SPRINGDALE : 7 new officers include city’s first Marshallese
Posted on Wednesday, June 25, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/229625/
SPRINGDALE — Flower leis hung around the necks of Springdale’s newest police officers highlighting a first for the department.
Gomez Zackious was among seven officers sworn in Tuesday, making him the department’s first Marshallese officer.
Zackious smiled broadly during the ceremony held in the Springdale City Council chambers.
The new officer didn’t know that Springdale is home to the largest concentration of Marshall Islanders in the continental U. S., when he and his fiancee, Nelia Lalej, moved here. Learning that helped convince him to become a policeman.
Zackious said that the chance to help bridge the gap between the community as a whole and its Marshallese population was enough to make him apply with the Police Department.
Born in the Marshall Islands, Zackious was raised in Maui, Hawaii. It was there that he encountered the policeman that would inspire him.
That officer took time each day to come to Zackious’ neighborhood, which had a dangerous element that often kept children inside.
“Because of the police presence I felt safe to go play outside,” Zackious said.
Zackious hopes to be able to make that kind of difference in people’s lives.
“We’re proud of him,” said Carmen Chong Gum, Marshallese outreach coordinator at the Jones Center for Families.
Chong Gum thinks Zackious will prove to be a valuable resource for both the Marshallese community and Police Department, acting as a liaison. He will also encourage Marshallese youth to become interested in police work, Chong Gum said.
Chief Kathy O’Kelley said she is glad to have him as an officer and expects he will provide an added resource. He is not the first Marshallese applicant to the department, O’Kelley said, but the first to make it through testing.
The swearing-in of the seven officers brings the department up to full staff at 117, O’Kelley said. Nine officers are in training, she said.
O’Kelley said that this group was the largest that has come in while she has been with the department. She thanked the new officers for choosing Springdale, and thanked their families for letting them.
“They will go through a change in the next year or next two years,” O’Kelley said, noting that they must remember “we are community servants, not community keepers. Make sure we all get home each night.”
The department also presented badges and certificates to James Wyles, Luis Manjarrez, Jonathan Regnas, Ricky Baker, Jonathan Turner and Phillip Group.