Warsaw Mayor Joe Thallemer, right, administers the oath of office to Christopher Brown during today’s Warsaw Board of Public Works. Also participating in the event, shown from left, Warsaw Police Chief Scott Whitaker; Brown’s grandfather, Bob Brown; and his fiance, Sabrina Meerzo. (Photo by Deb Patterson)

WARSAW — Warsaw Police Department gained a new full time officer and received approval to hire two probationary patrol officers at today’s, Friday, July 15, Warsaw Board of Public Works meeting.

Christopher Brown

Christopher R. Brown was given the oath of office by Warsaw Mayor Joe Thallemer at the start of the morning’s meeting. Brown was hired by Warsaw Police Department on June 21, 2015, and has successfully completed his probationary period. He is now being elevated to the rank of 1st Class Patrol Officer.

Brown is currently a resident of Warsaw. In October of 2013, Brown completed four years of service in the U.S. Marines where he held the rank of sergeant, stationed in 29 Palms, Calif. Brown’s service to his country included two combat deployments to Afghanistan where he served as an infantry squad leader. He finished his four-year commitment traveling the United States as a member of the Base Shooting Team. His extensive firearms training has paid dividends on multiple levels, to include winning the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy’s Top Gun award while attending the academy earlier this year.

The Board of Works members also approved the hiring of Clayton N. Rieder and Jacob D. Metzger as probationary patrol officers.

Clayton Rieder

Rieder is a resident of Warsaw and a current police officer at North Webster. He graduated from Grace College in 2010 with degrees in criminal justice and youth ministry. He served as a reserve deputy for Kosciusko County for one-year prior to being hired as a full-time police officer by the North Webster Police Department in 2012.  While working for NWPD, Rieder attended and graduated from the Indiana Law Enforcement academy in March of 2013.

Metzger is a Warsaw High School graduate and a current resident of Silver Lake. In May of this year, Metzger completed four years of service in the U.S. Coast Guard as an E/3 Fireman, stationed in Lorain, Ohio. Metzger is the great-grandson of the late Robert “Linc” Hay who served the Winona Lake Community for over 35 years, serving both as volunteer fireman and a full-time police officer. Hay held the rank of both fire chief and police chief before retiring from law enforcement in 1965.

Jacob Metzger

Both Rieder and Metzger’s hire date will be July 31. They will be hired in at the rank of Probationary Patrol Officers, and will remain at the rank for a period of one year. Upon successful completion of the probationary period, they will be elevated to the rank of First Class Patrol Officers, appearing before the board of works and taking the oath of office from the mayor.

The two new hires are replacing vacated positions by recently retired WPD officers, bringing WPD’s total number of full-time sworn officers back to 38. The department currently has five full-time non-sworn staff members.