Norwich — A car buff as a teenager, Louis J. Fusaro Sr. thought he lucked out when he joined the U.S. Army in 1966 and was assigned to the 504th MP Co.

Fusaro thought that meant “motor pool,” where he could work on military vehicles.

His sergeant told him, “No. That's military police.”

Fusaro hasn't put down a police badge since that army assignment 50 years ago took him to Vietnam for two years.

He joined his hometown Norwich police force as a walking beat officer two weeks after he was discharged, a job he lined up beforehand talking to then-Chief Robert Smith.

Fusaro, 70, finally will put the badge down when he retires July 6 from the Norwich Police Department after 48 years of service.

“I feel very comfortable we are in a great position,” Fusaro said of his decision to leave this summer. “We have excellent people in key positions — young patrol officers, supervisors, leaders.”

Fusaro grew up just a block away from the current police station at 70 Thames St. in an Italian West Side neighborhood, where his grandmother ran DePinto IGA grocery store and his father ran a liquor store.

His first walking beat ran from Washington Square to Thames Square — when both were residential neighborhoods, before the 1970s redevelopment brought commercial buildings and even the new police station to the street.

“All I did was move across the street,” he said.

Fusaro was promoted to sergeant in 1972, to captain in 1981, deputy chief in 1993 and to chief in 1997, upon the retirement of former longtime Chief Richard Abele.

Fusaro never actually applied for the chief position beyond a long talk with then-City Manager William Tallman.

Tallman told him the appointment was one of the easiest decisions of his career.

Fusaro on Tuesday talked about changes in technology and policing trends, from police call boxes on street corners to advanced computers and cameras, the dominance of cruisers and the return to neighborhood beats on bicycles and park-and-walk methods.

But in the end, he said, policing is and always should be a “people business.”

Fusaro championed the concept of community policing in Norwich, fighting budget cuts that reduced neighborhood patrols and forced more vehicle patrols to cover more ground with fewer officers.

He has stressed to his officers that they cannot do their jobs without support and aid from their constituents.

“What has not changed is that to do our work, we have to have information from the public,” Fusaro said. “That's why community policing works so well — if we the police get the community involved in helping keep the community safe. When you walked the foot beat, that's how it was.”

As a testament to the success of community policing, Fusaro cited the 25 percent drop in crime in Norwich in the 2014 calendar year from 2013.

He boosted the community policing in recent years, stressing neighborhood watch meetings, neighborhood patrols and fostering relations with the city's growing immigrant population.

Many new residents come from countries and cultures where police are not trusted or respected, he said.

On his desk when he returned from a Hartford meeting of the Connecticut Police Chiefs Association on Tuesday was a phone message from John Wong of Montville, the longtime businessman and advocate for local Chinese-American relations.

Wong is helping Fusaro recruit potential Asian police officers.

“I hope he has a couple of recruits for me,” Fusaro said.

Fusaro also found it gratifying that while the nation struggles with police relations in urban and minority communities, the Norwich department has retained strong relations with Norwich's minority citizens.

Oddly, he said, one sign of that success has been the low turnout during several public forums held by Norwich police and the Norwich NAACP in response to violence and protests elsewhere in the nation.

“The police are the people, and the people are the police,” Fusaro said. “When that doesn't happen, that's when you have unrest.”

Fusaro might have stumbled into his career as a police officer, but his son Louis J. Fusaro Jr. calls it a “family business.”

L.J. Fusaro Jr. retired last year as a state police major, a commander of the counterterrorism and emergency services unit, and last August he was named Groton Town Police Chief.

His brother, Timothy Fusaro, is a captain in the Connecticut Department of Corrections.

Through it all, the elder Fusaro said, his wife, Jane, has stood by his side and let him lean on her shoulder through more tough times than he cares to recall.

"My best supporter since day one," Fusaro said.

L.J. Fusaro was on duty with his father during one of the worst nights in Norwich police history — Jan. 7, 2013.

Officer Jonathan Ley was shot four times and wounded during an armed standoff with a suicidal man at the Cedar Glen Apartments.

The elder Fusaro said Ley's shooting “had a profound effect on me.” He said he felt like a worried parent when he went to Yale-New Haven Hospital and didn't calm own until he saw the “upbeat” face of Ley's surgeon.

Ley has since been promoted to sergeant and leads the police training program.

Fusaro recalled another low point in his career, when a 6-year-old girl died after suffering a severe beating by her stepmother. Fusaro again credited his wife, Jane, for getting him through that night.

Fusaro also has ridden some internal and political storms over the years, including a 2007 survey of police personnel that gave him poor marks for leadership and decision-making and the department low scores for morale.

Fusaro said it took time to progress through that time of turmoil and now feels strongly that the department is in good shape. He cited solid recruitment and screening of new officers and promotions as keys to the turnaround.

In one recent interview of a prospective recruit, Fusaro asked the man why he wanted to come to Norwich. “He said 'this is a destination department,'” Fusaro said. “That was very gratifying to hear.”

Deputy Police Chief Patrick Daley, who rose through the ranks under Fusaro, credited his boss for instilling pride and responsibility among the department's officers and support staff.

Daley will be named interim chief by City Manager John Salomone, who said he will decide soon whether to fill the position internally or conduct an outside search that would include internal candidates.

Daley, who said he likely will apply for the chief's position, called Fusaro's pending retirement “bittersweet.”

“He's such a steady hand at the ship,” Daley said. “He's always training to set people up for promotion within the department. I love this town. I love this police department.”

c.bessette@theday.com