Fort Collins – Instead of busting down doors or rolling out fancy lab equipment, Russ Buck relied on a cup of coffee and a ready ear.
For that, the 65-year-old Buck is remembered by many as one of the best cops ever to patrol the back roads and small towns of northern Colorado.
“He’s just been this Andy Taylor type that you can always count on no matter what,” said Alicia Durand, principal at Wellington Junior High School.
Durand got to know and rely on Buck over the past seven years while he worked the town of Wellington, north of Fort Collins, as a deputy with the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office.
Durand said Buck would make a point to eat lunch with students, help at school dances and sporting events and just talk to kids about anything that came up.
Now that Buck is retiring, Durand worries that the town of about 2,000 people may not see his type of lawman again.
“He wasn’t just an accuser and gave out tickets and then walked away. He also talked to people,” Durand said. “I’m afraid it might be the end of an era.”
Buck is retiring this month after 40 years with the Fort Collins Police Department and Larimer County. His accomplishments were many, including introducing K-9 units into the city and county departments.
His K-9 companion for five years, Rocky, a German shepherd, was renowned for his detection skills.
But where Buck especially excelled was in dealing with people in small towns and other rural areas, said Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden.
“He’s a unique individual,” Alderden said. “There are cops best suited to work the bars in a town, and then there are others who work best building relationships in communities. And he’s always done that.”
Buck spent four years in the Red Feather district northwest of Fort Collins, working to develop traffic enforcement in the area.
He also enjoyed working with kids, even helping start Larico Youth Home – a refuge for juveniles in Fort Collins with troubled home lives.
Buck said his work with kids helped keep him optimistic when other cops turned grim and depressed.
“It’s so easy to get locked into the little one-half percent of kids who are in trouble,” said Buck, himself a grandfather.
When he went to Wellington, Buck decided to become a part of the community, drinking coffee at the town’s only cafe and pitching in when he could at the school.
“Just being around kids, being a friend to them, can turn them around,” Buck said.
Kids in Wellington visited him regularly in his office, went to him for advice and could even be seen hugging him in the junior high hallway.
“And you never see junior high kids doing that to any adult,” Durand said.
Buck said his work in the community was just an example of good police work.
“Cops are doers. They don’t sit around and talk about something, they try and make things better,” Buck said.
“I wanted to make a difference.”
Staff writer Monte Whaley can be reached at 303-726-8674 or mwhaley@denverpost.com.
