When Assistant Chief Larry Gainer first joined the Redmond Police Department in 1976, cattle corralling was just part of the job.

“We always had rope in the trunk of the patrol cars to round up livestock,” said Gainer.

He recalls tying up stray dairy cows and horses to trees and then calling animal control to take the livestock back to their home pastures.

Police tools and tasks have changed since Redmond’s dairy farm days, but Gainer’s police philosophy always remained the same.

From day one, Gainer’s motive for police work was “to enhance the quality of life” in Redmond.

Mission accomplished.

RPD bid farewell to Gainer, the department’s longest-serving officer, at a retirement party last Friday.

Gainer, 58, known for his fair and analytical approach to policing, called it a career last week after serving nearly 36 years with the department.

“If Larry threw his hat in the ring now for the Republican nomination, he would probably win,” said retired RPD officer Randy Cox, who was trained by Gainer as a rookie cop in 1980. “The guy is so intellectual. … He was so far ahead of anybody in vision and technology. He really thought outside the box.”

Retired RPD Chief Steve Harris, who supervised Gainer for 28 years, described Gainer as his “right arm,” someone he relied on every day.

“He was very thoughtful in so many things,” Harris said. “He had a pulse of the department. … I had ideas, but he was the guy who actually implemented them.”

Retired RPD Lt. Jim Taylor, who also supervised Gainer, said Gainer “had an intellectual capacity that I’ve never seen in anybody else that I’ve ever worked with over 30-plus years.”

RISING UP THE RANKS

Gainer, who grew up wanting to be a cop, first joined the RPD in July 1976, when the department had 29 employees and the city housed more than 16,000 residents.

Gainer’s intelligence, even-keel approach and passion for public safety vaulted him up the ranks rapidly, according to Harris.

“He was always a hard-working guy all the way through the ranks,” Harris said.

Gainer said he took his first promotion test in 1977 on “a dare,” and got the second-best score in the department. But the interim chief at the time, Garney Arcand, said he couldn’t promote Gainer to sergeant because he hadn’t been with the department long enough.

While he didn’t get promoted that day, it was a sign of things to come for Gainer, an Eastside native who attended Redmond Junior and Redmond High schools.

In 1979, he served as a motor officer, a position he helped create that still exists today. He was promoted to patrol sergeant in 1980 and then four years later, he moved over to the Traffic Division, where he focused on enhancing DUI emphasis. During his patrol days, Gainer was struck by drunk drivers five times.

“I don’t think it did any brain damage until the second or third one,” Cox said with a laugh.

Gainer’s last run-in with a drunk driver came in 1989 when he was hit by an impaired motorist while investigating a traffic collision. He suffered a shoulder injury and had to have rotator cuff surgery. While it did halt his recreational softball career, it didn’t stop him from his police work.

Gainer always had a passion for getting drunk drivers off the road, Cox said. In fact, one time Gainer arrested two DUI suspects in a matter of five minutes. Cox recalled how Gainer arrested one suspect on Northeast 116th Street and then as he was transporting the suspect to the police station, caught another impaired driver.

Cox said Gainer always had a calming affect at heated, emotional calls, such as domestic violence disputes. And Gainer always avoided conflict with suspects, sidestepping confrontations and focusing on finding solutions, Taylor said.

Taylor recalls one incident where he rushed to a scene to back up Gainer at a domestic dispute call on 156th Avenue Northeast.

Like he always did, Gainer had eased the tensions at the home, but when Taylor rushed up to the front porch, the suspect became agitated again. Gainer recognized this and moved to the side and the suspect punched a charging Taylor in the face, knocking him off the front porch.

“Larry saw it coming and stepped aside,” Taylor recalls. “He was always very astute.”

Gainer, known for his dry, witty humor, was promoted to lieutenant in 1991. He graduated from the FBI Academy in 1993 before being named a commander in 1996. One year later he was promoted to assistant chief and his primary duty was to handle internal investigations. He always used a fair-handed philosophy when making recommendations to the chief, according to supervisors and colleagues.

“It didn’t matter if he was your best friend or if he loathed you, you were still going to get a fair shake,” Cox said of Gainer’s approach to internal investigations.

IMPACT WORK IMPROVED RPD

Ron Gibson, RPD’s current chief, said Gainer’s experience and dedication helped ease the transition when Gibson moved from the Colorado Springs Police Department to become Redmond’s new chief in 2010.

“His broad-based knowledge of current issues facing the department, his experience and his willingness to share with me the history of our department has been invaluable,” Gibson said. “He has helped build our department into one that is envied by others.”

Since Gainer joined the department, RPD has grown to 126 employees and the city now has a population of more than 54,000 residents.

During his career, Gainer, who always wore spit-shined shoes and police badge, worked on many National Accreditation Assessments for the department. He was a critical member of the budget team and a member of many committees and boards. Most notably, his service facilitated regional information-sharing efforts that now provide valuable information to officers in the field. He has been an avid advocate for developing and expanding a computer forensic laboratory at RPD. In addition, he worked as a union representative and was very knowledgeable about labor management.

“His passion for the job was evident in how long he served in law enforcement,” Gibson said. “His ethics and moral compass really stood out in my mind.”

At a retirement ceremony last week, when former colleagues, supervisors, and family members honored him, the one constant word that kept surfacing was “fair.”

“He was very good at making good decisions,” Harris said. “I had a lot of fun with him. He will be sorely missed, there’s no doubt about it.”

Chief Gibson said the city will conduct a national search for Gainer’s replacement, but quickly pointed out that there are several internal candidates he hopes will apply for the job too.

The plan is to start advertising for the assistant chief job next month and have that position filled by the end of June, Gibson said.

As for Gainer, his police work days are over, but he continues to lend a helping hand, babysitting his three granddaughters.

“I’m starting to become aware of my limitations,” he said.

Gainer said he will enjoy his retirement days with hunting and fishing trips, but he will never will forget his time serving the RPD.

“I feel exceptionally fulfilled,” he said. “And no, I didn’t expect it to go the way it did.”