Wednesday, May 1, 2024
Detective Chris Cogdill officially retired from the Granbury Police Department after having served in law enforcement for 25 years.
Cogdill has lived in Granbury his entire life and is hanging up his badge after serving and protecting the community.
His love for law enforcement began at a young age after watching television shows about law enforcement — in particular the drama series “Adam-12.” When he saw an advertisement for a law enforcement academy at Tarleton State University, he dove into the realm of law enforcement.
He quickly learned he enjoyed being in the academy and after four months of classes, he graduated from the program in1992. This led to a visit with Rodney Jeanis, the Hood County Sheriff at the time, who hired Cogdill as a reserve deputy. He served in that role for three years before accepting a full-time position in 1996 as a deputy.
Two years later, he applied for a position with the Granbury Police Department and scored the highest on the test out of about 20 applicants. On Dec. 15, 1998, he became a patrol officer for the city of Granbury.
In 2003, Cogdill was assigned to a narcotics task force and investigated cases involving narcotics. After two years with the task force, he was promoted to be a supervisor, but quickly realized he wanted to be back with the Granbury PD and returned as a patrol officer.
Cogdill promoted to the rank of corporal, and in 2007 became a detective, where he spent the rest of his law enforcement career.
One of his favorite aspects of the job was interrogating suspects and pulling out those needed confessions. He also shared a memory of an elderly widow who had been robbed and was devastated after jewelry her husband had given her was stolen. Cogdill made it his mission to get that jewelry back for the woman; when he found it, she was thrilled.
Cogdill even met his wife of 23 years, Angie, through his job. She was a dispatcher and he had heard her voice on the radio and realized he needed to meet her. The two met and soon after they married and now have two children.
Cogdill’s son is currently in college studying criminal justice with plans to follow in his father’s footsteps after he graduates in May.
“All of a sudden, I woke up and I’m 58 years old,” Cogdill said. “It just became time for me to retire and pass the torch so to speak.”
A retirement party to celebrate Cogdill, and the training room at the Granbury PD was full of well-wishers. He shared feelings of thankfulness and humbleness after seeing the number of people who showed up for him.
“The toughest part is leaving some of my coworkers. I’ve become really close with them and some of them moreso than my own family,” Cogdill shared. “It’s very difficult to leave them, but I’m very thankful. Sometimes we fought like brothers, sometimes we loved like brothers. We always knew that when things got serious, we could count on each other. All the calls and everything I’ve been involved with, it wasn’t just me, it was the entire team. As far as the criminal investigations division at Granbury PD, there’s not anything we couldn’t handle as a team.”
Cogdill saidit meant a lot to him to be able to see so many people in the department grow as well as his co-workers being able to see his kids grow.
He shared that he is grateful to have retired from Granbury PD since it is “one of the best departments out there.”
“I just feel very fortunate to have spent my career there. That department has top-of-the-line equipment with guys that are very well trained. I vividly remember my interview getting that job saying, ‘I’m going to retire from here’ and then one day here I am.”
He also shared his gratitude for the community and the amount of support the town gives law enforcement.
“I don’t know of a more supportive community toward law enforcement. It just seems like they go above and beyond for us and we’re extremely lucky how we’re treated by the community,” Cogdill said.
Now that he is retired, he plans to take more trips with Angie and travel to different states and national parks. He also plans to spend more time with both his kids and grandkids.
The two biggest lessons he learned from serving for 25 years are to not judge a book by it’s cover, and to remember that respect gets respect.
