By JAMES BELL
Hays Post
Seven years ago recently retired Ellis Chief of Police Taft Yates found himself in a position he never aspired to as the head of the town's police department but continued a lifetime of serving others.
As a child, Yates moved with frequently as many military families do but found his calling early.
"I was born into the Army," Yates said.
His father was a Korean War veteran and was serving on a base in Germany when as a small child on a base he saw people jumping from planes.
"I told my mom that's what I wanted to do," he said.
Fifteen years later he was doing exactly that.
He joined the army and entered into the 2nd Ranger Battalion, based near Seattle.
"It was phenomenal," he said. But knew he had a lot to live up to as a Ranger that has a history that dates to the earliest days of the U.S.
But he loved it.
"I got paid to do what I wanted to do," he said. "I got paid to jump out of airplanes."
During his military career he was a part of the team that rescued students in Grenada in Oct. 0f 1983.
"For many of us that was our first time in actual combat," he said.
He would be called into combat again in 1989 as a part of the mission to find Noriega in Panama.
In his last duty assignment, he served at the Ranger School in Fort Benning, retiring from the Army in 1995.
He had attended high school in Salina, and after retiring from the Army, he decided to make western Kansas home.
He went to Lincoln, working for the Department of Corrections, in his first law enforcement position as a corrections officer.
"It was a good assignment," he said.
In 2002 he started at Hays Police Department, coming up with several officers that are still there today.
"We had a lot of good officers, we still do," Yates said.
Three years later he would once again be called on to serve oversees, helping train U.S. collation forces in Kuwait before they crossed in Iraq in 2005 as a contractor for the Department of Defense and Department of State.
"We were doing what we do best," Yates said. "We were training these guys to survive."
"Going to war isn't all about shooting and killing people, it's about humanity and survival."
A couple of years later, he was training forces in Africa going into places like Darfur and Somalia.
It was during that time his name was floated to the Ellis Chief of Police for a part-time position.
"I would come home every month or so and visit with my buddies at HPD and was told my name was given," Yates said.
And so when not working oversees he was working as an officer in Ellis.
In 2012 after coming back from a year tour in the Middle East and Afghanistan, he was informed the current chief was leaving and was asked to put his name in the hat.
"There was hesitation, but no reluctance," Yates said. "When doing this job it has to be in your guts and in your heart. If you have a family you have to make sure your family realizes they will be a part of this job."
"This job, no matter what, is not a job that you can turn off and go home at night."
So after consulting his family Yates applied and was offered the job of chief.
"I enjoy and did enjoy the community, the citizens."
During his tenure in law enforcement, he said the biggest change he has seen is in the way police respond to incidents and the tools that are available on the job.
When he started they only had a sidearm and OC, more commonly known as pepper spray.
"That was it," Yates said. "Then it started evolving and we wound up with collapsible batons, so it was more training in the use, but also in executing the reasonable and responsible response to whatever was coming at you."
Later tasers would add even more complexity to training and response options.
"There is a lot of responsibility that comes with that," Yates said.
Those tools give the officers more ability to execute the "appropriate response," he said.
In recent years the ubiquitousness of social media has increased the complexity of law enforcement even further.
"Things like that can be of great assistance when properly used," but he said they can also be a "great hindrance," when used allowed to negatively affect the outcome of a situation.
Any job will have ups and downs, and law enforcement often sees the worst, but despite the countless emergencies, he reflects on his time as chief as generally positive.
"There is an amount of bad out there, but there is a lot of good," Yates said.
Even after retirement, he does not plan to stop serving others and will continue his work with the ongoing pool and the campground improvement projects in Ellis, but is also looking forward to spending time with family and staying active in the Ranger community.
