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By: Timothy Kays
The last thing that Pioneer Police Chief Tim Livengood wanted to be was the star of a viral Facebook post, but that’s exactly what he became on July 25 when he was hit by a utility truck while he was conducting traffic control operations. 495 reactions. 284 comments. 235 shares. It’s one heck of a painful way to become famous, but it also brought forth an outpouring of support and well wishes from his community, and all around the area. It may sound like something exceptional for a special situation, but it’s really not…Pioneer backs its police personnel.
In these tumultuous times, the effect of negative publicity is a problem for law enforcement entities almost everywhere. “In small communities,” said Chief Livengood who has returned to duty, “I think we’re not seeing the fallout that is happening in larger cities with regards to protesting and what have you.”
“I talked with my guys and I said I’m a huge proponent of people protesting. You can protest peacefully, and all I would ever ask and hope from these folks is that they would be part of the solution, not part of the problem. Does it affect? I think anybody who has a passion for the profession clearly doesn’t appreciate being punished by the majority because of the actions of a few. So I try to encourage these guys just to continue to be vigilant, and always keep your eyes open.”
“It might be a small town, and people might say, ‘Well, it’s just Pioneer, or it’s just Edon or Edgerton,’ but it doesn’t matter. The volume of traffic that comes through our small community can bring all walks of life. We just have to be a little bit more vigilant on a day-to-day basis. We have to police ourselves and be cautious with how we communicate, and communicate effectively with those people in our community…especially those that aren’t from our community.”
Looking at the instigating incidents like the death of George Floyd, Livengood said, “We know that there were some things that clearly could have been done better, and could have been done differently. There’s a lot of more contributing circumstances that have come out since then, but I think that in my mind, it was kind of personal.”
“It was personal from the standpoint is that there’s a lot of us out here that take a lot of pride in what we do, and quite honestly, I think for a couple of weeks, it just felt like when you’re out in the public, people were just watching you. People were looking, for not necessarily looking for you to do something wrong, but their eyes were on law enforcement. There were a couple scenarios here in town that I could speak to, and it was kind of difficult to process.”
“But I shared it with the guys, and they appreciate it, and their eyes have to be open. They have to be open to changes that’ll come down the road for training and etcetera. We’ve got to be open minded. so I think what we have to do to prepare ourselves mentally as officers. even in small communities, people are always looking at you. People are always watching what you’re doing.”
“They know who all their officers are; most of their officers know who their public is. And so we just kind of have to heighten our awareness, You can do 1,000 things right. But if you do one thing wrong, unfortunately, that’s what sometimes gets the focus.”
Chief Livengood expressed his appreciation to the people of Pioneer for their support through the pandemic and through the attacks against law enforcement. “We have had some amazing people come through with cards and letters, and cookies,” he said. “A family in town prepared an entire meal that we were able to sit down and share with the fire department and law enforcement here in Pioneer. We invited the family to stay with us, and they just said, ‘Nope, this is for you.'”
“I think the older I get,” Livengood continued, “I get to be a little bit more sentimental, and I understand what life is about, and maybe what life is not about. I’m not a perfect person, but I’ll tell you what, I have a tendency to get emotional at times, but I just think that that’s just the passion that we have here. We have so much support from the community, with signs posted in people’s yards backing the blue and supporting law enforcement, thin blue line flags…hanging…”
Silence fell…Chief Livengood’s voice failed in the midst of his tears. Regaining his composure after a couple minutes, he said, “I wasn’t going to do that.” Focus regained, he continued, “Thin blue line flags hanging from people’s front porches, and the people. The people in the community, they’ve been so, so supportive of our department. Support here in this community is amazing.”
“They’ve always made me and the officers feel like we belong here, like we’re family. Whether we are from here or not, they make us feel like family. Thank you is not enough. I couldn’t quit tomorrow if I wanted to.”
Livengood added, “You know, it’s nice to be recognized by Williams County and surrounding counties, to just say, ‘Hey, we appreciate what you do. We know It’s not a perfect world, but we really appreciate what you’re doing. We want you to keep doing what you’re doing. We have your back,’ or as we used to say in the service, ‘I’ve got your six.’ They have our back. It is good to know; it’s good to know that.”
Timothy can be reached at tim@thevillagereporter.com