Staff
Sweet Home Police Department’s newest police officer enjoys working with people.
Jerred Nelson, 23, of Albany started work on Nov. 1. He graduated from the Police Academy in January and worked as a Linn County deputy until July.
“We’re excited to have him,” said Police Chief Jeff Lynn. “We have high hopes for him. I think his personality will fit in well, seems highly motivated.”
Nelson said he received a call from the police chief, suggesting he apply for an open position in Sweet Home. Lynn had heard about Nelson from Lebanon police.
Nelson completes his certification as a police officer when he completes his field training.
Nelson will commute to Sweet Home for now, he said, but “we’d like to move out this way. My wife and I both go out to (Community) Chapel.”
Nelson grew up in Lacomb and graduated from East Linn Christian Academy in 2010. He earned his associate’s degree in criminal justice from Linn-Benton Community College.
A football player who played linebacker and wide receiver at Lebanon High School, he played for a year at Pacific University in Forest Grove, where he was a linebacker. He also played basketball at ELCA and baseball at LHS.
He had planned to become a physical therapist, but he decided he didn’t want to attend school that long.
He married his high school sweetheart, Whitley Nelson, and went to work at Sweet Home Safeway.
After three months at the Sweet Home Safeway, he transferred to Albany, where he was training to be a manager, and he started taking business classes at LBCC.
But he hated business.
Pastor Mark McCartin of Community Chapel helped guide him into his new career.
“He suggested, ‘What about being a cop? You ever think of that?’” Nelson said. “One of our close family friends is a retired police officer.”
He suggested that Nelson get involved as a cadet in Corvallis, so he signed on in the cadet program with Corvallis Police Department.
“I really liked that kind of work,” Nelson said. He began studying criminal justice at school.
“For the first time, I actually liked going to school and started getting good grades,” he said. “It really clicked. I really feel like this is what I’m supposed to be doing.”
He likes working with people and providing a benefit to the community, he said. He enjoys the variety of work available in law enforcement.
“I like going out and patrolling and doing my own self-initiated activity,” Nelson said, ranging from patrolling traffic and looking for suspects with outstanding warrants to making a field contact and having a conversation.
Nelson is happy working in Sweet Home, he said. “I really like the closeness not only of the community but of the department. It’s a real friendly feeling here at the department.”
In the long term, he is “trying to keep all options open,” he said, while learning the job and building a great foundation. Down the road, he would be interested in advancement.
The Nelsons have no children, but they do have two dogs, Cain and Corso, Italian mastiffs.
In his free time, he enjoys the outdoors, hiking and camping. He has helped coach football at Santiam Christian in Corvallis.
This was his first year as an assistant coach, and his team lost 27-20 to Vale in the 3A Division state title game in Hermiston on Nov. 28.
Nelson’s wife is applying to medical school and hoping to attend Comp Northwest in Lebanon.