Monticello Live

A new year signals more than just the passing of time. It also brings change and newness. In January, Monticello saw the appointment of a new police chief, Robert Rosegrant. This is his story.

Chief Rosegrant has seen many changes in his own life and recounted them for MonticelloLive. He was born and raised just outside El Dorado and Junction City, where he graduated high school in 1965. He wanted to join the United States Marines but wasn’t quite eighteen, legal age to become a Marine, so he passed his time by going to school at Louisiana Tech. When he came home for Christmas break as a legal adult he headed straight for the recruiter’s office and then home to tell his mom. She, like most mothers, was none too excited about the adventure he was about to begin.

Young Robert went to war in Vietnam with the 7th Marines in July of 1966. Serving there a little less than a year, he was wounded and medivac-ed back to Millington, TN where he recuperated for four months. From there he became an “in camp instructor” at Camp Pendleton, CA until 1969. After his years of service with the Marines he returned to Arkansas, not to move out of state again.

On April 27, 1973 Robert Rosegrant married Penny. She currently serves as the Circuit Court Case Coordinator for Judge Bynum Gibson. Together they happily raised two children, Tracy and Michael and now enjoy three grandsons and one granddaughter, all of whom call Monticello home.

Robert began his lifelong career in law enforcement with the Arkansas State Police on June 1, 1973, his first assignment being in Camden. From Camden he went to McCroy and then in May of 1975 came to Monticello. He’s been here ever since. He retired from the State Police force in June of 2005 after spending the better part of his adult life as a State Trooper. For his last ten years with the state, he was the Assistant Troop Commander for Troop F, based in Warren.

Mr. Rosegrant didn’t grow up watching cop shows on television to pique his interest in becoming a policeman. Instead, his older brother David was the reason. David was the first in the Rosegrant family to choose a career in law enforcement as a State Trooper, and Robert followed in his footsteps. Since then, their younger brother and one of Robert’s nephews have also joined the ranks of law enforcement and made a career out of it.

Now the new Chief of Police for our city, Robert is dedicated to tackling problems and facing issues here in Monticello daily. Our Police Department employs one chief, eighteen police officers, three criminal investigators, four radio operators and one secretary. The department also houses the office of one State Police criminal investigator.

Chief Rosegrant says that the biggest challenge facing the Police Department is the city’s growing drug problem, but he knows that it’s a state-wide problem that is being constantly combatted behind the scenes. Because drug users are always coming up with new ways to manufacture and transport drugs, new tactics must continually be created by our law enforcement entities.

Even though the job is tough, Chief Rosegrant says that it is rewarding. Asked what makes it rewarding he said, “It’s just the satisfaction of knowing that maybe something you did changed a person’s attitude and lifestyle.”
You’ll undoubetedly see Chief Robert Rosegrant around town. He and Penny have purposefully chosen to make Monticello their lifetime home and plan to stay because of the people. They like that it is “the friendliest town” and the family atmosphere that is sensed here.

Because his job literally promotes safety and peace in our community, we’ve chosen to focus on his one Monticello life, Robert Rosegrant.

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 14th, 2007 at 5:41 am and is filed under Feature: OML. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.