Logan steps down as Tuscumbia police chief

Imagine being a young couple with a baby on the way.

The wife goes into labor at home and needs to get to the hospital as soon as possible.

You call emergency services for aid, but there’s an ice storm going on outside, and travel is very treacherous.

For longtime Tuscumbia Police Chief Tony Logan, this situation is not imagination. It’s memory.

Logan found himself in this exact scenario during his 18-year tenure with Tuscumbia Police Department.

“Nobody could get around,” Logan said. “We got a call to a house where a lady was in labor. An ambulance was trying to get out there. It took us 20 minutes just to get past Helen Keller Library because it was that slippery. We get there, go in, and she was literally in labor. We got her to the hospital safely.”

Logan said he never heard anything about what happened to the couple and their newborn after that.

Not until years later, that is.

“One day, I was doing a speech at a church in Florence, and this couple came up with their teenage son. They said, ‘You probably don’t remember us.’ I said, ‘No, I’m sorry.’ They said this is our son. You were the ones who took us to the hospital when he was born. I thought, for them to remember that 15 years later, that’s the kind of thing you can look back on and know you had an impact.”

Logan is a Tuscumbia native who went through “every school” in the city before graduating from Deshler in 1981.

He began his career in law enforcement in 1983. He worked for the City of Florence for 25 years before retiring as deputy chief.

Logan said he spent six months living the life of a retiree before deciding he needed to find something else to do.

He said the police chief position for Tuscumbia had opened up, and former classmates who still lived in the city wanted him to apply so badly they actually brought him applications.

“My mom was still living here at the time,” Logan said. “My mom’s health wasn’t good, so I felt like it was time to come home and take care of her. It’s something I’ve never regretted. I love this community. It was a logical fit. My wife was on the City Council for nine years. We will continue to stay active in the community.”

After almost two decades as police chief, Logan has stepped down to the position of public safety administrator.

Deputy Chief Steven Higginbotham, who has worked with Logan for 26 years total and 18 years in Tuscumbia, was named interim police chief by the City Council during its April 20 meeting.

“Chief Higginbotham and I have worked very closely together,” Logan said. “I’ve got a good relationship with the fire department. Basically, what I’ll be doing is providing some oversight and better coordination between all our emergency services.”

Logan said his current plan is to retire on Jan. 1, 2028, and then look at becoming a security resource officer for the Tuscumbia City Schools system.

“Everybody has a shelf life, and I think 45 years is probably going to be plenty,” he said. “I’m not going to retire and go home and sit. My wife told me if she came home and there was another eBay box or found me polishing golf balls in the floor again that she would scream.”

Logan said serving for so many years as a police officer has been one of — if not the — most rewarding things he has ever done.

“Every day when you go home, you have done something to make someone’s life a little better,” he said. “As chief, I’ve gotten to work with some really good people. I’ve had so many varied roles, from patrol officer to detective to supervisor and administrator. For the most part, I’ve taken a lot of good memories.”