He liked to steal Corvettes, until he ran into Randall Halstead, a young Boston patrolman who took him into custody and put the brakes on his career boosting cars.

Yet Halstead, who came on the job in 1978, couldn’t place the thief-turned-construction worker years later, when the man approached him while he worked a detail at the Big Dig.

“He said, ‘you don’t remember me, do you?’ ’’ Halstead said Thursday in a phone interview. “He stuck his hand out and said, ‘I want to say thank you. You don’t know what you did for me back then. I wouldn’t have this job if it hadn’t been for you sitting down and talking to me. That was the best thing that ever happened in my life.’ ’’

Moments like that fueled Halstead, the Boston police night commander who is retiring Monday after 39 years on the force, as he climbed the ranks to become a homicide detective, detective supervisor, and deputy superintendent before being promoted to superintendent in charge of night operations in 2014.

“That’s what you want on this job,’’ Halstead said of his interaction at the Big Dig. “You make the arrest, fine. They promote you, fine. The great thing is the connection you make in the street with people.’’

The 65-year-old Halstead is a native New Yorker who grew up rooting for the Mets — “Don’t hate me’’ — and made his way to Boston to attend college.

Once he joined the police force, he quickly earned a reputation as a dedicated officer who built community ties that proved invaluable during investigations.

As a homicide detective in the 1990s, he apprenticed under Charles Horsley and also worked with Thomas Traylor. The trio formed “the first all-black homicide team’’ in the department and doggedly worked their cases, Halstead said.

“We knew everybody,’’ he said. “We got information. People would sit down and talk to us. We had people in Charlestown talk to us, and that was kind of unheard of back then.’’

Later, Halstead would be a driving force behind revamping the department’s protocols for gathering evidence at crime scenes. He recognized the importance of paying attention to even the smallest details in an effort to help solve murders.

He recalled one case in which his team spotted tiny pieces of metal in the basement of a man suspected of dismembering his father. Those items turned out to be component parts of a reciprocating saw, and more were discovered in a plastic bag that contained the victim’s arm and that the killer had deposited in a neighbor’s garbage can.

Investigators found a piece of the same plastic on the floor of the killer’s home, and all the tiny objects helped secure a conviction, Halstead said, adding that the department gets results “if you pay attention to detail and you commit.’’

His dedication at crime scenes has sometimes tried the patience of Police Commissioner William B. Evans, the top cop said jokingly in a phone interview.

“When I was chief of patrol . . . he would shut down areas [to traffic] for hours because he was so detail-oriented,’’ Evans said. “There was no crime scene that could be big enough or dug into enough. That’s why he was the ultimate professional, and I’m going to miss him.’’

The commissioner’s words were echoed by his second-in-command, Boston police Superintendent-in-Chief William Gross, who described Halstead as a “big brother’’ and professional mentor.

He credited Halstead with providing key leadership in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombings and ensuing manhunt in April 2013. And when a violent felon shot Officer John Moynihan in the face in 2015, severely wounding him before his fellow officers fatally shot the gunman, Halstead got an assist from an unlikely source.

“We had gang members calling Randy saying they would help keep the peace,’’ Gross said. “That’s the kind of influence and respect people had for him.’’

Evans also praised Halstead for regularly attending community meetings and events as a highly visible member of the command staff.

“He’s a real likable, family and community-oriented guy,’’ Evans said. “We have three captains who are on at night. For now they’re doing a good job, and in the near future we’ll look to fill [Halstead’s] position and see who is up to his caliber to fulfill that responsibility.’’

When a successor is named, Halstead may be on the road with his wife, who has a number of trips planned. But his loyalty to the department he helped shape will remain steadfast.

“BPD forever,’’ he said.

Travis Andersen can be reached at travis.andersen@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @TAGlobe.