Brings department total to 7 at full time

COAL GROVE — The village of Coal Grove has increased its full-time police force, swearing in two new officers at last week’s meeting of council.

Mayor Andy Holmes said he administered the oath Landon Johnson and Jaida Smith at the Feb. 22 meeting of council.

The two new officers increase the force to seven full-time offers and two auxiliary officers, Holmes said.

“They are a couple of Coal Grove graduates, and went to Dawson-Bryant schools,” Holmes said. They are both fairly young and are OPOTA certified and have completed police training.

Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy training gives officers arresting authority, Holmes noted.

He said both Johnson and Smith have a military background.

Smith and Johnson provided their backgrounds to The Tribune.

Johnson, 20, noted that he is a 2022 graduate of Dawson-Bryant High School.

“Law enforcement is something that has run through my blood,” he wrote. “My papaw was a sergeant for the Ashland Police Department for many year. My dad worked for Cabell County (West Virginia) as a cop for a few years and my aunt worked in dispatch for many years in Boyd County (Kentucky. I had a neighbor, Danny Mooney, who passed away a few years back, who was one of the most decorated officers Ashland ever had. I hope I can not only live up to his legacy, but carry on the legacy my family left as well.” 

Smith, 22, is currently a corporal in the U.S. Army Reserve.

“I have served for three years as an intelligence analyst,” she wrote. “I intend to further my career as a peace officer. It’s a great honor and a privilege to be able to serve the country on and off the battlefield and that’s what I intend to do.”