BOYD WILL RETIRE AS CAPE POLICE CHIEF

Cape Girardeau Police Chief Howard Boyd Jr. has never quit on life. Not even when he was born prematurely, weighing only three pounds.

He spent the first four months of his life in an incubator at Southeast Missouri Hospital. The nurses named him "Butch" because he was a survivor.

The nickname stuck.

Boyd will retire as police chief Aug. 31 and immediately begin a new job as director of security for Southeast Missouri Hospital.

Capt. Stephen C. Strong, field operations commander, will serve as acting police chief until a new chief is hired.

Boyd said Thursday he is ready for a change.

"My flame started to dim when Danny Niswonger got hurt. I was really close to Danny," said Boyd. "I would probably have accepted it better if he had been shot."

Niswonger was a Cape Girardeau police officer before a traffic accident permanently injured him two years ago, ending his career. His right leg had to be amputated.

At age 55, Boyd qualifies for full benefits under the state retirement system. That was a factor in his decision to step down, he said.

Boyd has been a Cape Girardeau police officer for 26 years. He headed the department for the last eight years, first as acting chief and since March 1989 as police chief.

Boyd said the job of police chief was an increasingly demanding one.

As chief, Boyd preferred to be on the streets rather than behind a desk. Whenever there was a serious crime, Boyd could be found at the scene.

He regularly wore a uniform. "First and foremost, I am a cop," he said.

Boyd said his new career is perfectly suited for a retired police chief.

"My scope of responsibility goes down from 25 square miles to three city blocks," he said.

Boyd expects to do some hands-on managing of the 15-member security staff. "I hope not to spend a lot of time in the office. I'm tired of offices," he said.

As police chief, Boyd regularly put in more than 40 hours a week. He loved to make arrests.

He didn't wear bulletproof vests. He said they were too uncomfortable.

Boyd preferred talk to confrontation.

He once responded to a call where a teen-ager had a butcher knife and was threatening to kill his parents. In talking to him, Boyd discovered that the teen-ager had a severe toothache but his mother wouldn't let him go to the dentist.

Boyd sent him to the dentist and had the bill sent to the mother. No charges were filed.

"I think that is sort of poetic justice," he said.

Boyd grew up in Cape Girardeau. He married his childhood sweetheart. He served six years in the Navy and then joined the Naval Reserve. He served in the Naval Reserve for 32 years, retiring in 1990 as a chief warrant officer.

He enrolled at Southeast Missouri State University in 1967. He quit college and joined the police department in January 1970.

In the summer of 1971, he took a year's leave of absence to obtain a criminal justice degree from then Northeast Missouri State University at Kirksville. He returned to the department in August 1972.

When Boyd first joined the department, the police station was in a former Methodist church. The department moved to its current building in 1976.

In nearly three decades, Boyd has seen the police department grow from 45 to 67 officers. "We are larger than 93 percent of the police departments in the United States," he said.