Knoxville Police Chief Dan Losada will be hanging it up; he says he’ll be putting in for retirement next year, after 38 years as a police officer.

Chief Losada says he plans to make his retirement official sometime in the spring of 2020; this will cap a career which stretches back to the early 1980’s and saw him rise through the ranks to become a police chief.

He tells KNIA/KRLS News this is for him the perfect time to call it a career, and that he’s looking forward to doing things for himself and to spending time with family.

“The good news too is, I have two grandsons that both live on the East Coast; I only get to see them once or twice a year, and now I’ll be able to whenever I want,” Losada says.

Chief Losada also says he looks forward to being able to get up in the morning without having his day already planned out…and since he won’t be in uniform anymore, he jokes he’ll have to actually think about what to wear each day.

His budget proposal submitted to the City Council on Monday night includes $7,000 for an outside consultant to help the city find his replacement; Chief Losada says it’s a highly specialized position, and the help will be needed to find the ideal candidate.