People Who Shape Pierce: The Police Department
Launch the media gallery 1 playerBy Elizabeth Furstenau
The town of Pierce, Nebraska, is well-rounded with a respectful community, but who are the people who help make it what it is? Who are the people who shape Pierce?
The police department may be small, but the people behind the badge are strong. The department consists of Chief Brett Oestreich, Sargent Troy Becker, and Officer Austin Rohrich. Oestreich has been a part of the department for 25 years, Becker for 20 years, and Rohrich for 10 years.
“Summer of my eighth grade year heading into freshman year, I was out fishing out at Willow and came across a kid that was suffering from a heat stroke,” Rohrich claimed. “We were right by Sheriff Eberhardt’s, and he tried to save him. The kid ended up passing, but just like seeing his actions in place and it was like chaos, but it was just seeing what he did to try and save that person. It gave me a couple stepping stones in that direction.”
Rohrich was not sure that he wanted to be a cop, but when it came time to make that decision, he thought back to that moment and “it was a really heroic action, and it kind of set my path that way.” Now the town is lucky enough to have Rohrich as well as Oestreich and Becker as officers.
“The other thing about it is you never know what you’re going to do,” Rohrich claimed. “Like we could have the most boring day of our lives, or we could have something that’s life changing to the community.”
“Yep, so it’s just a day to day deal,” Becker stated.
The department’s main responsibility is ensuring that the community is safe and the members of the community feel safe. Other responsibilities include keeping the flow of safe traffic as well as making sure laws are being obeyed.
They want the community to know that they only want to see the town thrive. They have their families in the community and want to see them thrive, just like they want everyone else’s families to thrive.
“We understand that there’s hardships, and we understand that to the point where we kind of put ourselves into that positon. We want to see the town be successful and keep growing,” Rohrich claimed. “We want to keep it safe and be a place where people want to live.”
The most important parts of their jobs are the training that they have had and the new training they receive. With all of the new social advancements, their training is adapted to fit those new advancements. The new technology and forms of crimes have changed so their training must prepare them for what is to come.
The officers in the department want to be good role models for the younger generations in the town, whether they are on or off duty. They try to participate and get involved in as many social events as they can. They love to hand out stickers, wave, and talk to the children they see on the street. One of their favorite parts of their job is patrolling past the elementary school and Zion and seeing the students wave and smile at the police car during their recess times.
The police department is necessary for the community of Pierce to run. The community appreciates everything Brett Oestreich, Troy Becker, and Austin Rohrich do.
