SHELBY — Two-year-old Aralena Howard held the police badge in her tiny hands, tilting it back and forth and watching the reflections shift in its silver surface. Her father held her snug in his arms as he took his oath of office, joining the ranks of the Shelby Police Department.
The department swore in two new officers Friday afternoon and recognized a handful of recent hires and promotions. Dustin Howard was joined by Derek Rose, a 2017 graduate of Shelby High School.
Both men are Army veterans and former infantrymen who start the North Central State College Police Academy on Monday.
Rose said he felt a sense of purpose during his three years in the Army. He hopes to find similar meaning serving the community of Shelby.
“I’m very fortunate to be able to come back home and serve the community that served me so very much,” he said.
“Every Friday night or anytime we had games during basketball season, they were always there cheering you on. As a 15-, 16-, 17-year-old kid, going out and everyone knowing your name, that’s just special. In places like Columbus, Cleveland, you just don’t get stuff like that. It’s very genuine. I wanted to get back to the place that gave me that feeling on growing up.”
Rose’s grandfather Michael Will teared up as the ceremony came to a close.
“It’s awesome,” Will said, choking back tears. “I’m proud of him.”
Howard, who served in the military for six years, was joined by his wife Gilberta, daughter Aralena and son Gabriel. He thanked the city, police department and his wife for their support.
“He’s a great dad and a great husband. I know he’s going to do awesome at this,” Gilberta said after the ceremony. “He’s very ambitious and always gets everything done.”
Shelby Police Chief Lance Combs said both men signed an agreement to work for the Shelby Police Department for five years after completing the academy. In exchange, the department is sponsoring their training and paying them while they attend.
If either officer leaves before the five years are up, they will have to pay back the academy fees.
Combs said it’s the first time the department has sponsored students since he joined in 1990, but there’s a historic precedent for it. It was a solution a former Shelby police chief came up with after a hiring dry spell in the late 1960s.
“In the early ’70s, we had a new wave of people that were hired that had not been to the police academy, and oddly enough, most of them were military veterans — some returning from Vietnam, some that had served peacetime service during Vietnam stateside,” Combs said.
“The social unrest of the late ’60s and the military presence due to conflict is really being repeated right now. And what’s our solution now? Our solution now is to hire people and send them to the police academy.”
Combs thanked the city’s Civil Service Commission, particularly outgoing city councilman Garland Gates, for allowing the department to bring the practice back.
“The fact that these guys have an opportunity to go and serve the community, I really honestly owe that to Councilman Gates,” Combs said.
“At the 11th hour, when we were running out of time to try to get two gentlemen to try to get them into the police academy, I had a 10- or 15-minute phone conversation with Mr. Gates, he invited me to a committee meeting and at that committee meeting had already laid out a plan to make it happen and at the subsequent council meeting made that happen.”
Combs said the new recruits will likely report to the department during any school holidays and could start some first year training, like learning to dispatch calls.
“Our goal is to maximize that time and put them through as much beginning training (as possible), so that when they come back, we’ve taken some of the steps out of the whole field training process.
Combs said it’s a tough time for police departments everywhere in terms of hiring and retention.
“We can either stick to, ‘We’ve always done it this way’ and be stagnant and just continue to wither away, or we can change with the times and find innovative ways to attract and retain people,” he said.
The department also recognized Ethan Yates, a 2019 Shelby High School graduate who wrapped up his time at the North Central State Police Academy earlier this year. Yates started March 2 and should finish his field training on June 16. His brother Zach, a police officer in Pittsburgh, wished him a long and successful career as he pinned his badge.
It was a full circle moment for Yates, who pinned his brother’s police badge when he started five years ago.
“I just want to thank city Shelby for giving me this opportunity to serve my community and my family for allowing me to have this opportunity,” he said.
Yates also has a cousin who is a police officer in Delaware.
“What Ethan has that a lot of people don’t have coming up is other family members to lean on, to learn from, confide in and talk to and that helps that transition,” Combs said.
“When you have problems, I’m sure you’re going to call your brother and he’s going to tell you like the rest of us, ‘Suck it up.’”
Combs also recognized Det. Adam Turner and Sgt. Joe Artrip.
According to Combs, the department’s detective bureau was founded in the 1970s and later scrapped due to budget cuts and other issues.
“We tried to find a way to bring it back, but staffing just didn’t allow it,” Combs said.
The detective bureau was finally reinstated in 2021, when Turner was assigned to assist in the Melinda Kay Davis missing person investigation, which later turned into a homicide investigation.
“We went ahead and created a detective bureau at that time, and moved (Turner) in the spring of 2021,” Combs said.
“Right now he handles all of our background investigations, long-term investigations. He’s one of the three internal IT managers that we have. As of the last couple of years, he’s primarily been focused on just doing background investigations.”
Artrip graduated from the North Central State Police Academy in 2020. He joined the department in October 2020 and was promoted almost two years later.
Combs said it typically takes at least five years to get promoted within the department.
“Joe takes every assignment gets everything done that needs to be done,” Combs said. “He does a fantastic job. He currently leads our recruitment efforts and our hiring board.”
Artrip didn’t get a ceremony at the time of his promotion due to a staffing crunch.
“I think we swore him in and started him that night as a sergeant,” Combs said.
Artrip thanked the community for their trust and his coworkers for their support.
Combs also recognized officers Justin Hoffman and Hannah Hall, who couldn’t have public swearing in ceremonies due to COVID and other timing issues.
Nearly all of the officers recognized were graduates or students of the North Central State Police Academy. Combs said he appreciated the chance to partner with the organization to attract and retain local talent.
“They have a very successful program,” he said. “The graduation rate is outstanding and we’re happy to partner with them in order to get some of their graduates.”
