Wayland Police Chief Mark Garnsey has announced his retirement from police work.

Wayland’s chief for the past four year has said he has had family, friends and business associates try to recruit him to take on another occupation.

“I’ve been in police work for 34 years now,” he said. “I still love serving my community, but the time has come to transition to a new role. Last spring I did some job shadowing, and in June I attended preparatory training for three weeks. My new position is in the private sector, and will have regular hours and weekends off.

“I will be able to spend more time with my family, including my grandchildren, of which we have had two in the last 12 months and I’m sure more to come. It will also help us to tend to the needs and health issues of aging parents and other family members.”

Garnsey, who came here from Newaygo to succeed Steven Harper, said he believes the City of Wayland has one of the finest community policing departments in the country.

“Even departments much larger than ours do not have the community engagement that we enjoy,” he said. “The support for law enforcement in this community is incredible, and frankly, reminds me of why I got into law enforcement.

“I will miss the community camaraderie, the events we enjoyed together, and the feeling that comes from having a community believe in its police department. One only needs to look at the last couple of weeks of the department’s Facebook page to see the great work that our officers did for an infant in distress, and the honors that were bestowed upon people of law enforcement caliber to carry on military traditions.

“All the comments on these and other posts show the support and admiration the community has for our department – and likewise the admiration we have for them.”

Garnsey did not disclose specifically what field he has decided to take up.