Brownwood Police Chief Virgil Cowin told KPSM News yesterday that he is retiring on March 24, almost 2 months before his elected term ends. At the same time, the department’s number 2 man, Asst Chief Garry Page, will retire that same day.

Virgil Cowin was first elected in 1996, and is the city’s last elected police chief after the Brownwood voters changed that making the police chief’s position to an appointed position in a 2008 referendum. Virgil Cowin, who is now 73, only recently made it back to work after complications from back surgery in November, and says he’s feeling well now and his health had nothing to do with the decision to retire early.

Cowin says his primary reason for leaving early is so that the new appointed chief will have some time to get familiar with the department and to get situated. City Manager Bobby Rountree was meeting with the Texas Police Chiefs Association to discuss the applicants for the police chief’s job and the vacancy created by Asst Chief Garry Page’s retirement as well.

Virgil Cowin began his law enforcement career in 1960 with the Brownwood Police Department, working first as a patrolman and later as a detective. 6 years later, he became Brown County’s Chief Deputy. A year later, he became a Detective for the Santa Fe Railroad…and stayed there for 28 years. He was elected Brownwood police chief in 1996, and continued to be elected through 2006. His current term expires May 1st.