As a line of police vehicles and personal cars driven by fellow volunteers passed by LeRoy Townsend’s house and thanked him for his service, Townsend said he was moved by the response. 

After 14 years as a volunteer with the Sedona Police Department, Townsend recently decided to step down from his duties and was greeted with a social distancing send-off on April 15. 

“I was very impressed with the entire event,” he said. “It was much more than I expected. The usual is a small gathering of volunteers and a few officers with a short speech followed by cake and beverages. This set a new standard for this event. It was obviously better than the usual, although the Chief [Charles Husted] indicated that there might still be cake at a later date.” 

In 2006, Townsend’s neighbor, Carol Smith, worked for the police department and told Townsend that they had a volunteer program, encouraging him to contact the department for an interview. 

“My wife Sammy and I both interviewed and were subsequently accepted into the program,” Townsend said. “The chief had heard about a new program that was called the Field Support Unit — a subset of the volunteer program — that would provide support for officers in the field, and the chief asked for volunteers from the volunteer program.” 

There were 10 volunteers who agreed to go through the extra training, which included ridealongs with officers to transport prisoners to Yavapai and Coconino county jails, as well as to Phoenix in rare cases. This was required to be part of the FSU. This also required the FSU volunteer to be available for duty 24/7 for one week each month. 

Townsend was the last active member of that original FSU. 

Law enforcement is far from what Townsend did as a career. He was a professor of medicinal and organic chemistry at the University of Michigan. He also served at the university as program director of the inter-de­partmental graduate program in medicinal chemistry, involving seven different disciplines. 

So now, Townsend gets to enjoy his second official retirement. 

In terms of what he will miss most in terms of being a SPD volunteer, he said, “Being a member of a group of very professional people that take great pride in their job. They are a very close-knit group that helps each other.” 

That dedication is appreciated by Sedona’s full-time officers in the department. 

“I have known the Towsends a long time and I will miss seeing them around the P.D.,” Lt. Stephanie Foley said. “LeRoy would help in so many areas: Prisoner transports, traffic control, interviews, special events and details to name a few. Thank you, LeRoy, for your service. Enjoy your full retirement. I’ll be seeing you around town.”