Manassas police chief retiring May 1

MANASSAS, Va. -- Manassas police Chief John J. Skinner announced Monday that he will retire May 1.

Skinner, who has been chief of the Manassas Police Department for 12 years, said he might try some golf when he and his wife, Shirley, winter in Phoenix but he’s not sure about that.

“I’m going to see in retirement if I have the patience. I know I don’t have the talent,” said the 57-year-old Skinner said of his golfing abilities.

In the summers, he and his wife will spend time at their cottage in New York in the Thousand Islands region of the St. Lawrence River. There, he says, he’ll fish.

“I’ll spend a little bit of time catch-and-release fishing. I’ve caught so many fish over my lifetime that I enjoy just catching and releasing,” he said.

The accomplishments Skinner is most proud of include launching city-wide community policing, achieving national accreditation status for the department, the construction of a new animal shelter and pet adoption center, expanding career development for Manassas police officers and expanding the department’s K-9 unit.

Skinner also implemented crime analysis and crime mapping technology in the department, established a civil disturbance unit, implemented new immigration enforcement initiatives with immigration and customs enforcement and established the John D. Conner Memorial Scholarship Foundation. Conner was an officer killed in the line of duty in the 1980s.

Skinner spent 37 1/2 years in law enforcement in the region and started his career as a U.S. Secret Service uniformed officer before signing on with the City of Fairfax Police Department as a patrol officer.

He retired as chief of the Fairfax city department in 1998.

Manassas City Manager Lawrence D. Hughes said Skinner had been good for the city police department.

“I’ve never worked with a better police chief,” Hughes said. "He has elevated this department every day since he began. He has created an extraordinary professional effort over there. He has created just great depth all the way down to the street level.”

Skinner said it had been his “greatest honor” to serve in “two absolutely second to none and outstanding police departments in the region.”

“It’s my great, great fortune and privilege to finish my career having served as chief of police in Manassas,” he said.

Aside form fishing and maybe golfing, Skinner plans to volunteer and put his experience to use in retirement.

“I hope to do some law enforcement training ... for the feds, for the International Association of Chiefs of Police or the National Sheriff’s Association,” he said. “I have interviewed with Phoenix P.D. I intend to volunteer through their Volunteer In Police Services program.”

Hughes said the city will appoint an interim chief until a search can be completed for Skinner’s replacement.

Hughes said the search could extend outside the department, but there are people who could be promoted from within the department.

“It’s certainly an option,” Hughes said. “We have people all the way down to the lieutenant level who are good candidates.”

Skinner said his emotions about retiring are a little mixed.

“I’m looking forward to retirement although I don’t want it to come too soon,” he said.

Manassas Bureau Chief Keith Walker can be reached at 703-369-6751.