NILES POLICE 33-year career comes to an end

An errand to pay a light bill turned into a career change for the Niles detective.
By DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
NILES -- When Detective Richard Dixon leaves the police department at the end of his shift today, it will be for the last time.
Dixon, 56, is retiring after 33 years with the department.
"I was just out of the service and went to pay my mother's and father's light bill and saw the sign for police officers," the Niles native says of his entry into law enforcement. "I took the test and eight or nine months later I was on the police force."
The Air Force veteran was working in the mill at National Gypsum, now Phillips Manufacturing, and wanted the change and job security of a police position.
Working with people made him stay.
"I like doing police work -- just trying to help people," Dixon said.
But after 33 years he thinks it's time to step down.
"It's like Kenny Rogers said, 'You've got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em,' " he said. "I think it's time for me to hang it up."
Sense of humor: It's also the people -- within the department and outside of it -- that he'll miss. Dixon provides comic relief for those who work closely with him, joking each morning with fellow officers, dispatchers and office personnel.
Patrolman Mike Wilson, who's known Dixon for about 28 years, has appreciated that sense of humor, especially during the 15 years the two were partners.
"If you were down, he always had a way of bringing you out of it," Wilson said.
He said he learned a lot from Dixon when Wilson initially joined the department.
"I think he'll be really missed," Wilson said. "He's a good officer and a good detective."
Only black officer: Dixon was the only black officer with the department when he started and leaves the same way.
"I would say I had the same difficulties as other blacks who were entering other fields in the '60s," he said. "It was the time of the civil rights movement."
But he also developed close relationships with officers who joined the department around the same time, including Wilson and Capt. Al Kijowski and Lt. Ray Gorby, both of whom retired in March, and Patrolman George Kaniclides.
One episode that stands out in his mind is a plane crash into Sears at the Eastwood Mall in the 1980s. Kijowski was the turn commander and Dixon and Wilson were first on the scene. The partners used grappling hooks to climb the building and help the couple and baby until rescue crews arrived.
"You feel like you've been on every type of call, then there's something like a plane crash at the mall," he said.
Changes: The detective witnessed a lot of change in the department and police work in general over his tenure.
"When I started there was no mall," he said. "There was just a downtown section with a lot of bars. I walked a beat downtown for 2 1/2 years."
The use of computers and technology has enabled police to respond to the community more quickly. He also pointed to an increase in juvenile crime and drug offenses over the last 33 years.
He plans to travel, fish and do the other things in his retirement that he hasn't had the time to do while working.
Dixon points to his father, Vincent, who died in February 2000, as his role model because of the work ethic he imparted and the wisdom he exhibited.
He advises young people entering law enforcement to leave the work at work and to remember for whom they are doing the job.
"Never forget you are working for the public," he said.