News

54-year-old cop no rookie when it comes to life experience

Posted January 20, 2008 10:00 pm

Jayette Bolinski

Don't sweat the small stuff. Focus on the big picture. Family comes first.

That's sage advice for the average 20-something rookie cop. It's even more insightful coming from a 54-year-old grandfather … who happens to be a fellow rookie cop.

Mike Badger, a real estate agent for the past 10 years who has been half of the duo "Spouses Selling Houses," is about to make a mid-life career change. He is one of eight recruits preparing to join the Springfield Police Department as patrol officers.

Badger and his colleagues have been at the Police Training Institute in Champaign since Jan. 3, undergoing rigorous instruction on being a cop.

Besides his age, what further distinguishes Badger from the other recruits is that he was a police officer in the late 1970s and early '80s - first as a lake patrol officer, then with the city of Springfield. He attended the Police Training Institute in early 1978 and was hired as a city officer in 1980.

Four years later, after obtaining a real estate license to supplement his income, he decided selling property full time was what he needed to do.

"It was a tough decision because I loved law enforcement, I really did. Every day was a good day on the job. I eventually did my pluses and minuses and weighed them out and made the decision to go into real estate," he recalled.

"Within a couple years, I knew I wish I'd stayed in law enforcement. Once I reached the age where I thought I could never go back to the department, I just thought, 'You can't go back,' and went ahead with my career in real estate."

Badger and his wife, Kathy, have been the "Spouses Selling Houses" team for ReMax professionals. Mike Badger was Realtor of the Year for the Springfield Association of Realtors in 1978.

What he never knew all those years was that Springfield has no upper age limit for hiring officers with prior law enforcement experience. Applicants with no experience must be between ages 21 and 35.

A couple of years ago, however, he read a newspaper article about how the city was looking for police officer candidates. The article laid out the requirements, and he was stunned to realize he might be able to return to the force. After discussing the idea with his wife, he sent in his application.

"We knew it was going to be a dramatic change in our way of living, and Kathy was going to be responsible for completely taking over Spouses Selling Houses," he said. "We discussed it, and we knew it was a good move."

Badger went through testing in 2007 and landed in the first band of potential hires. He received a call just before Christmas that a job was his if he wanted it.

Badger now is running laps and hitting the books in his quest to relearn police work.

By all accounts, he is keeping up well with his fresh-faced colleagues, partly because he started working out in 2005, when he first realized he might be able to rejoin the force. When the recruits performed the physical "power test" on Jan. 3, they ran a mile and a half outside, and Badger met all the standards for someone in his 20s.

"I'm going to be a street cop," he said. "The people I might be chasing are going to be in their teens and 20s, and I'm probably in better shape now than I was when I left the department."

Other officers have rejoined the Springfield Police Department through the years, but none has been anywhere close to Badger's age, said deputy chief Doug Williamson.

One advantage is the experiences an older officer can tap into, Williamson said

"He has plenty of life experiences, and he gained many of those after he already left our department," Williamson said.

Badger's family includes: his wife; three adult daughters; an adult son; his 12-year-old daughter, Taylor' his 5-year-old granddaughter, Lexi; and the Badger family dog, Mia. Being at training in Champaign during the week means he is unable to tuck Taylor into bed each night, but he talks to her every day and looks forward to going home on weekends.

He and the other recruits will be sworn in at the police department later this spring.

Badger is unsure how long he'll remain on the force.

"I'm going to stay as long as I can," he said. "I'm thinking eight to 10 years, and if there's still something I can provide to the department, I will certainly stay there. I'll just take it a year at a time."

Oh, and one additional piece of advice for his younger colleagues: Don't blink.

"You don't realize at age 25 how quickly time is going to go by," he said. "It's almost like you blink your eyes, and it's 20 years later."

Jayette Bolinski can be reached at (217) 788-1530.

Article Categories
News