Police lieutenant brings 28 years of experience to High Springs

 L-R: High Springs Police Chief James Troiano administers an oath to William Benck at a recent High Springs commission meeting.  Benck, a retired Gainseville Police Department office,r was hired to fill a vacant lieutenant’s position at the High Springs Police Department.

After 28 years on the job, William Benck admits that didn’t always want to be a police officer.  But he reached a point in his life where, he said, “I was looking for a career, not just a job.”

Dec. 7 marked his first day as the High Springs Police Department’s newest member, and he was officially sworn in at City Hall two days later. Hired to fill the lieutenant position left vacant after Gordon Fulwood was fired, Benck is now second in command under High Springs Police Department Chief Jim Troiano.

Benck said when he was growing up he hadn’t planned on becoming a police officer, but that he always had a lot of respect for police officers and an interest in law enforcement.  It was this interest that led him to apply to be a reserve officer with the Gainesville Police Department (GPD).

“After two weeks I knew this is what I really wanted to do.”

Twenty-eight years later, 18 of which he spent on the SWAT team, he retired as a sergeant from GPD.

After one week, 53-year-old Benck was back at work, this time in High Springs.

“It felt weird being a civilian,” he said, “For those of us who’ve been in this career as long as I have, it becomes a part of who you are.”

Chief Troiano said that of several other candidates who applied for the position, Benck was the most qualified and the only one to make it through the whole hiring process.

Benck says he feels blessed to be able to continue his career in High Springs.

“There wasn’t a day in these 28 years where I didn’t want to get up and come to work. 

“If you are lucky enough to find a job you love,” he said, “you won’t ever have to go to work.”