By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
To Wood County Chief Deputy Eric Reynolds, law enforcement is as much about catching a community baseball game as it is about catching offenders.
After 35 years in law enforcement, Reynolds is retiring with a tied record for longest serving chief deputy in Ohio. He has spent the last 17½ years as the “right hand man” of Wood County Sheriff Mark Wasylyshyn.
“His honesty, integrity, devotion and loyalty is second to none,” Wasylyshyn said of Reynolds. “He’s my true north. If Eric tells me the sky is orange, and I think it’s blue, I’m going to go to the eye doctor.”
The pair joke that while the sheriff is known for his frequent media presence, the chief deputy is known for this humility. Talking about himself does not come naturally.
Reynolds worked for former sheriffs Matt Brichta and John Kohl, then applied for the chief deputy position when Wasylyshyn was elected.
“Eric just shined” in the interviews, Wasylyshyn said.
Before then, the two men didn’t know each other – but they soon came to trust one another.
“It wasn’t based on a good ‘ole boy friendship,” Reynolds said.
It was instead based on a common commitment to the public, to their families and their faiths.
“We’re both men of faith,” with the sheriff being Catholic and his chief deputy being Protestant. “We share a lot of the same values.”
Reynolds started his law enforcement career with Hancock County Sheriff’s Office, and the juvenile detention center. His stint in fast food helped prepare him for those jobs.
“Food service is the best employment to prepare you for the job,” he said. You have to work as a team, at a quick pace, and resolve anger.
Reynolds also worked at the old and current Wood County jails, as a road deputy, and a D.A.R.E. officer.
When he started on road patrols, there were only two deputies assigned in that role. There are 35 now.
It wasn’t uncommon to be on one call, when another call came in. There was no back-up back then.
“I remember arresting a man in Grand Rapids, when a second call came in,” Reynolds said. The man in the back of his cruiser said “‘Well that’s my friend. I know where he lives.’” So Reynolds responded with the first man in his car.
Reynolds leaves the job forever touched by the extreme good and bad he has witnessed.
“What we see, hear, feel and taste is with you forever,” he said. He will never shed the incidents of domestic violence that he responded to. “Those are difficult and they do stay with you.”
And he will always remember the death notifications that Reynolds and Wasylyshyn do personally.
“The people know that something’s not right,” when they show up at the door. “To enter that room and tell them the worst news of their life is hard.”
Along the way during the past 35 years, Reynolds has made a point to remember he is a public servant.
“He has touched a tremendous amount of lives,” the sheriff said. One such life is a young man with Down syndrome, whom Reynolds met through the D.A.R.E. program at Penta Career Center. Over the years, Reynolds has attended his ball games and birthday parties.
“He absolutely adores Eric,” Wasylyshyn said.
“Eric is loved by people and admired by people from all walks of life,” the sheriff said. “That’s a great legacy.”
But Reynolds sees his legacy as those he is leaving behind at the sheriff’s office.
“I never wanted a legacy to be about me,” he said. “What I wanted my legacy to be are the ‘kids’ we are hiring.”
Reynolds was trained in “old school” policing and believes the job shouldn’t lose that human aspect.
“We’re not just out there enforcing. We are out there changing tires. We’re out there playing basketball with kids.”
So Reynolds has focused on finding new hires who have a “servant’s heart.”
“We can train anyone on law enforcement techniques, but you can’t teach servanthood,” he said. “That’s something people have to have inside of them.”
The sheriff’s office wants its deputies to be part of the community, he said.
“We encourage our people to get out of their cars and talk to people,” Reynolds said.
Of course creating a law enforcement force of “public servants” meant getting rid of those officers who didn’t fit that goal. That was tough for Reynolds, who had the job of firing those employees.
Wasylynshyn explained to Reynolds that “you don’t fire people – they fire themselves.”
“I knew to keep the public trust, we had to get those who shouldn’t be in the profession out,” Reynolds said.
Reynolds treasures the relationship between the department and the public. He recalled community members sending in food, cards, even quilts to the sheriff’s department during the last few years of public distrust of some law enforcement.
“The local people know what our law enforcement is about here in Wood County,” he said.
Reynolds knows he will miss the camaraderie of the sheriff’s department and the friendships with the community.
But he has two grandchildren now – and feels the tug of wanting to spend more time with them.
“I have no plans – one day at a time,” he said – noting, however, that he has completed the chaplain licensure process to help the sheriff’s office or fire departments when needed.
Named as the new chief deputy is Rod Konrad, followed by Greg Panning as captain, and Brian Bonnough as lieutenant.
An open house for Reynolds is being held at the Wood County Sheriff’s Office on East Gypsy Lane Road, Bowling Green, on July 1, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The public is invited, and is asked to RSVP by calling 419-354-9005.
