The day was bittersweet for many at the Genesee County Sheriff’s Department on Friday.
Well wishers stopped by the department headquarters on Park road for most of the afternoon to wish Chief Deputy Gordon Dibble good luck in his retirement and future as a representative for District 3/Pembroke/Darien at the Genesee County Legislature.
Dibble put in 43 years of dedicated service to the department.
“Gordie and I worked together for my entire career, just over 41 years, we were especially close for the last 22 years when he took over for me as Chief Deputy,” says Sheriff William Sheron.
Sheron says Dibble has been his go to guy over the years.
“Whenever I need to bounce something off somebody, I go to him because he will give you an honest opinion and sound advice. He has a great common sense approach to things. It has been a great great working relationship between him and I.”
Dibble says he is amazed how fast 43 years has gone by.
“In this line of work you are never bored and things move fast, eight hours goes by like nothing, its been great in that regard, it has been interesting.”
Over the past 22 years in Road Patrol, Dibble has been instrumental in taking charge of the traffic situations that arise each summer when thousands of people descend upon Darien Lake for concerts.
“He gets out there himself and works, he has first hand experience of whats going on out there and he has his thumb on everything, he will be sorely missed,” says Sheron.
The Pembroke native started his career on January 6, 1975 as a Deputy Sheriff in the County Jail, then in 1977 he was transferred to the Criminal Division. In 1980, Dibble was appointed Youth Officer and for the past 21 years he has served as the Chief Deputy of Road Patrol.
Over his 43 year career in law enforcement, Dibble received many awards, Officer of the Year, two Commendations and three Merit awards. He also was awarded the Carl Draxler Award by the NYS Sheriff’s Association for career achievement. Kiwanis Club also presented Dibble with a Law Enforcement Recognition Award.
Dibble says he knew it was time to retire.
“Two things people always tell you, you’ll know when its time to retire and I know its time, and the other thing they say is you better find something to do because you have 8,9,10 hours a day that you didn’t have before.”
The Sheriff’s Office has recently been hit with a large amount of retirements and Dibble says he has been impressed by the young people coming in and their skills.
“The type of work you do here, shift work, working holidays when everyone else is off, the stress level, most people don’t understand, its everyday. Somebody is in your face, you’re in somebody’s face, whether its is a traffic ticket or an arrest or a domestic situation, it is a daily occurrence and how many people have that in their jobs.”
During the retirements, the department has continued to run smoothly, Dibble says the training is the key.
“One thing I have learned, this place has a way of running on its own. The supervisors know what they are doing, what one does not know, the next one does and it runs on its own really in a lot of ways. People here know more than one job, so if someone leaves, we are able to fill in. Good people step up and take the spot, that’s the way it is.”
In 43 years Dibble says he has worked with so many people and that is what he will miss the most about the job.
“Everybody has their situations or cases that stick out that were big in your career, but a lot of people I worked with have come and gone, wish we had better record of the people who worked here. I’ve worked with a lot of people over the years and that is something you remember.”
{Gordon Dibble with his family}
On January 3, 2018, Dibble will be sworn in to serve as a Legislator for District 3, representing his hometown of Pembroke and the Darien area.
“I was lucky, Mike Davis was not able to carry on due to personal commitments and they needed someone,” says Dibble.
“I thought it would be a great job for me in retirement, my children are up and out and I’ll have more time, this came at the right time.”
Investigator Joe Graff was promoted a few weeks ago to the position of Chief Deputy/Road Patrol and starts the job today.
“He has 14 years with the job, he is very level headed, a common sense individual,” says Sheriff Sheron.
“”I think he will work out extremely well, but they are big shoes to fill. Joe is well respected and I’m sure we will get along fine.”