"It's a job I've always loved," Coppage said on Thursday. "I loved being out there."

Coppage worked for Duxbury's Police Department for eight years serving for four of those years as detective and special prosecutor. He was then handpicked by Plymouth County Sheriff Joseph McDonald to serve as Special Sheriff in January 2005. The move seemed like a homecoming for Coppage who had served as a corrections officer at the Plymouth County House of Corrections prior to his years in Duxbury.

However, a little over a year and a half into the special sheriff's job, Coppage asked to be reassigned as the department's liaison to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office in Boston according to the department's Public Information Officer John Birtwell. Birtwell said the special sheriff's position was more of an administrative role.

"Special Sheriff Chris Coppage has asked to be reassigned," Birtwell said in mid-July. "He was a longtime Duxbury officer and he traded his gun and badge to work here. But he's happier doing what he was doing before rather than flying at the desk."

On Aug. 10, McDonald said he had not received a formal letter of resignation from Coppage, but that his personnel office had received a call from the former special sheriff stating that he would not be taking the new position with the Sheriff's department. Coppage said that change came when he realized the liaison job wasn't for him either. He is now a full time police officer again in Duxbury. Coppage said he started back with the department on Aug. 7.