Please join us in graciously
congratulating Detective Rick Pilz on a well-deserved retirement from an
impressive 33 year career as a police officer with the Methuen Police
Department.
Born in Las Vegas in 1954, Rick has
been a member of the Methuen community since 1956.
Rick joined the Methuen Police
family as an Auxiliary Officer in 1976 and held this position for 8 years until
he became an intermittent officer in 1984.
In 1985, Rick was appointed full
time and thus began his 33 year career as a brother police officer, role model
and valuable asset to the Methuen Police Department.
Over the course of Rick’s
fulfilling career, he was trained and designated as the department photographer;
he dedicated 22 years of his career as a detective, serving 2 of those years as
a drug investigator. Rick held three union positions including secretary,
treasurer and vice president. Rick also held the position of secretary for the
Massachusetts Police Association.
In 1987, Rick and his partner,
former police officer Terry Neel, were awarded the prestigious honor of Police
Officer of the Year for his dedication to duty in a violent domestic abuse
investigation.
With honor and pride, Rick served
as a member of the Methuen Police Honor Guard for 21 years. He reorganized the
Honor Guard unit in 1996 from 7 members to its current membership of 10
members.
Rick has been married to his wife
Sharon Pilz for 38 years and has 2 children, Kenny and Shaina. Proudly
following in his father’s footsteps, Kenny Pilz joined the Methuen Police
family in 2012 as a full time police officer. Shaina currently works for the
Methuen Public Schools as a Certified Occupational Therapist Assistant and is
currently working on attaining her bachelor’s degree.
During Rick’s time, he has
dutifully served under 5 Chiefs. Rick’s formal career and auxiliary time gives
him over 40 fulfilling years of experience with the Methuen Police Family.
Rick, while you will be missed by all of your brothers and sisters
here, your retirement is certainly deserved. Your knowledge, guidance and
vision of service is to be commended.
Your hard work and diligence have greatly benefited the citizens of
Methuen and the Methuen Police Department and we hope that the detectives you
have taken under your wing will strive to follow your stellar example.
Rick, we hope that you find the success and happiness in
retirement that you experienced during your time here. We wish you the best in
your future endeavors. Retirement will surely offer you many new opportunities,
which we know you will embrace wholeheartedly, just as you did at the Methuen
Police Department.
