Council approves hire of fourth police officer

A fourth police officer has been approved for hire for the City of Monroe. The Monroe City Council approved Benjamin Duncan to fill the open position during its recent council meeting.

Duncan will be coming to Monroe from the Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office in Virginia where he previously served. He has 4.5 years of service as a deputy and worked as a jailor previously.

The new officer is one of two candidates seriously considered by the department and who participated in a ride along prior to the hire.

“They had the opportunity to ride along with Sgt. Steve Wright for an hour to give us more perspective on their personalities and questions they ask and their interests,” Monroe Police Chief Nick Chambers said. “He (Duncan) asked a lot of questions and showed a lot of interest and wanted to learn about the town.”

Chambers said a background check has already been completed for Duncan but he will need to fulfill the state testing requirements covering Iowa laws. On his application, he also noted he worked as an EMT at his previous place of employment.

“Is that up to date and current?” councilwoman Andrea Steenhoek said. “Also, would he be receptive to joining our department?”

Chambers said in his previous community Duncan was pretty active, earning Deputy of the Year honors. While he couldn’t give a firm answer on the EMT work, he thought Duncan would be open to the idea.

“At first, I wasn’t receptive to hiring the fourth police officer, and then when we did lose our fourth officer, it is really reassurance when you are out at 4:30 a.m. to have an officer on duty,” Steenhoek said.

Duncan’s first office day on the job was Monday but he will not be on patrol until paperwork and tests are completed.

Contact Jamee A. Pierson at 641-792-3121 ext. 6534 or jpierson@newtondailynews.com