South Jacksonville P.D. Overcoming Understaffing with New Hires

By Jeremy Coumbes on February 25, 2021 at 9:06am

The South Jacksonville Police Department is adding to it’s ranks.

South Jacksonville PD is one of many departments across both the state and country facing issues with being understaffed and having difficulty finding new hire candidates.

Police Chief Eric Hansell updated the Village Board of Trustees during their committee of the whole meeting last night, that he has two new hires ready for Board approval.

Hansell says the two officers have previous law enforcement experience and should be ready to be out on the beat soon.

We just hired two new guys. The first one is Andrew Fanshier, and he was hired as a full time employee. He has previous experience working for Beardstown P.D.and a little bit of experience working at Leland Grove, so he’s happy to be here. He’s doing well in his training program and should be ready to go on the road by himself in about a week or so.

The other new employee is Kevin Schmieder who is going to be hired as a part-time employee. He worked for Jerseyville and prior to that and for the Jacksonville Police Department as a full time employee there until he had to leave due to a family move due to employment. So he is coming back into the area and is looking forward to getting back into law enforcement.”

Hansell also updated the Board on the status of the new Chaplaincy Program. Jay Cook of South Jacksonville agreed to take the Chaplain’s position.

Hansell says Cook will be working with Jacksonville Police Department Chaplain Allan Braddish to see how he conducts his program for the City of Jacksonville.

The Chaplain is a non-paid volunteer position with the village. All three additions to the South Jacksonville Police Department are expected to receive official approval by the Board during their March Regular Meeting next week.