Retired Police Captain Shifts Into New Career

The Windham Police Department said goodbye to another long-tenured officer on July 11, as Capt. Carl Wagner became the second person in less than three months to retire from the force.

The 48-year-old Wagner, who has served the town since 1988, joined Sgt. Glenn Record on the list of former WPD employees.

But it will be a quick transition into a new career, as Wagner has taken a position as an asset protection manager at that begins today.

"It involves protection of the property on site, the personnel and doing investigations with regards to internal theft, shoplifting (and) organized retail crime," Wagner said.

He called the opportunity the "logical choice" to transition to, but one that he expects will come with a period of adjustment having served in Windham for so long.

Wagner has done a little bit of everything, starting at the 21 Haverhill Road police station in the late 1980's as a patrolman.

Before all of those shifts and hours on call, Wagner received his associate degree in Criminal Justice and Law Enforcement from Middlesex Community College. He has since completed a bachelor's degree in Criminal Justice and Public Administration at Granite State College, and a master's degree with a concentration in Organizational Management and Leadership from Springfield College.

He also spent a short time as a detective, and was quickly promoted to sergeant in his career in 1992.

He served as acting captain in 2007, taking the place of a colleague who had a long-term illness. Finally, in 2010, Wagner was promoted to captain in charge of services, where he remained for just under two years.

But despite the retirement, it might not be long before a Wagner is back in a police uniform. His 21-year-old son Chris, who graduated from Londonderry High School and recently completed his degree at NHTI, is testing for police positions in the area.

He said that his son's identical career choice also gives him a new appreciation for his wife and what she went through over the years worrying about his safety.

Many of those dangerous police moments are the most memorable for officers, and Wagner recalled one incident in the early 1990's when a fellow officer responded to shots fired

"(The officer) ended up having to take cover at the base of a house," he said. "For those of us that were around back then, it was a dramatic shift."

He said that it was also an eye-opener to see a type of crime that happens in other towns but not often in Windham.

The person involved in the incident was talked out of the house by a police negotiator and nobody was hurt.

"It kind of gave us all pause and made us realize that this continues to be a difficult, sometimes dangerous job," Wagner said. "Luckily everyone came away from that OK."

He also recalled the several bank robberies that have taken place over the years. The small town has seen a lot of crime influenced by nearby Manchester, Nashua, Lowell and Lawrence.

"Most of them occured right in proximity to I-93, where there was an easy escape route," Wagner said. "Every bank has been hit at least twice."

One escape Wagner recalled as "emotional," when he was pursuing a getaway driver following a heist at Bank of New England in 2009. Wagner watched the driver run over the foot of a fellow officer, Jason Dzierlatka, as Dzierlatka was laying tire deflation devices to stop the vehicle heading south on the highway.

"Jason was out of work just shy of three years as a result of that injury," Wagner said. "It was very emotional for everybody going through the process of his recovery."

With that came a new police station on Fellows Road, which has been the location for the WPD for about 15 years. Wagner said that the call volumes and need for equipment have also both risen over the years.

"We've had to keep pace with the dramatic growth of the town, the quick growth of the town," he said.

But Wagner had experience with a more hectic call volume before his time in Windham, spending two years in the Nashua department starting in 1984.

"Nashua was great, the training was great (and) the opportunity was great," he said. "But I didn't find myself enjoying it just in terms of the call volume and the amount of time you'd get to spend on an individual call."

Then came an opening in Pelham, his hometown, where he slipped in for two years before finally making a permanent home in Windham.

That permanent home came with several lasting relationships. He emphasized his comradery with Capt. Mike Caron, who has served in Windham nearly as long as Wagner.

"Mike and I worked together for 20 years," he said. "We've seen a lot, been through a lot together."

Wagner said that he has never thought about another career, and it wasn't until he was looking at retirement that he had to ask himself the question about possible alternatives.

"I think a fair amount of officers probably do struggle with that decision of 'when I go and what will I do,'" he said. "We're fortunate in New Hampshire, at least folks my age, all the changes in the retirements. It does give folks the ability to get out at a fairly young age and pursue another career path."

But although he's out, the routine change is something that the whole family is still mentally grasping.

"Me and my wife and my kids are all getting used to the idea of me not being a cop anymore," he said. "They've been there from the start and been tremendously supportive of my career choice."

Wagner's replacement in the department hasn't been announced, but he said that he expects an internal promotion.