It’s the end of a great era in the Urbana Police Division. Monday, March 3 is the last workday for Urbana Police Sergeant, Shawn Schmidt, who retires after a 25-year career serving the city.
On Friday, the division held a retirement reception in Schmidt’s honor. Many gathered to say goodbye, thank you, and good luck to Shawn as he moves on to the next adventure in his life.
Sgt. Schmidt, a native of Lima, Ohio, joined the division on March 13, 2000, after graduating from Lima Technical College with an Associate’s Degree in Criminal Justice and was certified as a basic police officer at the police academy there.
From 2000 until 2011 Schmidt served as a police officer working various patrol shifts. From 2012 to 2015, Schmidt was given a special assignment in the division’s Investigative Unit.
Schmidt was promoted to sergeant in May of 2016 and was reassigned back to the patrol unit where he was responsible for managing one of the three patrol shifts on the division.
From 2019 — 2021, Schmidt was, once again, given a special assignment to the Investigative Unit, this time to manage it.
For most of his career, Schmidt has served the division as one of its firearms and less lethal weapons instructors as well as a crisis negotiator and a field training officer.
Schmidt has received numerous awards and recognition throughout his career, including:
- 2012 Induction into The American Police Hall of Fame — for his involvement in the Jessica Rae Sacco homicide case.
- 2014 Distinguished Duty Award — for his investigative efforts in the Jerald Myers homicide case.
- 2015 Distinguished Duty Award — for his role in the investigation, arrest, and conviction of the two people who committed the March robbery of the ATM at the Society National Bank.
- 2018 Distinguished Duty Award — for his efforts in the investigation, arrests, and convictions of the six young men involved in the November armed robbery and shooting incident inside a dormitory on the campus of the former Urbana University.
- 2019 Exceptional Duty Award — as the lead investigator in catching a serial arsonist, who had set multiple arson fires at the abandoned Douglas Hotel during the nighttime hours in 2019.
- 2020 Exceptional Duty Award — for his role in overseeing the homicide investigation of Pamela Combs, inside her Lionel Drive residence.
- 2020 Exceptional Duty Award — as the lead investigator of the July armed robbery of the Valero gas station, leading to the arrest and conviction of Brandon Lee, of Russells Point.
- 2021 Distinguished Duty Award — for solving the July Peoples Savings Bank armed robbery, leading to the conviction for multiple central Ohio bank robberies committed by Stefan Chadwick Crawer, of Heath, Ohio.
- 2023 Meritorious Service Award — for his investigative role in the Kaden Harkins homicide case.
- 2024 Chief’s Letter of Commendation — for his role in the 2023 investigation which helped lead to the conviction of the person responsible for the 2011 homicide of Louis Taylor.
- 2025 American Police Hall of Fame — Distinguished Duty Award
Schmidt was a member of the 2020 Champaign County Chamber’s Leadership program and his program project was to create and present a COPs & Bobbers program for the police division to provide to local youth every year. 2025 will be our fourth straight year of providing this program.
Schmidt and his wife Ellie are the parents of three adult children, Reece, Chase, and Nate.
During Friday’s reception, the police division added Sergeant Schmidt’s nameplate to the retirement plaque which is proudly displayed in the main hallway of the City’s Municipal Building. He was honored with a shotgun from the Urbana Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge 93, a police retirement badge & wallet, and, he was once again inducted into The American Police Hall of Fame for his tenured Distinguished Duty as an Urbana police sergeant.
He will certainly be hard to replace.
