For the past 30 years, Tamaqua Police Chief Henry Woods has been doing his part to make everything fair for the Tamaqua community.

After three decades with the department, Woods will officially retire on Oct. 31.

“One of the things that was instilled in me when I started was to be fair,” Woods said. “A lot of times you get these guys that come out and they want to be super cop and arrest everyone; you get over that real quick when you work in a small department like this. I learned to have compassion for people. One thing I can pride myself on is that I’ve tried to be fair with everyone I’ve dealt with - no matter who it was.”

Woods mentioned many former members of the department who had a positive influence on him, but former Cpl. Jimmy Jordan was one who played a significant role.

“He’s a really great guy; outgoing and he was like a public relations dream. I looked at the way he did things and I said that’s how it should be done. When you do that, the people you’re dealing with respect that.”

He added, “It isn’t ‘Oh, officer Woods is coming and he’s just going to cite me.’ It’s that he’s going to listen to what everyone has to say and then make a decision. If it can be worked out without getting someone arrested, that’s great. I would rather have an outcome like that.”

Woods was born in Norfolk, Virginia, but moved to Tamaqua with his family a short time later. The chief’s father was a chief gunner’s mate in the Navy.

“When he retired in 1970, instead of staying in Virginia Beach, my parents came to Tamaqua. My mom has a huge family and she wanted to be closer to them and we moved to Hometown in 1970. I grew up here.”

Early in his professional career, Woods was a member of the U.S. Coast Guard in New Jersey, where part of his job duties sparked his interest in law enforcement.

“I got a taste for it there, and when I got out of the Coast Guard, I worked at Morgan’s as a sewing machine mechanic. I did that for about four years and decided I didn’t want to work in factory. At the time Lehighton borough was hiring police, so I thought I would take the test. I did pretty well. I didn’t get the job, but it sparked some interest, so I thought I should get the training, because you could get it on your own back then.”

Wood was originally hired part-time 30 years ago, and after a few short months, was a full-time member of the department. Before becoming chief, almost three years ago, he spent 11 years as Tamaqua’s detective.

“My plan was that if I didn’t get chief, I would help whoever came in to train them and help them out and work night shift (until I retire),” We went through the interviews, and I think my selling point was that before I leave, I want things to be on the right path. I wanted to see them go forward. … It must have worked; they were very glad to hear that I cared about the future of the department. I was lucky that they picked me; I honestly didn’t expect to get it.”

Wood explained that when he was hired as chief, he was in the DROP program. “Once you enter that program, you have to leave in five years, that’s the maximum amount of time you can stay. Once you hit the age that you can retire and have the time in, you can enter into the program. You keep working, you can leave any time, but you can only stay five years.”

Challenges

Woods said there have been some hurdles along the way - one being familiar with everyone in a small community presented a challenge.

“At times it feels like it’s been a long road, but other times it seems like it went quickly. Working where you grew up presents its own challenges. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve arrested people I was friends with. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve arrested people that I’ve become friends with. Knowing everyone has its benefits, but also has its drawbacks.”

Another has been managing the turnover of part-time officers coming and going over the years.

“It seems like when you get them up to where you want them to be, they leave. I don’t blame them; they want a full-time job. I had part-time officers that came in that learned everything, did well, stayed with us for a while then left. … I had one guy that I think didn’t even work a month. It’s really disheartening when you put an effort into training them and then poof; they’re gone in less than a month.”

Woods said Tamaqua is much different from working in any other Schuylkill area community. It offers a bit of everything and is a great place to gain valuable experience as an officer.

“It’s like somebody took a chunk of Philadelphia and dropped it in the Poconos. That’s what it feels like. If you’re the kind of guy that wants to come in and learn and get experience, when you go for a full-time job and say I worked in Tamaqua, all of these other chiefs in the area know you’ve handled a lot and didn’t just do traffic if you’ve worked here.

“You handle calls and domestics; you get all of that here. If you come here, you’re going to run. I remember the com center telling us at times we are busier than Pottsville city.”

Through the many ups and downs of the job, Woods continuously made an effort to communicate with the community, and increase awareness that the Tamaqua police are fair and approachable.

“We treat people the way they treat us,” Woods said. “If you talk to us with respect, you will get nothing but respect back. If that doesn’t happen, call me, I have an open-door policy. When I got hired, I said that. If you have a problem, please come to the station.

“I always try to make the public know that we’re human. You can talk to us. We’re here all the time. There isn’t a guy in this department that wouldn’t take the time to talk to somebody. I’m glad that I tried to instill the fairness principle into these guys and I think that’s the best thing that I could have accomplished.”

There were too many people for Woods to thank, but he wanted to give one shout out to Edith Moyer of the department, who has been handling a bulk of administrative duties for many years.

“She’s definitely the glue that holds this together,” Woods said. “It’s like a family and she’s like the mother of it.”

New challenge

What’s next for Woods? After some additional training, he’ll be one of the new school resource officers of the Tamaqua Area School District.

If Woods had a time machine, and could give advice to his younger self who was new to the job, it would be to keep a diary.

“All of the things that happen, you can write a best-selling book, even in a small town like this. There’s so much good stuff. I can’t name one singular thing. But it makes you store the bad memories away. I’m just very thankful that council had the confidence in making me the chief.”