Sean C. Morgan
Sweet Home Police Department Officer Dave Hicox has law enforcement in his blood.
Hicox is the department’s newest police officer. He started work on Feb. 13, but Police Chief Bob Burford requested that The New Era delay publication of a story on the new officer for department purposes since he was on special assignment.
Hicox grew up in Molalla and graduated from high school at Springfield in 2002. He worked for a brief time in Springfield manufacturing random access memory cards for computers and then joined the Army, where he served for six years in Korea, Iraq and Tennessee in the Army Military Police.
“That’s really where my passion for law enforcement sprouted,” Hicox said.
He worked for Springfield Police Department and earned his certification prior to coming to Sweet Home.
“I love the small town,” Hicox said. “It feels like home.”
It’s a lot like where he grew up, he said. “It feels like home to me. I like the fact that I can walk around and see people I’ve met in the past.”
He also enjoys the outdoors, camping, fishing and hunting, he said, and living here is definitely a blessing. He enjoys the two lakes and mountains, still being close to the valley but not having to fight rush-hour traffic.
“I am a small-town guy,” Hicox said.
“Pretty much, growing up, I always looked up to police officers, always saw them as a role model,” Hicox said. His brothers in law are officers in the Seattle area, and his mother has been dispatcher for Springfield most of her life.
“It’s just something I’m familiar with, grew up with,” Hicox said. His stepfather was an officer in Seaside.
“It’s a good place for me,” he said. “I like it a lot. The blanket statement: I like to help people.”
He enjoys the camaraderie, “being part of something bigger than yourself,” he said. It reminds him of the Army.
While serving in the military police, he worked as a canine handler, Hicox said. “I have a passion for it. The ability to work with a dog in the future would be nice.”
He also enjoys leadership roles, he said. He was a sergeant in the Army and most enjoyed training people. He thinks he would enjoy working as a detective at some point, but that’s one of the reasons he enjoys working in a small-town department.
Officers in small towns, like Sweet Home, get a chance to work a case a little, he said. In the bigger cities, a patrol officer takes a report and hands it off to a detective.
Hicox attended Central Texas College and Lane Community College, he said. He is close to completing an associate’s degree in criminal justice, and he plans to complete it online or at night classes once he gets settled here.
He is single, with no children, but he does have two dogs.