Hamilton Police Department’s, Bob Snyder
Bob Snyder is a school resource officer for the Hamilton City Schools and has spent many of his years with the Hamilton Police Department investigating traffic crashes and complaints.
He started as a police officer with the HPD on Nov. 2, 2000, and before he was on the local streets — he was a Bearcat.
“I got an Associates Degree in Physical Therapy from The University of Cincinnati and worked for a private practice here in Hamilton,” Snyder said. “I got started with the HPD mainly because my mom worked as a dispatcher. I also kind of always wanted to be a police officer, and at the time I was hired I had just turned 30, so time was running out for me to get hired.”
During the school year, Officer Snyder may be found mainly at Brookwood, Linden and Ridgeway elementary schools.
“My job is to provide a safe learning environment for the students and staff. My main goal while there is to develop a good relationship with the students and students’ families — to develop trust between the community and HPD,” he said. “I split my time up between the three schools and try to mix up the times I am there. During the summer I go back to the street and supplement patrol.”
When he isn’t on the job, Snyder says now that his children are grown adults, his current hobby is cooking.
“I love to cook for my family and friends when I can,” he said. “I read when I can … mainly crime novels. My wife and I are starting to travel a little more now that our children are out of college, and I will be retiring in a little over 5 years, so hopefully we will be able to travel more.
Serving as a police officer during the COVID-19 pandemic has been strange, Snyder said. The schools being closed put him back to patrolling Hamilton streets … even though due to the quarantine they were more quiet.
“We went to calling people for basic reports, which was a first in my 20-plus years,” Snyder said. “The hardest part was telling people to not be out. It was a confusing time and people were very frustrated,” he said.
As time went on it became a little easier working with the community.
“I think that people started getting used to the rules that were in place, and for the most part, understood why they were in place. There was a general fear of contracting the virus, especially dealing with the public as much as we do. We had a fair number of officers who contracted COVID, and a large number who were exposed. Now with the vaccines that are out, that fear has diminished some, but there is still caution needed,” Snyder said.
He wants people to know that the Hamilton Police Department is doing its absolute best to serve the public.
“There is a general distrust of policing in general, and I would like people to know that just because you feel that you have had a bad interaction with a police officer for whatever reason — do not judge all by that,” Snyder said. “There are millions of police/public interactions that have no real consequence. In today’s instant society where we can see everything in a flash we only see the bad things that happen and not the thousands of good things that happen.”