During his sophomore year of college, Devin Hill decided he wanted to become a police officer.
He was studying business management at Indiana University-Purdue University Columbus, and to get a taste of what a career in law enforcement would look like, he did some ridealongs with police officers.
“Obviously, ridealongs are different than being an actual police officer, so it kind of drew interest, and I started learning about it talking to people, and I just fell in love with it,” Hill said.
To get a better feel for where he’d like to work, he rode with officers from Seymour Police Department, Jackson County Sheriff’s Department, Indiana State Police and Columbus Police Department.
Since he had lived in Seymour since third grade, he was drawn to SPD. Those ridealongs helped solidify his career decision.
“There were situations where I was with other officers and the impact they made and how they treated people went a long way,” Hill said.
“I would ride with someone one day and then eight months later ride with someone else and deal with the same person, and then it’s all about how the first person responded and acted to that person, it just creates a positive,” he said. “It kind of carries on with people. It’s kind of like the golden rule, so if I treat someone how I wanted to be treated, then they treat another officer and that officer treats someone else, then it’s a domino effect.”
Entering his senior year at IUPUC in 2022, Hill passed the physical agility testing, written test and interview, and SPD expressed interest in hiring him. He made it clear he wanted to finish college and earn his degree, and then he could start.
May was a big month, as he graduated from IUPUC and was sworn in as an officer with SPD.
“To have everything fall into place, graduate college, have a job right behind that, I’m blessed,” the 22-year-old said. “I’m grateful for Seymour because they could have easily been like, ‘Well, we’re not going to wait on you. We’re just going to go ahead and fill the position,’ so I’m truly grateful for that.”
During the swearing-in ceremony May 12 in the council chambers at Seymour City Hall, Hill’s fiancée, Carlee Robinson, held the Bible on which he placed his left hand, and he raised his right hand and recited the officer’s oath. Mayor Matt Nicholson swore him in.
Hill said his grandparents and several members of his fiancée’s family were in attendance.
“When I was signing the papers and then they gave me my badge, it was surreal, honestly,” he said. “But then it just kept growing. I got the badge, and then I started to get my gun. When I got all of my equipment and then I got my car, it was like, ‘Bam! Finally.’”
Hill said he grew up with an interest in being a police officer, but he never really thought it would be applicable for him to do it. That changed once he got into college.
“Then I was like, ‘This is what I want to do,’” he said. “I’ve always had the fire to go do it, but it has never been like a reality thing until I was like, ‘I can do that. I want to do that.’”
He doesn’t have any family members in law enforcement that he’s aware of, so that wasn’t an influence in taking that path.
“Actually, when I told my family I was going to be in law enforcement, they were like, ‘Are you sure?’” he said, smiling. “They were shocked by it, but they love it. Just growing up in the community I’m in, every police officer I’ve ever talked to has been good to me, and I feel like making a positive difference in the community is something that I want to do because I feel like police officers nowadays get kind of a bad rap, so I want to change that culture.”
When he received the call offering him a job with SPD, Hill said he was in tears.
“It was like you want something so bad and you worked for it and you put so much time and effort in getting to know people and learning and making a good impression, it was honestly a dream come true,” he said. “It really was for me, especially to be here in Seymour.”
Hill’s first day on the job was May 15. Once Sabastian Johnson was sworn in as an officer on May 19 and started shortly after, he and Hill both began riding along with officers before completing their 40-hour prebasic training. That gave them arrest powers and a minimum amount of knowledge they needed to hit the streets.
Just recently, they completed their first week with a field training officer. Later this year, they hope to start at the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy in Plainfield.
“Personally myself, I just want to get better,” Hill said. “I want to be the best police officer I can be. I don’t set a goal to be captain in five years or something like that. I set a goal to just be 1% better every day, just try to do something positive in my community, whether that’s getting out talking to people, giving people a ride to a destination or stuff like that.”
Hill file
Name: Devin Hill
Age: 22
Hometown: Seymour
Residence: Seymour
Education: Seymour High School (2019); Indiana University-Purdue University Columbus (bachelor’s degree in business administration (2023)
Occupation: Recently hired as an officer with the Seymour Police Department