Landing a job as a Seymour police officer couldn’t have worked out better for Derrick Shelley.

The 23-year-old Seymour native did a ride-along at the department his junior year at Ball State University in Muncie. From mid-May to July 19 this year, Shelley did an internship as a prerequisite for graduation.

He then applied for a job with the department

and stayed in touch with officers by doing a few ride-alongs.

Shelley was officially sworn in as an officer Aug. 28, and he is now at the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy in Plainfield receiving even more training.

“I took the internship, and I gave everything I had, put everything into the internship,” Shelley said. “They told me they were hiring me, and that was a really good day. I still talk to people I went to college with, and they still don’t have jobs. I got extremely lucky.”

With Shelley coming on board and 29-year-old North Vernon native Seth Sage starting at the department Nov. 17, that puts the officer count at 39 — one short of a full staff.

Chief Bill Abbott said he will be hiring one more officer. An application can be filled out at the department, 205 N. Ewing St., or downloaded online at seymourpd.com. Testing will start in January.

Shelley said he didn’t consider being a police officer until he took an entry-level criminal justice class his freshman year at Ball State. He wound up majoring in criminal justice and criminology and minoring in digital forensics.

The winter before his senior year, he contacted Seymour about an internship. That was considered a class, and he had to fill out an application, get a teacher recommendation and show proof of good grades.

Shelley was accepted, and the internship was 40 hours a week throughout the summer. His teacher met with him once at Ball State and once at Seymour Police Department for a progress report meeting.

Even though there were certain things he couldn’t do since he wasn’t a sworn-in

officer, it was a valuable learning experience.

“During my four years of criminal justice, you learn a lot in the classroom, and that 10 weeks (internship) was where you really got to put that into practice,” he said. “I wanted to take this opportunity to learn and absorb as much knowledge from what the officers on the street told me. The internship really helped with my relationship with the department and showing them what I was capable of before they hired me.”

Since he was hired, Shelley has been going through the officer field training process, where he always has someone with him providing training.

Fifteen weeks at the academy is in the middle of that training. That includes classroom work, physical training, defensive tactics, firearms and more.

Most weeks, he will stay there Monday through Friday and come home on the weekend. But there are a couple of breakout weeks with specialized training where he has to stay through Friday.

Once he is done with the academy, Shelley will go through the final phase of the officer field training process. An evaluation will determine if he’s ready to be on his own.

Shelley said he plans on spending many years at his hometown police department.

“I wanted to stay here locally because I know the rapport that Seymour police has, and I was like, ‘That’s the place that I want to work,’” he said.

Before Sage was hired at Seymour, he had three years of experience as a reserve officer with North Vernon Police Department and had worked with Jackson County Emergency Medical Services since 2008.

“I started in EMS and just kind of started moving into law and started reserving, and I thought I really liked it a lot better than the EMS side,” Sage said.

Reserve officers volunteer their time and are not paid. Sage was required to work at least 16 hours a month, and he had to attend firearms training once a year.

“From the EMS side, I just saw helping people mostly,” he said. “But from the law side, you are serving, and you’re getting out there and stopping crime or trying to prevent it … just trying to educate the

public more. I kind of like that, being more of a role model for people to look to.”

From attending school at Seymour Christian Academy to his work as a reserve officer and emergency medical technician, Sage became familiar with a lot of people in Seymour.

Within the past year, Sage applied to both Indiana State Police and Seymour Police Department. Physical training for both were on the same day, and he chose the state police program.

By early summer, he hadn’t received an offer from the state police. He then pursued a job at Seymour and wound up getting hired.

“It’s where I wanted to be, really,” he said. “It was closer to home. I didn’t have to put in a long time at the academy because state (academy) goes nearly double. It was going to be harder on the family to go to state, so I was kind of fortunate this worked out and that didn’t. It kind of put me exactly where I wanted to be.”

Sage is set to start at the police academy March 30.

“I am looking forward to just getting through the academy and getting on the road and getting back to doing what I like to do,” he said. “I like being out there in action, interacting with the public and stuff like that. I’m just looking forward to having a good career, advancing and doing my best.”

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Name: Derrick Shelley

Age: 23

Hometown: Seymour

Residence: Seymour

High school: Trinity Lutheran (2010)

College: Ball State University (2014, bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and criminology with a minor in digital forensics)

Occupation: Officer with Seymour Police Department

Family: Parents, Kevin and Nancy Shelley; sister, Danielle Shelley; brother, Denver Shelley

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Name: Seth Sage

Age: 29

Hometown: North Vernon

Residence: North Vernon

High school: Seymour Christian Academy (2004)

Occupation: Officer with Seymour Police Department

Experience: Emergency medical technician with Jackson County Emergency Medical Services (2008-14); reserve officer with North Vernon Police Department (2011-14)

Family: Wife, Kelsey Sage; two children

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Seymour Police Department is accepting applications for one officer opening.

To apply, stop by the police station at 205 N. Ewing St. or download an application at seymourpd.com.

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