by Trish Rudder
Patrolman Nicholas Queen, 19, is the newest member of the Berkeley Springs Police Department for the Town of Bath.
Queen graduated from Martinsburg High School in May. He applied for his new job in Berkeley Springs and was hired on September 26.
He will receive training at the West Virginia Police Academy in Charleston and is planning on beginning that 16-week course in January.
Queen was raised around law enforcement officers and being a police officer “is always something I wanted to do,” he said last week.
His uncle works with the U.S. Marshals Service and his cousin is a detective, both in Savannah, Ga.
photo by Trish Rudder
He said he has family in both Martinsburg and Berkeley Springs.
Queen said he wants to work with young people and is interested in becoming a school police officer.
Before he graduated last May, Queen was a volunteer for eight months with the Sheriff’s Reserves in Berkeley County.
Queen joins the department as a full-time employee and is being trained by Police Chief Tony Link.
Link is a full-time deputy with the Morgan County Sheriff’s Department and works part time for the town.
The town has advertised for a new police chief, but no one has submitted an application.
Link told the town council on November 1 that since there is no interest at this time, an alternative plan needs to be discussed in the Public Safety meeting that will be closed to the public because of personnel issues.
