Plains Police Department welcomes new officer

PLAINS – The Plains Police Department brought on a new officer, Tuesday, bringing their force back to full strength.

Christopher Reyna was hired as the newest member of the Plains police force. During a small swearing in ceremony, Mayor Greg Eitelberg outlined some information on Reyna and his expectations for the new officer.

Reyna has lived in the area since approximately 2010 with more of his immediate family moving to the area as well. He has worked for some of the ranches around Thompson Falls as well as for Lewis and Clark Whitewater.

He left the area briefly and lived in North Dakota, where he worked security, but ended up coming back to Plains.

Reyna is excited about the opportunity to work with the PPD. He said it seemed like a bit of a step up from working security in North Dakota and it was something he was enjoying so far.

According to Eitelberg, Reyna is still on a probationary period until 2017. For the first year, new officers can be let go, without notice or cause, if there are any issues or they are having issues integrating into the community.

During this time, they need to be trained and integrated into the position as well as the community they will serve. For some officers, they also need to go through extra training, depending when they were trained at the police academy.

Reyna has not gone to the academy yet, but is acting as a full member of the force undergoing training and performing some duties. Eitelberg noted that, due to how busy the academies were and how much background checking went into selecting them, departments were allowed to hire someone on before they went to the academy. The new officers still need to get the proper education within one year of being hired though.

For Reyna, the earliest he could enroll in the academy is in September of this year. The mayor said this was the earliest they could get him in and even then they were lucky to get the spot.

“We have him riding with an officer right now,” said Eitelberg noting they were getting a start on what training they could. “Then we’ll put him in his own car, but he’ll be working with another officer for awhile.”

The mayor also noted police officers are held to a higher standard in their training and hiring needs. Since they carry firearms and are in positions of authority, they are put through extensive background checks and screening before a hire is made. It was noted there were approximately 18 applicants for the position and they each had to have the check done before even the first interview was done.