Kent’s Law Enforcement Career

Albert Einstein had a place in his home that he called his “boasting corner.”  I thought, “Hey, I wanna be like that guy.”  So here is my “boasting page.”  I am still working on solving the mysteries of the universe.

I was a cop for over 30 years.  I was born and raised in Kansas and it is there that I began my law enforcement career.  (You know, Kansas, where a scenic overlook is  seeing a couple of trees in a pasture from an interstate overpass.  And, if there happens to be a cow in the background it is especially breathtaking.)  Well back in 1983 Kansas let a person be a police officer for up to 9 months before he had to attend a police academy.  My Chief was able to obtain a waiver beyond that and so I worked the mean streets of that tiny town for an entire year with no more training than riding around with other officers for a couple of weeks.  I suspect the world was as unprepared for Kent Wyatt as he was for it.  Somehow we both survived.  It was amazing the things that happen in remote little towns.  It was during that time that I faced my first armed encounter with a man wielding a barbecue fork with four inch tines like double knife blades.  (They take their barbecue seriously in Kansas – “Hey, pull that grill over under those trees and go get that cow”).  I was stabbed in the hand but I made the arrest.  (Every year on the anniversary of that event, I still get flowers and a nice card from the cow whose life I saved.)

After working in Kansas for six years, I moved from a department with 5 officers to Colorado Springs Police Department where there were over 500 officers.  (They had more trees too and these really high things called mountains.  The change was hard – especially when the cow stopped writing)  There I filled many roles including:  Street Officer, Staff Training Officer in the CSPD police academy, NPU Officer which involved bicycle patrol and problem solving in high crime areas, and, finally, a street Sergeant.

After twelve years in Colorado Springs, I was hired as the Chief of Police of a small town in Oregon.  (After growing up in conservative Kansas, the liberal atmosphere of Oregon was a little different.  Not only did they have trees but they would arrest you if you kicked one.)  I spent three years there and needed to recharge and do something a little more meaningful for the Lord.  I resigned as Chief and worked for another small town in Washington State near my wife Rebekah,s family. It was there that we decided to take a sabbatical from law enforcement and serve on the mission field in Mexico.

In 2005 we traveled to the southern Mexico state of Oaxaca and served and witnessed to the Mixtec Indians in remote mountain villages.

We returned to the States in 2006 and I eventually took a position back in Kansas to be closer to my ailing mother.  There I worked as a Sheriff’s Deputy, City Officer, and as a Detective Sergeant including supervising undercover drug operations. For humorous and inspirational stories from that time in my life – click here.

After a heart operation, I worked as a police dispatcher for a while and finally ended my law enforcement career.  I retired to beautiful Northwest Arkansas to pursue my lifelong love of writing.  You can learn more about my writing by going to Kent’s Fiction – click here.

(I was able to reestablish contact with the cow through Facebook).

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