BENTONVILLE — Police Chief James Allen will retire at the end of March.
“It is time to move on and do something else,” Allen said. “I don’t know what yet, but something else.”
Allen, 56, has been the department’s chief for 22 years. He said he could not point to just one case that makes him proud of his tenure in Bentonville.
“To me, it is just doing things right all the time. I don’t care if its big or small, from solving a murder investigation to helping find a child’s stolen bike,” Allen said.
The chief’s mandatory retirement was scheduled for March 2012. Allen said he chose to retire early to give other officers in the department a chance to move up in the ranks.
Allen said he plans to help the new chief transition into the office once a replacement is announced.
“I’ll call somebody else chief, and that’s not a bad thing,” Allen said. “I’m prouder of this department than words could say, but I’m ready just to be James again.”
Allen has nearly 34 years in law enforcement. He was a captain in the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office, an enforcement officer with Alcoholic Beverage Control Board and an officer with the Jacksonville, Ark., Police Department before coming to Bentonville in 1989.
Councilman Ed Austin said the city’s police force became a better organized, more professional department under Allen’s leadership.
Allen “has brought the city of Bentonville’s police department to a level of professionalism that is second to no other in the area,” Austin said. “James Allen has been great for the city, and James will be sorely missed.”
Austin believes one of Allen’s greatest contributions to the department was the development of a police procedures manual.
“That manual led to the professionalism of the department,” Austin said.
The Police Department will be in good hands at the end of March, Allen said.
“There is a good staff here and I believe the mayor will make a wise appointment from someone who is already here,” Allen said.
Mayor Bob McCaslin said he plans to announce Allen’s replacement soon. He did not give an exact time frame.