Staff writer
New officer John Huebert recently started at Hillsboro Police Department, but it is not the first time he has been part of their crime-fighting crew.
Hubert, 34, interned at HPD about 11 years ago while he attended Tabor College.
“We are happy to have John back,” chief Dan Kinning said. “He meets all our standards, and he should be a good fit at the department because he’s already familiar with the area.”
He worked with most HPD officers during his internship.
“I got along with everyone,” Huebert said. “They all have their heads on straight and are gung-ho to do their jobs.”
He said he has been through a lot since then.
“While I was at Tabor there was no criminology degree,” Huebert said. “We had to essentially create a degree.”
He worked with Tabor to tailor-make a curriculum that suited his needs, and graduated in 2004 with a bachelor’s of arts in sociology and psychology.
Prior to his 2003-04 internship at HPD, he also interned in 2002 as a jailor and dispatch officer in Major County, Oklahoma, which is where he grew up.
In 2005, he was hired as a corrections officer at Riley County jail, where he worked for four years. Then in 2009, he graduated from the Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center to become certified as a police officer. After that, he moved to Castle Rock, Colorado.
Living in Colorado, Huebert still spent much of his time in Kansas. He regularly drove five-hours to Ulysses where he worked as a patrol officer.
“The commute was a driving factor for the move back to Hillsboro,” he said. “We are also expecting a second baby in November.”
Huebert and his wife already have a 16-month-old son. He said they wanted to live in a place where his wife could stay at home and raise the kids and he could work as a police officer.
“Law enforcement runs in my blood,” he said. “I’ve always enjoyed it.”
Huebert replaces former HPD officer Brad Richards.
When Huebert is not on duty, he enjoys hiking, deer hunting and other outdoor activities.
However, with his growing family and new position at HPD there might not be as much time for hobbies, and right now, he said he is just trying to settle in and get his desk organized.
“I’m trying to figure out where everything is,” Huebert said. “Most of the stuff in my desk isn’t mine.”