New additions to the Kimball Police Department bring quality to Kimball

Captain Justin Trout has been the Kimball Police Captain for about six weeks now, and Andrew Bremer is the department's new detective. Both men have a desire to serve the public to the best of their abilities.

Although Captain Trout did not grow up with the desire to to be in law enforcement he has developed a fondness for it.

"In my ideal world I wanted to be something different, but as circumstances happened when I came from the military police I rotated to civilian law enforcement," Captain Trout said.

Acting on that desire to try out something different Captain Trout tried out a job with the railroad.

"I took a break from law enforcement and tried being a conductor. I did that for 5 months, it was really boring and so I came back to law enforcement. I talked to the chief and he seemed to be a together guy, and Kimball seemed like a good fit," Captain Trout said.

Of course at the start Captain Trout was Sergeant Trout to begin with. Then during his promotion he made an evaluation of the department and that's when he brought to the attention the benefits of having a detective as a part of the department.

"As far as I know Kimball has never had a Detective on. The benefit of having a detective is you make sure that your high end felony cases are dealt with properly. Evidentiary procedures, whether it comes to interviewing and interrogation, it gives the added benefit of having more credibility to the department," Captain Trout said.

Andrew Bremer was looking to make a transition during that time as well and according to Captain Trout everything fell into place nicely, especially since the two have worked together before.

"Detective Bremer came down and it was a perfect fit. I had worked with him in Alliance, and he was actually my superior in Alliance, and he's very good at interviewing and interrogation also a very good investigator," Captain Trout said.

Andrew Bremer is the new Detective in Kimball. His family is involved in law enforcement and so it "runs in the blood" Bremer said. Bremer who, like Trout, spent some time working on the railroad, also spent nine years in Alliance.

"My background is, I started off as a field training officer, My first assignment was as a motorcycle officer, I've worked K-9. I took a certification class in Kansas and I was a pursuit instructor. It all just kind of leads up to where I am now," Bremer said.

Being a detective is something that Bremer really enjoys. It's a work he feels satisfied in doing and he doesn't hesitate to explain why.

"I like helping people, solving cases, making sure that when someone's wronged that it's righted. I enjoy working with the children," Bremer said.

Even though a job like this is a rewarding one, it can also be dangerous for officers. Detective Bremer has a way he handles the more nerve racking aspects of his career.

"Professionalism and calm, you gotta get the job done. You know if you don't get the job done right you don't help anybody, and that's my motivation. I look at every case like those could be my kids, that could be my wife, and stay calm and try to get it done," Bremer said.

A way to help officers in dangerous and unique situations is with a K-9 unit. Bremer has worked as a K-9 officer before and is very interested in introducing a K-9 program to Kimball. Right now the department is even looking into what it would cost to acquire a K-9. Dogs for the K-9 unit do not come cheap due to the extensive training and breeding required. A fully trained animal would be about $13,000 and a "green," or young and patrol trained dog would be about $4500. The latter of the two dogs being the one the department is looking into, Bremer lists the benefits of having a K-9 unit.

"A K-9 unit would benefit the department greatly just on what we do on a daily basis. With the narcotics like down in the Sheriff's office, but also on the patrol side of things like with building searches felony apprehensions, we'd put it in with our SWAT team, also handler protection. We could use a dog for search and rescue. You get something bad that happens a dog could be used to search schools if needed. It's like having another officer with you. It's a great benefit," Bremer said.

Until the department can either raise money or get it through grants the dream of a K-9 unit is basically put on hold. However, it is something that Detective Bremer feels would really benefit Kimball.

Captain Trout also speaks of Officer Hitch, who is in the Academy getting additional training, and he is said to be doing very well. Captain Trout and Bremer have worked together before and that affords them the opportunity of knowing each other's strengths, which is of great benefit. Trout's focus is definitely on his department and how he can help as Captain.

"I just want to make sure that officers have the right support they need to do their job and that the community gets the best kind of service that they can from us all," Captain Trout said.