Number of Trine alums doubles in Steuben Sheriff’s Office

The Steuben County Sheriff’s Office has hired two Trine University graduates as patrol deputies over the past several months, bringing to four the number in the department.

Nicholas Ruby was hired as a patrol deputy in September 2016 and George Youpel was hired in February 2017. Both graduated from Trine in 2016 with bachelor’s degrees in criminal justice.

They join 2014 graduates Marc Edwards and Zack Terrell, who serve as confinement officers. Edwards also earned a Master of Science in criminal justice from Trine in 2016.

Steuben County Sheriff Tim Troyer said he is seeing more deputies starting with college degrees than he did 10 or 15 years ago.

“The degree gives them insight into the profession; the things they will encounter at the academy level,” he said. He also noted that deputies who have earned a degree “have been thinking about the career for some time.”

He also said graduates like Ruby, who was able to complete his police academy training through the university while he was a student, come in with an added advantage.

“We get very few who come to the table with certification already,” he said, noting that academy training takes a deputy out of the community for three months.

Troyer said it’s also beneficial for the sheriff’s office to maintain a close relationship with the university, since Trine faculty will let him know if they have a student who might be a good candidate for a position.

“Finding candidates for this profession is much more difficult than it used to be,” he said. “If a professor knows a recruit has good character, it’s helpful to our profession and organization to get good quality people.”

Photo: From left: Steuben County confinement officers Zack Terrell BSCJ 2014 and Marc Edwards BSCJ 2014 MSCJ 2016, and deputies George Youpel BSCJ 2016 and Nicholas Ruby BSCJ 2016.