Meet your Neighbor- Bobby Breed

This posting came from the Leeds News:

Bobby Breed took office Monday, Feb. 9. as the new police chief of Moody. He said that he became interested in having a career as a police officer when he was just 16 years old, but he said that after taking courses in law enforcement as a college student at Jeff State, he made the decision to go to the police academy.

In those classes, Breed said that police work was described as something new and exciting from day to day and he realized that a job as a police officer would present him with many opportunities to help people, which is what he truly wanted to do. “I always wanted to make a difference, even if it was just with one person,” he said.

As he began his career as a police officer, he continued to go to school, earning his bachelor’s degree in English and criminal justice from UAB. After serving for 21 years as a police officer for Birmingham, Breed decided to retire, and he took on a job in banking and management at AmSouth bank. He later decided to go back to school to become more knowledgeable about his job in banking, and he received his master’s degree from Baker College in business.

After nine years, Breed decided to return to his familiar roots of being a police officer and for seven years he worked at Samford University, where he served as the police chief before accepting the position in Moody.

Breed said that he has continued in this field because he and his fellow police officers have been able to make a difference. “We were able to help those less fortunate and those really in need of help and that’s what I liked about that,” he said. Breed added that a memorable experience for him happened when he was leaving Samford University and a student let him know that something he did had made a difference in her life. “That really took me full circle. That was what my goal was all of those years as a police officer.”

Breed and his wife Rosaland have been living in Moody for seven years, and he said that he has no plans of ever living anywhere else. “It reminds me of when I was growing up as a young teenager in the western part of Birmingham. I have not been in a restaurant yet where people did not know each other,” he said, adding that he likes that atmosphere. “It’s a good place to live, it’s a good place to work and it’s a good place to raise your children,” he said.

Breed and his wife have been together since 1967 and they have one daughter, Amy. He added that his son-in-law, Jason, is also a police officer. He has three grandchildren, which he said that he adores. “They are, without a doubt, the love of our lives and we spend as much time as we can with them.”

Some of Breed’s hobbies include going to the mountains, trout fishing and cross stitching with his wife. He also enjoys playing the drums, which he has been doing for most of his life, and he plays on Sundays at Church of the Highlands, where he has attended church for three years.

As police chief of Moody, Breed said, “One of my goals is to open up lines of communication in this department and be sure that every officer and supervisor knows that their opinions, their suggestions and their thoughts matter and that they are going to be heard...We’ve all got to work together.”