The Bozeman Police Department grew in numbers on Monday, and two members were promoted within the ranks.
Joseph Swanson has been promoted from Sergeant to Captain and is set to take over the Patrol Division of the Police Department. With this transition, Swanson’s position lays vacant for Detective Lucas Chaffins, who was promoted to Sergeant and will supervise a Patrol Shift.
“Aside from having a new officer is having new people in new positions. We promoted a Captain, we promoted a Sergeant, and as you can imagine that creates open positions they held previously,” Chief Jim Veltkamp said. “So we have new people in new places, which always gives us a fresh perspective, fresh ideas.”
With fresh ideas come new faces, and out of all the different applicants to the department, newly sworn Officer Brandon Tedder solely made the cut.
“This is something I’ve actually always wanted to do ever since I was in grade school. I had an officer that was impactful in my life and I wanted to do the same for people within this community as well,” Tedder said.
The Bozeman Police Department, like many organizations in Bozeman, is looking for qualified employees to fill positions.
“As we can see, Bozeman is growing extremely fast, and a lot of places are hiring. Law enforcement is struggling right now to hire good people,” Veltkamp said.
Deputy Chief Andy Knight knows this all too well, as he elaborates on the work he and the department do.
“We’re working a lot of overtime right now to fill in some of those gaps; we ask a lot of our staff and they come through,” Knight said.
Although the addition of Tedder won’t solve the strain of a worker shortage, following his training, the department is sure to notice a small relief in their work.
