The New Hampton Police Department (NHPD) has hired a new officer to round out its roster.
This week, the New Hampton City Council approved the hiring of Cory Frank, currently a St. Louis County Park Ranger in Missouri. Frank will start later this month, but Chief Tim Pederson says he’ll head off to police academy training in January, although that’s a little sooner than preferred.
Despite the hire, it will be next May before Frank is a certified officer. While he’s in the academy, NHPD will continue operating one officer short, as they have for the past seven months.
When the position came open in May, after an officer-in-training resigned for family reasons, Pederson himself had only been New Hampton Police Chief for about a month.
Pederson adds that, while Frank is not a certified officer, he has vast related experience as a park ranger.
