For 30-plus years he served and protected Buckley. Now he’s hanging up his badge and gun

After more than 30 years of service to the city of Buckley, Police Chief James Arsanto retired June 30.

According to a Facebook post by Buckley Mayor Pat Johnson, Arsanto began serving Buckley and Wilkeson in 1988 as a reserve police officer. Soon thereafter, he was hired full time by the Buckley Police Department.

Arsanto was described as a warm-hearted officer who treated everyone with respect.

“He took community policing to the next level,” said Johnson. “We’re a small enough town that most of the police officers you know by their first names. Arsanto would stop and play basketball with the kids for a few minutes and watch them at the skate park.”

Johnson said that Arsanto treated his department like family. Even when he had arguments with his staff, he was always good at explaining why they had to do something in a particular way.

According to Mike Northam, Buckley assistant police chief, Arsanto would encourage his staff to visit the senior center and get to know the people in the community.

“He was just a kind-hearted, generous man,” Northam said.

The News Tribune made efforts to reach Arsanto but was unsuccessful.

Arsanto received a number of awards recognizing his service to the community.

Before he was appointed chief, he received awards for Police Officer of the Year and the Police Department Leadership Award in 1992 to 1994.

Arsanto was promoted to sergeant in 1997 and lieutenant in June 2002, then to acting chief in December of the same year.

In February 2003, Arsanto was promoted to Chief of Police, a position he held for 17 years and four months.

Arsanto also was the police representative for nearby Carbonado and Wilkeson.

Since Carbonado and Wilkeson are not large enough to have their own police department, they use Buckley’s police department since it is the closest available.

Johnson’s hope is to have a new police chief hired by September.

An interim chief will be taking over for the time being.

“Jimmy’s journey has been a remarkable one, and he will leave a tremendous legacy in our community,” said Johnson in her Facebook post. “On behalf of the City, we want to wish Chief Arsanto an amazing and relaxing retirement and sincerely thank him for his service to the City of Buckley and always putting our community and its safety first.”