5 Warsaw Officers Given Oath Of Office
December 17, 2022 at 2:55 a.m.
5 Warsaw Officers Given Oath Of Office
By David [email protected]
During the Board of Public Works and Safety meeting Friday, five new officers were given their oath of office by city attorney Scott Reust. They included Sam Bohnke, Brandon Fugate, Dustin Kreft, Ryan Piper and Jeremy Rau.
Mayor Joe Thallemer said after the ceremony, “That was awesome. I don’t think we’ve had a group that big. I think that gets us up to 41 officers of our max of 42, so we’re really close. A great testimony to the recruiting of all the applicants. Just the whole deal here. It’s really gratifying to have that done.”
The Board of Works also approved the hiring of a new patrol officer, Drew Brewton. Brewton is currently a Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Office deputy, according to Warsaw Human Resource Director Denny Harlan, and Brewton will be coming on board with WPD this month. His full-time biweekly salary will be $2,439.84. Harlan said that puts the WPD at 41 officers.
Thallemer said the police force was down to about 32 at one point. Harlan said they’ve still got “a couple more in the pipelines so things are looking up for the police department.”
After the Board of Works meeting, Police Chief Scott Whitaker said the officers given the oath on Friday have been on board with the department for a year.
“Their probationary status ended at the completion of their one year, which is that way for all law enforcement officers in the state of Indiana. This process today was more of a celebratory oath of office because we give them an oath of office on being hired, but this was an opportunity to bring their family in, be recognized for successfully completing that one year because that probationary period is just that - the entire year is like their hiring process so they’ve got to get that one year in successfully complete,” Whitaker said.
All the requirements - the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy, field training and being certified and qualified in a number of different fields - had to be accomplished in that one year.
“They’ve accomplished that and so this is just an opportunity for us to recognize them for that,” Whitaker said, pointing out that this was the first time they ever had five officers take the oath at one time. Three was the most at one time previously. “But they were all five hired on the same day.”
Whitaker said that with the hire of Brewton that puts the police department at 39 officers, but an individual is going through the process right now and if they are successful that will put them at 40.
“We haven’t been at 40, to my knowledge; 42 is our full complement ... and we’re hoping in 2023 we’ll be able to accomplish that,” he said.
The police department has been several understaffed over the last several years, Whitaker said, “So this is quite the accomplishment for our department. Our training staff really stepped up. We have field training officers that participate in training these individuals and it requires a lot out of them, but to successfully have five people come off their probationary status and be a first-class patrol officer, and pushing our number to 39, is very significant for us because, obviously, the more people we have working, the less people being forced to work beyond their normal duty hours.”
He said they’ve had officers cover shifts for people, which, “when you work 4-and-2 rotations, and then you actually have to end up working one of those two days, it makes for a long week and it’s tough on the family, but all of our officers stepped up during that time period. Now, we’re in a position where we’re not having to do that as much.”
A key to filling the positions was the pay increase a couple years ago and then recently, Whitaker said.
“I think that using HR and trying to really promote our department” helped, he said.
A few years ago, the WPD had a promotional video made and that also helped in kickstarting new hirings, Whitaker said, though they may want do update that.
“I just think people that want to be police officers want to work for Warsaw, and live in our area, and a lot of that has to do with pay, but it’s also the community that we live in. This is a great place to work if you want to be a police officer,” he said.
At the tail-end of the Board of Works meeting, Thallemer thanked the families of the police officers that were sworn in Friday.
“These guys train hard. They don’t have an easy job. Sometimes they’re out in difficult circumstances. Families are home waiting for them to come home, and I’m just always touched when families come and we can really see what’s behind the face of our police officers. I just wanted to personally thank the families for their support,” Thallemer said.
During the Board of Public Works and Safety meeting Friday, five new officers were given their oath of office by city attorney Scott Reust. They included Sam Bohnke, Brandon Fugate, Dustin Kreft, Ryan Piper and Jeremy Rau.
Mayor Joe Thallemer said after the ceremony, “That was awesome. I don’t think we’ve had a group that big. I think that gets us up to 41 officers of our max of 42, so we’re really close. A great testimony to the recruiting of all the applicants. Just the whole deal here. It’s really gratifying to have that done.”
The Board of Works also approved the hiring of a new patrol officer, Drew Brewton. Brewton is currently a Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Office deputy, according to Warsaw Human Resource Director Denny Harlan, and Brewton will be coming on board with WPD this month. His full-time biweekly salary will be $2,439.84. Harlan said that puts the WPD at 41 officers.
Thallemer said the police force was down to about 32 at one point. Harlan said they’ve still got “a couple more in the pipelines so things are looking up for the police department.”
After the Board of Works meeting, Police Chief Scott Whitaker said the officers given the oath on Friday have been on board with the department for a year.
“Their probationary status ended at the completion of their one year, which is that way for all law enforcement officers in the state of Indiana. This process today was more of a celebratory oath of office because we give them an oath of office on being hired, but this was an opportunity to bring their family in, be recognized for successfully completing that one year because that probationary period is just that - the entire year is like their hiring process so they’ve got to get that one year in successfully complete,” Whitaker said.
All the requirements - the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy, field training and being certified and qualified in a number of different fields - had to be accomplished in that one year.
“They’ve accomplished that and so this is just an opportunity for us to recognize them for that,” Whitaker said, pointing out that this was the first time they ever had five officers take the oath at one time. Three was the most at one time previously. “But they were all five hired on the same day.”
Whitaker said that with the hire of Brewton that puts the police department at 39 officers, but an individual is going through the process right now and if they are successful that will put them at 40.
“We haven’t been at 40, to my knowledge; 42 is our full complement ... and we’re hoping in 2023 we’ll be able to accomplish that,” he said.
The police department has been several understaffed over the last several years, Whitaker said, “So this is quite the accomplishment for our department. Our training staff really stepped up. We have field training officers that participate in training these individuals and it requires a lot out of them, but to successfully have five people come off their probationary status and be a first-class patrol officer, and pushing our number to 39, is very significant for us because, obviously, the more people we have working, the less people being forced to work beyond their normal duty hours.”
He said they’ve had officers cover shifts for people, which, “when you work 4-and-2 rotations, and then you actually have to end up working one of those two days, it makes for a long week and it’s tough on the family, but all of our officers stepped up during that time period. Now, we’re in a position where we’re not having to do that as much.”
A key to filling the positions was the pay increase a couple years ago and then recently, Whitaker said.
“I think that using HR and trying to really promote our department” helped, he said.
A few years ago, the WPD had a promotional video made and that also helped in kickstarting new hirings, Whitaker said, though they may want do update that.
“I just think people that want to be police officers want to work for Warsaw, and live in our area, and a lot of that has to do with pay, but it’s also the community that we live in. This is a great place to work if you want to be a police officer,” he said.
At the tail-end of the Board of Works meeting, Thallemer thanked the families of the police officers that were sworn in Friday.
“These guys train hard. They don’t have an easy job. Sometimes they’re out in difficult circumstances. Families are home waiting for them to come home, and I’m just always touched when families come and we can really see what’s behind the face of our police officers. I just wanted to personally thank the families for their support,” Thallemer said.
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