The Start of the Greatest Career!

After accepting the job with UHP and being assigned to Millard County, specifically Fillmore, my wife and I decided to drive down and see about housing.  My wife, Nicole, had grown up in Utah County and lived her teenage years in Orem.  After getting off the freeway at the exit, we drove down Main St and after a few blocks came to the end of town.  Nicole looked at me and said, “Is that it?”  I told her that the town went a few blocks in each direction but that was about it.  She was in a bit of a culture shock.  We were able to meet a Millard Co Sheriff’s Deputy who gave us directions to the house of one of the troopers.  We were able to meet them and they were later able to assist us in getting a place to stay.  Before leaving, I ended up locking the keys in my truck and had to call a deputy to come unlock my truck.  What a way to introduce myself!

The house ended up being right on Main St.  What Nicole and I didn’t know is at that time there was no natural gas connections in Fillmore.  Houses were heated by oil, propane, or a wood burning stove.  Nicole and I didn’t have a lot of money and in order to get the oil you had to get a minimum of $100 of oil. We scraped up the money and were able to fill the tank.  

We later put a wood burning stove in the house to heat the home.  With not a lot of money, Nicole and I spent a lot of time playing cards and other games to pass the time.  This was a good thing for us.  We had just gotten married, moved to Fillmore, and were literally on our own.  This allowed us to truly grow closer together and build a foundation that has allowed us to remain together for over 20 years!

Living on Main St and having a UHP vehicle in the driveway made us the “information center” for those who were passing through town or lost.  Many times people knocked on our door asking us for information.  Unfortunately for them, we were new in town and often had no idea what the answer to the questions were that those who stopped by were asking!!

After being trained to work on the road by the troopers and getting on my own, I found police work exciting.  I had truly found the job that made me happy.  I decided that writing tickets was alright but arresting those who posed a real threat to the others was the real draw.  Stopping those who were impaired and those who trafficked large quantities of narcotics was very rewarding.  I would hear officers in Beaver County and Juab County making large drug arrests and knew they had to be driving through Millard County.  The troopers I was working with had not had a large seizure in a very long time.  I remember stopping a vehicle that had several ounces of marijuana in it.  It was not a large seizure but was the largest in Millard County for a long time. I remember sitting in the office talking with other officers when my Sergeant walked in.  I was still on probation and thought he was coming to congratulate me.  Instead he threw page with my statistics on them on my desk, told me I needed to write more tickets, and then walked out never saying anything about the arrest.  I was very confused.  I could tell he was serious and talking to him was not going to change anything.

A short time later a trooper I went through POST with, Joey Brumett, was killed on I-15 in Salt Lake County.  I was shocked by the report.  I had spent several weeks while in POST training with Joey and felt I had gotten to know him pretty well.  When I was hired by the UHP, Joey called me and congratulated me.  I was sick to my stomach and knew I would be attending the funeral.

 My Lieutenant (Lt), Bob Flowers, was at the funeral.  We had met before but had never really talked for any length of time.  I immediately felt very comfortable with Lt Flowers.  I joked with him at that time about going skiing.  A short time later, Lt Flowers called me and arranged for us to go to Brian Head to go skiing.  While there, I shared my experience about my Sergeant and telling me I needed to write more tickets.  Lt Flowers told me that I was doing a fine job and that I didn’t need to worry about how many tickets I was writing unless he told me I needed to write more tickets.  I knew at that moment that Lt Flowers had my back.  Because he had my back, I was going to do everything I could to keep his trust with me.  Even today, Lt Flowers (I believe he is a Chief at a department in Southern Utah) is someone who I still respect and give credit for the success of my career!

They say if you love what you do, you will never work a day in your life.  That has been true for me and my choice to become a police officer.  I have never, in over 20 years, work up and hated the idea of having to go to work.  I have had stress, ups and downs, but I have never had to “drag myself” into work.  I truly picked the greatest career for me!