Finn retires from Hartselle Police Department
Next month, it will have been 26 years since Capt. Robert Finn began his career with the Hartselle Police Department.
Finn spent most of his career on the patrol side of the department, having been promoted to captain in 2019. While Finn said he enjoyed his time as captain, patrol is where his heart is.
“In patrol you’re caught up in the heat of the moment, you’re finding the drugs, arresting the suspects,” Finn said. “To me it’s a lot more enjoyable.”
Finn says that as a captain he was able to help the community in a lot of ways, but it just wasn’t quite the same as being the boots on the ground of a patrol officer.
Looking back over a career that spans nearly three decades is difficult, Finn said, as the memories and cases all seem to blur into each other over time. For Finn, there are a couple of cases that stand out as unforgettable. One such case involved a suspect trying to steal from a bank from the inside, using fake identification to take money out of members accounts.
“They had a bunch of fake ID’s and were trying to clean out the bank accounts of people and I caught those people,” Finn said. “They were trying to get like $30,000 out and we were able to stop that from happening.”
Another case that Finn said has stayed with him through the years him was the house fire at the corner of Bethel Road and Main Street in February 2019. Of the fire, Finn said, “A lady got trapped inside. Robert Baker, Roger Speak and I tore down the fence and pulled her out of the house.”
Ultimately Finn feels that the best part of the job was the camaraderie of the department and supporting one another in making Hartselle a safer place to live. “Just being with the people on cases makes you feel like you’re making a difference in someone’s life,” Finn said. “What I really liked was getting the drunks off the road and the foot chases, but as I got older and became captain, I really wanted to get the guys more prepared with better training and better equipment.”
Speaking of Finn, Hartselle Police Department Chief Justin Barley said, “He had a very successful career. He was second in command and obviously a resource I relied on very heavily. His retirement definitely leaves some very big shoes to fill.”
As Finn prepares for retirement and reflects on his time with the Hartselle Police Department he said that his greatest joy is the amount of support that the city has given the police department, particularly in contrast to other cities.
“The support that you get from the community is really unfounded,” Finn said. “The people here in Hartselle are very supportive and super helpful. This is a wonderful place to work and live.”
