UAPD's Maj. Newt Engle retires after nearly 35 years on the job; will stay on as rifle coach

Maj. Newt Engle, University of Akron Police assistant chief, retires today, July 15, with 34.7 years of service. He joined the UAPD as a patrolman on Feb. 2, 1979, was promoted to sergeant in 1985, captain in 1990 and major/assistant chief in 2000. For all of those years, he also served as the Zips rifle team coach, a job he'll continue postretirement.

As Engle packed up boxes in his UAPD office, he answered a few questions about his time at UA. He joked that he's not really leaving, he's just changing offices.

How did you join the UAPD?

The truth is, I ended up here at the police departmentalmost by accident. I was a student on the rifle team and there were several transitions going on with the loss of our coach. I had been kind of filling in for her, and several of the police officers would stop by the rifle range and talk. By then, I was taking political science classes. I really wasn’t thinking too much about law enforcement … I was thinking of something more along the lines of law school. They had an opening at the police department and Bob Cunningham who is retired, but is still a friend of mine, said, "You ought to come down and apply." I told him that I hadn't really thought about it … I might just want to finish school. He said that if I got the job, they'd pay for my school. So I said, "I’m in!" It sounded like a match made in heaven. Work here, go to school here. Even then, my plan was to finish my education and then try to get into law school or do something in the political science realm. I didn' grow up thinking that I wanted to be a police officer. I've got to admit, once you start doing it, it kind of gets into your blood. I thought, "This is pretty cool, I kind of like it."

As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

I grew up wanting to be a photographer. I went to Kent State for a year as a photography major. A buddy of mine and I had a photography business during our junior and senior years of high school, which actually helped fund my education. So I thought, maybe I can get a degree in photography and pursue that. I took general education classes, and since photography was part of the art department, I had to take art classes that weren't related to photography. I like to think that I'm an adequate photographer, but my "art" switch is turned off. I remember specifically, an instructor set down a brick in front of me, exasperated, and said, "Newt, just draw me the brick." After a really frustrating year, I decided that I wasn't going to do the art thing. I transferred to Akron in 1975. The summer prior to starting at Akron, my dad did me a favor and got me a summer job working in the "heat treat" at a steel mill, Canton Drop Forge. I'd take red-hot big pieces of steel out of a furnace and drop them in a pit of oil. So come fall, I was really ready to go back to school. My dad's plan to motivate me had worked. He told me that if there's anything that would make a young man want to go to school, it would be working in "heat treat."

Like a lot of college kids, I had no direction, so I went through the course catalog and decided to take classes that looked like they'd be fun. I ended up getting a two-year degree in sales and merchandising and criminal justice. I wanted to go on for a four-year degree and my adviser told me to pick a direction, so I chose to get a bachelor's degree in political science.

Do you remember your first day on the job?

Vividly. I remember meeting with Don Lehmeier from our personnel department in North Hall. He introduced me to Chief Harold Wheeler, who introduced me to Alex Perris, who got me outfitted in a police uniform, gave me a belt and a gun and put me in a car. I said, "Don't I have to have some training? You used to hire in, take the oath, and then within a year you got trained. All we had then was a badge and a gun. Rather quickly, I enrolled in UA's police academy in 1979, and that summer I enrolled in the Summit County Police Academy.

So 1979 was a great year for you. A new job, plus you got married.

My wife, Sandy, and I had set a wedding date of March 17, St. Patrick's Day. I had been in the academy for a couple of weeks, and was told that I could miss a class without penalty. So, I came to the chief and said I knew that I didn't have any vacation time, but I would like to have a day off work (without pay) for my wedding. He asked what time the wedding was and I said 4 p.m. He said, "Okay, you can work from seven to three." I said, "But the wedding is in Medina!" He said, "Okay, you can work from six to two."

What has been the most meaningful campus transformation during your 30 years at UA?

Undoubtedly, Dr. Luis Proenza's New Landscape for Learning has made the biggest impact. For the first time ever, we have a real campus rather than a bunch of addresses on downtown streets. Dr. Nancy Marion in the political science department pointed out to me that street closures have made the campus marvelously quiet. You really notice the difference when you compare standing in the middle of campus to over by Exchange Street. Plus, if you've seen any arial shots of the Akron area, UA is a green spot next to downtown.

What is your favorite building on campus?

The Student Union, and previously the Gardner Student Center, because it is such an activity hub. Students are happy, and everyone's recreating, relaxing, or eating. It's a fun building to be working in and around.

What is the best piece of safety advice you've given?

This is a tough question, because we give really great safety advice at every orientation, to fraternities, sororities and sports teams. I'd probably say that when we meet with male organizations, fraternities or male sports teams, the most important message we try to get across to the guys is that no means no. Period. If you're having a relationship with a young lady and at any time she says, "I don't want to do this," however you define "this" – it could be holding hands. If she says, "I don't want to hold hands," then don't force yourself. You just need to understand that no means no. I feel bad when some of the guys don't get it. If we could have educated him to the point that he got that one message, we could have avoided a situation where everyone loses. There are times that I see a difference between stupid and ignorant, where a young man just didn't understand. No excuses, but I feel motivated to get that message across.

How has rifle coaching affected your UAPD post and vice versa?

At times, especially early on, the jobs have been completely separate. But as a whole, I think being a rifle coach has made me a better police officer. I think being a coach has helped because of my constant contact with the students in situations that aren't police related. I'm around the students four or five days a week and I travel with them on weekends. They let me know what’s going on in their lives, and all kinds of things that have helped me develop not only as a better police officer, but also as a better parent, a better supervisor. There are lots of parallels. I supervise my team captains. I supervise my police captains. I think there's a direct, positive connection there.

What are your retirement plans?

My wife, Sandy, helped me figure this out. I told her that I really wanted to expand or improve my rifle coaching. She said, "Newt, let me make this simple for you. You have your family, you have rifle coaching and you have UAPD. Right now, between the three of them, they're using all of your time. So, if you want to expand any one of those three, you have to give up one." And I said, "Don’t make me choose!"

I feel apprehensive, but comfortable stepping away from the police job, even though I love it. I could have retired seven years ago, but I loved my job. I still do. At the same time, I feel very comfortable that we have an excellent group of officers and supervisors. I think that my stepping down will enhance opportunities for others to advance and grow. When you think about it, I'm not truly leaving, I'm just changing offices. It's not like I'm moving out of state … I'm not even moving away from the University. I’ll still be here to help and offer input and advice for things like incident command and planning.

The UAPD has been my life for almost 35 years, but I'm excited about rifle coaching. I'm developing a plan for what I call practice with a purpose. I want to have more organized practices where we have a more strategic approach. I think this can take us to the next level. I'm pretty excited about it, and so is the team. Plus, Sandy and I want to travel and spend more time with family. We have two lovely daughters and two beautiful granddaughters — Amelia, 2 years, and Adeline, 2 weeks. At first, the idea of being a grandpa was really scary to me, but it turns out, I'm really liking it. I can teach Amelia how to jump into mud puddles and then send her home. Sure there's a terse call from my daughter afterward, but it's a lot of fun. It's pretty cool.