Veteran Champaign County Lieutenant Retires After Three Decades...

URBANA, Ill. (WCIA) — After serving the community for 30 years, a well-respected Champaign County Sheriff’s Lieutenant is hanging up his badge for the final time.

Lieutenant Curt Apperson has announced his retirement, marking the end of a long and dedicated career that spanned over half his life. His journey with the Champaign County Sheriff’s Office began in the corrections department, where he first made his mark. Over the years, he advanced to become a deputy and later led the street crimes unit.

In more recent years, Apperson took on the role of lieutenant in the investigations division, a position he held with distinction until his retirement on Friday.

“I have a strong aversion to losing and a deep commitment to not letting people down,” reflected Apperson, as he looked back on his impactful career.

For 30 years, 10 months, and five days, Apperson has been pouring his heart into serving his community.

“There’s good and evil, and I’m for good,” he said. “I want the good guys to win, and if I sit there and come back for this community, for me, for anyone, for my family, like the bad guys are going to win. So, I always came back because I wanted to get that victory.”

Apperson is an Urbana native, and his time with the Sheriff’s Office started long before his hire date when he was 21. He was riding shotgun in a squad car at 15.

“I was riding along with sheriff’s deputies and learning,” he said.

From those rides as a teenager, to his final shift, when Apperson was asked what kept him coming back every single day, he said, “I’ve established relationships with a lot of victims, and my heart goes out to them. I could not sit there and go home every night and look at myself in the mirror saying, I did not give 100% to these people.”

To him, it’s always been bigger than just solving a crime.

“Seeing that your work led to a conviction and gave this family some closure, that is the biggest thing,” Apperson said.

However, not every case led to a conviction.

“The cases that will haunt me and stick with me are the ones that, frankly, I couldn’t solve,” Apperson said.

He has been a lieutenant of investigations for 13 years and only has one unsolved homicide. But, to him, it’s one too many.

“And that one’s going to haunt me,” Apperson said.

Deonta Rozier was found dead in a field in rural Champaign County in 2017; a case that was never closed.

“But man, you know we gave it our all,” he said.

On those hard days, and good ones too, Apperson is thankful for his family, especially his wife who is also in law enforcement.

“I’m fortunate because I have a spouse, and I can sit there and I can be open and honest to her because she’s been there, done that, she’s seen it,” he said.

Apperson said what happens at work, stays there. But the person he is at home comes to work with him.

“There’s no doubt that being a dad is being a protector,” Apperson said. “So, it goes hand in hand with being a police officer.”

Family is his only focus now.

“I have two younger kids right now,” he said. “So, Dad Camp is going to start real soon.”

While his time wearing the badge is coming to an end, his faith in Champaign County and those watching over it will never fade.

“I’ve worked with heroes for 30 years. I’m not just talking about police officers, or firefighters or medics,” Apperson said. “I’m talking about people, I’ve seen so much good in this community.”

He closed with saying, “God bless Champaign County and those who protect it.”

Apperson’s one final ask of the community is to support their local law enforcement, adding that they feel it and appreciate it.

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Veteran Champaign County Lieutenant Retires After Three Decades of Service

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