Detective Sergeant Robin Sexton has been a Michigan State Police trooper for more than 30 years. Launching his career in 1974 as an officer in Detroit, Det. Sgt. Sexton has been involved in several high-profile cases over the years. He will soon retire from the St. Ignace post. With more than 30 years on the Michigan State Police force, Detective Sergeant Robin Sexton, Sergeant Ken Laninga, and Sergeant Dale Garrow, all stationed at St. Ignace, will be retiring at the end of May. A new post commander, Joe Shier, who has been a detective sergeant at Sault Ste. Marie for the past 10 years, has been promoted and will become the post commander at St. Ignace in April.

The three retirees will be missed here, said Lieutenant Greg Tamlyn, commander of the Sault Ste. Marie post, who is also overseeing activities here.

“Anytime you lose that type of experience -- over 30 years in their case -- there are going to be bumps in the road,” he said. “As the detective, Robin has handled a number of high-profile cases, and he's done a good outside job working for other agencies. Dale and Ken have been longtime stand-up employees.”

For Sergeant Dale Garrow, retirement will mean “never having to pick up a snow shovel again.” He plans to move to South Carolina next winter with his wife, Krista, where he will have time to play golf. He will complete his career with the Michigan State Police in May. City Police Chief Mark Wilk agrees, pointing out that Det. Sgt. Sexton, in addition to being a good friend, played an instrumental role in bringing various police departments in Mackinac County together to collaborate on projects. The state officers have worked with the city police, the county sheriff's office, tribal police, Straits Area Narcotics Enforcement team, and other agencies. Losing them at the state police post will mean a loss for all local police agencies, he said.

Sergeant Ken Laninga characterized his time with the Michigan State Police as a “dream career.” As a crime scene investigator and undercover trooper, Sgt. Laninga had the opportunity to work in several different areas over the course of his career. He will retire in May from the St. Ignace post. “I've worked with Robin very closely over the years and it's going to be a huge loss when he leaves,” Chief Wilk said. “He worked with so many people, from the local to federal levels, and brought us all together for different training meetings and conferences.”

Fresh out of high school, both Mr. Sexton and Mr. Garrow launched their careers in 1974 by joining the state's service officer program. They were stationed in Detroit and Flint, respectively. At the time, the now-defunct program enabled aspiring police troopers to serve a four-year term that made them eligible to attend recruit school and become a state trooper.

Both troopers' career paths began in southern Michigan in the late 1970s, and they briefly crossed paths in 1982, when both worked for the Metro Detroit narcotics division. Mr. Sexton subsequently served as a trooper at the post in Grand Haven, and was promoted to sergeant at Stevenson's post before being named detective sergeant for the Sault Ste. Marie post in 1987, ultimately arriving at the post in St. Ignace in 2002.

Sgt. Garrow worked at posts in Cheboygan, Newberry, and Reed City, where he was promoted to sergeant, before he transferred to the post in St. Ignace in 2003.

Sgt. Laninga, by contrast, acquired a bachelor's degree in criminal justice from Lake Superior State University before starting his career in 1977 as a trooper in Benton Harbor. From there, he was transferred to the state police crime laboratory in Grand Rapids, specializing in fingerprints, and also worked for an undercover auto theft program in Paw Paw before transferring to work for the undercover division at St. Ignace in 2000.

“I got to do things I never dreamed of while working undercover and as a trooper,” said Sgt. Laninga, who lives in Cheboygan with his wife, Kristie. They have two sons, Adam and Chris. Adam Laninga became a Michigan State Police trooper in 2009, assigned to the L'Anse post in the Upper Peninsula.

All three St. Ignace officers agreed the best part of coming to work every day as a trooper is the challenge of not knowing what's going happen on the job.

“You know your days are always going to be different than the day before,” said Det. Sgt. Sexton, a boating and sailing enthusiast who lives in Rudyard with his wife, Cherie, and children Alyssa and Adam.

“It's a little surreal,” he said of his retirement. “For the past 35 years, I've known what I'll be doing every day. You know it's coming, but I don't think anyone's prepared until it's there. All I can say is I really appreciate the opportunity I've had to do this; it's been a real honor.”

He remembers the St. Ignace post opening in 1994, and, he said, his long career has given him the opportunity to see a lot of officers come through the program. He hopes he has had some influence on them.

In the past, he said younger troopers transferred to different posts quite frequently, starting their careers at downstate urban posts to gain the most experience, then transferring to rural areas later in their careers. Now troopers are staying at their posts for longer periods, he said, usually transferring later in their careers for promotions.

“It's a double-edged sword,” he said. “The fact that a trooper stays in the area for the majority of his career is good. The problem is they miss out on the experience and training. At urban training posts you get to see everything.”

For Sgt. Garrow, the long career in police work has also been a rewarding experience.

“This is a fantastic way to conclude a career,” said Sgt. Garrow, who said he is thinking about moving to South Carolina's Myrtle Beach next winter, where he will never have to pick up a snow shovel again.

“We have by far the best view here in the entire state of Michigan,” he said of the post at the northern end of the Mackinac Bridge.

He lives in Cheboygan with his wife, Krista, and they have two children, Brandon and Jaycee.

The three officers are among 34 officers across the state who all signed up for the six-year Deferral Retirement Options Program (DROP) created in 2004, and will be retiring May 31, exactly six years from the date they signed the agreement. DROP is a cost-cutting program that encourages troopers with more than 25 years of service to stay on the police force. The program, which increases troopers' pension by investing their retirement funds, saved the state millions of dollars by cutting financial-benefit packages.

There are more questions than answers, however, as to how the state will fill the vacancies their deferred retirements will create. There is a deficit of 350 troopers statewide, Lt. Tamlyn said.

Det. Sgt. Sexton's position is expected to be covered part-time by sergeant detectives from other area posts.

“There will be positions out there that will not be filled until at some point in time we have a recruit school,” he said. “The primary objective is to keep the troopers out there enforcing traffic.”

With fewer troopers, he explained, there will be less demand for supervisory positions.

“When you have less personnel out there providing service on the roads, you don't need as many supervisory positions, so you leave those open until you can fill those road trooper slots,” he said.

The loss of experienced officers will impact Michigan statewide.

“I think anytime you see people that have over 30 years at an organization leave, it's going to be a challenge, but we're also hoping this is going to be an opportunity for younger leaders to be able to step up and fill the void,” said Shannon Banner, spokeswoman for the State Police Department headquarters in East Lansing.

The post also hopes to have one more sergeant assigned to replace Michael Powell, who recently transferred to the Straits Area Narcotics Enforcement (SANE) unit in Sault Ste. Marie, which investigates drug activity in Chippewa, Luce, and Mackinac counties.

After all of the changes, the post will have a commander, five sergeants, and nine troopers.