DeKalb police veteran recognized for 50 years of service

DeKALB – A DeKalb police officer was recognized this week for his five decades of service in the city’s police department.

Police officials wrote in a Thursday social media post the department recognized Jim Rhoades for 50 years of service with the DeKalb Police Department.

DeKalb Police Chief David Byrd said Rhoades retired in 2002 as a full-time police officer. He said Rhoades continued to work part-time after that and currently helps with evidence collection and filing.

Byrd said Rhoades “just does an amazing job” from what he has seen so far during his tenure as chief. Though he hasn’t been there for the majority of Rhoades’ career, he said Rhoades is an “amazing person to have in the building.”

“From all of the people I have spoken to ... they all said he was the ultimate professional and of high integrity and moral fiber and great character,” Byrd said.

Byrd added that it’s a “very uncommon feat to have one person work with any agency for 50 years.”

“It took me a second to even think of anyone that I knew that had 50 years with the same agency,” Byrd said. “It’s a very historic situation here and it’s just an amazing career and amazing that he did those 50 years with one agency.”

During his tenure, Rhoades held multiple roles within the department in the patrol and detective divisions. Rhoades moved to the detective division in the 1980s.

Police officials wrote Rhoades “also had a knack when it came to white-collar crimes and was able to solve many large-scale thefts.” The post states Rhoades “was and continues to be a constant wealth of knowledge for his coworkers and is someone many look up to.”

When Rhoades retired from duty, he was brought back to the police department as a community service officer, or CSO, in the department’s evidence division, according to the post.

“Over the past 20 years as a CSO, Jim has been a huge asset in the evolving of the department’s evidence processing as new laws and regulations changed,” police officials wrote. “Jim, thank you for your dedication to not only the department, but to the entire DeKalb community.”