Rebecca “Becky” Cody is easy to accidentally miss at first glance through the front desk window of Tecumseh Police Department, due to the window’s height.
The responsibilities Cody has carried are harder to miss. Direct and efficient in conversation, Cody has been a major part of Tecumseh Police Department’s regular operations for approximately 18 years—and her Wednesday, Oct. 13, departure leaves big shoes to fill.
“When she’s in charge of something, I don’t have to worry about it,” Tecumseh Police Chief J. R. Kidney said. “She makes sure it gets taken care of; reminds me if I’ve got to sign paperwork or whatever I need to do.”
Cody first began at Tecumseh Police Department as a dispatcher in 2003.
“There were times where there’s absolutely nothing going on, you’re cutting up and then you get this hot call,” she said. “And it’s like, ‘You guys go. I’m gonna get more details. I’ll let you know’.”
She described multitasking between several computers, four different radios and two 911 phones.
“It could go to zero to one hundred in one phone call,” Cody said.
After five years of working dispatch, Cody transitioned to office manager at Tecumseh Police Department, when dispatch transitioned to the County 911 Center in 2008.
She said the transition was like someone slamming on the breaks.
In her new role, her duties included taking care of citations, making sure they were put in the computer systems and received by the court clerk, handling impound releases for impounded vehicles, and helping people get information.
“I love it all, and just helping people when they come in,” Cody said. “Usually when people come to a police department, they’re having a bad day—usually. And, you know, it’s just good to help them have a better time.”
And help people, she has.
“Her and Dee Vanduser—which was a longtime police officer a long time ago—and [Dispatcher] Shelley Landers, they all kind of got together and started this Bows of Love,” Kidney said. “Well, Dee and Shelley moved on and Becky carried that on for probably 13 years or longer by herself, basically trying to help the needy kids of Tecumseh make sure they had a good Christmas.”
They would get children’s names and would place a bow with a tag listing the child’s age, gender and interests onto a Christmas tree in the Tecumseh PD office. Then area residents would pick a bow and purchase gifts and other items for the child and their family, Cody said.
“I kind of just took it on and got whoever to help me that was here,” she said.
Originally, they had delivered the gifts to the family, but she shifted it so that the parents would come and pick up the gifts.
“The last two years it’s grown so much, where people have donated money, and I’ve had to go shopping. I’ve had to go spend a couple thousand dollars on kids—I know!” she said.
Cody said she remembers the Tecumseh community’s response, when last year the police department shared that a family whose son was recently released from the hospital had contacted them asking for help with Christmas.
“You let somebody know there’s a need, and then all of a sudden they’re like, ‘Well, I’m here. What do you want me to do?’” Cody said.
When Justin Terney passed was another experience that Cody said showed her the strength of the community.
“There was so many donations, we didn’t know what to do with it,” she said.
Cody loves her job, coworkers, and friends from Tecumseh, she said.
Her departure is prompted by a desire to return to the area around her and her husband’s home region, Lawton, OK.
“We have talked about moving back there for a long time,” Cody said. “That’s just where we go whenever we go to do family stuff. We go to the Wichita Mountains and Medicine Park.”
Cody recently accepted a Town Clerk position in Medicine Park. Her husband, Spencer Cody, is Kiowa and they hope to open a store there selling Indian regalia such as beading and clothes, Rebecca Cody said.
Kidney said he wishes Becky and her husband the very best.
“I hope that their— all their dreams come true and that she really likes her new job and that it all works out for them,” Kidney said.
The city is currently searching for a new police department office manager, and the job posting can be found on the city website.
Meanwhile, Cody’s former duties will be divided between Kidney and Detective Trey Baker.
The fate of the Bows of Love Christmas Tree is currently unknown, since it will need a new organizer to keep the program running.
