Ethan Hoagland
Sweet Home’s final October city council meeting kicked off with the addition of two new officers to the police department. Officers Mark Birkett and Jayson Sanchez were officially sworn in by city manager Kelcey Young.
“I’m excited. Oh yeah, I’m really excited,” Sweet Home Police Chief Jason Ogden said about the new hires.
It’s a big deal for the town of Sweet Home, especially in the hiring of Mark Birkett. Birkett is a lateral hire from the Linn County Sheriff’s Office who previously worked as a police officer in Sweet Home. On top of having local experience, he also won’t need to redo state level training, something that saves the police department a lot of time.
“I’m super excited because with the lateral, that person will be able to go solo patrol pretty quickly,” Ogden said. “And it’s helpful that he’s been here before, years ago, so he’s familiar with the area.”
A new contract at the police department offering higher wages may have played a role in Birkett’s hiring.
“We recently had renegotiated our wages; cause our union’s contract was up here last year,” Ogden said. “We were able to get some better wages, some benefits. And that was, I think, at least in part one of the reasons he decided to come back.”
Sanchez will have to go through the academy to meet state training requirements.
“If they’re brand new hires with no experience, then, you know, that training takes up to probably nine months to a year,” Ogden said. “They have to go to the academy then they have to go through our training requirements around here. It’s a bit of a process.”
Friends and family of the two officers packed the chamber hall to watch as their SHPD badges were pinned to their chests for the first time.
The two of them officially started on Monday, October 30. A full feature on the two officers will appear in the next edition of this paper.