Portsmouth Police clerk, and her boy Henry, are both retiring

Debbi Pappas, who's worked for the town for nearly 30 years, is headed to a warmer climate

By Jim McGaw
Posted 5/26/17

PORTSMOUTH — Although only one employee of the Portsmouth Police Department is "officially" retiring this week, don’t tell that to Henry, outgoing police clerk Debbi Pappas’ …

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Portsmouth Police clerk, and her boy Henry, are both retiring

Debbi Pappas, who's worked for the town for nearly 30 years, is headed to a warmer climate

Posted

PORTSMOUTH — Although only one employee of the Portsmouth Police Department is "officially" retiring this week, don’t tell that to Henry, outgoing police clerk Debbi Pappas’ faithful 14-year-old Chihuahua. He’s been a constant presence at the police station for many years as well.

“He thinks he’s in charge; he’s been here a lot longer than most of the guys,” said Ms. Pappas, who worked her last day at the police station Friday after nearly 20 years as clerk. 

Henry starting “working” at the station in 2003, six years after Ms. Pappas started here in June 1997. 

“He comes in usually every Friday,” she said. “It used to be all day every day, and then it went Fridays all day, then half days on Fridays. But he also works Sunday nights for a couple of hours.”

Henry has greeted everyone who comes into the station and stands guard in his uniform — during our visit he was wearing an “NYPD” coat —  although he generally warms up quicker to women.

“He also is very good at sniffing out lunches. He’s not really a beggar, though,” added Ms. Pappas.

But soon the west coast of Florida will be Henry’s permanent home, as Ms. Pappas — a frequent visitor to the Sunshine State — plans to relocate there by this fall after spending one last summer in Portsmouth, her home for 60 years.

“I like working here; it was fun,” she said. “But I’m tired. I’ve had a lot of medical issues and it’s time. Forty-two hours a week is a lot and I’m looking forward to no more alarm clock.”

Her main reason for moving south?

“I don’t want to do another winter here,” Ms. Pappas said. “I can’t stand the cold weather and I’ve lived in Portsmouth all my life. I want to try something different. I want to spend more time with my baby, Henry, and go to the beach.”

Before she started working at the police station, she spent nine years as a tax clerk in the Tax Assessor’s Office at Town Hall. She much preferred her time with the police department, however.

“That was all right, but it was boring,” she said of the tax office. “Here, there’s always something different going on.”

Working for a small-town police department, it was not uncommon to run into familiar faces who found themselves on the wrong side of the law, she said.

“We have overnight guests every day and you come in and sometimes it’s somebody you know,” she said. “One time I came in and one of the detectives said to me, ‘Deb, one of the prisoners wants to see you.’ I was like, ‘Who is this?’ I went in and the prisoner was going to the ACI and she had some things she wanted me to take to her parent.”

Ms. Pappas said the variety of personalities at the department is what she’ll miss most.

“That’s what makes it interesting,” she said. “You don’t see the same people all the time. Sometimes someone has taken a day off and you’ll have somebody from a different shift working. So, it’s not the same four, five or six people every day. When I was at the Tax Assessor’s Office, you dealt with the same people. I need more variety.”

Since she handled requests for police records from her window in the front lobby, Ms. Pappas was in many ways the face of the department. Did she ever have any problems with angry or frustrated visitors?

“I don’t think I’ve really had any issues with people at the window. I’ve had some disgruntled people on the phone. You take it to some extent, but you don’t put up with anybody’s crap, either,” she said.

As for the men at the station who far outnumber the female employees, “I don’t take any crap from them, either, but they’re pretty good.”

Improving health

Besides relaxing and having fun in sunny Florida, Ms. Pappas said both she and Henry plan to spend more time focusing on their health. Both have had recent medical issues: Ms. Pappas has had both hips replaced, while Henry is a cancer survivor. (He even wears a cancer survivor ribbon and badge.)

“Another thing we’re going to do is get in better shape,” she said. “Here, the one thing I won’t miss is the amount of food that’s always in this building. It’s always, ‘What’s for lunch? Where we going for lunch? What are we doing for lunch? Oh, there’s doughnuts out front.’

“When I had both of my hips done — one was just last October — and I was out for two months, I think I lost 10 pounds. Even on the weekends, I know I don’t eat as bad as I do here.”

Portsmouth Police Department

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