New Sidney police chief announces new sergeant

SIDNEY -- Sidney Police Officer Jon Haefele has been promoted to the rank of sergeant.

The announcement was made at the February 11 Sidney City Council meeting.

"It feels good. I'm excited to see what we're able to accomplish here, moving forward," Haefele said Wednesday.

He is in his third year with the Sidney Police Department.

"Prior to this, I was a federal law enforcement officer. It's a lot like TSA. I worked for the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City in Omaha. Kansas City has an Omaha branch. They also have a Denver branch, and an Oklahoma City branch. I was in Omaha. I did that for just over a year. We go through a modified academy sort of like what we go through to be Nebraska certified law enforcement, but it's not as long. I think it was eight weeks as opposed to the 16 weeks here," Haefele said.

In a way, life brought Haefele and his family to western Nebraska and Sidney.

"My wife's job was closing. Prior to that, we had lived in the Omaha/Bellvue area for almost 10 years, ever since we had gotten married. She was working for the State of Iowa, the Glenwood Resource Center, and they were shutting the campus down. So she was open to, just changing where we live. We thought about maybe Alabama, just warmer weather. Just kind of by happen-chance applied online for this position. Things moved very quickly, and we found ourselves here," he said.

He said he really likes the Sidney community.

"The people here are fantastic. There's a lot of generational families; people who can say that they've been here for like two, three generations; people who have seen boom and bust. I enjoy the outdoor activities that we're close to, the different fishing, camping; things like that," he said.