“He was community policing before there was community policing.”

That’s how Norwich Police Chief Pat Daley remembers the late Ray Boenig. The Taftville native served as the police constable, and later officer, for the town district from 1934 through 1966, back when the Norwich police department only covered the city district.

The town was covered by Boenig and local state police. The consolidation of the town and city police districts occurred in December 1966. Boenig remained on the city police force until his retirement in 1972. He died in 1995 at the age of 81.

But that only scratches the surface of Boenig’s legacy, according to Daley, and four generations of Boenig’s relatives, who gathered recently at Norwich police headquarters to welcome the addition of a new stitch-print made by Boenig’s daughter-in-law, Joan.

The print shows a smiling Boenig in uniform bending down to place his police cap on a smiling girl.

The print, along with an accompanying plaque, was presented to Chief Daley, who says both will be hung in a prominent place at the police station. Daley said it’s part of an ongoing effort by city police to document the department’s past, as a lot of the memorabilia has been lost through the years.

Boenig was “well-respected, knew his beat, knew his people, knew the city,” according to Daley. “He took care of everybody.”

He drove around in his familiar Police Car 5, a station wagon type vehicle, and was a familiar presence in town.

His relatives noted that since there were no police radios back when Boenig was constable, his wife became a key part of her husband’s patrol. Should a call for help come to his house, the front porch light was turned on, and Boenig would frequently drive by while out in his police car. If the light was on, he’d stop and find out what was going on. His wife kept the police logs.

Police work was only one part of Boenig’s involvement in the Taftville community. He served in the village’s volunteer fire department for 63 years, some of them as the department chief. He was the local dog warden, President of the local Police Benevolent Association, did some catering work, was Grand Knight of the Taftville Knights of Columbus, and also served with the local Lodge of Elks.

It wasn’t unusual for people to be invited to his home for dinner, especially around the holidays, according to Boenig’s relatives. The state police would often ask him for help while he was off-duty, and he would rarely refuse.

“I don’t think he slept more than four hours a day. He was always on the go,” said Boenig’s son, Ray, Jr.

Both he and Boenig’s grandson, Scott, remember how Ray Sr, would take them out on calls for brush fires and loose dogs. “When the fire whistle would go off, he would say ‘come on, get in the truck,’ plug in the blue light on the police car, and off we’d go,” said Scott. “He was a man of the people. He would do anything for anybody, All of my friends and my brother’s friends thought of him as like a grandfather.”

So did a lot of children in town. Boenig became a school crossing guard when he retired from the police force, and it wasn’t unusual for him to give a child change for some candy at a local grocery store. That’s what inspired the idea for the cross-stitch, says Joan. She saw the design in a magazine, and put Boenig’s likeness to the police officer’s face.

Boenig’s work did not go unnoticed.. He was inducted into the National Policeman’s Hall of Fame in Sarasota, Florida in 1969. due to an arrest he made three years earlier. Scott Boenig says his grandfather apprehended a bank robber, after the suspect, in a taxicab, led him on a chase that ended at the site of the now-former Norwich-New London Drive-In in Uncasville.

“As far as I know,” said Scott, “no other Norwich officer has been inducted into the Hall.”

Wequonnoc School in Taftville has a Ray Boenig Award that’s given to a student who exemplifies the late officer’s qualities. Also, the Norwich City Council, shortly before he died, proclaimed Feb. 3, his birthday, as “Ray Boenig Day” in the city.

Perhaps, though, the biggest tribute to his legacy is the fact that Boenig’s son, two grandsons, and a great-grandson are serving, or have served as firefighters.

“We’re all public servants, we all love our communities,” said an emotional Scott Boenig. “People actually had pride in their community (back when my grandfather) was on the force. They made an investment in people. My grandfather was a servant to his community, and was a man of God. I miss him terribly.”