When Police Chief Henry J. Hurst and Lieutenant Thaddeus Harris are denouncing the new female mayor's policy change to remove race and gender as barriers to academy admissions, he plays along with them.
He is also comically odd: he is rarely seen without his pet goldfish; frequently travels by golf cart; and is prone to accidentally destroying things (similar to fellow officer Sgt.
He can sometime be absent-minded, and a running joke in the series is that he becomes so lost in thought that he is carried away—usually figuratively, as in his signature repetition of the words "many" and "very" (e.g., "Have a very, very, very good day," or "This is very, very... very bad"), but sometimes literally, as when he starts to pace while giving a speech and wanders far from his audience.
This is brought to his superiors' attention by Captain Harris, and Lassard's retirement is announced to the surprise of everyone (including himself) at the subsequent graduation ceremony.
As a result, back in his home state, his superiors waive his mandatory retirement and allow him to continue to serve as long as he wishes.