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Manteno’s police force continues to get younger.
Two new officers recently were hired and, after crunching a few numbers, Manteno Police Chief Alan Swinford said the force has 22 officers and 13 have four years or less time with the force.
While this new batch of cops are not grizzled veterans, Swinford insists the quality of the officers is top-drawer.
“I say it all the time; it might be luck but, whatever it is, I’m thrilled with the quality of candidates who apply here and the people we are able to hire,” he said at the December 16 village board meeting. “We’re in really good shape.
“Some places have openings and get eight to apply. We get 48 to apply. Getting to the top of the list is no easy task. There is a lot of competition. We’re very lucky.”
Angellyn Hurtado of Oak Forest was sworn in at the meeting, while Benjamin Elzinga will be sworn in at a future date.
Swinford said Hurtado has a passion for helping people and originally was looking to do social work.
“She came to this area like a lot of people come to this area because of Olivet Nazarene University, where she went to school,” he said. “She actually came to the Manteno Police Department as an intern, and that’s where we really got to know her.
“If you ask her, she probably would have said law enforcement was not on her radar as a career; I think social work was. But in the weeks she spent with us, she learned a lot about law enforcement and what the police really do, as opposed to what we think they really do.”
Swinford said Elzinga, of Herscher, is a Kankakee Community College graduate who worked at the school as a student officer and has some experience working security at Riverside Medical Center in Kankakee.
“If you’ve ever been to the Riverside (emergency room) on a Friday night, that is a hoppin’ place, and he got some really good experience there,” Swinford continued. “Talk about young officers, Ben is taking it to a new level. He wasn’t even 21 when we interviewed him. He was 20. He just turned 21, but he interviewed great, and we’re thrilled to have him, too.”
Schedule set
Board meetings for 2025 will continue to be held on the first and third Monday of the month, except in three instances.
The January 20 meeting will be moved to January 22 due to Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
The February 17 meeting will move to February 18 because of Presidents Day.
And the September 1 meeting will change to September 2 because of Labor Day
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