Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
Working as a dispatcher is the first step in a planned law enforcement career for Stephanie Erickson, 19, who recently was hired by the Sweet Home Police Department.
Erickson completed her high school diploma at Linn-Benton Community College in 2004 after being home schooled.
She has held a full-time job since she was 15, painting houses in Bend and then working at Enchanted Forest just south of Salem.
Before going to work at SHPD, she was office manager at an adult foster care home for the developmentally disabled in Lebanon.
She’s not sure how she got interested in law enforcement, she said. “I started out wanting to work primarily with children.”
In law enforcement, she initially wanted to investigate sex crimes, she said, but after a discussion with an instructor about her passion for stopping sex crimes, she decided it would be a better idea for her not to work in that area.
“I do still want to help kids,” she said, and “I would like to be a police officer.”
Law enforcement caught her attention at a job fair, and she has been certain of her goal since then, she said.
She is married to Joe Borello. They have no children.
She has two terms left at LBCC in criminal justice, with a minor in psychology, she said. She plans to earn a master’s degree in psychology and minor in criminal justice with the intent of becoming a police officer later on.
She will attend training at the police academy in Salem later this year.