 All four were sworn into duty by city attorney Blinn Bates.
Below is a copy of the information provided to the council about the
four men as it was presented by Mike Geriets, assistant chief of the
Lincoln Police Department.
(Copy)
One year ago we
hired two officers from our very first lateral entry list. This
allowed us to hire experienced, Illinois Certified Police Officers
who have already been trained elsewhere. We hired; Miles Craig and
Aaron Pickett who were previously employed as deputies for the Logan
County Sheriff's Department.
By having a lateral
entry program our department is able to save thousands of dollars in
training costs which reduces the time that it would normally take to
train an officer by nearly six months. We can usually have an
officer working solo patrol within four weeks when a new hire could
take as long as long as 3 months academy time followed by 3-5 months
of field training time.
I'm happy to say
both Officer Craig and Officer Pickett have performed well, during
their one year probationary period and have earned the right to be
sworn in as full time employees for the City of Lincoln.
Miles Craig has 7
years experience as a police officer and has taken on several
challenges in this past year. Lincoln Police Department has sent
Officer Craig to training in which he will now seek out grants for
our department to take advantage of. He also has taken over as our
"Tow Officer" and will oversee all vehicle tow-ins and vehicle
seizures. He has volunteered for the extra duties, which shows a
great deal of character and enthusiasm. Miles is married and a child
on the way.
Aaron Pickett has
15 years experience as a police officer and also came to us with
valuable law enforcement training. Aaron has held positions as a
narcotics investigator with the Illinois State Police Central
Illinois Enforcement Group, Special Operations Group of the Logan
County Sheriff's Dept., along with having training as a CSI (Crime
Scene Investigator) receiving training from the Illinois State
Police. Officer Pickett gets called in when he's off duty to process
crime scenes for our Criminal Investigation Division. Aaron has a
girlfriend of several years and three children.
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I am proud to
announce that both of these officers have earned their right to
become full time employees with the Lincoln Police Department.
I am proud to
introduce two new probationary employees of the Lincoln Police
Department who were also hired under the lateral entry program.
Officer Paul Cooper
comes to us from Posen Police Department a Chicago suburb. Officer
Cooper has 11 years experience as a police officer and was last
assigned as a night shift supervisor. He is a certified Field
Training Officer, Firearms Range Instructor, Juvenile Officer, and
has received training as a crime scene technician. Paul has been
married for 7 years and he has a 3 year old son. I am proud to
introduce Officer Paul Cooper as a probationary officer with the
Lincoln Police Department.
Officer Maurice
Johnson comes to with five years previous police experience from the
Galesburg Police Department. He has held certifications as a Field
Training Officer, Juvenile Officer, and bicycle officer. He has
received training as an incident commander. Maurice is a single man.
I am proud to introduce Officer Maurice Johnson as a probationary
officer with the Lincoln Police Department. I am proud to introduce
Officer Maurice Johnson as a probationary officer with the Lincoln
Police Department.
[Copy of text from Mike Geriets,
assistant chief of police,
Lincoln Police Deparment]
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