Gabe Ehrnwald

Daily Egyptian

Despite having three SIU degrees under his belt and almost 29 years of police experience, Carbondale Police Chief Steve Odum said he still has work to do.

Reclining in a high-backed chair in his office, Odum peered out the shaded windows as he talked about his life and career Wednesday afternoon.

The Marion native said he had an unorthodox higher education, joking that he was on the 20-year plan at SIUC. Odum left the University after his freshman year in the spring of 1974 in search of something else. He said he believed college was not the place for him.

After a stint in the Army as a military officer and investigator, Odum applied for a job with the Carbondale Police Department.

"When I got out of the Army, I found out I liked police work, so I took the test here and got hired," Odum said.

During a 14-year span, Odum has earned three degrees from SIUC, and all of them after becoming a police officer. In 1981 he earned an associate's degree in law enforcement. Two years later, he earned a bachelor's degree in technical careers, and in 1995 Odum received his master's degree in administration.

Odum said none of his success would have been possible without the help of his wife, who supported him and encouraged him to enroll in the associate's degree program.

"She got behind me with a big stick and said, 'You need to go back to school, you need to go back to school,'" Odum said.

Odum, who lives in Carbondale, has held five positions in nearly three decades at the department. He began his career as an officer and climbed through the ranks of sergeant, lieutenant, deputy chief and chief of police.

Deputy Police Chief Calvin Stearns has worked with Odum for 24 years and said he is a great all-around citizen and officer. He said Odum is able to balance the needs of the community with the many administrative needs such as budgeting and lawmakers.

"He is one of the best trained and educated policemen in the state," Stearns said.

When Odum is not on the job, he said he enjoys the sport of competitive clay pigeon shooting. A neon orange clay pigeon mounted on the wall of his office has become a clock. Pictures of hunting dogs and related sporting events adorn the walls of Odum's spacious office in the police department on East College Street.

He said he immerses himself so deeply in the sport because it affords him the opportunity to concentrate strictly on the task of shooting neon clay pigeons.

"It's one of those things you get out and concentrate so hard on you forget about everything else," he said.

But when Odum has to work, he said he considers it an honor to represent the 84 people who work at the department.

"It's a good department with a lot of good people," he said.

Looking back on his career, Odum said one of his career achievements was when he developed a plan to build a training center and shooting range for the department.

"It's a pretty big deal for a department of our size to have a facility for training, Odum said. "It's something we still benefit from and I'm pretty proud of it."

But Odum said he's not done yet.

With his job, family and more work to do in Carbondale, Odum said he doesn't plan on leaving the department anytime soon..