The New Hampton Police Department (NHPD) will be back to a full, full-time staff next month, while additional help is already available as needed.
The NHPD has been short-handed for the past three months, a situation that began with the resignation of then-Police Chief Tim Pederson over an off-duty incident. Officer Doug Eagan was then named interim chief, but he himself resigned less than two weeks later after almost 16 years with the department. Officer Chad McGee took over as interim chief on May 9th.
Last month, the New Hampton City Council hired Conrad Rosendahl as their new Chief of Police, with the former Lansing Police Chief taking over as NHPD chief on July 1st. That still left the department one officer short.
During their meeting Monday (07.15) night, the City Council approved the hiring of officer Darby Stone to start August 11th. Mayor Steve Geerts says Stone is a certified officer who brings five years of experience to a department that has experienced staff shortages in recent years for various reasons.
To further fill that void, the Council also approved the hiring of Mar-Mac Chief of Police Robert Millin and Troy Riehm, a certified officer employed with an emergency medical service, as part-time “on call” officers.
Geerts says having those police officer hires in place is a big relief to the City.
