After a 31-year law enforcement career, the friendly commander of the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office Lyon Township Substation is retiring.

Lt. Mark Venus started out with the Sheriff’s Office in 1988. He was assigned to the Lyon Township substation in 2007 and has been there ever since. Venus says it’s been a great career and a pleasure working for both the department and the township - adding he’s been lucky to have had a great crew at the substation since being assigned. He says the department and township have been really good to him over the years but it’s time to step back. Venus says he’ll miss the interaction with both citizens and co-workers but expects he’ll still see them from time to time - as he’s developed some solid friendships over the years. Venus tells WHMI he’s got lots of stories and had a lot of enjoyable moments in his career as far as things he’s accomplished, the people he’s met and things he’s encountered over the years. Venus has also seen a lot of changes over the years. He noted the growth in Lyon Township has been a big change since he started there with all of the new neighborhoods, increased population and businesses expanding. He says there have been big changes related to traffic but the crime and the people are pretty much the same and Lyon Township remains a very nice place to live. Venus says crime really hasn’t gone up but rather stayed the same – clarifying they do get a little bit more calls for service because of the increased population but not all calls for service are necessarily bad.

The last official day for Lt. Venus will be October 25th. He joked he’s still too young to totally retire so he’ll take some time off but plans to later pursue a part-time opportunity with the sheriff’s office. Venus attended his last Lyon Township board meeting recently, where he was presented with a plaque of appreciation and commended by board members for always keeping them abreast of what’s going on in the community and told Venus he’ll surely be missed. (JM)