Beyond retirement: Raney commits to arduous community service

“Everything I was doing I enjoyed,” he said. “I committed my life to serving my country.”

During those commitments, he returned to Kansas from 1992-1996 and attended Washburn University, receiving his bachelor’s degree in criminal justice. He finished his master’s degree in 2010 in international relations, a multidisciplinary degree out of the University of Oklahoma,

After retiring he was excited to move back home and serve his community.

“I’ve always wanted to move back home. I grew up down in Altamont. I spent my formative years working on a few farms around the area and different odd jobs and decided this is where I wanted to return to,” he said.

With that in mind, he began making plans, and considering areas of community service, he began talking with Parsons Police Chief Robert Spinks about how he could best serve his community as a volunteer once he moved back with his wife, Theresa, and family.

“I started talking with Chief in April of last year when I started exploring moving out here. And we really talked about what my role would be. All across America the big thing is you don’t have a rush to public service that you used to have. Law enforcement is one of those areas that’s suffering in that regard, and of course the last few years, with a mass exodus of people in law enforcement, that has left such a shortage,” he said.

“Long story short, one thing led to another and he convinced me to join the force and be a patrol officer and secondary as a Community Oriented Policing and Problem Solving (COPPS) manager. Initially I was just going to be a part-time guy and that just turned into a better opportunity,” Raney said. “It’s not hard to talk me into things. I’m very susceptible to high energy, idealistic people. He and I are two peas in a pod.”

Raney started with the Parsons PD on June 20 and had about four weeks with the department, learning about the department and different facets of it and then went to attend the Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center from July 17 to Oct. 21.

Then, this last December, the 54-year-old retired Marine major graduated with his doctorate in business from the University of South Florida.

While he could be easily earning six figures using that degree somewhere, he said: ”I was already earning six figures. It wasn’t about money. It was really about peace of mind and I’m just such a nostalgic person for the Southeast Kansas area. I’ve always wanted to come back here and always spent time here with friends and family, what have ya. I’ve always been drawn back to the area. The education is more about how can I better serve my family and how can I better serve my community and to broaden my mind and my scope to do those two things. My doctorate is not so much the business focus as the teaching/learning focus in business.”

His employment dates overlap a bit with Marine Corp and Special Operations, and for a time he was teaching irregular warfare to international and U.S. operations forces. During that time he got into design thinking and innovation.

“When I did that I realized high performance teams are good when they are very well coached, but what would happen if we incorporated divergent thinking education into their performance outcomes?

I took the special forces qualification course for students,” Raney said. “A short on the dissertation piece is, how do we provide creativity and innovation into high performance teams that can increase their performance outcomes? The translation is not just in special forces, but it is also day traders. How can we create better, more multi-variant thinkers rather than linear thinkers and logical thinkers our system produces.”

These are all things Raney believes he can bring to the job with the PD, especially in the COPPS position, where he can consider what problem he is trying to solve and how is he going to go about it, incorporating all facets of the business, in this case the community, into solving that problem.

“Being an instructor, the community oriented policing role sounded really good to me. The ability to interact with the police department and having positive contacts, and increasing those positive contacts, I think will go a long way. I immediately gravitated toward that position when I heard about it and learned more of what it is. What I thought about it is, it is in my wheelhouse and what have ya.”

While using his prior education, he continues to educate himself, stepping into new roles.

“Everything at the police department has been a learning experience. Obviously it is so far out of anything I have ever done,” he said. “ I know that it sounds like the military and police department translates, but it doesn’t.”

It is not surprising, Raney said, that being a patrolman is probably the hardest role a police officer is going to have at this level. He may know a lot about a few things, but like most, for the most part, he is a jack of all trades and master at none, as he finds himself back at the bottom end of the totem pole, learning about being a patrolman.

He said the job is very hard and there is a massive amount to learn, quickly, in a multitude of areas. He is grateful for the open arms of everyone in the police department, the camaraderie aspect of it as he is getting to know his new team and their willingness to share their knowledge of the job rather than sitting back and letting him make mistakes.

“The interactions that I’ve had thus far have been extremely positive. The majority have been positive, but of course I’ve had to deal with reality and that is you deal with part of the negatives of the community as well. I just think that’s a must in order to identify real problems. If I come in with the whole idea I’m going to sit in a manager’s position and I’m not going to be able to be a patrolman as an entry level police officer, I think that’s a disservice to the community and a misuse of resources and talent. … I’m learning the real challenges we have as a community that I can try and address with the community,” he said.

It doesn’t matter at what level his service is being offered, he said, it is matter-of-factly, simply about serving.

“My mantra that I developed and will hold, until they don’t want me around any more, is just to relieve pressure where I can and add value at best. If I could do that, no matter what it is, if it is emptying the trash, and it helps the department, that’s what I’m going to do,” Raney said. “I’ve always had that kind of mentality no matter what billet or role that I’ve had in the Marine Corp and government service.”

Raney is learning both positions simultaneously. He won’t be a full time COPPS manager until the PD is flushed out with patrolmen, a situation he realizes the department may not see in the short term. He said he is fine with his primary role right now being a patrolman.

He is at a great advantage as a retired marine. A paycheck is always nice for someone’s endeavors, but it is a supplement to his Marine Corp retirement.

Considering his age, and position of being retired, he said he is also in hopes of providing an example to others capable of doing the same.

“It’s probably not what most people at my age think they are going to do, but I question that. I don’t think a police officer always has to be a young guy. Now, it’s helpful in certain situations, but at the same time I think there are some advantages to having some life experiences and exposure to things that a young man or woman is not going to have,” he said.

Speaking from a military standpoint, the military is a young man’s game. Only 2% of people that join the Marine Corp actually ever retire from the Marine Corp, so very few make a career of the military compared to the population of the United States, he said.

“I think it is the same thing in law enforcement (nowadays). You see people come in and people go. That is what I see is people come in and leave at a younger age to pursue other things, less dangerous things, less damaging things, maybe to pursue things more cognitively, the pursuits of happiness and other things. As you know, every organization has a hierarchy and that hierarchy pyramid gets clogged at the top with long term endeavors. … The people that are in those positions are probably going to stay in those positions for a long time,” Raney said. “The question is, from my point of view, is how do I provide the best possible example to the community to want to do this, maybe not for a long period of time, but for a period of time that supports the community in the best way they can?”

Having high energy, being an eternal optimist and idealistic of what he can provide, Raney said: “Time will tell what value I truly add in my role and whether my energy and high hopes are sustained. For me, I think the only way, a positive way, it will be sustained is through community support and involvement of law enforcement. If I can increase that in any way, I think that’s adding a lot of value to all of law enforcement, not just at the Parsons PD, but the sheriff and local police departments around the area.”