Benny Westcott
Twenty-nine-year-old Daniel Gerkman may be new to policing, but the blue runs in his family blood.
His father, Tim, is a Gladstone Police Department lieutenant who previously spent 33 years on the Gresham force, working his way up to captain. Brother Brian began with Fairview in 2012, four years before the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office took over that department. He was promoted to sergeant within the MCSO in 2020.
Now, Daniel’s following in their footsteps, having started May 31 in Sweet Home.
“Since I was a kid, it’s always been something that’s appealed to me,” he said of law enforcement. “I feel like everybody goes through those stages in life. When you’re little, you’re like, ‘I want to be exactly like my dad.’ Then you become a teenager and say, ‘I don’t want to be like my dad.’
“As I got older, I would see law enforcement going somewhere and I would get super-curious, and say, ‘I want to go help.’ It’s kind of been something I’ve always wanted, but I didn’t seriously try until the end of 2021 when I applied for Sweet Home.”
Gerkman has worked in a variety of positions since graduating from Gresham’s Sam Barlow High School in 2011. He joined the U.S. Army, where he was stationed in San Antonio, Texas, for more than a year and a half. Following that stint, he spent five years as a lead security officer at Providence Health and Services in Portland, also working in public safety at the Oregon Zoo. Then he served the metropolitan area for eight months as a 911 dispatcher, which helped him realize he wanted to become a cop.
“Getting into dispatch and seeing a different side of law enforcement made me realize more and more that that’s ultimately what my goal was going to be,” he said. “Seeing both my dad and brother do it kind of inspired me to go that route.”
Sweet Home police officer Trevor Sundquist worked with Gerkman at Providence and suggested he apply for a position in his city. Gerkman also went for the Hubbard Police Department. Either way, he knew he wanted to be in a relatively small town. (In his free time he enjoys fly fishing. He’s also on an adult slow-pitch softball team, the perfect diversion for a self-described “huge” baseball fan who played two years in high school.)
“Growing up in the Portland metro area, I saw what big-city policing is like, and it’s not something that appeals to me, versus being in a small town and getting to actually know the community,” he said. “As a community member down here, whether you’re in law enforcement or not, there’s the chance to make a difference.
“I’ve already gotten to know some people, both in good and bad ways, by first name. You just don’t get that opportunity in a bigger city. Sweet Home really appealed to me because of the opportunities there to do that. I’ve been learning a lot and meeting a ton of people. Everybody has been very welcoming, both people at the department and the community members. Everybody’s been great.”
Gerkman said one of his goals is to “shine a positive light on law enforcement.”
“Because it’s small-town policing, I can actually get out and talk with community members,” he said. “I want to be big on talking to people in a non-enforcement sense, like seeing an event going on in the city and getting out and walking around and chatting.”
He’s focused on lending a hand in his new zip code.
“I want to let [people] know that law enforcement’s there to help,” Gerkman said. “We do more than just take people to jail and write tickets.”