Sheriff David Clague retired this month, not only from 15 years as the County Sheriff but also a 5-decade run in law enforcement. Practically all that work came within the confines of Knox County, starting with the Galesburg Police Department. Tom Meredith recently spoke with Sheriff Clague at length about his career on Galesburg's Morning News on WGIL. Galesburg Police Chief Jim Frakes hired Clague in 1974. What's changed in policing over Clague's career? Officers spent a lot more time typing and writing reports in those days when Clague was first a patrol officer. He remembers when lengthy reports were done by hand with six carbon copies. Today most deputies can write reports on a computer in their vehicle. Early on when Clague came into office there was a lot of talk about dead spots in the county, places where radio and phone signals were unreliable. Clague says it was a huge issue that sometimes deputies could call dispatch but not hear a response or vice versa. That's been changed by an updated radio system that Clague gives credit to Knox County Board member Brian Friedrichs for spearheading. Clague says he's also proud to have instituted a fleet of uniformed marked squad cars. Previously Sheriff's Deputy cars were an assortment of colors and models. Becoming Sheriff Clague says for the first 27 years of his career he never thought of moving up the ladder to become a Chief or Sheriff. That changed when he attended the FBI Academy for 11 weeks, making him realize there was more to law enforcement leadership than he imagined. Clague applied at a few departments and was even approved to work in Washington D.C. in counter-terrorism for the FBI for about 7 months. Not long after returning to Galesburg, he decided it was time to retire from the Galesburg Police Department. But soon after the Knox County Board Chairman at the time Allen Pickrel called Clague to gauge his interest in running for Sheriff. The previous Sheriff Jim Thompson was under federal investigation and retired in June of that year, leaving Knox County Coroner Mark Thomas as the acting sheriff. The night Clague was scheduled to interview for the Knox County Democratic party for the position was the night a straight-line wind storm knocked out power across the City. But Clague impressed members over his candlelight interview enough to get tapped as Sheriff. Always a Sheriff Today Certain habits for Clague die hard. For example, he tells WGIL he hates sitting in a restaurant with his back to the door. He gives a huge amount of credit to his wife Debbie, for her support of him and his career, but also for nurturing the entire Sheriff's Department in times of need. Clague says as Sheriff what brought him the most pride was leading his employees to be successful in their careers. He says the Department is a solid group of people who are working in a culture that is more challenging for law enforcement.