The Moose Jaw Police Service welcomed a pair of new police officers into the force Monday. Constables Jacques Geyer and Michael Dean Neilson will be hitting the streets soon, and both have policing experience already.

Geyer is a former Moose Jaw resident who was working as a police officer in Saskatoon for a few years before being hired here.

“I decided I wanted to come back home to Moose Jaw where I was raised from the age of three until I went to University,” said Geyer, who played football at Central and for the University of Saskatchewan Huskies. “Basically (it) came down to being where my family and friends are and  wanting to be back in the community and contributing to the awesome place I grew up in.”

Neilson, meanwhile, also has a policing background, and was recently RCMP officer in Elbow.

“(Moose Jaw) is not too big and it’s not too small,” he said. “My wife’s from Calgary and it’s a really good size here. Calgary’s a little too big. We always just came here when I was in RCMP training in Regina, and we just fell in love with Moose Jaw.”

Nielson, who is originally from Red Deer, and his young family are looking forward to living here.

Police Chief Rick Bourassa talked about the character both new recruits have, and said it’s something they look for when they recruit. “People that bring to us a set of values that we adhere to in policing,” Bourassa said. “And that is compassion, empathy, and of course we look at work ethic and all those sorts of things, but it really comes down to character for us.”

Both Geyer and Nielson have been police officers before and they’ll bring that experience in order to help hit the ground running.

“So we know that they’re going to fit into our policing model here very well,” Bourassa said. “And here, we have been moving more and more towards a community policing model.”

Bourassa said two more officers are scheduled to be hired next month.