By Nicholas Brown
Staff Writer

When Wayne Cheney was first interviewing for a job with the Pembroke Police Department, former Police Chief Perry Eaton asked Cheney why he was right for the job.

“I told him I would be here 20 years,” Cheney remembered.

It’s now 27 years later, and Cheney is wrapping up a distinguished career as chief of Pembroke police.

Selectmen recently accepted the 53-year-old’s resignation, effective at the end of August.

“We’re certainly going to miss him,” said Selectmen Chairman Larry Preston. “He’s done a great job and he’s well respected in this community.”

When Cheney started in Pembroke, the department had six members and a budget of about $100,000.

Cheney now oversees a budget of just under $1 million.

He worked his way up from the title of patrol officer to corporal in 1982, to sergeant in 1984, to lieutenant in 1986, to deputy chief in 1994 and has been Pembroke’s police chief since 1998.

As chief, Cheney’s list of accomplishments includes a stringent physical fitness program and a program that has put some Pembroke police on bicycle patrols. Cheney was also instrumental in getting the town’s Route 3 safety center.

“Every time I walk in through the door I feel a little lighter,” Cheney said of the new building. “Every officer here feels proud to walk in.”

Cheney credited the people of Pembroke and the boards of selectmen with much of the police department’s success.

“It’s been an honor to serve here,” he said. “This town has always been there to support the police department.”

Cheney first became interested in police work in Pembroke when he and his brother Peter would sit in the back yard of their Bow home and watch the blue lights shining from police cruisers on Route 3.

Cheney said he still sees the reward in police work.

“You want to help the victim and that’s what it’s all about,” he said.

Yet almost three decades of police work ­ which entails witnessing countless violent crime scenes ­ can take its toll, said Cheney.

“We’re all human beings, and it’s not natural to see all those things,” he said. “I won’t miss the stress.”

Cheney said he’s comfortable retiring because the department is fully staffed and well-equipped.

He’s also confident with his replacement, and longtime “right hand man,” Lt. Scott Lane.

Selectmen offered the job to Lane after Cheney declared his intention to retire.

“I’m so pleased with the board of selectmen’s decision to go with Lt. Lane,” said Cheney. “He’ll do a great job and continue the philosophies and traditions we have going today.”

Preston said the board didn’t see the need to open up a wide search to fill the position.

“Why go any further if we have the perfect candidate here already?” he said of Lane.

Cheney suspects his retirement may mean a few more fishing and hunting trips, but, he said, “I’m not going to be sitting around watching TV.”

While Cheney may be looking forward to a less stressful life, he said the decision to retire was not an easy one.

“It’s hard to leave,” he said. “This is a great department, a great group of guys, and I’m going to miss them.”