In less than two months, Doug Mooney will step down, retiring after 28 years in law enforcement, the last six as chief of the Farmville Police Department. It is difficult to imagine a more productive, transformational six-year period and that is a credit to Chief Mooney and, as he will quickly point out, the department, itself.

The department has been accredited for the first time, almost entirely restructured with the introduction of specific police beats, reworking the shifts, chain of command and, the most obvious from the public’s point of view, the outreach by the department into the community, exemplified by National Night Out.

“It was the most difficult job I’ve ever done,” Chief Mooney told town council as he made his surprise announcement, “but also the most rewarding.”

Farmville Mayor David E. Whitus correctly told the police chief that he has been “a transitional leader, there’s no question about it, for the Farmville police department. You’ve done a phenomenal job…You have brought the department a long ways, brought it into the 21^st Century, brought the Farmville police department where it needed to be and the Town will always be grateful for the service you’ve provided and for what you’ve done.”

No journey that is deeply necessary and worthwhile is easy and Chief Mooney told the mayor “it was the result of a lot of hard work and adaptation by the men and women of this department.” Hard work that must not end, he said, hard work that he believes the department fully capable of continuing without him.

When he hangs up his badge and holster on January 5, Doug Mooney should take great pride in the department’s accomplishments. Those feelings will be based on fact and they will be fully earned.

—JKW—