Three part-time Frazer police officers are now full time.
Township supervisors on Tuesday approved the promotions of Sean Moore, Michael Shook and Cole Berg as full-time officers, effective Sunday, Aug. 6.
Lori Ziencik, Frazer township secretary and supervisor, said the promotions were recommended by Chief Terry Kuhns.
Kuhns said Moore has been a part-time officer for Frazer for about a year and previously worked for Mt. Lebanon’s police force.
“He’s proven himself to be a reliable, consistent police officer,” Kuhns said.
Shook has been an officer with Frazer for about five months, Kuhns said.
“He’s coming along as a new police officer,” Kuhns said.
Berg previously worked as a Frazer officer and then was deployed overseas as an Army reservist. He returned to the Alle-Kiski Valley and worked part time in Manor Township and later Washington Township, before coming back to Frazer.
He has been with the Frazer force for about a month.
Kuhns said of Berg: “I’m familiar with his work ethic and police abilities. He has a strong work ethic.”
Also at the meeting, supervisors accepted resignations from full-time Officers Cole Bertok and Tyler Condron. Condron accepted a position with Highmark’s police force, and Bertok went to the city of Duquesne’s police department as a full-time officer, Kuhns said.
The moves put Frazer’s police force at six full-time officers and one part-time officer, retired East Deer Chief John Manchini, Kuhns said.
Declining enrollment in the police academy makes it more difficult for municipalities to hire officers, Kuhns said, and promoting and hiring officers to full-time positions helps with retention.
Kuhns said he would like to have eight or nine full-time officers on the force. He said applications are being accepted and interested people may apply on the township’s website.
Frazer is a busy department, Kuhns said, and officers learn to handle many different matters, from criminal investigations to executing search warrants to writing criminal complaints and complex police reports.
“There’s an opportunity for these officers to learn different things,” he said.
