IU Police Department Officer Casey Shelburne said he has planned to go to law school since the age of 12. Since then, his career has taken a different path.
Shelburne is one of three new officers hired by the IUPD this month. The new officers, who were announced today, are Shelburne, Office Pablo Padilla and Officer Eric Ziliak.
There are 40 total officer positions for IUPD on the Bloomington campus, Capt. Andy Stephenson said. With the three new officers, the department currently has a staff of 39 officers. IUPD has a hiring period every six months.
“That way when a position opens up, we can immediately hire to replace them,” Stephenson said. “We can open up the application to transfer officers, graduated cadets and anyone in the public, so we have some of the best people to choose from.”
When IUPD hires new officers, they first determine whether an officer at another branch of the IU system wants to transfer to the Bloomington department, Stephenson said.
After that, the position is open for applications from the public, Stephenson said.
Shelburne has been a part-time officer with IUPD since August 2012 through the IUPD cadet officer program and part-time officer program, which allows IU students to train and work in law enforcement. He worked as an auxiliary officer for eight months after he graduated IU with a degree in political science.
“My plan as an undergraduate student was to be an attorney, and I thought it would just be cool as a prosecutor or defense attorney to have that police experience,” Shelburne said.
“But I got into the cadet program and fell in love with the job. I realized I didn’t want to spend my youngest years in the courtroom.”
Padilla and Ziliak are also graduates of the cadet officer program and the IU Police Academy. Padilla was also a live-in officer in Ashton Center.
Each officer must now complete four months of training under IUPD’s field training staff, Stephenson said in a press release. They will then be permitted to patrol independently.
“That’s probably the biggest, most obvious difference between working part-time and working full-time,” Shelburne said. “As a part-time officer, you do bike or foot patrol, which means unless you’re within a thousand yards of an incident, you aren’t getting there. Now I’m behind the wheel of a squad car, which comes with more freedom and a lot more responsibility.”
Shelburne initially considered working as an officer in a larger city such as Indianapolis or Washington, D.C., but decided to stay in Bloomington for now, he said.
Many of the officers Shelburne works with also went through the cadet officer program, which made working and training more comfortable, Shelburne said.
“The more I hung around and worked with the people here, the more I was drawn to the idea of staying,” Shelburne said.
“We have a great training division here, and I decided that for at least my first few years as a full-time officer, I wanted to stay in a place where I knew I would get a good foundation.”
