UCFPD Sgt. Jerry Hartsfield first stepped onto the campus of the University of Central Florida 35 years ago as a criminal justice student.<\/p>\n
This month, he retires with an honorary promotion of lieutenant following 30 years of service with UCFPD.<\/p>\n
Hartsfield, known for being a man of few words, had a simple message for colleagues who this week attended a reception in his honor.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was fortunate to be here all these years, and I hope that those of you who are in the same situation here, 30 years from now, will get the opportunity to retire from UCF.\u201d<\/p>\n
Former UCFPD Maj. Randy Mingo, who retired earlier this year, returned to UCFPD to support his friend and share stories about \u201cthe good old days,\u201d when campus was still rural and when there were much less students and police officers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve had some really great times, and I hope they don\u2019t end,\u201d Mingo said to Hartsfield. \u201cRetirement\u2019s really great. You\u2019re going to embrace it, and it\u2019s been my pleasure to work with you.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Hartsfield was first sworn in at UCFPD in 1986, Ronald Reagan was president and gas cost $.89 a gallon, Chief Richard Beary said, acknowledging how much UCF and the world have changed since Hartsfield started as an officer.<\/p>\n
\u201cJerry, you\u2019ve got a lot of good friends here, you\u2019ve been through a lot here, and you\u2019ve survived all of it,\u201d Beary said. \u201cA heartfelt congratulations.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hartsfield plans on enjoying his retirement by spending time on his fishing boat and going trap shooting with his friends and UCFPD colleagues.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always said retirement\u2019s going to be different,\u201d said Hartsfield. \u201cDoesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s going to be bad, but it\u2019s certainly going to be different.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UCFPD Sgt. Jerry Hartsfield first stepped onto the campus of the University of Central Florida 35 years ago as a criminal justice student. This month, he retires with an honorary promotion of lieutenant following 30 years of service with UCFPD. Hartsfield, known for being a man of few words, had a simple message for colleagues who this week attended a…","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":73046,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"template-twocol.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"lazy_load_responsive_images_disabled":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[5,6,27],"tags":[1115,3978,4114,4911,4936],"tu_author":[],"class_list":["post-73044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colleges","category-community","category-student-life","tag-criminal-justice","tag-richard-beary","tag-safety","tag-ucf-police-department","tag-ucfpd"],"yoast_head":"\n