After 40 years as a reserve law enforcement officer in Jefferson County, Bill Alter has decided to hang up his belt and retire.
Alter, 78, of High Ridge, a former Missouri state legislator, volunteered as a reserve officer for the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office for 10 years and then the Byrnes Mill Police Department for 30 years.
As a reserve officer, he never received a paycheck.
For the past 15 years, Alter has been the Byrnes Mill Municipal Court bailiff, working two nights a month. His last day will be Tuesday, Aug. 9.
“(Being a reserve officer) was just something I decided that I wanted to do,” he said. “I didn’t have to have the pay.”
Alter said he has enjoyed serving as a reserve officer but due to his age, it’s time to retire.
He was 38 when he decided to attend the Jefferson College Police Academy.
“People generally decide early in life that they want to be a police officer, but it was probably the furthest thing from my thought pattern at the time,” he said.
In 1982, Alter attended the academy with his wife of 59 years, Merijo.
“We do everything together,” he said.
Alter said he graduated second in the class, and Merijo graduated first.
“My wife and I both graduated in 1984.”
Alter said the Sheriff’s Office had about 20 officers in the reserve program when he joined it and he was selected to lead it. He said he grew the program to about 50 officers.
“My job was to basically interview and bring on new people into the sheriff reserves,” he said. “It was basically a training ground for the Sheriff’s Department.”
Alter said former Byrnes Mill Police Chief Gary Dougherty asked him to become a reserve officer for that city, and he joined the program in 1992.
Alter, a U.S. Navy veteran, said he also worked as a field engineer for IMB, ran a business and served as a Missouri state representative from 1989 to 1991 and again from 1993 to 2001. He was a Missouri state senator from 2005-2007.
“I was a police officer and lawmaker at the same time,” he said.
“If I were to compare the Legislature to law enforcement and what can be accomplished by an individual, law enforcement is where it’s at. As a lawmaker, you have to contend with so many different people you work with and persuade them to think the way you’re thinking about whatever it is, or bill you’re introducing, and it can take years to get a piece of legislation passed. But if you’re a police officer, pulling up on the scene of an emergency or something, you handle it right then and there.”
Alter and his wife also owned and ran Chimney Rock Guest House, a bed and breakfast in Imperial near Kimmswick from 2007 to 2012.
Byrnes Mill Police Chief Frank T. Selvaggio said he is thankful for Alter’s volunteer work as a reserve officer all these years.
“Volunteering his time like that takes a special kind of person,” he said.
Selvaggio said Alter has been a help to the Byrnes Mill Police Department.
“He is very valuable; he can fill in when you’re shorthanded,” he said. “He’s always smiling. He always has a great attitude. He is just a solid person to be around the new officers. The newer officers really enjoyed talking to him and listening to his old stories.”
Selvaggio said he plans to fill in as the bailiff on court nights until he comes up with another plan.
Once Alter leaves the department, Selvaggio, who joined the department in October 2018, said he will have the most seniority at the department.
Selvaggio said he will hold an invite-only retirement party for Alter on Saturday, Aug. 20, and anyone interested in receiving an invitation should email him at ftselvaggio@byrnesmill.org.