By Megan Kelley
Staff Writer
LAKE ORION — The Lake Orion Village Council honored police Chief Harold Rossman during the council meeting last week for his 36 years of service in law enforcement.
Rossman officially retired from the Lake Orion Police Department on May 1.
Village council President Jerry Narsh praised Rossman’s commitment to the Lake Orion community
“Two of the hardest days in a cop’s career are the first and the last. I haven’t found my last yet so he’s pioneering for me, but I’ll tell you, for 19 years he was my number two. The best number two a chief could ever have, best 19 years of my career. Then when I left and moved on, he moved up to Chief and he took the head role and put his signature, his flavor if you will, on that department, led the men and women here and raised the bar. A phenomenal job,” said Narsh, who was chief of the LOPD from 2001-2019.
Rossman served many years in the LOPD as a lieutenant before becoming chief when Narsh left the position.
Though Rossman’s career spanned 36 years, he has spent his professional life in Lake Orion.
“I thank the council, prior councils, the residents of the Village of Lake Orion for a wonderful time that I had here and I will cherish every moment that I served Lake Orion and this is a wonderful town,” Rossman said. “This is a town I grew up in and it’s grown, it’s changed since I was a little tyke, but I just want to say: you have a beautiful town and I was proud to serve and be a public servant for 36 years.”
Council members also took a moment during their closing comments at the end of the meeting to thank Rossman for his service and congratulate him on his retirement.
“With my friend and brother Harold (Rossman), congratulations. What a great guy. He is the heart and soul and spirit of ethics and law enforcement in our community, so we are going to miss him,” Narsh said.
On Thursday night, 313 Pizza Bar hosted a retirement party for Rossman where the community was invited to come and give him well wishes in his retirement.
The Lake Orion Village Council voted unanimously to appoint then acting police Chief Harold Rossman as the permanent chief of police during its meeting on Feb. 24, 2020.
During his career, Rossman has served as a police officer for Lake Orion (1992-2001), for the village of Almont (1993-1997) and in Clarkston (1993-1995), as well as a deputy with the Wayne County Sheriff’s Department (1995).
Rossman has received the Policeman’s Public Servant Citation from the National VFW (2014-15), two Lifesaver awards, the Orion Area Chamber of Commerce Employee of the Year award (1998) and numerous department citations.