SPRINGDALE — Tony Anderson’s mechanical skills quickly caught the eye of Springdale police administrators, and they want to hire him fulltime to work on the department’s fleet of cars.
Anderson, 39, knows plenty about police vehicles. He spent several months working on Arkansas State Police cruisers. Before that, he rode in the back of several police cars.
Arrested five years ago, Anderson is serving a 10-year sentence in the Arkansas Department of Correction for fraud and theft by receiving. He’s in Springdale as part of the state work-release program.
Anderson is set for parole October, but could become a full-time Springdale Police Department employee as soon as next month. Prisoners in the work-release program can hold down paid positions, although any court fees and restitution are taken out of their salaries.
“As far as we can tell, there’s nothing that says we can’t hire him,” said Capt. Ron Hritz. “He’s an excellent mechanic, and he’s the one we really want to get.”
The City Council approved the full-time, $25,300 position in next year’s police budget, and Anderson’s ready to jump into the job.
“Mechanic work is something I’ve always been interested in, and it’s what I went to vocational school to do,” he said. “When they off ered me the chance to work on cars at state police, then here, I jumped at it.”
Anderson’s feats include replacing a rear axle in less than a day and restoring a crunched front end in just a few hours, said Kathy O’Kelley, police chief.
“It’s really remarkable what he can do. He’s very familiar with the cars, and he’s saved us an untold amount of money,” O’Kelley said.
Anderson sees no dichotomy in working for the police after serving a prison term.
“I’m not the same guy I was when I got in trouble,” he said. “I don’t think it’ll be a problem at all.”
It’s also home. Anderson grew up in Northwest Arkansas and trained as a mechanic at Northwest Technical Institute. His criminal case went through the Benton County court system.
From the front bumper to the rear diff erential, there’s not many parts of a police car Anderson doesn’t know. One part he wishes he wasn’t quite as knowledgeable about, though, is the back seat.
“I’d recommend everyone stay out of the back seat,” he said. “There’s not much room back there, and it’s very uncomfortable.”