Fortville approves conditional hires for two new police officers

Fortville approved conditional hiring offers for two police candidates during a council meeting, the chief said.

The chief told the meeting that "they were issued a conditional offer, conditions being that they pass all the 1977 Perf medical and psychological requirements which they both did." He asked members to approve the hires of Andrew Morland and Jaden Pal; a motion was made, seconded and approved by voice vote.

The chief said both candidates passed background checks and the required physical and psychological tests. He said one candidate is an Illinois sheriff's deputy who will seek a waiver from the law enforcement training board so he does not have to repeat full academy training; the other has no law-enforcement experience and will attend the academy.

On timing, the chief said the remaining step is state pension board approval, which he expected to hand-deliver and that "usually takes them about a week, week and a half," meaning the new officers could be on duty in a couple of weeks if the pension board signs off.

The meeting record included brief discussion of training costs: the chief estimated a waiver fee at about "$100 $200" and said full academy attendance is substantially more, but an exact academy tuition figure was not specified in the transcript.

The meeting did not record a roll-call tally for the hire motion; the transcript records a motion, a second and that the motion was approved by voice vote. The next procedural step is completion of the pension board approval and any required training or waiver processing before the hires become active.