PORT ANGELES — Justin Leroux has no problem trading in an Army Blackhawk helicopter for a patrol car.
The 26-year-old former National Guard pilot is one of two new officers hired by the Port Angeles Police Department, thanks to a $500,210 federal Justice Department grant that permits the department to add two officers to bring its ranks to 33.
“I didn’t want to sit behind a desk,” said Leroux when explaining why he chose to become a police officer.
He has spent most of this month trailing veteran officers and detectives on the job, and will head to the state’s police academy in Burien on Tuesday.
But before he graduates in February and returns to finish his on-the-job training, the department will already have another officer on patrol.
Kori Malone, 32, is leaving her job as a Sequim police detective to join the Port Angeles police force.
She begins her new job Oct. 5.
The grant awarded to the department in July is part of a $1 billion stimulus program to put police on the streets under a program called Community Oriented Policing Services, or COPS.
The grant pays for the positions’ salary and benefits for three years. All police departments receiving the grants will be required to retain the positions for at least a fourth year.
Nationwide, the Justice Department approved only 1,000 applications from more than 7,000 police agencies applying.
Police Chief Terry Gallagher said it would be up to city staff and the City Council to decide after three years if they maintain a level of law enforcement of 33 positions, or let it drop back down through attrition.
The 33 positions had been authorized, Gallagher has said, but only 31 had been funded.
Gallagher said PAPD, when fully staffed, has 1.71 officers per thousand population, compared with a state average of 2.07 officers per thousand people.
Port Angeles’ estimated population is 19,200.
He said he would like to see Port Angeles have 38 officers, but the decision comes down to, “What can you afford?”
Gallagher spoke highly of both Leroux and Malone.
‘Most important decisions’
“The most important decisions a police chief is who I hire,” he said.
While a rookie, Leroux has a desire to learn that will “pay off in his career,” Gallagher said, and Malone is “well spoken of by Child Protective Services and the [Clallam County Prosecuting Attorney’s] Office.”
They both come with at least four years of college education.
Leroux has a bachelor’s degree in criminology and sociology from Washington State University and Malone has a master’s degree in criminal justice from Boston University.
Gallagher said it’s important for the department to have as many officers as possible who have earned at least bachelor’s degrees because, statistically, officers with college educations have fewer complaints.
“They have more tools in their box to do the job more effectively,” he added.
Malone said she took the job in Port Angeles because it will provide more career opportunities.
Although she has worked for more than two years as a detective, she will have to start again as a patrol officer.
“I am basically hitting the reset button with my career in certain ways,” she said.
“You don’t go in as a detective anywhere.”
Leroux said he has found the Port Angeles police force to be a good fit for him. He hopes to work on the local drug task force some day.
He said he looks forward to coming back from the academy to do what he is trained to do and “hopefully make the community a better place.”
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.