by Geoff Fox
Officer Quentin Brown hasn’t been with the Hancock Police Department very long, but he’s already a “good fit” for the department according to veteran officers.
That’s how Officer Rich Miller described Brown last Thursday at the Hancock Police Department.
Brown was sworn in as the third full-time officer during the September 13 town meeting with his girlfriend Caitlynn Barborek pinning his badge on his uniform.
Hancock Mayor Tim Smith swears in the newest Hancock Police Officer Quentin Brown during the September 13 town meeting. Brown’s girlfriend Caitlynn Barborek pinned his badge on his uniform after he was sworn in.
The 22-year old officer comes to Hancock after being a member of the Hagerstown Police Department.
Brown was born and raised in Hagerstown and graduated from Williamsport High School where he ran cross-country for the Wildcats.
The decision for him to enter law enforcement was easy, as he comes from a family of first responders.
“I’ve grown up around emergency services as a whole,” he said.
There have been family members in fire service, communications, law enforcement, military, and different aspects and positions of emergency services overall.
When looking for what his career might be and what he wanted to do with his life, Brown said he knew he wanted to help people in a public service role.
“Did some soul searching, praying, found some answers and was able to get hired with Hagerstown,” he said.
When coming to Hancock, it was phone call that brought him to town.
One of the reasons why he was interested in coming to Hancock after the phone call, Brown said he knew it was a smaller town and a gorgeous area with the trails, mountains, and history.
Hancock Police Department’s three officers (left to right) Shawn Faith, Quentin Brown, and Rich Miller.
“When you hear about Hancock, you don’t hear anything negative, usually,” he said. “You hear a lot of positive things.”
Brown also noted he’d been in Hancock when he was younger, stopping at the truck stop and some of the businesses downtown.
“So I was familiar with it but wasn’t all knowing about Hancock,” he said. “I knew that it was a very prideful place as a town, as a community.”
Brown also believes it’s a change of pace for work coming to Hancock compared to Hagerstown, fitting in to that community policing role he wanted to get into when entering law enforcement.
Right now, Brown is still in his field training, but should be on his own soon.
Miller said, as of last week, Brown was in the third phase of a four phase program. To come off the field training program, Brown would have to complete 80 hours, but Miller said the HPD likes to keep it at 100 hours.
In his first few shifts as a member of the Hancock Police Department, Brown said it’s been “really, really good” with his interactions with the people of Hancock.
“We get out of the vehicle, walk, people are waving, saying hi,” he said.
Brown added from some of the posts on social media and hearing of the new officer, people have known his name and come up and introduced themselves and meeting the townspeople.
“It’s been really neat to be invited into the community up here,” Brown said.
He said he’s excited to be a part of the Hancock community, interacting with everyone and getting to know the citizens and learning their concerns.
