line.
“Everybody has their Constitutional rights and that’s one thing I’m sworn to protect,” he explained. “But you think of what this job encompasses, people want to come to their government for service. If they feel they’re not getting that service, they can become very radical.”
Occasionally he and fellow officers have been forced to remove people from the Capitol when lines are crossed. He recalled the teachers strike when thousands of teachers packed the halls of the legislature daily looking for satisfaction.
“I remember 99 percent of them were behaved and followed instructions, but you always have that one percent that get radical,” he explained.
The job has put Long into contact with a lot of interesting people. He’s met three Presidents during their visits to the Capitol, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Barrack Obama. Obama’s only trip to the Capitol was to speak at Senator Robert C. Byrd’s funeral. Long was involved in the security planning for all of those visits.
He said the real celebrity encounters of his career came when he was working at the airport.
“I met a lot of celebrities at the airport, like the Turtleman. I met the Turtleman!!!,” he laughed.
He also noted he got to meet the entire staff of the TV series Ghost Hunters.
On a more serious note, Long lamented the changes he’s seen in law enforcement over the five decades he’s worked in the profession. He said the erosion of the public’s trust has been the worst evolution.
“Back when I was working for the PD or the Sheriff’s Department, you had respect. Police officers now, they don’t have the respect of the public anymore. I hate to say this, but it’s partially due to the media,” he said.
The situation has become so difficult, he advised his two sons not to pursue careers in law enforcement. He admitted the pay isn’t the best either. Long and his wife struggled when he was first starting out to make ends meet while raising two boys. Long said he worked a lot of side jobs to get extra money to survive lean times. Still, it was the work he wanted.
“A lot of jobs, like working at a plant like Carbide back in my day, I just didn’t like that as what I wanted to do for the rest of my life,” he said. “It just gets in your blood.”
Evidently, it will stay in Long’s blood as well. Although he’ll retire this week, he has already agreed to return on a part-time basis to help out the Capitol Police during the Legislative session.
“I’m not sure how to retire. I’ve never done it before,” he laughed.