City remembers former police chief Phillip Dodd

Phillip Dodd held just about every role possible in the Homewood Police Department.

From patrol officer to evidence technician to helping lead both the patrol and detective divisions, before finally becoming chief in 2007, Dodd spent his entire 34-year career with Homewood.

Dodd, who served as chief from 2007 to 2011, died May 15 at the age of 67.

“He was the best supervisor I ever worked for,” said Lt. Doug Finch. “He taught us to do things the right way.”

Finch started his career with Homewood police in 1994, and at the time, Dodd was the evening shift patrol sergeant. While Dodd wouldn’t hesitate to critique his officers, that criticism was always behind closed doors, and praise was issued in public.

When Finch became a sergeant in 2003, Dodd was his lieutenant, and when Finch made detective, Dodd once again oversaw him, serving as the detective lieutenant. The pair solved some “incredible” cases together, Finch said, including the case of Steven Petric. Petric was convicted in 2009 of a 1990 murder of a Homewood woman that had become a cold case. The pair used DNA technology that wasn’t available at the time of the crime.

Petric was sentenced to death, though a judge later ruled he had ineffective counsel in his trial and set aside his conviction, ordering a new trial in 2020.

In addition to an “uncanny knack” for knowing when there were guns and drugs in a car, Dodd was a “character” with a great sense of humor, Finch said.

Sgt. John Carr worked with Dodd for six years and said he was “down to earth” and able to communicate with laughter. He took care of the officers entrusted to him and was always willing to talk with them, Carr said.

Dodd’s widow, Pam Dodd, said the two went back “a lot of years,” meeting 40 years ago when he was a patrol officer. Dodd and his first wife, also named Pam, were friends with Pam and her husband. When both of their spouses died, they ended up getting married after their children were grown, Pam Dodd said.

“He was an outgoing [guy],” she said.

Philip Dodd was a “man of integrity” and felt a sense of duty to his city and his country, she said. He loved Homewood, having grown up in the Hollywood neighborhood and graduating from Shades Valley High School before the city formed its own school system.

The pair never had children, but Dodd had three sons with his first wife and was very active in Boy Scouts, band and more, Pam Dodd said.

Being friends for so long made for a better relationship, she said.

“He always called me baby doll,” she said.

Dodd made sure people knew how much he cared, Pam Dodd said.

“If he cared about you … you knew it,” she said.

The longtime officer leaves behind a legacy with the department, serving as a mentor to many new officers as they came in, Pam Dodd said.

“They loved him,” she said.

In a eulogy at his funeral, retired Lt. Dan Smith said Dodd was a loyal friend.

“Throughout life, we experience many different kinds of friendships,” Smith said. “On rare occasions, we encounter someone so special that we just know we met for a reason. These are the kinds of friendships that last forever, no matter what city you live in or how often you speak, no matter how old you get or what phase of life you are in. It’s the type of friendship that has no judgment and sticks by you whenever you screw up. It happens at different stages for different people. But when it does, there’s no greater comfort than knowing that this person will be right there beside you to share the happiness, the sadness and everything in between.”