Top Cops: Ormond Beach Police Capt. Christopher Roos has overcome colon cancer in a near 25-year career - most of it with New Smyrna Beach PD

By HENRY FREDERICK
Headline Surfer

ORMOND BEACH, Fla. -- Christopher Roos is a captain with the Ormond Beach Police Department, who has endured, having overcome cancer during his long tenure previously with the Smyrna Beach police force.

Roos made the seamless transition from the New Smyrna Beach PD where he was a lieutenant in February 2017, to his hiring the following month as a captain with the Ormond Beach police. 

Roos, now 46, is proof positive that one can rise through the ranks in policing with hard work, discipline, and commitment. 

Roos, twice married with three children, actually got his start as a civilian dispatcher with the New Smyrna Beach police in November 1994 when he was 24 years old, and a year later was hired as a cop there. Having put in 10 years and seven months, Roos moved up to patrol sergeant in  April 2006.

Then another eight years and eight months would pass before Roos was promoted to lieutenant in the NSBP. He remained in this senior administrative post for two years and four months before leaving New Smyrna Beach for Ormond, because the latter is much closer to home. 

Cancer more than the job of policing itself has proven to be the biggest challenge of Roos's law enforcement career, and indeed, of his life.

"I was diagnosed in June 2007 with stage 4 colon cancer," Roos told Headline Surfer. "My initial diagnosis was that I had about 90 days to live. I was inoperable. I will be cancer free for 10 years in November."

Roos continued, "I had two surgeries and 12 doses of chemotherapy. It is my understanding that the chemo I had is one of the harshest on the market. I have over 35 inches of scarring on my abdomen. Sometimes it makes life a little tougher, but it beats the other option.

Cancer more than the job of policing itself has proven to be the biggest challenge of Roos's law enforcement career, and indeed, of his life.

"I was diagnosed in June 2007 with stage 4 colon cancer," Roos told Headline Surfer. "My initial diagnosis was that I had about 90 days to live. I was inoperable. I will be cancer free for 10 years in November."

Roos continued, "I had two surgeries and 12 doses of chemotherapy. It is my understanding that the chemo I had is one of the harshest on the market. I have over 35 inches of scarring on my abdomen. Sometimes it makes life a little tougher, but it beats the other option.

Roos said as a cop he rarely thinks about death though he was he was particularly disheartened when two Kissimmee police officers were gunned down last year in an ambush.

"I think the cops being ambushed before they unholstered is a sad documentary of today's society," Roos said. This isn't the case of someone trying to survive, it a case of cold-blooded murder based on an occupation. I think law enforcement has become the scapegoat in today's world. We hear about unfair sentencing and overwhelming percent of minorities in prison system. Cops don't send people to prison, judges and juries do that, but we are the easy visible target."

Roos said looking back on his tenure in law enforcement now approaching 25 years, he has no regrets.

"I am very happy with my career," Roos said. "So happy that I could mold and mentor so many great officers during my career. No one case stands out. I had the pleasure of hand-cuffing someone from America’s Most Wanted (TV show), a guy in Tennessee that killed his wife and fled to Florida."

TOP COPS: About This Series:

Christopher Roos is among the Headline Surfer listing of Top Cops recognized for excellence in policing and as a compliment to the internet news site's Mount Rushmore of Central Florida's Finest in Law Enforcement: Dennis Lemma, Seminole County Sheriff; Debra Clayton  in memoriam), Orlando Police Lt. killed in the line of duty; Craig Capri, Daytona Beach Police Chief; and Ben Johnson, retired Volusia County Sheriff.