July 19, 2013

Santa Cruz Police Department Swears-In Our 3 Newest Employees



 


The Santa Cruz Police Department has three more added to the ranks.  On Thursday July 18th we held a ceremony to “Swear In” our 3 new hires.  Here they are:

Brent Northrup
Brent is "pinned" by Sergeant Jon Bush

Brent worked for our department from 1996 to 2006.  He relocated to meet some family obligations and worked for Roseville PD for the past 7 years.  We are glad to have him back.  Brent is a skilled officer with an expertise in cybercrime.

Nick Kramer
 Nick is sworn-in by Chief Vogel

Nick has been working in the wine industry for the past 5 years.  He is a local having graduated from Watsonville High in 2002.  Nick put himself through the police academy while working full time…a daunting task indeed requiring dedication and extremely hard work.

Kelly Hobbs
Kelly is sworn-in by Chief Vogel
 
Kelly is our newest Community Service Officer.  She will work with our uniformed non sworn staff in our parks and downtown.  Kelly is also a local area person having graduated from San Lorenzo Valley High in 2008.  Kelly has been working in retail while attending college.

All three of our new hires hold a college degree for various subjects.  We are excited to have them as part of our team.  We feel they will be a great fit for our department and community. 
 
While this is welcomed news, we still have a ways to go.  Currently we have 8 openings, in spite of hiring these 3.  We also have 3 others in the Police Academy.  While the 3 in the Academy are “hired” (and not considered open positions) they do not increase out net available officers until they complete their training sometime around February 2014.  Adding to our staffing shortages is that we currently have 5 officers out on serious long-term injuries.  While they are working hard to get back, their time away reduces our available staff.  In total we have 16 either open or positions not available.  This puts significant strain on the staff that is working.   
Help is on the way, as we have 6 other perspective candidates in various stages of the hiring process.  They still have significant hurdles to cross, such as background investigations, medical and psychological screening as well.

Meanwhile we are quite pleased to welcome Brent, Nick and Kelly to our family.  They certainly have their work cut out for them.