DeKalb County Sheriff's Chief Deputy Gary Dumdie to retire after 33 years of service

DeKALB – DeKalb County Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Gary Dumdie will end his 33-year career at the department and a lifetime spent in the DeKalb area Friday to head for the action-packed Colorado retirement that lies ahead of him.

Dumdie, 54, plans to join his wife, Anna Dumdie, in Colorado, while Sheriff’s Lt. Andy Sullivan takes his place as chief deputy.

“It’s been a pleasure serving with the community,” Dumdie said. “I’ve had a very good career. I’ve worked for very good people.”

In the past 33 years, Dumdie has demonstrated the carefulness and professionalism a community expects from a law enforcement officer, DeKalb County Sheriff Roger Scott said.

“I think his strongest qualities are his diligence and he has a significant quality of integrity, which is key to success in law enforcement,” Scott said. “He’s always had the courage to stand up for what is right.”

Of all the cases Dumdie has investigated, his favorites seem to be the ones he worked alongside one of his four K-9 officers, which he often kept as pets when it came time for the dogs to retire. Dumdie, a K-9 handler for the sheriff’s office for 24 years, said the specially trained dogs helped to uncover things an officer wouldn’t be able to find on his or her own.

“Being a K-9 handler was so much fun,” Dumdie said. “You had a partner all time – and a good one at that.”

Dumdie remembered a call about an elderly man from Sandwich who had wandered away from a home care center early one autumn morning. The chilly weather made every moment critical during the search, and police needed the help of one of Dumdie’s favorite partners – a German Shepherd named Duke.

“It was a cool fall night. I remember the corn had all turned brown by that point,” Dumdie said. “The dog found him in a cornfield.”

Dumdie first worked with the department in the 1970s, when he joined the sheriff’s office explorer program while he was a DeKalb High School student.

“It gave me a good insight when I was growing up and going through high school,” he said. “It’s always different, always changing. I get kind of bored doing the same thing every day, and I like being challenged.”

His law enforcement career officially began in 1982, when he was hired to work in the sheriff’s office jail division.

On Feb. 14, 2008, Dumdie faced one of the most grim challenges he can recall, when Steven Kazmierczak opened fire in a Northern Illinois University lecture hall, wounding 21 people and killing six, including himself.

“It happened during shift change,” Dumdie said. “We’d done a lot of active shooting training. You start prioritizing. As a supervisor, it’s your role to make sure your guys are getting in the right places.”

Another career-defining moment came a couple of years later, shortly after he joined the DeKalb County Major Case Squad. On Oct. 16, 2010, officers discovered the burned body and belongings of Antinette Toni Keller, an 18-year-old NIU freshman from Plainfield.

“You prepare and prepare and prepare through all of your training,” Dumdie said. “It was an extremely unusual case. Lots of lessons learned, lots of training that you go through, and the schooling of that nature just really kicks in. You just go out and do your job.”

During his tenure, Dumdie has served in the jail, as a patrol officer, K-9 handler, patrol sergeant and second-in-command as chief deputy, overseeing investigations and acting as assistant commander of the DeKalb County Major Case Squad, Scott said.

He responded to the deadly EF4 tornado that struck Fairdale and its surrounding areas in April, and he helped apprehend a suspect in a 1987 Wisconsin murder case.

Dumdie and his successor, Sullivan, share a similar work history. Sullivan has served in the jail, as a patrol officer, K-9 handler, patrol sergeant and lieutenant with the sheriff’s office.

Judging by both his experience and character, Sullivan should fit comfortably into the role of chief deputy, Scott said.

“Andy I think’s got strong character, and he’s got spiritual strength and integrity as well as years of experience,” said Scott, the county sheriff since 1985. “I think that he’ll step in and do a great job as well.”

Dumdie’s next investigation involves a softball, some down time and his new Colorado home.

“I’d like to test the theory and see if it [throws] like a football because the air is so thin,” he said.

While Dumdie finishes his last few days at the department, he plans to do anything but sit around and relax when he retires. Instead, he will spend his days whitewater rafting, motorcycle riding and snowshoeing with his wife, which doesn’t surprise Sullivan in the slightest.

“He’s very active,” Sullivan said. “He’s always been a very active person, and I’m sure that will continue into his retirement years.”

But even as Dumdie says goodbye to his longtime home and career, there are parts of the job he knows he’ll miss.

“I guess one of the things I’ve always liked about the job is there were always new challenges. I always like to be challenged,” Dumdie said. “The teamwork, working with people, not only on our department but other departments – it’s really been a pleasure serving the community I grew up in.”