Looking back on Captain Steven R. Rine’s 29-year career
CAMBRIDGE, Ohio – Captain Steven R. Rine of the Ohio State Highway Patrol is retiring after a 29-year career throughout central and Southeast Ohio. At his retirement luncheon, Rine walked WHIZ through the road that lead him to this moment in his life.
Before his career with the OSHP, Rine served in the United States Marine Corps from 1987 to 1995. He says he deployed several times in the Western Pacific and his last deployment was in the Gulf War.
Rine then attended Franklin University where he earned a degree in banking and finance. That degree was put to use when Rine started working at Bank One.
“And then I had a 10-year class reunion and I met a sergeant, Greg McCutchen. I grew up with him and he mentioned the Highway Patrol,” Rine said. “So, I took a look at the Highway Patrol, reminded me of the Marine Corps and it was said, it was done.”
In 1997 Rine joined the OSHP as a member of the 128th academy class. The first assignment and the first five years of his new career was with the Circleville Post.
“…I was more of a criminal patrol guy. I stayed on midnights, did a lot of OVI arrests, took impaired drivers off, focused a lot on heavy criminal element,” Rine said.
Rine then went to Columbus where he provided security for the Ohio Statehouse. It was there that he was offered the opportunity to train future law enforcement at the Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy (OPOTA).
“Really thoroughly enjoyed that. Just took a lot of the knowledge that I had from being a combat veteran from the United Sates Marine Corps and just developed some good program. But I had great leaders above me that empowered me to make those decisions that could come through. And one of them is retired Lieutenant Colonel Peyton Watts, was pivotal in a lot of that development.”
In 2009, Rine came to the Zanesville Post as a post commander where he spent the next five years. After that, he spent the rest of his career out of the OSHP District 7’s headquarters in Cambridge, working with traffic safety.
After 29 years in the OSHP, Rine’s career was celebrated with a luncheon on Friday with more than 130 people in attendance.
“It’s humbling experience to see this many people from the sheriff’s offices, other state agencies, my state agency. I have some prior veterans here too. Very humbling. I didn’t think it would be this large of a turnout,” Rine said.
The retiring OSHP captain says he’ll miss the camaraderie with his fellow law enforcement officers, especially amongst District 7 of the OSHP. Rine went on to say that his next chapter is going to start with self-reflection.
“What’s next is I’m going to take a minute and just reflect back on the almost 30-year career and just take a look at my life, make sure that I have emphasis on my faith,” Rine said. “I’m a born-again Christian. The most important thing I can do is lead people to Jesus. So, I’m going to take a hard look at that, and then we’ll see where the next chapter goes.”
