BY RYAN O’CONNOR

Bow Police Lt. Ron Welliver is ready to saddle up and hit the road – again.

Welliver, who retired from the Nashua Police Department in 2002, after 23 years, spent two and a half years as a University of New Hampshire officer before coming to Bow two years ago to finish his career as a part-time lieutenant.

“With my kids going to college, I needed to make more money without working 80 hours a week, so I went to UNH, went part-time and was kind of gliding my way out and then Bow just fell in my lap, so I came up and met the chief (Jeff Jaran) and we hit it off,” said Welliver.

Bow, said Welliver, offered him an opportunity to continue doing the job he loves, while putting him in a position to teach younger officers.

“I like being a supervisor, but I also like to do hands-on things, like running investigations,” he said. “I tried to keep everyone involved in the bigger cases that I worked, so they could know exactly what I was doing and why I was doing it. I’ve always kept people abreast so they can learn from me. I don’t know everything, believe me, but I learned from the benefit of everyone around me.”

Likewise, Jaran said Welliver filled a major need for his department.

“He was hired for a specific purpose, which was to bring street experience into a police department that was, at the time, understaffed and inexperienced,” said Jaran. I certainly would have liked to see Ron stay one more year, but he had to do what was best for his family.

“Not only is he a great cop and a very experienced leader, but he brings a good sense of humor to the job, he’s a great family man, and he sets a great example for the young officers,” Jaran continued. “All of that will really be missed.”

Welliver said the experience in Bow has been much different than Nashua, but noted both beats carry their own unique challenges.

“The reputation that Bow has outside of town is that nothing ever goes on here – that it’s a quite little town – but that’s far from the truth,” he said. “Just because the town has a lot of money doesn’t mean there are no criminals here. I’m not saying the town is loaded with them, but drugs are a problem and a lot of the crime in Bow is due to drug activity with these kids and not having anything to do.”

Moreover, he said that in cities like Nashua the crime is more spread out and often found in lower income areas, while in Bow much of the criminal activity stems from the same people.

Investigations involving teenagers in Bow, said Welliver, are often difficult.

“Parents refuse to believe their kid could be involved in drugs and won’t even let them be interviewed and get appalled because they have money.

“They want us around if they have a problem, but not if the problem is related to their kid.”

Overall, Welliver said working in Bow has been a very positive experience.

“You ride around in Bow or you sit at a detail and people wave to you, in Nashua people wave to you, but there is usually a middle finger involved,” he said. “The citizens just like their cops here.”

Still, Welliver said it’s time to move on.

“I absolutely enjoyed my time here. We have great people here, just a hardworking bunch of cops that have made it really easy for me to work here,” he said. “But I turned 50 years old three weeks ago and my kids are in college, my wife and I are at home, and now it’s just time to do things. Life’s too short.”

Welliver, whose last full day was Tuesday, March 27, said he will stay on the books and help out with investigations and fill in for officers who are out.

Jaran said he hopes to replace Welliver with a full-time lieutenant, whom  he hopes to promote from within the department.