Capt. Frank Kappler, second from right, gets applause from his family after receiving a certificate of retirement from Vicksburg Police Chief Tommy Moffett, far right, Friday night at the Vicksburg Police Department officer retirement ceremony. Standing from left is Kappler’s daughter, B.J. Tate, granddaughter, Tabitha Tate, friend, Lt. Dora Smith, granddaughter, Stephanie Tate and wife, Jean Kappler.(The Vicksburg Post/MELANIE DUNCAN)

[06/1/02] A longtime co-worker of six retiring Vicksburg Police Department officers said he wished they could leave their qualities and character behind.

Six officers who have retired recently with at least 25 years on the job were honored with a reception Friday afternoon.

Veteran Patrolman Rudolph Walker said they have “set the standard” for younger officers to follow.

“These guys worked, they were dedicated,” Walker said, adding that he was “going to have to stay here another 26 years” to see that the current generation of young officers measures up, drawing laughter from many of the 50 or so family members and friends in the Municipal Courtroom at the department.

The group included a 36-year department veteran, Capt. Frank Kappler, one of the original group of female police officers in Vicksburg, Lt. Janelle Lee, and the officer who spent his vacation time for a decade or more raising awareness for National Night Out Against Crime, Sgt. Doug Arp. Also honored were longtime firearm-safety instructor Lt. Carl Bennett, a 25-year veteran, and Capts. Cozell Gilliam and Bill Stimac, with respective service terms of 30 and 26 years.

The four honorees in attendance, Kappler, Gilliam, Bennett and Lee, were commended in remarks from Police Chief Tommy Moffett, Warren County Sheriff Martin Pace, Aldermen Sid Beauman and Gertrude Young and other family and friends.

Kappler was lauded as a tough but fair supervisor.

“He was the type person who was very serious about doing his job,” Walker said. “He didn’t tolerate slothfulness. He stuck to his guns and would support you if you were right. He began every shift with, Let’s go to work.'”

Kappler said when he left the Air Force’s Air Police he thought he was finished with police work, but “it gets in your blood.”

“I didn’t like for you to mess with my people,” he said. “That’s what I consider a good supervisor. I’ve had a bunch of good boys work under me over the years, ones who have gone on to become chiefs and deputy chiefs and have good careers with other departments.”

Lee said her inspiration to become one of the city’s first female officers came when she was working as a school crossing guard and male police officers would ask her to help with searches of female suspects.

The 5-foot-5-inch Lee said when she applied for the job in 1977 she was an inch shy of meeting department height requirements. “I had a big afro that made me look taller, and the chief told me to keep my hair like that so I would look taller,” she said.

Lee and the two other women in her cohort “took a lot of flak” in their early years on the job, she said. “One couldn’t take it and dropped out,” she said. “I was a patrol officer and did everything the men did.”

During her 26 years with the department Lee served as a deputy chief for about 18 months and worked in every division of the department except traffic before retiring as a supervisor.

Bennett was a 14-year firearms instructor with the department. “I believe (younger officers) should know every fundamental about their weapon,” he said.

Friends also noted Bennett’s love of cooking for others. “We used to get together and I would cook for the department,” Bennett said. “When guys were promoted or transferred we’d have cookouts, and I’d volunteer to cook.”

Gilliam, who worked in the traffic division for 19 years, including 13 as a motorcycle officer, retired as a patrol captain. He said he had seen many changes Vicksburg since he started in 1972, and remembered walking his beat downtown when the department had a foot patrol.

“I can say from first-hand experience that being a police officer isn’t an easy task, but it is rewarding,” said Moffett, who started in Vicksburg in October.

“This department has a lot of young officers,” Moffett said, “but it has a lot of longevity for a department its size. When you do 25 years of public service, that’s a feat in itself and obviously there has been a lot of service here.”