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Lafone's legacy: Retired police chief modernized department

Robert C. Reed

Conover City Manager Donald Duncan (left) presents Gary Lafone his gun and badge at Lafone’s retirement ceremony.

By Richard Gould | Hickory Daily Record

Published: October 2, 2009

CONOVER - Gary Lafone joined the Catawba County Sheriff's Office in 1972. He was 19 years old. He retired 37 years later as Conover's Chief of Police – a position he'd held for 13 years. September 25 was his last day on the job.

Lafone said he is proud to have served Conover and modernized its police department.

The biggest change was technological. When Lafone joined the department in 1984, officers kept their records on note cards, Lafone said. Now their patrol cars are equipped with laptop computers that allow officers to file their reports from the field and spend more time in the community and less in the office.

Another big change came in 2003, when the department received accreditation by adhering to a strict set of national standards, Lafone said.

"I left Conover in a lot better shape than it was in when I got there," he said. "I'm highly satisfied."

Lafone's career began in the Catawba County Sheriff's Office records department when he was a teen. He quickly transitioned from working in records to investigations. That's how he met Chief Deputy Coy Reid.

Reid was new to law enforcement and Lafone was his supervisor.

He said Lafone was a tenacious investigator who worked every lead he could find in a case and refused to quit. Lafone was also sympathetic and able to connect with victims of crimes.

"He'd treat them like they were a part of his family," Reid said. "He's probably one of the best investigators I've ever worked with."

In 1982, Lafone left his job as the lieutenant over investigations for the sheriff's office and joined the Hickory Police Department as a patrol officer. He transferred to investigations about six months later.

Lafone said he enjoyed the challenge of working in investigations and that's what drew him to that specialty.

He credits then-Hickory Police Chief Floyd Lucas with teaching him about municipal law enforcement and how it differs from the work he did as a deputy.

Lafone stayed at HPD for about two-and-a-half years before he accepted an offer to join the Conover Police Department as a sergeant and attend the Southern Police Institute at the University of Louisville, Ky.

Looking back over his career, Lafone noted his proudest moments involved working in partnership with his fellow law t officers.

He recalled working with officer Steve Hunt to videotape a dying man's last words. The man was taped picking out his attacker in a photo lineup and telling investigators what had happened to him.

Lafone said the tape was entered into evidence and used at the trial to convict the killer – the first time a videotape of a victim was used to convict a murderer in North Carolina.

Caldwell County Sheriff's spokesman B.J. Fore spent eight years as the law enforcement liaison with the district attorney's office and that's how he got to know Lafone.

Fore said Lafone was always professional and able to adapt to changing circumstances.

"He always offered positive solutions to any problems I might have had," he said.

Claremont Police Chief Gerald Tolbert said he and Lafone have been friends for many years stretching back to Tolbert's first day with the Catawba County Sheriff's office when no badge could be found for Tolbert so Lafone loaned him his.

He said Conover is losing a good man.

"The town will carry on, but they'll miss him," Tolbert said. "He's trained the men under him to be able to carry on and do a very good job."

Lafone will be succeeded by Conover police Capt. Steve Brewer, who will serve as interim chief until Conover City Council names a permanent chief.