A friend of mine in Grand Island, Nebraska called me this evening to tell me a former boss of mine had lost his fight with cancer. The local paper, The Grand Island Independent, carried this story.
Larry Trosper wasn’t used to losing a fight. He was an innovative police supervisor at a time when it wasn’t always popular to be so. I had the privilege of working for him early on in my career. Larry spent a lot of his time as a Captain with the Grand Island Police Department supervising the graveyard shift.
I have him to thank for learning basic policing fundamentals. He taught me to pay attention to the little stuff so that bigger problems didn’t develop.
Larry was an active man. He instilled a sense of sportsmanship to countless kids he worked with over the years as well as his own kids. It was common to drive by his home and find him out throwing a ball or spending time with his kids.
Larry was the kind of guy who always let you know where he stood. There was no ambiguity.
My condolences go out to his family. He was a good father, a great cop and gave more to the Grand Island community than most will ever know.