Hundreds of bright blue lights flashed under a pink sunset outside of Banks County High School, creating a path from the parking lot to the building. Uniformed officers lined the entryway to the BCHS auditorium, where projections of Deputy Roger Kenneth “Ken” Mize’s photos from his many years in service greeted attendees.
After over 50 years of service in law enforcement, approximately 30 of which he spent educating Georgia students in the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) and Choosing Healthy Activities and Methods Promoting Safety (CHAMPS) programs, Mize is closing this chapter of his life. Deputy Mize’s retirement ceremony took place on Thursday, Jan. 30, just over a month after he officially hung up his badge.
A “joy” and a “privilege”
The ceremony began with the Banks County HERO Unit presenting the colors, followed by the singing of the national anthem by Banks County seventh-grader Lauren Speed and an invocation by Pastor Duane Eller.
Georgia State Representative Chris Erwin presented Mize with a resolution from the Georgia House of Representatives honoring his many years of public service. The resolution refers to Mize as an “honest and dedicated public servant, who strives for excellence in all his endeavors.” Bobby Banks followed Erwin and presented Deputy Mize with a Governor’s Commendation for his years of service in law enforcement signed by Governor Brian Kemp.
The Banks County Sheriffs’ Office promoted Mize to “retired major,” before presenting him with a shadow box put together by the office. “Ken has done just about everything you can do in law enforcement in 50-plus years,” said Sheriff Carlton Speed. The shadow box contained DARE and CHAMPS coins, as well as his uniform decorated with his Banks County and Jackson County Sheriff’s Office patches, a badge recognizing his time as a correctional facility warden in Jackson County, Jackson and Banks County badges, as well as his Jefferson Police Department patch.
“It has been a joy, privilege, honor to have worked with the different agencies that I have while I’ve been here in Georgia,” Mize said. “I cannot complain one minute about the people that I’ve worked for, as far as the leadership that [were] in the departments that I was in.”
A long journey
Mize offered a speech recounting some of the joys of his work in his days of law enforcement.
“It has been a great joy to be involved with law enforcement, especially […] the teaching part of it with the DARE program,” he said. “DARE officers [are] Some of the finest people that you’ll ever want to see. They were loving people, you didn’t get out of your car at a conference without someone coming up to you and saying, ‘Gotta have a hug.’ We did that because we loved each other, and we loved what we were doing for the kids of the great state of Georgia.”
Students and former students at the ceremony that Mize educated in the DARE and CHAMPS programs raised their hands to show Mize just how many lives he had touched. “They were wonderful, wonderful kids. They made me a wonderful person.” Mize said. “I listened to them, I cried with them, I talked to them, everything was so wonderful. I am so thankful today that I can say it has been good. It’s been a long journey, but it’s been good.”
After a heartwarming evening recounting years of memories, Mize was instructed by his fellow officers to call dispatch over his radio to announce his retirement from the force.
“Ok, dispatcher, I give you my last out of service, and God bless all of you,” he said.
His granddaughter, Banks County E-911 Dispatcher Elizabeth Mize, returned the call. In her teary reply, she thanked Mize, or “papa,” for his years of service. “It has been a true honor working alongside you,” Elizabeth Mize said. “Thank you, and we love you, papa.”
Click on video to hear Deputy Mize’s moving final radio call
By: Hadley Cottingham | Now Habersham
Videos by Mike Boyle
