A Look Into the Life of Retired Sergeant Ryan Nuhfer
- May 1, 2022
- 6 min read
It was on February 2, 1973 in Warren, Pennsylvania when a person by the name of Ryan Nuhfer was born. Ever since Nuhfer can remember, he had always wanted to be a police officer or be in the military. Either one of these things were high on his list for his future, he believes he never had a change of heart for these occupations and had always wanted to do one of those things. Being brought up in what Ryan says was a "strict household," Ryan never did anything to jeopardize his chances of going into the police force, such as drinking and doing drugs. Instead, he played the game of football more than anything.
Playing football all throughout his time at Warren High School, Ryan Nuhfer was recruited to go play at the collegiate level at Allegheny College. Only being at Allegheny for just a semester, he wasn't able to see a lot of playing time simply due to a back injury. He then went to Jamestown Community College where he spent a couple semesters trying to keep his credits up. He then transferred to Mansfield University out in Central Pennsylvania where he finished out college. Going into his senior year of college at Mansfield, Nuhfer took the City of Warren Police test, all the while he was attending the Mercyhurst Police Academy which was Class 52.
It was when Ryan Nuhfer was hired by the City of Warren Police, that he wanted to make police work his career. He was hired in August of 1995 by the City of Warren Police where he worked as a patrolman for a little over a year. Wanting to take it a step further, in the year of 1996 on November 4th, Nuhfer was made a Pennsylvania State Police Trooper after he did a thoroughly extensive testing process and graduated in the 100th Class of PA State Troopers. After becoming a State Police Officer, Mr. Nuhfer was assigned to go up to Troop E in near Erie, PA where he worked as a patrol officer for around eleven months. After his time in Erie, he moved back to Warren, PA and worked for roughly ten years as a State Police patrol officer in his hometown.
After a long ten years of hard work, Ryan Nuhfer was then apart of a selective process to become Corporal in the Pennsylvania State Police. At the time of the selection process, one of his only options to become corporal was if he was stationed down in Philadelphia, PA in Troop K. Luckily, being far away from home, he only was there for a solid three months before he came back as corporal in Troop E up in Girard, PA which is minutes away from Erie. He worked for just about a single summer up in Girard before he moved back to Warren to be corporal in the Warren State Police Barracks.
After working for about nine years as a corporal in the Pennsylvania State Police, it was time for Mr. Nuhfer to become a sergeant. On August 27th of 2016, Ryan Nuhfer was appointed to sergeant. When he was first appointed, he was assigned to go down to Troop D with the Butler County Headquarters. While working there, Nuhfer was living right outside of Slippery Rock University where he claims he "got to know the university layout easily while on my runs." While doing time with the Butler State Police, Ryan Nuhfer got to work a Slippery Rock University Homecoming. He recalls that "it was a very eventful weekend and lots of things were going on all over the campus and town." After a little while, Nuhfer then came back home to Warren, PA where he worked as a sergeant for his hometown State Police Barracks and then retired in 2021.
During his time as a patrol officer for the Pennsylvania State Police, Ryan Nuhfer was recognized for having the third or fourth most DUI arrests in the entire state one year. He says, "It is always good to take a drunk driver off the road, you could have just saved a life by doing so." He also mentions, "There weren't any big individual accomplishments in my opinion, but being in the police force, it is more team accomplishments."
When asked about his most interesting cases he has been involved with, he believes it was definetly when Bucky Phillips was on the run. "This was a huge manhunt that was all across the New York and Pennsylvania State border," he says. He was able to be involved in some capacities of the manhunt which he thought was "pretty unique since it was such a big news story at the time." He believes it is moments like this where it is a big accomplishment for the team since everyone was playing a part in the search.
Mr. Ryan Nuhfer was also able to represent the Pennsylvania State Police in Berlin, Germany where he has a friend who is an officer at the academy. The officer at the academy allowed Nuhfer to come in with his uniform and talk to the cadets about how things are ran back in the States. He wants to make it back there at some point during his retirement as he loved the city a whole lot and the culture.
Asking him about an important lesson that he learned in life, he says, "Things aren't always as they seem. You need to take a step back, evaluate the situation from both sides, and then make a final conclusion. You can't be stuck jumping to conclusions."
During this entire tenure of moving up the police rankings and becoming a sergeant for the Pennsylvania State Police, Ryan Nuhfer had three kids. All of which are girls, which he definitely loves. His first and oldest daughter is named Sydney, and she is currently working at the City of Warren Police as a secretary for the parking department. His second daughter, Rylee, is currently going to school at Edinboro University as a full-time student. And lastly, but certainly not least, there is Lexi who is almost double digits and is currently going to elementary school in Warren, PA.
Ryan Nuhfer and his daughters, Sydney, Rylee, and Lexi.
Mr. Nuhfer is currently married with Melissa Nuhfer, who works in the Corry Area School District. They intend to retire together and enjoy the rest of their lives in retirement together at their newly built home in Warren, PA.
Melissa Nuhfer talking about her husband, Ryan.
Currently, since Mr. Nuhfer is retired he has many hobbies he would love to get into a lot more in his free time. For one, Ryan believes he is an aspiring bluegrass musician, which y'all should see him play the banjo... he is talented. He plays pickleball with his cousin Brian and his wife Vicky, loves to play golf with his dad and friends, continue working on his business called Allegheny Security which is a security alarm business, and take care of his girls and dogs. Along with this, as mentioned in the video by Melissa Nuhfer, he is planning on building a barn that will have horses and a large pasture in his backyard. He wants to do what he can to make his daughters and wife happy.
A picture of the backyard of the Nuhfer residence where the barn will be placed along with the pasture.
Ryan Nuhfer and his dog Vander.
Brian, Ryan's cousin talks about Ryan and what he means to him.
Mr. Ryan Nuhfer is a one of a kind guy. He is a guy who works his tail off to ensure that he reaches his goals. Being a State Policeman has to take a lot of guts and a lot of enduring training. He put his head down, set a goal for his life, and went and got it. Lately, it feels as if people are getting content and feeling like everything will come eventually. Mr. Nuhfer embodies the opposite of that. He was never content and continued and continues to work hard to reach his set goals. Being retired, his goals may be different, but it is widely known that such a hardworking man like Ryan, these goals will still be attainable.
Ryan Nuhfer talking for a video quote.
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