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“It is a pleasure to celebrate the honorable retirement of Officer Gardner after a 20-plus year career,” said Snowflake-Taylor Police Chief Larry Scarber as he announced the retirement of Officer Brandon Gardner at the Town Council meeting on June 4.
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Gardner started his career in law enforcement as a detention officer with the Navajo County Jail in Holbrook. In May of 1999, Gardner graduated from the Northern Arizona Regional Training Academy in Prescott and began serving as a deputy with the Navajo County Sheriff’s Office.
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In 2006, he transferred to the Snowflake-Taylor Police Department. “We have been fortunate to have him ever since,” continued Scarber. “Brandon was eligible for retirement just over a year ago but we weren’t quite ready to lose him. Had we lost him during that year we would have been really hurt.”
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Since that time the police department has been able to have an officer trained as Gardner’s replacement.
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Scarber went on to share some of the letters of commendation that Gardner received from citizens during his time on the force.
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In one case, Gardner found a home had been broken into while the owners were out of town. “Brandon took steps to secure the home and found that the water had been turned on to flood the place,” shared Scarber. “Brandon had the water turned off and protected the house until the owners were able to return.”
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Scarber also noted that Gardner will be serving as a volunteer reserve officer, when he is not working on his new job with the United Parcel Service.
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Several of the council members, including Mayor Lynn Johnson, expressed their appreciation of Gardner’s service to the town.
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