PORT TOWNSEND – One is a former newspaper reporter and the other recently returned from a stint in Iraq as an Army reservist.
They are now Port Townsend police officers.
Luke Bogues, 25, and Nathan Holmes, 40, were hired to the understaffed police force on Wednesday after Police Chief Conner Daily received the go-ahead from the city’s Civil Service Commission.
With their addition to the department, it brings the number of officers – including Daily – to 15 after being understaffed for months.
The department is currently budgeted for 16 police officers, and Daily is still interviewing for the final position, he said.
Bogues, who will hit the streets Feb. 2 as a full-time staff officer, said he was too excited to sleep Wednesday night after learning he got the job.
He’s been a reserve officer since August and said for years he’s had his eye on the position he was offered on Wednesday.
“You can be as active or as inactive as you want [as a reserve],” Bogues said.
“Getting on full-time was my goal, so I used my time as a reserve to be as much of a full-time officer as I could be.”
