For about a decade, Bob Fey met with his barbershop quartet, City Limits, every week for several years. But it wasn’t until they reached senior citizen status that Fey, University Police Department’s assistant police chief, and his group took their first gold in a regional competition in 2003 and were able to compete internationally.
Two members have since moved to Florida, breaking up the group, but not their friendship.
The gang plans to get back together this summer following Fey’s retirement from his 24-year career with UPD.
|
| Robert Fey is a member of the quartet City Limits. Fey plans to perform more after his retirement. PHOTO PROVIDED BY ROBERT FEY |
| BOB FEY’S CAREER |
| English teacher in Lincoln, Neb. |
| Manager for an ambulance company |
| Officer for the University of Nebraska police |
| Polygraph interpreter for a drug task force in Nebraska |
| State Revenue Agent for Nebraska |
| Iowa State Police department |
| Ball State University Police Department |
Fey came to Muncie with his family in 1990.
“It’s been home ever since,” he said.
He began his time at Ball State as a captain and then moved through the ranks to assistant police chief, but he hasn’t always carried a badge.
Fey began his work career as an English teacher outside his 280 person hometown of Adams, Neb.
His taught speech, drama, debate and theater. He called the role of educator rewarding because he watched some students make it big in show business. One of them ended up having a part in the film “Full Metal Jacket,” though the character is only in the background.
“He was one of my students and you go and watch a movie and there he is, in such an incredible movie,” Fey said.
After years of teaching, Fey left teaching to work at an ambulance company where he met his wife. This October will mark their 35-year anniversary.
Shelley Fey, his wife, described her husband as a fair man with integrity and compassion.
Fey entered law enforcement at the University of Nebraska after working at the ambulance company. For a particular assignment, one he will never forget, his police chief told him he needed to be secretive.
|
| Robert Fey, assistant police chief for the University Police Department, poses for a photo. Fey plans to retire in the summer. DN PHOTO BREANNA DAUGHERTY |
He wouldn’t tell Fey where he was going and said he couldn’t tell his wife he was leaving. An hour later, Fey found himself on a jet headed to Arizona to pick up a gold donation from a University of Nebraska alumnus.
“There was approximately $2 million in gold,” Fey said. “So we brought it back, all very secretive.”
Fey spent 10 years at the university before switching between two other jobs in law enforcement in Nebraska.
Eventually he came to Ball State, a move he said was reaching back to his country roots. At the time, the department used horses.
“I was born and raised on a horse,” he said. “I got to get out of the office with the other officers and feel OK in the saddle. I enjoyed that.”
During one of his first summers on the force at the university, the party life had taken over one Muncie street. Fey said hundreds of people were partying in two neighboring houses. The horse patrols went in for crowd control.
“One of our officers rode his horse right up on the porch,” Fey said. “I’ll never forget that picture of the horse walking up the porch.”
Riot control on horseback may be a fond moment for Fey, but his proudest moment is when the Ball State department was accredited.
“That first year [of accreditation] was just grand because we were the only agency in the state of Indiana to be accredited,” he said. “That was a major undertaking that took three years. “
Gene Burton, UPD police chief, said Fey was instrumental in the process.
“Being able to share that with him and have that over with was great,” Burton said. “He brought everything to the table for accreditation.”
Burton said Fey’s departure will leave hard shoes to fill. He called Fey professional and eager to work.
Through all the careers and years Fey still remembers his first job correcting papers.
“Much to the dismay of some of the officers here, we see the grammar, spelling, and punctuations,” Fey said. “[They are] likely to get red pen mark-ups.”
Following his retirement he hopes to continue working as a consultant, working with the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement. He got the job helping institutions across the country and in Canada get accreditation after UPD received its.
He will leave the department April 30, but that doesn’t mean rest for Fey.
Right away, he will travel and go on a wild boar hunt — a Christmas gift from his son.
Read More
Delta baseball defeats Yorktown in extra innings to become Delaware County champions
By Zach Carter / YesterdayThe Eagles defeated the Tigers 5-2 in extra innings to win the Delaware County baseball tournament. It's the first time Delta has won the event since 2017.
'I'm grateful and proud:' No. 6 Ball State falls to No. 1 Miami in MAC Championship title game
By Zach Carter / YesterdayThe No. 6 Cardinals fell to the No. 1 Redhawks 8-0 in the MAC title game. It's the farthest the Cardinals have advanced in the tournament since 2015.
AP: Police arrest dozens as they break up pro-Palestinian protests at several US universities
By The Associated Press / YesterdayPolice made dozens of arrests as pro-Palestinian protest encampments were dismantled Friday at the University of Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, hours after police tear-gassed demonstrators and took down a similar camp at the University of Arizona.
