GRATIS — Effective June 1, the Village of Gratis welcomed new Police Chief George Schlub, a self-proclaimed “Norman Rockwell cop.”

“I’m just a Norman Rockwell cop. I like to wave, shake people’s hands and talk about things and try to make things better — or fix things that are broken,” Schlub said in introducing himself last week.

Schlub has been a police officer since 1993 and is a detective. He has worked for several agencies and is currently the detective sergeant in Ripley as well. “I do major cases for them,” Schlub said. “I pretty much stay off the road down in Ripley.”

According to Schlub, he does have a police motorcycle in Ripley, which he rides for special occasions.

Schlub’s career is wide ranging, as are his jobs. “I spent 10 years in Southeast Asia, doing contract security. I play jazz and I make trumpets — I’m a musical instrument maker,” he said. “So I work for the government. I work for private industry, making musical instruments, mostly brass, but and I’m also private security commander at Butler Tech.”

According to Schlub, he does advanced law enforcement training at Butler Tech, and as a private security commander does firearms for armed guards every other weekend.

Schlub said Butler Tech is where he heard Gratis was seeking a police chief.

“I’ve driven through this town quite a bit. Back and forth to Indiana, and it always struck me as a just a nice town. Some people have described it like a modern-day Mayberry. They don’t have a lot of crime here, especially serious crime, which is good. I think it’s because my interaction so far with the villagers has been really positive.

“Everybody just kind of looks out for each other. I get phone calls about ‘hey, can you drive down the street?’ ‘Can you drive down that street, just to show a presence?’” he said. “And I’m a Norman Rockwell cop. Hence, I’m not wearing armor around the outside of my shirt. And I’m not all swatted up. I believe in looking professional, being professional, and I’m a customer service-oriented police officer. I’ve been that way since the early 90s. And it’s worked out really well.

“Most people want to be heard,” he continued. “You want to be able to have a discussion with a police officer or somebody that’s willing to have a discussion whether you agree or not. If you have a discussion and you can lay out your side of the argument in a manner that it’s easy to listen to and understand, then people tend to get along better.”

Schlub, who is semi-retired, works part time at Butler Tech. He said when he gets off work there, his plan is to come to Gratis “and ride around for four or five hours a day. So people get used to seeing a policeman. I like to roll the windows down and I don’t wear my sunglasses if I’m talking to people, so hopefully they’ll be encouraged to say, ‘hey,’” he said.

One goal, if the village can pass a police protection levy, is to have another full-time officer in Gratis 24/7, according to Schlub. “The village may not need it, but they deserve it. They deserve to be able to call their police officer, their police department, and talk to an officer.”

“It’s a great honor to serve here and I hope that this is the beginning of a long career here in Gratis,” Schlub said.

Reach Eddie Mowen Jr. at 937-683-4061 and follow on Twitter @emowenjr.