SHERIFF GENE BOLLINGER

CELEBRATES 50 YEARS OF LAW ENFORCEMENT

A LIFETIME OF PUBLIC SERVICE WORK TO HIS COMMUNITY

 Trooper Ed Allison, Ollie Harris, Gene Bollinger, and Sheriff Fred Mullins, Rhea County during the late 1950s working as a Tennessee troopers.

 Gene Bollinger, working as a state trooper in the late 1950s, bags evidence.

 Former Springfield Mayor John R. Long and Trooper Gene Bollinger.

Very few people can claim to have met a president. Still fewer can claim to have met every president since Ike Eisenhower. Few people can claim to have flown over Korea or received both Federal Bureau of Investigation and Secret Service training. Yet such milestones merely scratch the surface of Robertson County Sheriff Gene Bollinger’s 50 years experience in law enforcement.

Before law enforcement;

Born in 1932 to a sharecropping family of 11 children, Bollinger was raised in Robertson County. After graduating from Greenbrier High School in 1949, he worked for John Deere Supply Company in Nashville and Genesco Shoe Company until factory work grew tiresome, leading to his enlistment in the United States Air Force in 1951.

Bollinger served for four years in the intelligence field, ultimately attaining the rank of staff sergeant. He was stationed for a time in Guam and served as a courier during the Korean conflict.

The Tennessee Highway Patrol years (1957-1990)

A career spanning six decades began in 1957 when Bollinger, who had been working for Ford Motor Company after leaving the military, was hired onto the Tennessee Highway Patrol.

“I went through one week of training, then I went to work,” Bollinger said, adding that back then the THP waited until a training class could be filled before offering more extensive training, a process that could take months. In the meantime, Bollinger said he learned from experienced troopers around him.

Serving as a THP trooper was different than it is today, according to Bollinger.

“We worked closely with the Sheriff’s Offices,” Bollinger said. “We had two counties where the Sheriffs couldn’t read or write.”

Back then, the entire THP shared one radio channel, possessed no portable radars, and drove two-door cars.

A radar that could be hooked up to patrol cars was often passed around the counties, though it’s usage was more complicated than it is today.

“You’d set it out on the side of the road and you’d hide out in the woods and have another person flagging [cars] down,” Bollinger said. “Sometimes, a guy would get excited and take off and catch the radar cable with his car and bounce it around,” Bollinger said.

Many unique experiences spring to Bollinger’s mind about his time as a trooper.

Bollinger was one of 250 troopers sent to maintain the peace in Memphis in March of 1968 during the riots resulting from the sanitation workers strike, the same conflict that came to a head when Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on April 4.

“I was a squad leader in our group,” Bollinger said.

Helicopters were used by law enforcement during the riots.

“What was real tense was when someone would do something and run for the house, they’d track him and say ‘well, he’s got red socks on,’” Bollinger said.

When the National Guard were sent to assist in the situation, they arrived with empty firearms.

“We furnished them with ammunition,” Bollinger said.

Another incident that Bollinger recalls clearly is a jail fire in Dayton during the late ‘60s.

“I was at home in bed and they called and said the jail’s on fire,” Bollinger said. “When I got up there, nobody had done nothing.”

The incident still carries strong emotions decades later with Bollinger, who struggled with tears at the memory.

“One of the trustees at the jail, a prisoner, had thrown gas in the cell to burn a guy up in it and three or four others lost their lives from smoke inhalation,” Bollinger said, who recalled the contrast of the ice and snow on the ground outside that night.

Although dangerous situations such as the fire were not uncommon in his life, Bollinger has been wounded in the line of duty only once in his 50 years of law enforcement.

In November of 1965, Bollinger was shot while responding to a call at a truck stop outside the Dayton city limits. As he was climbing out the car, Bollinger was struck by the blast of a 16-gauge shotgun through the vehicle’s windshield. Two men had been fighting at the truck stop and the shooting had been the result of crossfire, Bollinger said

The injury sidelined Bollinger for 90 days. He still has pellets in the once-wounded arm.

Since the beginning of his career, Bollinger’s law enforcement philosophy has centered around training he said. He studied how to serve as an escort via an 11-day dignitary protective program offered by the Secret Service in 1977.

In 1981, Bollinger spent 11 weeks training with the Federal Bureau of Investigation at Quantico. He received all but four weeks of training provided to FBI agents.

On Aug. 31,1990, Bollinger retired from the THP, having attained the rank of Captain.

The Robertson County Sheriff’s Office years (1990-Present)

Then-Robertson County Sheriff Ted Emery hired Bollinger to be his chief deputy on Sept. 1, 1990, one day after Bollinger’s retirement from the THP.

“I knew I still had something to offer the people, a good education and exposure to all kinds of training,” Bollinger said.

Bollinger served as chief deputy for 11 years, longer than anyone else who has ever held the position.

In 2001, Sheriff Ted Emery died in a motorcycle accident on his 55th birthday. He was preparing to run for another term as sheriff with Bollinger at his side.

Bollinger completed Emery’s term as sheriff and has since been elected and re-elected in the position.

Now, Bollinger emphasizes training to his deputies, sending them to classes whenever possible and often attending classes himself.

“Law enforcement has really changed since 911,” Bollinger said. “You know the saying ‘To Protect and Serve?’ Well, we have another one that is ‘Be Prepared to Protect and Serve.’”

For his 50th year in law enforcement, Bollinger said he plans to celebrate by working hard for the citizens. And on the topic of retirement, his position is clear.

“I don’t know the meaning of the word,” Bollinger said.

Family, friends and other law enforcement officers comment on Gene Bollinger;

White House Police Chief Stan Hilgadiack

We have a great working relationship. In 50 years, times have changed and he is up to date on those changes and he stays up to date. He makes himself available to everyone. He's what a law enforcement officer should be.



Greenbrier Mayor and Fire Chief Billy Wilson

You take a man his age, and people talked about his age when he first ran for office, and because of his dedication to law enforcement the people picked him, twice.



Dent Morriss, Assistant District attorney

Gene Bollinger is a remarkable man who is remarkable sheriff.



Philip Bollinger, brother

He was working at the Ford plant in Kentucky when this opportunity came along. He always wanted to do something like (law enforcement).

My mother used to enjoy telling this on him when she was alive.

When he was getting ready to go out on a date, he would have her check to see if he was dressed right and his nose would be a little shiny and he would want her to powder his nose.

Gene's always been a good hard worker, good honest, other police officers get in to trouble, but we don't worry.

I'm really proud of him and glad to call him my brother.



Martha Blick, sister:

Gene has always had a strong work ethic and a generous heart. I can remember the days when he worked hard raising tobacco without help of any kind of machinery. Gene, as a young man, worked at Genesco while renting a room in Nashville, only coming home on the weekend, sharing his paycheck with the family.

His sense of humor is great. A lot of times at the dinner table when we were together he would cause a stern look from our dad who always wanted reverence at the table. I always believed the boys cut dad's hearing aid down so the fun could begin.



Springfield Police Chief Mike Wilhoit

“If he's been in law enforcement 50 years, he started about the time I came out of diapers.

Upon meeting Bollinger for the first time at the FBI training facility: I was sitting down in the cafeteria and this gentleman sat down with me and I had never seen him before, didn't know him from Adam and within five minutes it was like I had known him all my life.



Robertson County Sheriff's Office Lt. Don Bennett

I have personally known Sheriff Gene Bollinger since the year of 1990 when he was introduced by Sheriff Ted Emery as the chief deputy for Robertson County. Chief Bollinger came to us from the Tennessee Highway Patrol as a retired captain. The impact of his presence in the Sheriff's Office was immediate, the Sheriff's office began to thrive, the bar of professionalism was raised. Since that time, the Sheriff's Office has only prospered due to the leadership skills of Sheriff Bollinger.

Sheriff Bollinger introduced a new concept of management and empowered his employees and challenged them to rise to the expectations and demands placed on the law enforcement officer of today. I commend Sheriff Bollinger for his loyalty to public service and community and have enjoyed and continue to enjoy to serve the citizens of Robertson County under the command of Sheriff Bollinger.

TIMELINE OF BOLLINGER'S CAREER

1957: Joined the Tennessee Highway Patrol.

1964: Promoted to Sergeant; elected Tennessee Officer of the Year

1965: Wounded by a 16-guage shotgun round, sidelined for 90 days; begins 12-year term as chairman of the national board of trustees for the Fraternal Order of Police, becoming the first trooper to earn such a position.

1968: One of 250 THP troopers sent to Memphis during sanitation workers strike; becomes the only officer in the state ever elected Tennessee Officer of the Year a second time.

1971: Promoted to Lieutenant.

1973: Appointed to the national selection committee for the policeman of the year award by Senator Bill Brock.

1977: Trained with the Secret Service.

1981: Promoted to captain; received Federal Bureau of Investigation training.

1987: Transferred to Nashville.

1990: Retired from the THP; hired as chief deputy of the Robertson County Sheriff's Office.

2001: Becomes Sheriff following previous Sheriff's untimely death.

2002: Elected Sheriff.

2006: Re-elected Sheriff.

2007: Celebrates 50 years in law enforcement.

Thanks Sheriff for all your hard work and dedication!