MARTINSBURG — With a career in law enforcement that dates back to 1974, Martinsburg Police Chief T.C. “Ted” Anderson has been a lawman most of his life, and he’s not about to stop any time soon.

But Anderson, who’s been the city of Martinsburg’s police chief since 1998, will retire from the force this month and begin a new career as a fraud investigator.

He said he didn’t want to take any time off between jobs.

“I want to hit the ground running,” said Anderson, who starts next week in the Office of the West Virginia Insurance Commission. “I’m looking forward to the new challenge.”

Anderson said he believes his tenure has been marked by much change in the Eastern Panhandle, which has made significant adjustments in the nature of police work.

“The dynamics of the Eastern Panhandle have changed,” he said. “We’re 75 to 80 miles from two major metropolitan areas – Washington, D.C. and Baltimore – and this brings a lot of economic opportunities but also problems.” One of the most significant has been the influx of drugs into the community, he said.

“We’ve seen things progress from where the worst we dealt with was marijuana to where we’re dealing with powder and crack cocaine, heroin and pharmaceutical abuse in the Eastern Panhandle,” he said. “These create problems that not only the police have to address but all segments of the community have to deal with.”

Anderson said the tremendous population growth of the Eastern Panhandle also has brought a different set of challenges, taxing the resources of the city of Martinsburg, the growth rate of which has remained relatively stable even as Berkeley County has mushroomed from a sleepy rural community of about 38,000 three decades ago to a bustling suburb with a population of about 100,000.

But the force has changed, too, more than doubling its ranks since 1978 when Anderson began as one of the city department's 24 officers. Today, the Martinsburg police department employs a staff of about 50 officers and another 15 civilian workers.

And they're better equipped for the rigors of police work, Anderson said. The force has invested heavily in better weapons and radios, an officer's staples, and each cruiser comes equipped with both an onboard camera system and a mobile data terminal that allows the officer to retrieve and submit information into databases.

"These terminals can bring up all kinds of information in the field where the officer is," he said. And Anderson, the son of former longtime Martinsburg City Councilman Donald Anderson, takes some of the credit for making improvements to law enforcement in Martinsburg.

Anderson, who noted he's written more than $2 million in grants for the department during his 12 years as police chief, said he's helped implement or foster a number of community-based initiatives to improve the relationship between the community and the police department. Among them is the formation of a junior police academy for youths and a second program for adolescents called Police Explore, a citizens’ ride-along program, internships through Blue Ridge Community and Technical College and Shepherd University and a bicycle patrol. Anderson said he's also revived the city's long dormant motorcycle patrol.

In 2008, Anderson was awarded the Dedicated Service Award by the Eastern Panhandle Drug & Violent Crime Task Force. He's served as chairman of the board of directors of that unit for 14 years. He's also served as an advisory board member for the Vicki V. Douglas Juvenile Center, which opened in 2006, and on the board of directors of the Big Brothers/Big Sisters of the Eastern Panhandle.

Anderson, who received top honors from the Martinsburg Jaycees in 1979 and again from the Berkeley County Crime Solvers in 1989, said he is motivated by a desire to improve the lives of residents in the Eastern Panhandle. “I’ve seen a lot of changes during my career, but I've been lucky working with this city. It’s been very good to me,” he said.

A new police chief has not yet been appointed.