Deputy Gary Klee has served in law enforcement for Daviess County since 1999. He retired from Apollo High School as their resource officer on April 30, but said he’s hoping to continue serving as a special law enforcement officer for Daviess County Public Schools.
Klee said since he was a young child, he knew he wanted to be a police officer.
Before working at Apollo, Klee won numerous awards during his tenure at the Sheriff’s Office, including multiple Governor’s awards for both Impaired Driving Enforcement and Occupant Protection Enforcement.
He’s also been involved in multiple community programs and has made last connections along the way — especially with his co-workers.
“That’s one thing that slowed me down from leaving is because of the camaraderie between everybody at the department,” he said. “I’m going to miss all my coworkers. They’re all a great group of people and they’re a family.”
Klee has been the school resource officer at Apollo High School since 2016, and he said it just felt like a good time to move on to something new. Now, he’s hoping to be one of the five full-time certified law enforcement officers that DCPS is looking to hire under the Kids First Safety First Initiative.
“I just felt like it was the right time with everything that was going on and maybe it was just the right time to go from this stage and try another part of my life and go a different way,” Klee said. “Owensboro is my home. I’m born and raised and this is where I’m going to stay. I love the job and I’m going to miss it.”
