Capt. Amber Richards Share

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Cap­tain Amber Richards is com­plet­ing a robust career with the Mar­i­on Police Depart­ment after 20 years. 

Since her first day on May 19^th, 2003, Capt. Richards has grown to super­vise Patrol Offi­cers, lead Field Train­ing Offi­cers, and serve on the Crash Inves­ti­ga­tion Team as well as Hon­or Guard. Richards was active in lead­ing the Youth Acad­e­my each year, MPD’s hir­ing process, and helped plan numer­ous com­mu­ni­ty events from the Walk­way of Lights Parade and Fourth of July Cel­e­bra­tion to Nation­al Night Out and the Walk of Hope.

In recent years, Richards was fea­tured in an award-win­ning first respon­der recruit­ment video and short film by Tay­lor Uni­ver­si­ty stu­dents, and a Mar­i­on rap artist’s music video and film.

Richards is ready to ​‘hang the belt up’ and begin a new career as a full-time direc­tor of Need­ham Sto­ry Wamp­n­er Funer­al Home. Since March of 2017, she had been work­ing part-time at NSW, first as an intern, then since Novem­ber ​’18 as a licensed funer­al direc­tor. ​“Once I got licensed, it was a life-chang­er,” said Richards. ​“I can bring peace and clo­sure while relat­ing to a lot of peo­ple I have served in the past, now in a dif­fer­ent capacity.” 

This week, Richards began her full-time posi­tion with Need­ham Sto­ry Wamp­n­er. With retir­ing and work­ing one job instead of two, there will be more time for trav­el, she said. Her offi­cial last day with the City is May 19^th, 2023 on which date she will share a thank-you letter.

Richards’ favorite part of her career with MPD was work­ing with and get­ting to know every­one includ­ing all cit­i­zens, and she looks for­ward to con­tin­u­ing the rela­tion­ships in a dif­fer­ent light.

Chief Angela Haley said, ​“Amber is one of the best peo­ple I know. She nev­er defined her­self by the rank she held, and was always a per­son who got the job done. Amber gen­uine­ly cares about the peo­ple she works with and serves, and no job or task was ever beneath her. I have always val­ued her coun­sel, and was lucky to work along­side her.”