Ninety-five years worth of experience is heading out the door this month at the Eau Claire County Sheriffs Department.

There are three big retirements there; we talked to the last captain to retire about what he'll miss and how the department is in the midst of some very big changes.

Captain Jeffery Pettis' road to a career in law enforcement could be called clear cut from the beginning. He says, “When I’m growing up playing, I was always on the motorcycle chasing my cousins around, I was always the cop and they were always the bad guys. I guess one thing led to another and my desire to continue in law enforcement just kind of grew from that.”

A veteran of the department for 34 years, Pettis has spent the last 23 years in crash investigation. He says it’s a job he’s relished over the years, “It's looking at the physical evidence and trying to build a case, based on what you know the vehicle is doing versus what the people are saying.”

But Pettis' colleagues Captain Vogler and Sergeant Asselin have already retired this month, creating a large gap in the department.

But Pettis has no doubts, “I think things are gonna go really well, I always feel that everybody can be replaced, but we have been preparing for this for a couple of years.”

They've been preparing to make the move from a three captain system to a two captain system. One of the captains remaining in the department, Captain Dan Bresina says, “I think the major reason for the change was budgetary, our decision was to try and keep as many staff on as we can and keep the midline supervisors, as a result you have to cut from someplace.”

Captain Bresina says his workload just got a lot bigger, “We certainly will have a learning curve for a period of time for both myself and the other captain, and I definitely have both their numbers on speed dial.”

Captain Pettis says everyone is replaceable, but for the men and women he's leaving behind, he has just one piece of advice, “I believe just treat people the way you want to be treated and things will go ok for ya.”

Pettis' last day will be this Wednesday, the sheriff's department is currently in the middle of transitioning to it’s new system.