LPD hires Winkelman to reach full staff

After operating short-handed for more than two years, the Lovell Police Department now has all their vacancies filled with the recent hiring of Justin Winkelman as a patrol officer in training.

Winkelman grew up in Big Piney, where he went to school and worked. He then bounced back and forth between there and Lovell, trying a few different job opportunities before making the decision to make Lovell his permanent home and plant his roots here.

He and wife, Austyn, recently welcomed a baby into their family two months ago, and he says they are his biggest motivators to pursue this career.

“Now that I have a family, I want to be a part of helping keep them and the rest of the community safe,” Winkelman said. “I figured this would be the best way to do it because my kid is going to grow up here.”

Winkelman noted that the job is a lot different than he anticipated from what he thought he knew about police work from television shows and news. He said that he must always expect the unexpected.

“You never know what is going to come throughout the day,” he said. “Every time the phone rings, you never know what the call is going to be. This job is not monotonous.”

After getting a few months of training on the job, Winkelman will head to the police academy term that runs from August through November.

“It’s nice having new officers on the staff,” LPD chief Roger Haney said. “They bring a level of enthusiasm and excitement to the job because it is all new to them. It is refreshing to the rest of the department, and it rubs off on all of us.”

Haney said that Winkelman is intelligent and a quick learner and is already willing to step in and participate on active calls while riding along with the other officers.

“I think that says a lot about the type of officer that he will be,” Haney said. “I think a lot of us start off slightly intimidated to say or do something because you don’t really know what to do, but he is willing and motivated.”

The department sees value in Winkelman’s desire to make Lovell his lifelong residence and see his employment as a long-term investment. 

“He has the right amount of professionalism, integrity and moral compass to be a peace officer,” Haney said. “Once he goes through the training process and academy, we see him being a valuable part of this department for many, many years.”