3 longtime Vestavia police officers retire

Three long-serving law enforcement officers recently retired from the Vestavia Hills Police Department. The officers all served different roles within the department, but all spent several years — and for some, several decades — serving the city.

LT. CHUCK NAGLE

The city of Vestavia Hills looked much different when Chuck Nagle began his career with the Vestavia Hills Police Department in April 1985.

The population of the city was about 16,000 or 17,000, and the police force included 23 officers, Nagle said. Today, the city has more than 33,000 residents and about 100 police officers.

But as of late April, Nagle, after a 35-year career in law enforcement, won’t be one of them. The longtime lieutenant retired after a career that saw him do just about everything within the department.

Nagle got his start in police work when he was in college. He began taking classes in criminal justice as an elective and found that it was “more interesting and less math” than business, which had been his major up until that point. He graduated with a degree in criminal justice and did a one-year internship at the Birmingham City Jail with the Birmingham Police Department before joining Jefferson County as a security guard. He was there less than a year before he got the chance to join Vestavia’s police force.

His college career and internship gave him the “bug” for police work, Nagle said. “It’s not like what you see on TV, but it’s what I wanted to do,” he said.

Early in his career, Nagle worked the night shift as a patrol officer and did night shift on and off for about 10 years. In that time, he experienced multiple hurricanes, the 1993 blizzard that he said was “nothing like we’d ever seen” and many other “interesting cases.”

When he first came to the city, Nagle admits the only thing he knew about was the Red Lobster, which still sits in the same spot on U.S. 31 today as it did when he first joined the force. Nagle, who was raised in Bessemer, remembered coming to the restaurant with his family growing up.

He served as patrol sergeant until 2010, when he became a detective. “That had been a goal all my career,” Nagle said.

There was a lot of freedom, and the ability to travel outside the city limits as needed was a big bonus to being a detective, Nagle said.

After a few years working as a detective, he was promoted to lieutenant and later served in administration, working with the media and being one of the more public faces of the department. He eventually went back to investigations before retiring.

“There’s not much I haven’t done,” Nagle said. “It’s been interesting.”

In addition to the size of the city changing, Nagle said the use of technology and especially social media has made a big impact on policing.

“I don’t know where we would be without it on some of these cases,” Nagle said. “Technology has really improved a lot.”

Despite the hardships of police work, Nagle said he never had a day where he wished he was doing something else. “I always thought I was lucky,” he said.

Now, in retirement, Nagle said he’ll spend time at his lake house with his family, but he will miss his fellow officers in the department.

“It’s unbelievable the camaraderie that goes with that kind of job,” Nagle said.

SGT. RENEE PEOPLES

Renee Peoples retired in April after making a mark on not one, but two police departments. She was the first female sergeant at both the Leeds and Vestavia Hills police departments.

“It was actually pretty cool,” Peoples said of the distinction.

When she came to Vestavia in 2011, there was only one other female officer, though several more have since been hired, she said. During her long stint at Leeds from 1997-2011, there were only three female officers the entire time she was there.

“I felt like it was quite an accomplishment,” Peoples said.

While she studied, worked, passed tests and moved up the ladder, she earned the respect of her bosses, Peoples said.

Peoples, like Nagle, worked in a variety of jobs, starting out on patrol but eventually holding jobs as a corporal, a detective, a desk sergeant and others.

For all of the hate that police officers can sometimes receive, Peoples said she’s had two people who she has sent to prison contact her and tell her that she helped turn their life around.

“That means more to me than anything else,” she said. “It’s worth everything.”

The Vestavia community has a small-town feel but is bigger than Leeds and has been a great experience, Peoples said.

The “Cop Stop” experience, where police officers were invited to homes in the city, helped show the community’s devotion to their police force, she said.

“It seems like the Vestavia community really loves their police officers, and it shows,” Peoples said.

While she is retired from police work, Peoples will continue painting — a hobby she’s had for a while — and will also continue helping out a home inspection business owned by a friend.

“It’s been fun to be back with somebody you know well,” Peoples said.

OFFICER CLEMENT LEOS

Every day for 7 1/2 years, students at Vestavia Hills Elementary Cahaba Heights have seen a familiar face outside their school building before and after classes.

Officer Clement Leos has spent the last 20 years with the Vestavia Hills Police Department, serving as a patrol officer for 12 years before transitioning to a school resource officer, where he has become a beloved part of the school community.

“I’ve learned a lot from watching and interacting with the kids,” Leos said. “Being an SRO is awesome.”

When he was around the same age as the children he protected at Vestavia Hills Elementary Cahaba Heights, there was no doubt in Leos’ mind what he wanted to do when he grew up.

“Ever since I was a little kid, I wanted to be a police officer,” he said.

Leos joined the military in 1971 and retired from it in 1991, still filled with the desire to be a police officer. He applied and was accepted into the Birmingham Police Department in 1994 and worked there for six years before moving to Vestavia.

By watching and interacting with the teachers each day, Leos said he learned there’s much more to being a teacher than people think. Teachers are not just teaching academics, but helping mold and shape their students for the future, he said.

Now, in retirement, Leos said he will take a break, but not for too long. “I can’t sit around and do nothing.”