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08/02/2017 08:30 AMSome workers long for a job that will bring them inside from the cold to a warm office. Lt. Kevin Roche, after 29 years with the Old Saybrook Police Department (OSPD), the last eight as public information officer, wants to go the other way. Longing to return to his roots as a patrol officer, Kevin retires this month as a lieutenant with the OSPD to start a new job as a Town of Old Lyme police patrolman.
“In Old Saybrook, [in recent years] I was primarily in an office all day. I missed getting out and interacting with people every day,” says Kevin. “Early in my career, I was an SRO [school resource officer] for three years. I was with people all day long and I loved it. You go home tired every day, but you hope you’ve made a difference: having a conversation with a kid who might not ever talk with an adult or talking with kids at lunch or on the basketball court. You don’t know if you’ve made a positive difference, but you hope so.
“I’m looking forward to getting back out [on the road] and working directly with people,” Kevin says.
For Kevin, as one of eight kids growing up in East Haven, joining the police force was a logical career choice. When he was finally sworn in as a rookie police officer, he became the fourth generation in his family to pursue a career as a police officer.
“I had always wanted to be a police officer. It was probably the structure. I like to work within an orderly environment,” Kevin says. “My father, grandfather, and great-grandfather also were all policemen in New Haven.”
When his father, William F. Roche, Jr., retired from the New Haven Police Department, he left as a commander, one of just a few senior management posts in the department. His younger sister also had worked with the New Haven Police Department in the horse-mounted division.
Kevin started working for the OSPD in 1988 after two years in the U.S. Army. For 17 years, he patrolled the streets of town as a OSPD patrol officer. Then it was on to a new assignment for three years as an SRO. This then led him to his first supervisory assignment, working for three years as a patrol/administrative sergeant overseeing a patrol shift.
“I am grateful to Chief [Michael] Spera for the leadership opportunities. I was so fortunate to work with a lot of good people in the department over the years. They helped me be successful,” Kevin says.
When asked how he learned to write, Kevin credits two people in particular: Chief Spera, who taught him how to write for the media, and Chief Ed Mosca, who taught him that writing well in police work meant paying attention to the details.
“From writing reports on day one, you learn as a police officer to write out of necessity. Courts expect a certain quality of report, and Old Saybrook’s department always demanded more, including good grammar and spelling,” says Kevin. “Chief Mosca was a stickler for accurate spelling. He would kick back a report if it had spelling errors.”
“When you prepare a report [today] and the case does not go to court for two years, it’s your report that you will refer to. So it’s important,” Kevin says. “Working with Chief Spera, I learned how to write for the media.”
From his career in Old Saybrook, Kevin cites two moments as sticking out in his mind. One was when he was the department liaison with the Secret Service when a presidential daughter, Sasha Obama, visited a friend in Fenwick.
“It was a great experience to work with the Secret Service and see how they operate,” Kevin says. “There are lots of details to work out.”
Another event he remembers was tragic and haunts him, even though it also was a strong moment for the department.
“A woman was coming home from work on Rt. 154 and a car driven by a drunk driver turned right in front of her,” says Kevin. “Because of the way the Police Department responded to the accident, stabilizing her neck, she wasn’t paralyzed, but it was so unfair. Fortunately, she had a great and supportive group of family and friends.
“Being a policeman, it’s about service to the public, to the people you work for. You don’t do it for the financial rewards,” says Kevin.
“As a police officer, having family that understands and puts up with the job is so important. It’s so difficult for family, with rotating shifts or getting held over longer because of an investigation,” Kevin says. “My wife went to more family functions on my side than I did when I was a patrolman. It’s a sacrifice for the family.”
Kevin, who started dating his wife in high school, has been married for 29 years; he has two children, a daughter who is a school teacher and a son who is in college.
What does he want to do now that he’s retiring?
“Spending time with my family is what I value most, whether hiking, kayaking, or vacationing,” Kevin says.