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Deputy Bob Peace announces retirement
On Friday, Oct. 18, friends of Elmore County Deputy Sheriff Bob Peace will gather from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. for a potluck luncheon at the Marine Building, 2261 E. 8th North St., to wish him a happy retirement.
For Peace, it will mark the end of nearly three decades of work in law enforcement, the final 15 years with the sheriff's office.
Born 57 years ago in Michigan, Peace grew up throughout the midwest. Towering over the rest of humanity at 6' 8", Peace received a basketball scholarship to Hendricks College in Conway, Ark. There, he met his much shorter wife, Debbie, with whom he has now been married for 37 years.
After leaving college in his junior year, Peace joined the Air Force, which eventually brought him to Mountain Home. After separating from the service, he began working in law enforcement for the city of Mountain Home, for the Twin Falls Police Department and with Probation and Parole, before settling down as a sheriff's deputy 15 years ago.
He loves the job. "I think it fits my personality" said the man who is known as a gentle giant, who usually talks peacefully and wears a big smile.
"Oh, I can be tough if I have to," he said. "My size isn't necessarily a help. Some people want to challenge it. But I haven't lost a fight since I was in the eighth grade." At 6' 8", 290 lbs., "I make a pretty good door" for people to run into if they don't want to listen to reason, he said.
The thing he loves most about the job is interacting with people.
Toward the end of his career, he began working on the board of the local drug court created by Magistrate George Hicks. "I really enjoyed that. It works. You give people the right skill set, it can change their lives.
"Often, the things in life that you and I take for granted, like a good home life, they don't have. They need to learn appropriate behaviors and how to deal with problems the right way. And once they do, we pretty much never see them again. It's a great program. Of all the things I've been involved in with law enforcement, drug court is the most successful."
Law enforcement often involves dealing with people with problems. "The things you don't like, is to see families in turmoil. That's not a very good foundation in life. You know you're going to see them again."
Law enforcement is considered a high stress job.
"You have to be able to turn it off, inside, when you get home, or you won't have a long career in this business."
For Peace, two factors help him survive the stresses -- "a great wife, who puts up with me," and his strong belief in God.
It was those two pillars that got him through one of the toughest times of his life, when he was forced to shoot and kill a man who came at him with a loaded shotgun.
"That was one of those things that can happen in law enforcement. You don't want to do it, but you have to be willing to do it if necessary.
"Every time you leave your house to go to work in the morning, you have to know you may face something like that during the day."
If that was his darkest day, his bright days involved helping train young officers. "You have to want to give that experience back, to pass along what you've learned to the next generation," said the man who one two lifesaving awards and a medal of valor during his career.
So, Peace is turning in his badge, but walking away with an overall sense of accomplishment and looking toward a bright future.
"When you're in law enforcement, you identify with it. But we are not our jobs. The job I did I liked, but it isn't everything that I am. I'm a husband, a father and a grandfather. Long after I put this badge away, I'll always be those."
In fact, he's enjoying those roles a great deal now, but that doesn't mean he'll be simply riding off into the sunset. In the future, he's considering exploring a political career. There are a number of opportunities out there, he said, where he feels he can continue to make a difference.
"There is life after law enforcement. I'm still young and healthy.
"I've always been willing to listen to people, even if I disagree with them, and I can have my mind changed. So, I'm thinking about throwing my hat in the political ring.
"But right now, I'm just going to decompress and enjoy my family."