POCATELLO To watch many policemen get accolades from their department for saving lives and others formally join that department, friends and family came.
On Tuesday afternoon, the Pocatello Police Department swore in four new officers and presented awards to five of its officers for their actions in the field to save lives in danger and hardship. Friends and family in the crowd were told by Police Chief Roger Schei how much they mean to both new and current police.
Without your help at home, they couldn’t succeed. The Pocatello Police Department truly becomes a part of their family because of the unexpected nature of their work, shift work, extensive training, and time away from their families. “It’s a very rewarding job, but it can be stressful at times,” Schei added.
The Pocatello Police Department welcomed three new patrol officers: Noah Bake, Dillon Katzenstein, and Jessy King. Additionally, Joshua Perkins was sworn in as a department code enforcement officer.
Before their significant others approached to attach their new badges to their uniforms, Schei read from the biographies of each of the new officers.
King grew up with eight siblings after being born in Arco, which instilled in him a strong sense of duty, cooperation, and service. King, a father of three and a husband, quit his eleven-year career to follow his lifetime goal of becoming a police officer.
Born and reared in Pocatello, Katzenstein attended Idaho State University in 2019 to further his education. He began working as a police officer at the Idaho Department of Correction in 2023 and is currently employed by the Pocatello Police Department.
Raised in the Pocatello region, Bake earned a Bachelor of Arts in sociology and a Bachelor of Science in psychology from ISU in 2021. He is a husband and parent to a son. He was employed in the District 6 Juvenile Detention Center at the same time. In 2023, he accepted a security position at Portneuf Medical Center.
Born in Pocatello, Perkins graduated from Highland High School in 2010 after earning his second degree black belt in Taekwondo in 2006, and from 2011 to 2013, he traveled to Taiwan on a religious mission. After earning a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology with a focus on linguistics and intercultural communication, Perkins married his wife in 2014. Prior to joining the police department, Perkins most recently served as a custodian for the city of Pocatello.
These officers were honored for their service when Capt. Timothy Dillon read the language from five Life-Saving Awards to them after they joined the police.
When Officer Porter Johnson got to the Benton Street overpass in October 2024, he noticed a man getting ready to jump from the train side of the barrier. Reaching over the top of the fence, Johnson leaped onto it, grabbed the man by the loop of his belt, and, with the assistance of a bystander, held him there.
The individual consented to exit the overpass when additional officers showed up, and he was taken to Portneuf Medical Center for assessment.
Last month, as a man was holding a knife to his own wrist, Officer Tanner Mackay started talking to him and listening to him discuss his battles with PTSD from his military duty. For his acts, he was awarded. The man kept talking to Mackay until he tossed the knife on the ground, even though he had told him to call the coroner because he intended to terminate his life.
According to the award’s inscription, the man admitted that he decided to drop the weapon because to Mackay’s expertise and compassion.
When Sgt. Justin Buck was sent to the Benton Street overpass last month, he discovered a man who was threatening to jump from the bridge. After scaling the fence and striking up a conversation with the man, Buck put his arms around him and fastened him to the bridge.
Buck calmed the man down by talking to him for forty-five minutes. When he worked with the Pocatello Fire Department to get the man to safety, the matter was addressed.
Although Officer Tyler Clemons was unable to attend the celebration on Tuesday, he and Officer Arturo Martinez were recognized for their joint response to an incident in which a lady had attempted suicide by consuming alcohol and antidepressants. Speaking with the officers, who were already aware of her mental health problems, she disclosed to them the prescriptions she had taken and the locations of the bottles.
The woman called the shift commander to thank the cops for saving her life after they accompanied her ambulance to Portneuf Medical Center, where she was put on mental hold.
Schei reiterated the value of the officers’ friends and family’s support at the ceremony’s conclusion.
According to Schei, that is only a small sample of the everyday tasks performed by some of our officers, dispatchers, records clerks, and other support workers. Without the help of everyone in this room, they would not be able to accomplish their amazing feats.
