Lee Murray always wanted to be a police officer.

He can’t really explain why. .

He just always wanted to be a police officer.

Even taking a 10-year break to work in private industry didn’t quell the desire.

Murray, a Beattyville native, returned to law enforcement when Berl Perdue Jr., who is also from Beattyville, was elected sheriff in late 2006. He asked Murray to join the sheriff’s office.

“Once you’re in law enforcement, it doesn’t get out of your blood,”  Murray said. “Berl asked me if I wanted to work for him full-time. The biggest thing was retirement. I could retire a lot sooner than I could if I was out of law enforcement.”

Though he grew up in eastern Kentucky, Murray began his law enforcement career in Florida. Murray said his family spent some time there while he was growing up. After graduating from high school in Williamsburg, Murray said he moved to Florida.

“I wound up moving there and going through the academy,” he said.

Murray said he spent about 11 years in Florida between the Winter Park, Florida, Police Department and the Osceola County Sheriff’s Department. In 1997, he returned to Kentucky and started at the Beattyville Police Department.

“My grandfather had gotten sick and I didn’t have any family in Florida,” he said.

The changes were drastic going from a sheriff’s office in Florida to a small city department in Beattyville, he said.

“It was a big difference,” he said. “You’re talking 400 to 500 sworn deputies (in Florida) to eight officers. I’d rather work for a small department. People know who you are.”

In the late 1990s, Murray left law enforcement and moved to Winchester, following his mother and stepfather. He worked in transportation for Apollo Oil, until Perdue came calling. Murray took the opportunity to return to what he loved.

“I always enjoyed trying to help people and make a difference,” he said. “You can’t help everybody, but if you can make a difference in one person, it’s worth it.”

Murray has also served as the president of Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 34 president since 2013. The lodge does a number of community projects through the year from purchasing box fans for the elderly to the annual Shop With A Cop, where lodge members and volunteers take hundreds of children shopping just before Christmas.

This year’s event is scheduled for Dec. 15, and fundraising is scheduled to begin Monday, he said.