Jones proud to work in Perryville for 40 years as officer

There are eight stars on the front of Perryville Assistant Police Chief Bill Jones’ uniform. Each of those stars signifies five years on the force.
If his math is correct it means that 2022 marks the 40th year for Jones in Perryville and sometimes it even surprises him.
“It even amazes me sometimes when I look down at my shirt,” Jones said. “Sometimes the newer officers will get wide-eyed at me because they count the stars too and know how many years each of those mean. One day I may run out of room.”
Jones earned his police commission on his 21st birthday at the sheriff’s reserve and after that received a call to be on the Perryville Police reserve. He spent time with the reserve and was a paramedic in Cape Girardeau for nearly a decade.
Jones started with the Perryville Police Department on June 10, 1984. During his tenure with the Police Department he served as a Patrol Officer, Evidence Technician, Sergeant, the instructor of various classes. He received his training at the Missouri State Highway Patrol Academy.
Jones was honest in saying there would be no other place he would rather be, than in Perryville.
“This is my hometown,” he said. “This is where I was born and raised and I think this is a very good community. I think you would be hard pressed to find a community that is better to raise a family in or to send your kids to school, or to work in.”
Along with it being his hometown, Jones is comfortable in Perryville because of the support the department gets from city officials and the citizens of the community.
“The citizens respect law enforcement and treat us very well as police officers and there are some cities where that is not the case,” Jones said. “The city administration from the mayor to the board of aldermen and the city administrator have given us great support for 40 years or close to it.”
As with any job or career, Jones has seen many changes over the last four decades.
“Forty years ago, we probably had three handheld radios that work, and they didn’t work that well,” Jones said. “We had four cars and 11 officers and the cars were not in great shape. The department and the city looked at everything and for police officers to do a good job they have to be given good equipment. The quality of the equipment has gone up greatly and we hold the officers responsible for that equipment.”

Jones has seen the department grow during his time in both equipment and officers. He estimated that the size and number of officers has doubled.
Jones’ duties include purchasing, supervising the operations of the Police Department, scheduling continuing education classes for officers, and maintaining inventory.
“Most of my duties revolve around administrative functions,” he said. “I do a lot of traffic studies, such as speed limits to whether there needs to be more lighting in a part of the town.”
Jones doesn’t only wear a police badge, but also triples as an Assistant Fire Chief (of which there are three) and the City of Perryville’s Emergency Management Director.
“While I do stay busy, the police department, the fire department, and emergency management are why I like this job,” Jones said. “All three things are a challenge and each of them are different in their own way. One serves as a release for the other. When I do fire stuff, it is a stress reliever for the police and the emergency management is a whole different ball of wax. The real heavy stuff is when there is a tornado or flooding.”
Jones feels like he has a good working relationship with all three positions.
There are places where police and fire departments don’t get along,” he said. “Here is the opposite and there has been many fires where I will have police officers help out blocking the road or will even pull a hose or help carry a ladder.”
Having all three positions allows Jones the ability to communicate with a variety of different people. A skill he believes is beyond valuable when being an officer, not only among fellow officers, but also in the community.
“There are folks that believe that police officers are hard to talk to,” Jones said. “Some of that comes with generational things, but it is important not only to speak with people during an incident, but also having everyday conversation. It may be something small for us, but to a citizen of Perryville, it may be the worst things that happens to them. That is really rewarding to me. Our main job is to keep people safe.”
Jones noted that he expects to be on the force for a while longer and there are no plans to leave Perryville.
“There is retirement in the future, we just don’t know how far in the future that is,” he said.