HOLDREGE — A familiar face has taken the helm at the Holdrege Police Department.
Martin McIntire has been with HPD for 22 years, and he was named the Holdrege chief of police earlier this month. The Holdrege City Council approved the appointment of McIntire as chief of police at the June 7 council meeting.
McIntire grew up in Hastings and graduated from Hastings High School in 1993. He said since he was a child he wanted to become a police officer. After graduating from high school, he did ride-alongs with the Hastings Police Department, and he knew it was the career for him. When he was offered a position in Holdrege, he moved to the community and has never left.
“When I started here, I thought I’d probably work here for a couple years and move on to Hastings or Kearney or something like that, but I just really enjoyed it. It’s small enough where you know everyone, but it’s big enough there’s still stuff to do. It’s close enough to like Kearney, Hastings to do stuff,” McIntire said. “I was just able to do a lot of different things and not be focused on one thing. So I could do traffic, investigations, or drugs, stuff like that.”
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McIntire became a field training officer in 2007, and he was promoted to sergeant in 2012. He is currently pursuing his bachelor’s degree in criminal justice with a focus on leadership and administration online via Southern New Hampshire University.
He became interim chief in March after former Chief of Police David Albers resigned, and he knew it was the right time to take the next step in his career.
“I kind of got the bug. The position came open when Chief Albers resigned. I thought, ‘You know, this is my chance. I’m a little bit older. So now is my opportunity to start,’” McIntire said. “I’d already decided to take those classes and that was really what I wanted to do. I thought it would be perfect to get this job where I’m already at and I won’t have to change much.”
Since taking on the role of chief, McIntire has been working hard to recruit new police officers to the force. His previous position as sergeant has not been filled so McIntire continues to fulfill those duties along with his role as the chief. The Holdrege City Council recently approved a wage increase for police officers and dispatchers in order to recruit and retain employees. Police officers’ hourly wage will increase by $4.20, and dispatchers will receive an increase of $2 per hour.
“We need police officers. We weren’t being very competitive with our pay raise, pay scale,” said Mayor Doug Young at the meeting.
Recruiting new officers and modernizing the department has been an enjoyable challenge for McIntire.
“I like leading us into the future and making us a better department. Right now we have a staffing need, so I’m enjoying doing that, and doing what I can to make us better,” he said.