‘I had a good run’: Vetter retires from NH State police, passes baton to sons
HAMPTON — On the last day of his 31-year career with the New Hampshire State Police, Capt. Christopher Vetter and his wife, Shelley, watched their second son graduate from the New Hampshire Police Academy.
It was Friday, Sept. 29, and before he took off his state trooper’s distinctive green uniform for the final time, 54-year-old Christopher Vetter handed his son Patrick his Police Academy graduation certificate.
“That was an amazing day and night,” said Vetter, who retired as N.H.’s highway safety director.
More amazing for the family is 22-year-old Trooper Patrick Vetter is stationed at Troop A, as is his 26-year-old elder brother, Cameron. Both are assigned to the same Epping barracks where their father served and commanded.
“Being a trooper and the commander at Troop A was the best time of my career,” Chris Vetter said. “I really felt I was able to have a positive impact.”
Rye Police Chief Kevin Walsh attested to Vetter’s impact, patrolling highways throughout Rockingham and Strafford counties and helping local police departments.
“Chris was always listening to the police scanner,” Walsh said. “When he heard something concerning, he’d think, ‘That doesn’t sound good,’ and head there. He didn’t wait to react to a call for assistance. He anticipated the need.”
Walsh benefitted from Vetter’s skills personally in the late ‘90s when Portsmouth experienced a rash of nighttime armed robberies. On patrol in his Rye cruiser, Walsh spotted the suspects in the gas station hold-up at the corner of Lang Road and Route 1. He took action.
“I never had to call for backup,” Walsh said. “I looked over my left shoulder, and Chris was standing there. That’s the kind of trooper he was, and he was a fantastic commander of Troop A.”
Previous story: Vetters have five generations in law enforcement
Small communities like Rye don’t have the resources large departments have, Walsh said, but Vetter provided the tools local departments lacked. He would deploy the troop’s police dog and motorcycle units, Walsh said, or send personnel.
“He thought strategically,” Walsh said. “He wouldn’t just send all the troopers to Hampton Beach; he knew to spread them out to the other communities that were affected.”
‘We are the endangered species’: Hampton fisherman David Goethel shares story in new book
Law in the family
Before he ever pinned on a badge, Vetter understood the region he spent his career protecting, for there’s a patrolman gene in his DNA. Vetter lived on the Seacoast, growing up in Portsmouth. He was the son, grandson, and great-grandson of men who made law enforcement their life’s work.
Chris Vetter’s father is Wayne Vetter, a former seven-term Rockingham County sheriff and 15-year veteran of the N.H. Fish and Game Department; his grandfather, Charles Vetter, spent 26 years with the Portsmouth Police Department and 18 with the sheriff's office. His great-grandfather, William Linchey, led Portsmouth’s Police Department from 1949 to 1954 as city marshal, and Wayne Vetter married Linchey's granddaughter.
After graduating from Portsmouth High School in 1986, he headed to UNH, earning his bachelor’s in wildlife biology in 1990, wanting to be a game warden. But a part-time dispatcher’s job with the Sheriff’s Office taught him he didn’t like simply taking calls and sending others to respond. He wanted to do it himself.
Vetter started as a part-timer at Portsmouth’s and Hampton’s police departments before being hired by N.H. Highway Enforcement in 1992, which merged with the State Police in 1996. That’s when Troop A Epping became his professional home, and the men and women there his teammates.
He raised his family in Hampton, rising to become the lieutenant commander of Troop A, before becoming a captain in 2017 and heading up Highway Safety in Concord.
As for memories, Vetter has “a million,” but not always from pleasant circumstances. There was Sept. 11, 2001, when Troop A shut down Interstate 95 completely for the first time in history as a precaution.
“Or the time Manchester Officer Mike Briggs was killed,” he said. “We went there and went door to door. I remember how good the people of Manchester were to us. And once, we went to Maine to search for a missing officer. The people were wonderful, bringing us coffee and food.”
More memories were made when Vetter became an integral part of the State Police SWAT team for 20 years.
“I remember my first SWAT call came when I was at my buddy’s wedding, and I had to leave the ceremony,” Vetter said. “And once it was my anniversary. Shelley and I were sitting at dinner when I got a call. I lived for that phone to ring. My wife will tell you that. She knew, and she tolerated a lot.”
Shelley Vetter is proud of her husband’s dedication, she said, and pleased at how it fulfilled him. As he rose in rank, she said, the anxiety a cop’s wife endures got a bit easier. In the current societal climate, however, watching her sons put on a badge and deal with possibly violent individuals “is a whole new kind of worry.” But she supports them as wholeheartedly as she does her husband.
“They never really showed any interest in anything other than police work,” Shelley Vetter said of her sons. “I’m very proud of them.”
Her husband never pressured their children to pursue law enforcement, but she believes watching his enthusiasm for his job had an impact on their sons’ life choices.
Patrick and Cameron Vetter agreed: Their dad never pushed. He was honest about the demands of his job, but they saw its rewards and the impact their father had on society.
“For me and my brother, becoming a police officer was never about the badge and the gun,” Patrick Vetter said. “It was about seeing how people respected our father and the work he did.”
As for both being assigned to Troop A, where their father laid down a big footprint, Patrick and Cameron see it as part of his legacy to them.
“We know we have huge shoes to fill,” Cameron Vetter said. “There’s no better place for us than Troop A.”
The two young troopers don’t intend to become their father’s clones or float by on his good name. They’ll pursue their own interests in law enforcement, and earn their own respect. Cameron, for example, is developing skills as a police negotiator and has become certified as a drug recognition expert.
“For my dad, it was DWIs; for me, it’s DRE (drug recognition evaluator),” Cameron Vetter said. “And for the SWAT team, he kicked in doors; I’m the negotiator; I’ll talk them out.”
'He took my world': Widow who lost husband in fatal crash speaks out after driver charged
Chris Vetter is not done just yet
Sept. 29 ended the first part of his career, but Chris Vetter’s far from done. He says he will spend more time with his wife and 17-year-old daughter Catherine, but Shelley Vetter knows her husband won’t spend his retirement fishing, hunting or golfing.
Vetter has two jobs lined up. One, teaching students at 603 Driving School, and after watching him father their children, Shelley Vetter believes it’s a perfect fit.
“He’s very good with kids that age,” she said. “And they listen to him.”
The second job requires him to wear a different color green uniform, and Hampton Police Chief Alex Reno couldn’t be more delighted.
“Chris is going to be a part-time patrolman for us,” Reno said “We’re very excited about having the benefit of his expertise here in Hampton. You couldn’t have a better person to come to work for you in law enforcement than Chris Vetter.”
Reno said Hampton PD’s strong connection with the N.H. State Police and Troop A is a credit to Vetter’s influence. When the town or region needed it, Vetter shared state police resources, be it officers, equipment, or grant money, when he was at Highway Safety.
“He’s trusted by our guys,” Reno said. “He spent a career building that trust.”
“I had a good run,” Chris Vetter said. “There isn’t much that I wanted to accomplish that I didn’t. What I’d say to anyone thinking of going into law enforcement is that it can be exciting, and sad, and terrifying, but when it’s all said and done, it’s incredibly rewarding.”
This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: NH State Police Capt. Chris Vetter retires, passes baton to sons
