Shrewsbury Police Department's Lt. Dan Sklut on his last day on the job.
Photo credit: Lindsay Corcoran

SHREWSBURY, Mass. – The Shrewsbury Police Department said goodbye to one of its own on Sunday when Lt. Dan Sklut worked his last day in Shrewsbury to leave for the position of chief of Dunbarton, NH.

Sklut has worked on the Shrewsbury Police Department for 22 years, starting as an auxiliary officer in 1977 after graduating from St. John's High School. He became a special police officer in 1979, then came on full-time in 1984. He made sergeant in 1985 then lieutenant in 1989.

"It's been a good place to work and a good career," Sklut said. He noted that while his extensive working knowledge of the department may be missed, he will only be a phone call away. "They've been good to me and I'll be good to them."

Skult was raised in Shrewsbury and has lived here all his life, the past 28 years with his wife raising their two children. Besides being on the police force, Sklut also spent time working with the Shrewsbury Little League and Babe Ruth programs.

"My wife and I were planning to move to New Hampshire and operate a small farm," Sklut said. "I'd been looking for opportunities like this for a couple of years and Dunbarton kind of found us. Now everything is falling into place."

Sklut will be starting in Dunbarton, a town of 2,700 located outside Concord, NH, on Monday.

"They were wondering why someone from Massachusetts would want the job, but when I explained it to them they liked it," Sklut said. "I have a lot to offer, I've spent a lot of time on the department and have had a lot of training."

He said he was looking forward to his new position, which will allow him to be a chief and interact with the community as a patrolman since the department is so small there.

"In a year, I hope most of the people up there will be calling me Dan or Danny," Sklut said. "The people are so nice, those in the town and the town government. It would be a lot harder to leave here if they weren't."

Ultimately, Sklut said it is hard to leave the community he has spent a lifetime living in.

"I'm going to miss the people here," Sklut said. "I'm leaving behind a lot of co-workers, but also very close friends. There's a family atmosphere here at this department. I have great neighbors and it will be difficult to part with them."