PORT ANGELES — The city’s police department has four new officers in the training pipeline who could bring staffing back to optimal levels in the coming months.
Two of the new hires are in “various stages of police academy or field training,” Deputy Chief Brian Smith said in a news release, and they should be ready to patrol “on their own” by mid-February.
A third officer will be ready shortly after the first two, he said. The fourth one should be ready in July.
The four new hires join officers Anthony Bush and Jared Tait, who were hired in late 2014 and completed their field training in July and September 2015.
Port Angeles has two patrol squads optimally containing 12 officers each, Smith said.
This year, the department had six vacancies and a seventh officer out on leave, according to Smith.
Having the two squads short three or more officers puts the department below a “tipping point” where it could affect its ability to patrol the city, Smith said.
Staffing levels are a “moving target,” he said, and the department often has between two and six vacancies.
Officers Harold Balderson and Jeff Thaxton will be the first two to start patrol after their training.
Balderson was hired in September and is currently in the department’s field training and evaluation program. He graduated from the state Basic Law Enforcement Academy in March.
The new officer is a Neah Bay High School graduate and an eight-year U.S. Army veteran who attained the rank of sergeant in three overseas deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq. He was previously a Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe police officer.
Thaxton started working for Port Angeles on Oct. 26 following a move from the police department in Midlothian, Texas, where he was an officer for four years.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of North Texas.
Thaxton has “extensive background in physical fitness, firearms and tactics,” Smith said.
Smith expects new officer Whitney Fairbanks will start patrol after the first two officers.
Fairbanks was hired in June and completed the state Basic Law Enforcement Academy in October, graduating second in her class.
She is a 2011 Forks High School graduate and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in criminal justice from Washington State University in Pullman.
The fourth officer, Jeff Ordona, was hired Oct. 12 and is a 2001 Port Angeles High School graduate.
He has worked as a corrections officer for the Clallam County Sheriff’s Department and the state Department of Corrections at Clallam Bay.
Ordona started his Basic Law Enforcement Academy program Oct. 26, and Smith expects he will be ready to join the force in mid-July 2016.
The new officers, said Smith, “become employees the day they show up for work,” which includes attending the police academy and on-job training.
From hire to starting patrol, the process can take from four months to a year.
While the department is nearing a full staff level, Smith said, other officers could reach eligibility for retirement in January and create new vacancies.
He plans to conduct interviews next week for new hires in anticipation of new vacancies occurring.
We’ll feel the addition of the new officers, and the public should see the department working on problems — more proactively and less reactively, he said.
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Reporter Mark Swanson can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5054, or mswanson@peninsuladailynews.com.
