Trepczyk joins Somerset Police Department

• PHOTO: Joel Trepczyk

In January, Joel Trepczyk was hired as a full-time school resource officer with the Somerset Police Department.

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Somerset’s new police officer has a history with the department.

Joel Trepczyk, 22, interned at the Somerset Police Department in the spring of 2010 and has worked part-time since the summer of 2010.

On Jan. 2 Trepczyk accepted a full-time position as the department’s School Resource Officer.

Trepczyk has experience with the Somerset Police Department as well as the sheriff’s departments in Milwaukee and Dodge counties, where he participated in Explorer programs.

While Trepczyk enjoyed working with the larger sheriff’s departments, he said he likes the small-town atmosphere in Somerset better.

“It was a good difference. Somerset is the perfect size,” he said.

Trepczyk moved from the Milwaukee area to complete his four-degree at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, where he majored in sociology with an emphasis in criminal justice.

As part of his internship during the fall semester of 2010, the Somerset P.D. sponsored Trepczyk through a police academy at Waukesha County Technical College — where he completed 520 hours of police training.

He said he learned a lot about the internal and external operations of the department through his internship and various “ride alongs” with officers.

Trepczyk said the internship is essentially a recruiting program.

“If you do a good job on your internship and they seem to like you, they’ll sponsor you through an academy and they’ll get you set up on a part-time basis,” he explained.

Somerset Police Chief Doug Briggs must have liked Trepczyk. He’s worked part-time with the department since the summer of 2010 and he held a limited-term employment position last summer when he worked every weekend.

“That’s where I really learned a lot and grew a lot,” he said. “I enjoyed it.”

While working part-time in Somerset, Trepczyk also worked part-time with the University of Wisconsin-River Falls Police Department.

Trepczyk says he’s enjoying full-time employment.

“During the school year I’m working at the schools Monday through Friday and in the summer time we go on a rotating shift working patrol in the village,” he said.

Trepczyk says the last two months have brought many new experiences and he’s enjoyed getting acquainted with students and staff in the school district, as well as community members.

Becoming involved in the community is important to Trepczyk.

He plans on moving closer to Somerset within the next year, and he’s already getting involved with the community outside of work.

“Right now I’m working on establishing myself in the community,” he said.

Trepczyk will be an assistant baseball coach this spring and he is volunteering with the local Big Brothers Big Sisters organization.

“Obviously the village is growing and will continue to grow and I’m looking forward to growing with the community,” he said.

In terms of his career, Trepczyk has grown a lot these past couple months.

“School resource officer was one of my career goals. I’ve achieved that with my first assignment. That was kind of exciting,” he said.

Trepczyk has quite a few goals he’d like to achieve within the Somerset Police Department.

“I hope to become a field training officer. Eventually, maybe, (work with) a K-9 officer or part of the Emergency Response Unit (ERU) team. There are a lot of different directions I’d like to go,” he said.

Trepczyk said he feels fortunate to work in Somerset.

“I feel like the community is great,” he said. “I feel the police department has good rapport between the police and the citizens. I feel we address complaints well. Overall, I think we do a great job and it’s recognized.”

Tags: communities, wisconsin, somerset