18 February 2023
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — A police officer who served the City of Wichita for more than 43 years has turned in his badge.
Robert “Bob” Bachman spent his last day as a patrol officer Thursday, and the City threw a retirement party for him Friday afternoon.
He joined the Wichita Police Department (WPD) in February 1980. He was only a rookie for months before Officer Paul Garofalo was gunned down.
That murder was one of the reasons Bachman had zero tolerance for crime. One of the people on his beat dubbed him “Dirty Harry,” like the famous Clint Eastwood cop. The name stuck. KSN News did a story about him in 2019 as he approached 40 years with the WPD.
But it wasn’t the only reason Bachman will be remembered. During almost all his years with the department, he worked in the North Patrol area and got to know the residents by name. After 43 years, he also knows many of their children and grandchildren.
Bachman was one of the first officers to start the Special Olympics Torch Run, an original member of the SWAT team, SCAT team, Drive-by Task Force, and many other specialty units.
In a Facebook post, the WPD called him “the man, the myth, the legend” and said it is hard to sum up such a legendary figure.
The Facebook post includes his final call from dispatch. Click here to listen to it.
“Officer Bachman leaves the department as, deservedly, the most highly decorated officer in WPD history and will be deeply missed,” the dispatcher said.
During the retirement party on Friday, officers from the last several decades congratulated Bachman on his retirement and wished him well. One notable figure was Richard LaMunyon, who was the police chief when Bachman joined the WPD.
“I do remember the day after he was hired and the type of individual that he is, police officer that he was going to be and has become,” LaMunyon said. “I also found with the Bob Bachmans of the world, anybody that has that type of people in their department makes their chief job extremely easy.”
“Bob gave to this community, to our department, everything that you truly should be as a professional law enforcement officer,” he said.
Bachman said he never wanted to rise in the ranks of the department.
“I liked being a patrol officer. I was good at it,” he said. “I had no desire to go up and get involved into politics once you start moving up the ranks.”
Bachman says he worked the areas of town that were extremely rough in the ’80s and ’90s. He dealt with gang members and saw the influx of crack cocaine when it got to Wichita. He was asked how things have changed.
“Crimes the same, but we don’t have as much, Wichita doesn’t have as much drug dealing as we had back in the day, but we still have our moments,” he said.
He said his best advice for patrol officers is just to go out and do their job.
“Be enthusiastic about it and work hard and learn from your senior officers.”
As for his retirement, Bachman may not be done serving the community.
“I might join the Reserve, still help teach defensive tactics a little bit, and maybe come out and ride a little while,” Bachman said.