New faces at the Grundy County Sheriff’s Office

MORRIS – The hiring process for a Grundy County Sheriff’s deputy can be about six months.

There is a written test, an oral interview with the Merit Commission, followed by a polygraph test, a psych evaluation and a background check.

Even after getting hired, most deputies will have to go on to spend
3½ months at a police academy, followed by another dozen weeks of on-the-job training.

For the three newest patrol deputies of the Grundy County Sheriff’s Office, it is all worth it for the chance to work near the place they grew up.

Tyler Post, who grew up in rural Morris and was part of the local Sheriff’s police explorer program, is coming to Grundy County after working for the Wisconsin State Police for the past year.

“This is my home,” Post said about coming back to Grundy County. “This is where I grew up. I took the Wisconsin job kind of knowing I was going to come back.”

Post already has graduated from a police academy, but the two other new hires – Thomas Youskevtch and Alicia Headrick – report to the Macon County Law Enforcement Center on Monday, Oct. 1, to begin their academy training.

All three are from the Grundy County area. Youskevtch grew up in Goose Lake, and Headrick is from Wilmington.

All three also went through the law enforcement program at Grundy County Area Vocational Center. They said their time there helped prepare them for the real-life demands of law enforcement.

Craig Williamson, a retired instructor at Grundy Area Vocational Center, said the program is honest about what the job entails.

“We don’t sugarcoat this job,” Williamson said. “They know before they get into it.”

The three new deputies scored the highest out of more than 100 people who tested to be on the hiring list for Grundy County. Some people don’t get hired for years, Headrick said.

Is it worth all of the work just to get the job?

Absolutely, they said.

“It’s what we want to do,” Youskevtch said.