By Peggy Mackenzie
Greenbrier County Sheriff Jan Cahill must be thrilled to finally have four new deputies freshly minted from the WV Police Academy back in town and ready for police work. There is a Santa Claus after all.
Deputies Joshua Pachis, James Desimone, Steve Hudnall and Alex Workman were sworn in back in August. Of the four, only Workman, 23, of Charmco,was hired from another department and already certified.
The remaining three, Pachis, 33, and Hudnall, 42, both of White Sulphur Springs, and Desimone, 26, from Alabama, attended the police academy from Sept. 2 through Dec. 19 in order to qualify for certification.
Now begins the field training, which will take them four months to complete. Field training essentially means signing on with a veteran officer to acquire actual on-the-job training. This will include learning the procedures and policies of the department; the paperwork involved in the complaints which come in; and all aspects of criminal investigations. They will be critiqued to be sure they understand what is required of them by law.
Cahill had expressed extreme delight in August in finding such qualified young men for the department, especially, he said, as any city, county and state agency will tell you, finding qualified applicants has become more and more difficult. He enthused, “I’m excited to have these young men in the department. They are going to make great officers.”
