Local News - January 2004

City names 32-year police veteran as LPD captain

By ALICE SMITH, Staff Writer

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Danny Hallman, a 32-year law enforcement veteran, has been named captain of the Lincolnton Police Department.

Hallman, 52, fills the position left open by Dean Abernathy, who was appointed chief of police in March. Roger Hilton held the post before retiring last year.

Hallman was a natural choice for the job, Abernathy said.

“He knows everybody in Lincolnton, and everybody knows him,” Abernathy said. “When you say Lincolnton Police Department, they automatically think of Danny Hallman.”

A patrol officer since he started, the job is change for Hallman, who will now be spending most of his time in the police station instead of on the road.

It will be a change, he said, but one he’s ready for.

He plans on being accessible to the public.

“When they come in, they want to talk to someone in charge,” said Hallman, who will be second-in-command at the department.

But he said he’ll still be visible on the road.

“I’ll still get out there and check on the men and talk to (the public) and see what kind of services they need that they’re not getting,” he said.

Abernathy said the city went through a standard assessment center when making the decision between the five final candidates.

He’s confident that Hallman’s experience and dedication will prove beneficial in his new position.

“I think he’ll do a good job, and I look forward to working with him,” Abernathy said.

Hallman started in law enforcement in 1972 and worked at the county jail.

After working there for a year, he took a month off and moved to the beach.

That’s when then-police Chief Arnold Tarr sent a message to Hallman that he had a job for him.

At the time, Hallman wasn’t interested.

“So I went back to the beach, and then I came back (to Lincolnton), and I didn’t have any money in my pockets,” he said.

He met with Tarr again. He walked into the police department barefoot with hair to his shoulders.

Tarr asked him two questions: Can you get a haircut, and do you have a pair of shoes? Hallman said yes.

“And I’ve been here ever since,” he said.

He was promoted to sergeant in 1984 and to lieutenant in 1991.

Through the years he’s seen a number of changes in the department. Of the department’s seven police chiefs, he’s worked under four of them.

He hopes to work with Abernathy to bring the department into the future and keep abreast of the rapid changes taking place in law enforcement technology.

His top priority is continuing to provide high quality service to Lincolnton residents.

In the late ‘70s, Hallman said he considered transferring to other law enforcement agencies, but soon decided against it.

“I said to myself … why not just stay here and give service to the people that you know?”

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© 2001 Lincoln Times-News  

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