Jack Ceo, longtime police officer and Saline’s deputy chief of police, plans to retire this fall and has submitted his letter of resignation to the city.

After spending 26 years with the Ann Arbor Police Department, he ended his career there as deputy chief. Ceo was hired by Saline in the same capacity on Jan. 31, 1999.

“He has been a great deputy chief and a very good friend,” Paul Bunten, Saline police chief, said Thursday.

In a letter dated July 5, Ceo says, “The time has come for me. I have heard that it is good to leave of your own volition before other people wish you gone — while some people still remember more about your accomplishments than your failings. I feel that I am on that brink and don’t want to cross over.”

Bunten said Ceo's “temperament, his intelligence, his knowledge of the job have been a tremendous asset to the organization.”

“It has indeed been my privilege, honor and pleasure to work as a police officer for these many years,” Ceo's retirement letter states. “I have been blessed to have been allowed to do so many different things during my police career with three different employers. I leave with a feeling of having accomplished a number of things that I feel will leave the police profession better than when I arrived."

His retirement will begin Sept. 19.

“He will be missed,” Bunten said.

Ceo is also a member of the city's Planning Commission and his seat will need to be filled because he is a staff appointment to the commission.

No decision has been made about his replacement.

“We’ll look at reorganizing,” Bunten said.

Currently, there are 14 sworn police officers in the department.

Ceo said he "hears his boat calling and another life after work that I heartily look forward to."

Lisa Allmendinger is a regional reporter for AnnArbor.com. She can be reached at lisaallmendinger@annarbor.com. For more Saline stories, visit our Saline page.