Lincoln Police academy grads hope to make a difference
New officers say
drugs and dwindling
respect for police are
key issues in Lincoln.
By Chad Lorenz
Senior Reporter
Jason Helmstadter wants to make
a difference in Lincoln — starting right
now.
Even though the 24-year-old rookie
is eight credits short of earning his
degree from the University of Ne
braska-Lincoln, he graduated from the
Lincoln Police academy Wednesday
night.
He started his first street patrol as
signment Thursday.
“A lot of jobs you check in and
check out and don’t really change any
thing,” Helmstadter said. “I see certain
things I’d like to change in the com
munity.”
Helmstadter said he wanted young
people to respect police officers. That
lack of respect makes the officers’ jobs
harder and that tension could lead to
crime, he said.
“Being a young person myself, I
can relate to the younger people,” he
said.
Two other UNL students, seniors
Mary Mangels and Todd Danson,
graduated from the academy with
Helmstadter.
Danson, who is 21 credits from his
criminal justice degree, said that after
I ■ i——■»! ■! .. »■ ■ niwwiwt———
a few years working street patrol, he
wants io switch to the department’s
narcotics unit
“I think drugs are a pretty big prob
lem in Lincoln,” Danson said. “I’d just
like to do something to cut down on
that”
Danson said his fast-paced person
ality is perfect for the street work he
prefers. Hands-on action was easier for
him during training than memorizing
all the details of Lincoln’s city ordi
nances, he said. ~~ — I— _
“You can learn a whole lot in the
classroom, but when you get out there
it’s a whole different gamer” he said.
And people are a part of that game.
That’s why meeting people with dif
ferent backgrounds at UNL has helped
Danson be patient with people he
might not normally understand, he
said.
Mangels was not new to the acad
emy-style training. Her background
includes more than nine years in Re
serve Officer Training Corps and the
Air National Guard before training for
police work.
That background may not seem to
mix naturally with her nursing major,
but she said police officers also needed
lessons in personal relations.
“A lot of the people skills go hand
in hand,” Mangels said.
Her nursing education prepared her
for handling people in emergency situ
ations, she said, such as domestic calls
and child abuse cases. But being a po
lice officer gave her more responsibil
ity.
“In nursing, you don’t get to make
Ryan Soderlin/DN
JASON HELMSTADTER laughs after receiving jelly donuts as a gag gift following his graduation from the
Lincoln Police Academy. Helmstadter was one of three UNL students who graduated from the academy
Wednesday night.
decisions on the spot. Your orders
come down from above,” she said.
“Law enforcement gives me the op
portunity to make decisions on the
spot.”
Making those decisions on her own
is fulfilling, she said. She feels like she
can make a difference in people’s lives,
Mangels said.
In past jobs, she said, she spent the
entire day behind a desk and did not
have that feeling of accomplishment.
“I found myself saying, ‘did I ac
tually do anything today? Well, no,’”
she said.
“With this, I can say I did some
thing.”
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