PORT ANGELES — Clallam County Sheriff Sgt. Al Collins was lauded for more than 29 years of service during a retirement ceremony Tuesday.
Collins worked at the Clallam County jail and was credited with, among other things, helping with the jail expansion and the growth of the Clallam County Chain Gang program.
“Were truly going to miss Al, and it’s been my pleasure having worked with him,” said Clallam County Sheriff Bill Benedict, who presented Collins with a Sheriff’s Star award before the three county commissioners during their business meeting.
Benedict read a citation aloud to about 50 county employees and members of Collins’ family who attended a short ceremony in the Clallam County Courthouse.
After 29 years and four months, Collins’ last day on the job was Tuesday.
“For all these years, Al has been a constant, consistent face of the jail for all who have passed through the doors,” Benedict said.
“Al has been a good and faithful public servant.”
Collins started his career as a corrections officer in 1980 and worked his way to the rank of sergeant.
“It’s been a wonderful career,” Collins said.
“It’s all the people I’ve worked with that has made it a success for me.”
Praises co-workers
Collins praised his fellow county employees and the local law enforcement community.
“Our law enforcement in this county, overall, I think is excellent,” he said.
“I’ve really enjoyed working with everybody. I’ve worked with a lot of policemen, a lot of corrections officers — they’re all in my heart. That’s all I have to say.”
Beyond his day-to-day duties at the jail, Collins also volunteered with the Washington State Jail Association and the Peninsula College Advisory Board and was a member of the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office hostage negotiations team.
Collins also spent time in Olympia shaping jail procedures as a voice for the state medium-sized facilities.
“He’s been, to me, a stalwart,” said Benedict, who met Collins as a new deputy in 1995.
“I always felt comfortable when I was booking a prisoner and Al was there because he looked out for the deputies.
“He’s firm, but he is truly compassionate.”
Being booked into the jail can be a traumatic experience, yet Collins did not add to that stress, Benedict said,
“He’s not punitive,” Benedict said.
“He has no retribution whatsoever. He does his job, and I think that’s why the Clallam County jail has such a reputation as being a fair yet firm place.”
The third-year sheriff said Collins has been “instrumental” in improving the jail.
“I would say the jail has never been in better shape,” Benedict said.
“He’s also been a mentor to many corrections officers and even deputies.”
Before his time with the county, Collins served in Vietnam as a soldier in the late 1960s.
“He’s a good guy,” said Clallam County jail superintendent Ron Sukert.
“You can bounce things off him, and he gives you a real perspective.”
Collins ‘a rock’
Sukert, who started with the county the same year that Collins did, described his longtime colleague as “steadfast” and “a rock.”
After Collins received the citation and a etching of the historic courthouse that longtime county staffers get, Benedict presented plaques to Ted Groves of Copy Cat Graphics and Laurie Tanguay of LoBo Designs.
Groves and Tanguay donated time and materials for signs and banners that helped the sheriff’s office clean up a business center along Brook Avenue in a public-private partnership east of Port Angeles.
________
Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
