Kipp Miller | The Echo
The campus police have hired a new officer for the midnight shift.
Nathan Thomas was selected to work on the campus police force. Thomas was brought on because of three recent retirements from campus police. Tim Enyeart retired as deputy chief of police in May and Officer Bob Everling retired in October. Officer Matt Miller left campus police and took a job in another city. Miller previously worked the midnight shift on campus.
Thomas was one of several applicants for campus police. Applicants submitted resumes and filled out questionnaires through the Taylor Human Resources department, including information regarding their police experience.
Chief of Police Jeff Wallace then reviewed the applicants, including their statements of faith.
The process of choosing an applicant began with phone interviews, according to Wallace. After that Wallace met with applicants face to face. From there, applicants that moved past those two steps met with other faculty departments.
"It's an all-day event of meeting with different groups: administrators, faculty, student development faculty, students and student leadership groups," Wallace said. "It's kind of a full day of just digging into him a little bit."
In the final step, Wallace looked at all the reviews from different departments to decide if the individual would be a good fit for Taylor.
If the answer was yes, the applicant had one last interview with Skip Trudeau, the vice president for student development. If Trudeau, Wallace and Deputy Chief of Police Tim Felver agreed on the applicant, they would make a job offer.
Wallace believes Thomas will be a good fit for Taylor and said Thomas is very relational. Wallace is excited to work with the new officer.
"I feel like the Lord called me to Taylor," Thomas said.
Thomas formerly worked with the Marion Police Department. He now protects the Taylor campus and students from midnight to 8:00 a.m.
