DAPHNE, Ala. — Michael Williams couldn’t quite find the right words to express what he meant.

He tried for a couple of minutes, sitting at the table and contemplating how to explain it when he said, “Police work isn’t what it used to be. I don’t know if it’s getting worse, but it’s not what it used to be.”

Williams has seen a lot of change in Daphne since he started working as a police officer here in 1985. He retired in December.

“I just felt like I was at the end of my career,” Williams said. “When I came to work in 1985, there were five officers in four cars. Now, there are 50-something officers in around 50 cars.”

The beefed up force, of course, is due to Daphne’s influx of new residents.

“I’ve seen a time when it was so dead at night (in the city), that I’d have to go to a pay phone and tell the dispatcher to wake up,” he said.

See the full story  on Page 1A in the Jan. 28 edition of The Bulletin.