Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on January 18, 2022

Philip Boor was sworn in last week as the newest member of the New Palestine Police Department. Hell go through several months of training.

NEW PALESTINE Its been several months since Bob Ehle, the New Palestine town marshal, had a full police force to work with. The department took another step toward better protecting the community with the recent swearing in of Philip Boor as the towns newest officer.

Boor wont be the only new hire as the department expands to seven full-time officers with another hire coming.

The growth at the police department comes as the demand for services increases in the growing town.

The force had been down an officer after the deputy town marshal, Greg Evans, stepped down in December. Evans, who had been with the department since 2007, had missed several months of work for medical reasons before officially resigning.

Boor, who will have to go through several months of local and state training, has a degree from Anderson University. Hes also a fitness trainer and a member of the Indiana Army National Guard, where he is trained as a combat medic

Boor was officially sworn in on Jan. 5 during the town councils monthly meeting.

I shall do my utmost to be a credit to the community, Boor said during the ceremony.

Boor is currently going through a 40-hour basic law enforcement course. Hell then go to road school, working with each officer on the department. In May, hell head to the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy.

Ehle, who has been with the town since 2001, is supposed to be the administrator of the police department, overseeing scheduling, training, the budget and community outreach. But because the department has been short-staffed, he has often gone on patrol as well.

Ehle plans to continue some patrol work until Boor is fully trained. Ehle will then hire one more officer within the next month to bring the force up to seven, the largest its ever been.

That officer is expected to start at the end of the month and has already gone through state training.

Its going to be tough to replace all of that experience that Evans had, but weve got some eager, young officers coming in now, and its going to be good, Ehle said.

With Evans stepping down Ehle moved the next officer with the most seniority, Sgt. Jessy Walley, into second in command. Walley has been with the department since 2015 and has been a steady presence on the force, Ehle said. Theyve also taken officer Wade Whitaker, who was hired as a school resource officer for New Palestine High School in 2019, and made him a full time officer for the department to focus more on town coverage.

Whitaker is still overseeing the resource officers position at NPHS. The towns other officers and deputies from the Hancock County Sheriffs Department also fill in as resource officers.

There is no lax in coverage there, just different coverage, Ehle said.

Ehle would like to see his force grow to at least nine officers within the next year or two and feels it will out of necessity.

Our current council does understand the need, Ehle said. Its always just a matter of money and when that comes in because we are seeing lots of growth, but it takes years for those taxes to filter back in.

Bill Niemier, council president, noted the importance of having a police department large enough to cover the rapidly growing area.

Growth in the police department needs to follow growth in the town, Niemier said. Well add the next officer here in few weeks and hope that is sufficient for a while, but well just have to see.

Originally posted here:

New Palestine hires officer; second post to be filled - Greenfield Daily Reporter

Category: Palestine
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