 "Photo: N/A")
Three new officers were sworn into the OSU Police Department Friday afternoon.
Brett Palmer attended OSU’s Oklahoma City campus and majored in police science. He started out in Target’s produce department, looking out for shoplifters and reporting them to security officials. Palmer also worked as a loss prevention manager at Kohl’s, a major department store chain, in Midwest City.
“I got a taste (for police work) catching shoplifters,” Palmer said.
Leslie Grotheer, a 2005 graduate from the University of Oklahoma, said she “fell into” police work. After she graduated from OU, she spent three years as a dispatcher for the Stillwater Police Department. Academically, she graduated at the top of her class from the Council on Law Enforcement Education and Training Academy.
“I can’t imagine doing anything else,” she said.
Terry Low was born in Stillwater, worked as an emergency medical technician and volunteered as a fire fighter. He graduated with an associate degree in natural science from Northeastern Oklahoma A & M in Miami, Okla., in 2005. In 2008, Low got his paramedic degree from the Meridian Technology Center.
Low said he chose to become a police officer to help people.
Low, Grotheer and Palmer graduated from CLEET on Dec. 22, according to documents from the OSU Police Department. The CLEET Academy lasts 14 weeks.
During the ceremony, the OSU Police Department Chief Michael Robinson said, “We think they have the kind of character we’re looking for.”
These officers have been on shifts for about a week, but their training started a week before that, said Leon Jones, OSU Police Department’s training lieutenant. Jones said OSU’s police training isn’t different from city police training. In the training program, Jones helped Grotheer, Low and Palmer get ready for CLEET.
“They’re all intelligent and learn quickly,” Jones said.
The new officers are training with OSU’s other officers for another 13 weeks in four phases, and their responsibility increases with each phase, Grotheer said.
“They’re a pretty good group,” he said.
Low, Grotheer and Palmer could specialize in an area, like bike instruction or alcohol awareness, but they said it’s too soon for them to know where their interests lie.
The last time OSU police hired officers was in 2007, Jones said. OSU hired seven officers that year. With Low, Grotheer and Palmer, the OSU Police Department now has 31 officers.
Grotheer said to get hired as officers at the OSU Police Department, the officers have to go through a physical test, an interview and take a polygraph.
Because OSU pays for CLEET training, officers are required to make a three-year commitment to OSU, Jones said.
“It’s a big blessing to be fully staffed,” said Linda Bass, OSU Police Department administrative assistant. “This is the first time in several years we’ve been fully staffed.”
The new officers said something about their first few shifts that surprised them was how busy it was.
“A lot more goes on than you’d think,” Palmer said.
Be the first to comment on this article!